Which chronicle called the battle 'at the hoary apple tree'?

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle called the Battle of Hastings “at the hoary apple tree.”

The phrase appears in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle’s account of the battle’s location. “Hoary” meant grey or pale, and the reference probably described a crab-apple tree covered with lichen or otherwise distinctive enough to serve as a local landmark. Harold’s army is said to have camped nearby before moving to meet William’s forces.

The battle itself was fought on 14 October 1066, near present-day Battle in East Sussex, several miles northwest of Hastings. Later writers used other names: the Norman chronicler Orderic Vitalis called the site “Senlac,” while the Domesday Book referred to the event as the battle of Hastings by 1086.

The wording is a reminder that medieval battle names were not always fixed. The English chronicle identified a recognizable landscape feature, whereas later Norman and administrative sources used names tied to the battlefield’s stream, settlement or wider region. All refer to William’s victory over Harold Godwinson.