The Battle manuscript preserved in the Bodleian Library was compiled around 1130 to 1160, roughly 70 to 100 years after the invasion. Its compilers could draw on records and memories that no longer survive independently. The ship list is indispensable, but it is later evidence that cannot settle every total with precision. It is best treated as the starting point for comparison with other accounts rather than as a complete fleet return.
Notable Point · 37:15-37:50
The ship list is a later but essential source
The surviving Battle manuscript ship list was compiled roughly 70 to 100 years after 1066, so it is indispensable evidence with the limitations of a later source.