Norman Conquest Encyclopedia
Feigned Flight
Some controversy surrounds the subject of the feigned flight, the pretence to be running away, as a trick to tempt an enemy out from a good position and be destroyed by the force supposed to be in retreat. It can be difficult to distinguish feigned from real flight! The Norman force attacking Harold Godwinsson's English on Senlac Hill used this tactic twice during the battle, according to William of Poitiers. The doubters say that this trick would have been too difficult to control and would have thrown the rest of the force into panic. The believers point out that the feigned flight is a ruse as old as the hills, and that the Normans themselves had used it at Arques in 1052-53 and at Messina in 1060.
See also: Harold Godwinsson; Norman; Senlac Hill; William of Poitiers
Related Reading:
- The Normans (Elite 9)
- Hastings 1066 (Revised Edition) - The Fall of Saxon England
(Campaign 13 ) - Norman Knight AD 950-1204
(Warrior 1)