Clearly, a commander being at the front means risk of injury or death, and that is what looks like happens—he is injured, but we cannot say exactly how. An arrow to the eye is the legend, of course, and it is supported in some of the sources, but is it really likely that Norman archers still have ammunition after sixhours of battle? In reality, the most plausible thing is a spear, javelin, or thrown object strikes him on the face or head in the chaos of battle.
Whatever the cause…the king is down.
And that has serious consequences.
It causes us some problems too because a reading of all the sources leaves a reader confused at this point in the battle.
Some sources state the battle is now over.
Other sources go on to show a lot more detail and fighting, and ultimately, Harold’s death.
So, which is correct and which is not?
In my view, they’re all true, from different perspectives.
This is a tricky concept, over, but not over. I think a short illustration of this point might help us here.
In the closing moments of the 1966 World Cup Final, the English commentator, Kenneth Wolstenholme, utters a line that has since become inseparable from the event: “Some people are on the pitch! They think it’s all over!” and moments later, Geoff Hurst scores again to make it 4-2. “It is now!
What is often forgotten is that the sentence is not one thought, but two.
Only with the final touch of the ball does the second statement become true.
This distinction matters. Between belief and finality there exists an unstable interval in which structure still holds, but outcome is no longer in doubt.
And so it was in October 1066.
In medieval warfare, death, or at least removal of the command, signals the end of battle. So, some observers see the injury to Harold and call it, others know that since a kingship is on the line, it has to be followed through.
This explains the famous panel on the Bayeux Tapestry where the caption is ‘Here King Harold dies’, but there are two figures shown, one with the head injury and the other being killed with swords.
The arrow in the eye, in later accounts, probably has more to do with the moralising of alleged oath breaking by Harold than the actual event, yet it’s still the icon everyone remembers and is still taught as fact.