The army of Eustace, Second Count of Boulogne, faced a new problem. Aside from the prospect of attack by the Anglo-Saxon forces their choice of encampment was not as good an idea as it might've appeared from Eustace's point of view; William's policy of pillaging and burning to goad King Harold into joining battle had left the parish devoid of any viable shelter and any food they could've salvaged was now split amongst the three contingents of the allied forces and that was much lower than it could've been as a third of their supplies had been left behind for the English to plunder.
King Harold opted to break the largest of the enemy forces and, thusly, keep the remaining two split and morale low. Gyrth, having lost the most men and achieving the glory of taking William's head, was set the task of laying siege to Hastings and given first choice of reinforcements but was under strict instruction not to storm the town until Harold sent the word. Leofwine Godwinson, another of Harold's brothers, was allowed a smaller force than he'd commanded at the Battle of Hastings and sent to harry the Bretonic forces at Pevensey while the king retained the majority of the available strength.
Eustace of Boulogne had anticipated that a small force of Harold's men would be sent to Pevensey, but he'd assumed that they would be sent along the main road from Hastings while most of the Anglo-Saxon force would besiege the town. He'd readied a defence despite the weariness of his men on the morning of the 15th October, but no attack came. The weather was dry but the wind had turned bitter out of the East. In the afternoon Eustace ordered some scouts to check on the situation at Hastings where they each reported a large army in the vicinity by sunset, although what they'd actually encountered was Harold's men making ready to march upon Bexhill while guarding the road to London against any attempt by the Normans to sally. While this was occurring Leofwine and his men slipped past the sentries by a wide route to the North.
Come the morning of the 16th Harold's forces appeared on the road from Hastings. Eustace, having assumed that Harold was more concerned with taking Hastings, was taken by surprise as he was actually about to send some of his men to Pevensey with instructions to bring the boats along the coast. Eustace hurriedly sent out orders to establish a defence but Harold's army were already opening the battle with a mass of projectiles, which now included arrows released from Norman bows, and rendered the redeployment disorganised.
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