James Wilson examines the battle to reveal Harold Godwinson’s resting place
Many headlines appeared earlier this week as a body found under a carpark in Leicester was confirmed (following DNA testing and carbon dating) to be that of Richard III. This is the sort of coup of which all archaeologists and historians dream. The most highly prized coup is one which overturns received wisdom about a well-known historical event, such as the historian John Grehan has recently attempted with his book arguing that the Battle of Hastings did not take place on Senlac Ridge after all, but rather a mile away at Caldbec Hill (The Battle of Hastings 1066—The Uncomfortable Truth).
Grehan’s theory has some circumstantial evidence in support, but unless someone digs up 10,000 bodies together with a lot of arrow heads and other battlefield detritus in the vicinity, it is likely to remain no more than conjecture.
Buried treasure?
As it happens, earlier this century a similarly optimistic claim was made about the fate of the body of the battle’s
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