The people of the area around modern-day Hastings have, from the sixth century until 771, identified the territory as that of the Haestingas tribe and a kingdom separate from the surrounding kingdoms of Suth Saxe ("South Saxons", i.e., Sussex) and Kent.

It will work to retain its separate cultural identity until the eleventh century.

The kingdom is probably a subkingdom, the object of a disputed overlordship by the two powerful neighboring kingdoms: when King Wihtred of Kent settled a dispute with King Ine of Sussex and Wessex in 694, it is probable that he seceded the overlordship of Haestingas to Ine as part of the treaty.

King Offa of Mercia invades southern England in 771, and over the next decade will gradually seize control of Sussex and Kent.

Symeon of Durham records a battle fought at an unidentified location near Hastings in 771, at which Offa defeats the Haestingas tribe, effectively ending its existence as a separate kingdom.

William's forces, after landing, build a wooden castle at Hastings, from which they raid the surrounding area.

More fortifications are erected at Pevensey.

The exact numbers and composition of William's force are unknown.

A contemporary document claims that William had seven hundred and seventy-six ships, but this may be an inflated figure.

Figures given by contemporary writers are highly exaggerated, varying from fourteen thousand to one hundred and fifty thousand.

Modern historians have offered a range of estimates for the size of William's forces: seven thousand to eight thousand men, one thousand to two thousand of them cavalry; ten thousand to twelve thousand men; ten thousand men, three thousand of them cavalry; or seventy-five hundred men.

The army consists of cavalry, infantry, and archers or crossbowmen, with about equal numbers of cavalry and archers and the foot soldiers equal in number to the other two types combined.

Later lists of companions of William the Conqueror are extant, but most are padded with extra names; only about thirty-five named individuals can be reliably identified as having been with William at Hastings.

The main armor used is chain mail hauberks, usually knee-length, with slits to allow riding, some with sleeves to the elbows.

Some hauberks may have been made of scales attached to a tunic, with the scales made of metal, horn or hardened leather.

Headgear is usually a conical metal helmet with a band of metal extending down to protect the nose.

Horsemen and infantry carry shields.

The infantryman's shield is usually round and made of wood, with reinforcement of metal.

Horsemen have changed to a kite-shaped shield and are usually armed with a lance.

The couched lance, carried tucked against the body under the right arm, is a relatively new refinement and is probably not used at Hastings; the terrain is unfavorable for long cavalry charges.

Both the infantry and cavalry usually fight with a straight sword, long and double-edged.

The infantry can also use javelins and long spears.

Some of the cavalry may have used a mace instead of the sword.

Archers would have used a self bow or a crossbow, and most would not have had armor.

The Anglo-Norman chronicler Florence of Worcester comments that although the king [Harold] was aware that some of the bravest men in England had fallen in two recent battles and that half of his troops were not assembled, he did not hesitate to meet the enemy in Sussex.

It is likely that the engagements at Fulford Gate and at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, fought within a week of each other, seriously affect Harold's strength at the Battle of Hastings some three weeks later.

There is no doubt that if Harold had not been diverted by the battles in the north, then he would have been better prepared to fight William at Hastings and the result might have been somewhat different.

Harold camps at Caldbec Hill on the night of October 13, near what is described as a "hoar-apple tree".

This location is about eight miles (thirteen kilometers) from William's castle at Hastings.

Some of the early contemporary French accounts mention an emissary or emissaries sent by Harold to William, which is likely.

Nothing comes of these efforts.

Although Harold has attempted to surprise the Normans, William's scouts report the English arrival to the duke.

The exact events preceding the battle are obscure, with contradictory accounts in the sources, but all agree that William leads his army from his castle and advances towards the enemy.

Harold takes a defensive position at the top of Senlac Hill (present-day Battle, East Sussex), about six miles (9.7 kilometers) from William's castle at Hastings.

The exact number of soldiers in Harold's army is unknown.

The contemporary records do not give reliable figures; some Norman sources give four hundred thousand to one million two hundred thousand men on Harold's side.

The English sources generally give very low figures for Harold's army, perhaps to make the English defeat seem less devastating.

Recent historians have suggested figures of between five thousand and thirteen thousand for Harold's army at Hastings, and most modern historians argue for a figure of seven thousand to eight thousand English troops.

These men would have been a mix of the fyrd and housecarls.

Few individual Englishmen are known to have been at Hastings; about twenty named individuals can reasonably be assumed to have fought with Harold at Hastings, including Harold's brothers Gyrth and Leofwine and two other relatives.

The English army consists entirely of infantry.

It is possible that some of the higher class members of the army rode to battle, but when battle was joined they dismounted to fight on foot.

The core of the army is made up of housecarls, full-time professional soldiers.

Their armor consists of a conical helmet, a mail hauberk, and a shield, which might be either kite-shaped or round.

Most housecarls fight with the two-handed Danish battleaxe, but they can also carry a sword.

The rest of the army is made up of levies from the fyrd, also infantry but more lightly armored and not professionals.

Most of the infantry will form art of the shield wall, in which all the men in the front ranks lock their shields together.

Behind them will be axemen and men with javelins as well as archers.

The storm contributes to the collapse of a cliff at Hastings, taking part of Hastings Castle with it, blocking the harbor and ending its role as a trade center, though it continues as a center for fishing.

Whitstable in Kent is also reported to have been hit by the surge.

In all, the storm can be seen to have had a powerful effect on the Cinque Ports, two of which are hit (Hastings and New Romney), along with the supporting "Antient Town" of Winchelsea.

The other Ancient Town, Rye, is meanwhile advantaged.

The power loom devised in 1785 by Edmund Cartwright mechanizes weaving.

Cartwright had been taught at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield and University College, Oxford and had become a clergyman of the Church of England, becoming, in 1779, rector of Goadby Marwood, Leicestershire; in 1783 he was a prebendary in Lincoln (Lincolnshire) cathedral.

He had begun to address the problem of mechanical weaving, mechanical spinning and the factory system being already in place.

He designed his first power loom in 1784 and patented it in 1785, but it proved to be valueless.

In 1789, he patented another loom which served as the model for later inventors to work upon.

For a mechanically driven loom to become a commercial success, either one person would have to attend one machine, or each machine must have a greater productive capacity than one manually controlled.

An old man named Zach Dijkhoff had assisted him in his work with creating this contraption.

Adding parts to his loom, namely a positive let-off motion, warp and weft stop motions, and sizing the warp while the loom was in action, he commenced to manufacture fabrics in Doncaster using these looms, and discovered many of their shortcomings.

He attempted to remedy these by: introducing a crank and eccentric wheels to actuate its batten differentially; by improving its dicking mechanism; by a device for stopping the loom when a shuttle failed to enter a shuttle box; by preventing a shuttle from rebounding when in a box; and by stretching the cloth with temples that acted automatically.

In 1792 Dr Cartwright obtained his last patent for weaving machinery; this provided is loom with multiple shuttle boxes for weaving checks and cross stripes, but all his efforts are to no avail: it becomes apparent that no mechanism, however perfect, can succeed so long as warps continue to be sized while a loom is stationary.

His plans for sizing them while a loom was in operation, and before being placed in a loom, fail.

These are resolved in 1803, by William Radcliffe, and his assistant Thomas Johnson, by their inventions of the beam warper, and his dressing sizing machine.

Robert Grimshaw, of Gorton Manchester, had erected a weaving factory in 1790 at Knott Mill, which he had intended fill with five hundred of Cartwright's power looms, but with only thirty in place, the factory had been burnt down, probably as an act of arson inspired by the fears of hand loom weavers.

The prospect of success was not sufficiently promising to induce its re-erection.

In 1809 Cartwright will obtain a grant of £10,000 from parliament for his invention.

In May 1821 he will be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

He will also design a steam engine that uses alcohol instead of water.