I bought a book titled "The Battle of Hastings" by Stephen Morillo, just to get a chance to read all the extant sources about the battle (although he doesn't include them all, worse luck!) Having heard about "the Carmen" for aeons it seems, I finally read it - and it is INCREDIBLY interesting. But all through the book, the author kept referring disaparagingly to the Carmen as possible NOT a good source, etc., etc. The reason being, that no other source mentions that William and three other Normans actually rode up the hill and killed Harold personally by chopping him into bits (no arrow).

I'm hoping someone here who knows far more than I, can tell me why the Carmen is considered a weak source, and why - pace the Bayeaux tapestry - it is so impossible that the Duke did kill Harold?l

In any event, I got chills reading it - as opposed to so many of the other sources, it was incredibly life-like, which is why I'd like to believe it's not bogus!