Battle of Hastings

With the coming of the Saxons we are beginning to escape from antiquity. The. Saxons were, of course, quite familiar with iron, although references to it in the Saxon Chronicle are scanty. We do know, however, that, owing to shortage of weapons, some of the troops under Harold at the battle of Hastings were armed with stone hammers. The Normans required considerable quantities of iron for their armour. The metal was always made by the direct process. 

More peaceful uses of these crude articles appeared in the form of fire crackers - the first fireworks One mixture corresponded quite closely to modern gunpowder in that it contained saltpetre, sulfur and willow charcoal. The fire cracker was said to consist of a loosely-filled parchment tube tied tightly at both ends and with the introduction of a small hole to accept a match or fuse. All of these incendiary mixtures, presumably containing saltpetre, are mentioned in Chinese work dating from the eleventh century ad. Thus, in theory at least, the Battle of Hastings could have been one of Greek Fire , incendiary rockets and grenades. 

In 1066, at the Battle of Hastings, William of Normandy (later known as William the Conqueror) defeated English forces and subsequently assumed the throne of England. 

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