The Battle of Hastings is without question one of the more important conflicts in English history, representing the last time England was successfully invaded by a foreign power. Reflecting this fact, there are literally hundreds of accounts that seek to examine and explain precisely what happened when opposing English and Norman forces met in Sussex on 14 October 1066. Although much has been written about the men who actually fought there, surprisingly little has been written about where they originated from. To help address this anomaly, this article examines participation in the English army at the battle with the aid of geographic information systems (GIS) techniques. The analysis indicates that participation in the English army was spatially dependent and related to the amount of land per manor. It is also demonstrated that manors held by the local elites at the time (thegn) by and large did not participate in the battle. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings for the veracity of existing historical accounts of the Battle of Hastings, as well as options for and benefits of applying GIS analysis to other historical events.

黑斯廷斯战役毫无疑问是英国历史上最重要的冲突之一，代表了英格兰最后一次被外国势力成功入侵。反映这一事实，实际上有数百个叙述试图检查和解释 1066 年 10 月 14 日英国和诺曼军队在苏塞克斯相遇时发生的事情。写了他们来自哪里。为了帮助解决这种异常情况，本文研究了英国军队在地理信息系统 (GIS) 技术的帮助下参与战斗的情况。分析表明，英国军队的参与在空间上取决于每个庄园的土地数量。thegn ) 基本上没有参加战斗。本文最后讨论了这些发现对现有黑斯廷斯战役历史记载真实性的影响，以及将 GIS 分析应用于其他历史事件的选择和好处。