Lesson Y7-U02-L09

Y7-U02-L09 The Battle of Hastings Quiz: KS3 History, Unit 2

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson Y7-U02-L09, The Battle of Hastings: 20 multiple choice questions for the KS3 History (National Curriculum), Unit 2: Year 7: Battle of Hastings, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. On what date was the Battle of Hastings fought?

    • 5 January 1066
    • 28 September 1066
    • 14 October 1066
    • 25 September 1066

  2. Where was the Battle of Hastings fought?

    • Senlac Hill, near Hastings
    • Gate Fulford, near York
    • Stamford Bridge, in Yorkshire
    • Pevensey, on the south coast

  3. What was the Saxons' main defensive tactic at Hastings?

    • The feigned retreat
    • The naval blockade
    • The cavalry charge
    • The shield wall

  4. What were housecarls?

    • Norman knights who were mounted and fought with long lances
    • Elite, full-time Anglo-Saxon warriors who fought with two-handed battle-axes
    • Part-time farmer-soldiers who fought with spears and shields
    • Norman archers who fired volleys of arrows before the charges

  5. What was the fyrd?

    • Elite Saxon warriors who fought with two-handed battle-axes
    • Norman archers who fired arrows from high ground at the enemy
    • Part-time farmer-soldiers who fought with spears and shields
    • Full-time Norman knights who fought on horseback in armour

  6. Which two troop types did the Normans have that the Saxons lacked?

    • Spearmen and housecarls
    • Cavalry and the fyrd
    • Housecarls and archers
    • Archers and cavalry

  7. What was the main weakness of the Norman army at Hastings?

    • It had no leader who could direct the army in battle
    • It had to attack uphill against a strong shield wall
    • It had no archers to fire arrows at the Saxon wall
    • It had no horses, so every knight had to fight on foot

  8. Why did the high ground help the Saxons?

    • Normans attacking uphill tired out and their arrows lost power
    • The high ground stopped the Normans from using their horses
    • Saxons could see the Norman ships arriving across the Channel
    • The high ground let the Saxons fire arrows down at the Normans

  9. What did Norman archers do before the cavalry charges at Hastings?

    • They fired volleys of arrows to weaken the Saxon shield wall
    • They guarded William's fleet on the beach at Pevensey
    • They carried the wounded Normans back to the ships
    • They dug trenches to trap the Saxon housecarls on the hill

  10. What is a feigned retreat?

    • A peace deal in which both armies agree to leave the field
    • A siege in which the defenders are starved into surrender
    • Pretending to flee so that the enemy chases and breaks formation
    • A surprise night attack on the enemy camp while they sleep

  11. Why did the Saxons break their shield wall during the afternoon at Hastings?

    • The Norman archers forced them to leave the hill with arrows
    • The housecarls ran away after hearing that Harold had already been killed
    • They were tricked into chasing feigned Norman retreats down the hill
    • The Witan ordered them to march north to join Harold's brother

  12. Why did William lift his helmet during the battle?

    • To shade his eyes from the setting sun over the hill
    • To signal to his fleet at Pevensey that the battle had been won
    • To show the Saxons that he would accept Harold's surrender
    • To prove he was alive and rally his men after a rumour of his death

  13. At what time of day was Harold killed at Hastings?

    • The night before the battle, in his tent at camp
    • At midday, when the rumour of William's death spread
    • At dusk, when Saxon resistance collapsed
    • At dawn, at the start of the battle

  14. What is the Bayeux Tapestry's caption for Harold's death?

    • Here King Harold has been killed
    • Here the Saxon fleet has been burned
    • Here the Vikings have been defeated at York
    • Here William has been crowned in London

  15. Why is the Bayeux Tapestry treated carefully as a source?

    • It is a Norman source made by the winning side, so it may be biased
    • It is an English source written by an eyewitness at the battle itself
    • It was written by Harold's housecarls in the years after the battle
    • It was made by a monk who knew nothing about the events of 1066

  16. What was the turning point of the battle at Hastings?

    • The feigned retreats that broke the Saxon shield wall
    • The disbanding of the fyrd on 8 September in the south
    • The landing of William at Pevensey on 28 September
    • The arrival of the Viking army from the north at dusk

  17. Which Anglo-Saxon troop type was the heart of Harold's shield wall?

    • Housecarls
    • Knights
    • Witan members
    • Archers

  18. Why was the Saxon shield wall so hard to break from the front?

    • It was made of heavy wooden barricades that were too big for the Norman archers to move at all
    • It was a tight, unbroken line of shields on high ground, which made a head-on attack very difficult
    • It was protected by a deep moat filled with water that stopped every charge by the Norman knights
    • It had been built with stone walls that could not be knocked down by any horses

  19. Why did Harold's army struggle to defend against the Norman cavalry?

    • It had been ordered to fight without shields by the Witan
    • It had too many archers who fired at the knights and missed
    • It had no cavalry of its own to fight back against mounted knights
    • It had all of its horses killed during the march north to Stamford

  20. Which battlefield feature gave the Saxons their biggest advantage?

    • The thick forest that surrounded the Norman camp to the west
    • The high ground of Senlac Hill
    • The river that ran across the flat marsh below the battlefield
    • The sea that lay to the south behind the Norman lines

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