Lone3wolf: Not really : It was the Norwegian Vikings, and we kicked their arses at Stamford Bridge in Summer of 1066. Totally burned all their boats!! A couple of weeks before the Normans (NOT French!!) invaded the south and got a lucky shot off with a bow and arrow.
michaelleung: History lesson! Totally wrote that in an essay a few years back and scored full marks even though I was being ridiculously informal.
Well, TBH, there's some discussion about the veracity of the arrow in the eye on the Bayeaux Tapestry : Whether it really happened, or was a metaphor for some other punishment for the "usurpation" of the throne from William.
Historians do agree though, that the long march North, to deal with the viking incursions, then all the way back south to deal with the Normans was the main reason that Harold lost that fight. He couldn't afford to pay most of the troops for both campaigns, and the nobles needed to get back home to harvest the crops, etc....reallllly good timing on William's part, bad luck for Harold....and the French have been claiming it as a victory for a millennia, even though the Normans at that time were not French, or even a part of France. :P