HASTINGS 



BATTLE OF 



HASTINGS 



lish Miles 



3867 



HASTINGS 



Battle of Hastings. Map ol the surrounding country 



showing the routes followed by Harold and William. 



Inset, plan of the battlefield 



library ; a school of art and a 

 museum are housed in the building. 

 There is a town hall, grammar 

 school, technical schools, hospitals, 

 etc. Fishing is the chief industry. 

 At the E. end between the East 

 and West Hills lies the fishing 

 quarter, and there is a fish market. 

 There is a cricket week in August. 

 Hastings was a town in Anglo- 

 Saxon times, and in the Middle 

 Ages was a flourishing port. It 

 was made a borough in 1589, and 

 returned two members to Parlia- 

 ment from 1366 to 1885, since 

 when it has sent one. Pop. 66,496. 



Hastings. Town of North Is- 

 land, New Zealand. It is 12 m. by 

 rly. S.W. of Napier, in Hawke's 

 Bay dist., and has refrigerating and 

 fruit-canning works. Pop. 7,918. 



Hastings, BATTLE OF. Fought 

 Oct. 14, 1066, between the Nor- 

 mans under William, called after 

 this victory the Conqueror, and the 

 English under Harold II (q.v.). 

 It took place on a hill, to which 

 a later writer gave the name of 

 Senlac, about 6 m. from Hastings. 



Harold had just beaten the Nor- 

 wegians at Stamford Bridge when 

 he heard that William had landed 

 at Pevensey. Rapidly marching 

 southwards, he chose a position on 

 which to meet the invader. His 

 own bodyguard, the huscarls, men 

 heavily armed with axe and shield, 

 were the nucleus of his army, but 

 he had also with him men of the 

 fyrd, imperfectly armed and trained. 

 All fought in a number of massed 

 groups, and around each was a 

 ring of stakes driven into the 

 ground to impede horsemen. 



The archers, the footmen, and 

 finally the horsemen attacked the 

 English, but could make no im- 



pression on their 

 closed ranks. 

 Then some of 

 Harold's auxili- 

 aries left their 

 places to follow a 

 few who were 

 routed, and 

 William ordered 

 some of his men 

 to feign flight. 

 The English ran 

 down the hill after 

 the Normans, who 

 turned round and 

 cut them to pieces. 

 But on the hill 

 the huscarls stood 

 firm around their 

 king. As night 

 came on the 

 archers began to 

 shoot into the air. 

 Then, with the 

 arrows falling 

 about their faces, 

 the English gave 

 Normans got in 



way, and the 



among them. Fighting to the last, 



Harold and his two brothers were 



killed, and his army was totally 



destroyed. 



Hastings, BARON. English title, 

 now borne by the family of Astley. 

 Sir John Hastings, a great man in 

 the time of Edward I, was the 

 first holder. In 1290 he claimed 

 the crown of Scotland. Laurence, 

 the 3rd baron, was made earl 

 of Pembroke in 1339. John, the 

 3rd earl, was killed in a tourna- 

 ment in 1391, and the barony re- 

 mained in abeyance until 1841. It 

 was then given by the House of 

 Lords to a descendant of the Hast- 

 ings family, Sir Jacob Astley. He 

 ranked as the 16th baron, and 

 from him the present holder is 

 descended. The family seat is 

 Melton Constable, Norfolk. 



This barony must be distin- 

 guished from another barony of 

 Hastings, one held by the marquess 

 of Hastings until 1868. It then fell 

 into abeyance between the sisters 

 of the last marquess, but in 1920 

 was claimed by the countess of 

 Loudoun. See Loudoun, Earl of. 



Hastings, MARQUESS OF. British 

 title borne bv the family of Raw- 

 don-Hastings'from 1817to 1868. The 

 first holder was the soldier, Francis, 

 earl of Moira, who was made Vis- 

 count Loudoun, earl of Rawdon 

 and marquess of Hastings in 1817. 

 He married Flora Campbell, in her 

 own right countess of Loudoun, 

 and their son, Francis George 

 (1808-44), inherited titles from 

 both parents. The 3rd marquess 

 was his son, Paulyn, and the 4th 

 was another son, Henry. The 

 latter gained a good deal of noto- 

 riety on the turf and in society, 



After M. A. Shee. R.A. 



dying without children, Nov. 10, 

 1868. The titles that hadcomedown 

 from his grandfather, including 

 the marquessate of Hastings, then 

 became extinct, but those of 

 his grandmother passed to his 

 sisters. In addition the marquess 

 had inherited the baronies of 

 Botreaux, Hastings, Hungerford, 

 and Grey de Ruthyn. The estates 

 passed to his elder sister, the 

 countess of Loudoun. The seats 

 were Donington Hall, Leicester- 

 shire, and Loudoun Castle, Ayr- 

 shire. See Loudoun, Earl of. 



Hastings, FRANCIS KAWDON- 

 HASTINGS, IST MARQUESS OF ( 1 754- 

 1826). British soldier and admin- 

 istrator. Born 

 Dec. 9, 1754, 

 he was the son 

 of Sir John 

 Rawdon, an 

 Irish baronet, 

 afterwards 

 made earl of 

 Moira. Edu- 

 cated at Har- 

 row and Uni- 

 versity Col- 

 lege, Oxford, 

 he entered the 

 army in 1771. 

 He served in the American War of 

 Independence, commanding a vol- 

 unteer force of Irishmen, and in 

 1783 was made a baron. In 1793 

 he became earl of Moira. 



In 1813 Moira was appointed 

 governor of Bengal and comman- 

 der-in-chief in India. He remained 

 there until 1823, his term of office 

 being marked by the long war 

 against the Gurkhas of Nepal and 

 the successful campaign against the 

 Pindaris and Mahrattas. He was 

 made marquess of Hastings in 1817. 

 Hastings resigned in 1821, but did 

 not leave India until 1823. His 

 policy was disliked by the E. India 

 Co. From 1824-26 he was governor 

 of Malta, and he died Nov. 28, 1826. 

 See Life, Ross of Bladensburg, 1893; 

 Private Journal, ed. Marchioness 

 of Bute, 1858. 



Hastings, JAMES (1855-1922). 

 Scottish divine and theological 

 writer. Born at Huntly, Aberdeen- 

 shire, and educated at the gram- 

 mar school, university, and Free 

 Church divinity hall, Aberdeen, 

 he was ordained minister at Kin- 

 neff, Kincardineshire, 1884, and 

 was minister of Willison Church, 

 Dundee, 1897-1901, and of S. 

 Cyrus Church, Dundee, 1901-11. 

 He started The Expository Times, 

 and edited it from 1889-1919. He 

 compiled a Dictionary of the Bible, 

 5 vols., 1898-1904, single vol. 1908 ; 

 Dictionary of Christ and the Gos- 

 pels, "2 vols., 1906-7; and Encyclo- 

 paedia of Religion and Ethics, vols. 

 1-10, 1908-19. He died Oct. 15, 1 922. 



