The Norman Conquest of England

135,000

estimated total dead

Each dot below represents 1,000 human lives. Scroll to watch the scale unfold.

Military Dead

30,000 soldiers killed in combat, from wounds, or from disease. Each = 1,000 lives.

Anglo-Saxon England — 18,000 military dead

Normans (Duke William) — 6,000 military dead

Norwegian Invaders — 6,000 military dead

Civilian Dead

105,000 civilians killed — from violence, famine, disease, and displacement. Wars are not fought only by soldiers.

Civilian dead — 105,000

Deadliest Engagements

The Harrying of the North100,000

incl. 95,000 civilians

Battle of Hastings9,000

Battle of Stamford Bridge8,000

Battle of Fulford5,000

The Submission of London2,000

incl. 1,500 civilians

The Siege of Ely2,000

Siege of Exeter1,000

For Perspective

How Norman Conquest's dead compare to other conflicts and events.

Norman Conquest — total dead135,000

Norman Conquest (est.)135,000

Harrying of the North alone100,000

Battle of Hastings9,000

Later Wars of the Roses (est.)50,000

Milestones of Loss

9,000 dead

9,000 — estimated dead at Hastings, where the Anglo-Saxon state fell in a day

100,000 dead

100,000+ — possible toll of the Harrying of the North from sword and famine

135,000 dead

135,000 — rough estimate of total deaths across the conquest and its pacification

All figures are historical estimates and vary across sources. The true human cost of war is impossible to fully quantify — these numbers represent the best scholarly consensus. Each number was a person with a name, a family, and a life unlived.