Hair Length and William the Conqueror

About the history of William the Conqueror and how his armies won through a misunderstanding in hair length.

WILLIAM IVERSEN'S 10 BEST ODDITIES

William Became the Conqueror because of Haircuts. "As a result of Paul's aversion to long hair, the clergy of the Roman Church had been tonsured since the 7th century. The shaved heads of monk and priest were so familiar a sight at the time of the Norman invasion of England that one of King Harold's spies, assigned to make a count of William's troops, mistook the close-cropped Normans for an army of priests sent to 'chant masses.' The erroneous intelligence, relayed to the English monarch, led to such a fatal misjudgment of Norman strength that William became the Conqueror."