Mark Antony Lower

“ There, too, was the young knight Toustains Rtz-Rou le Blanc, bearing the sacred gonfanon which the pope had blessed and presented to William. This had been offered, in turn, to Raol de Conches, the hereditary standard-bearer of Normandy, and to Walter Giffard, but declined, by the former on the ground of his desiring the more useful service of the sword, by the latter on account of his bald and hoary head. "I shall be in the battle," he cried, "and you have not any man who will serve you more truly; I will strike with my sword till it shall be dyed in your enemies' blood!" ”

“ At length, according to Wace (to whose ample account of the battle I am principally indebted) ," the English stood ready to their post, the Normans still moving on; and when they drew near, the English were to be seen stirring to and fro; men going and coming; troops ranging themselves in order; some with their colour rising, others turning pale; some making ready their arms, others raising their shields; the brave man rousing himself to the fight, the coward trembling at the approaching danger." ”

“ We can well understand how the army could in a few hours erect a fortification of some strength by such means, when we remember that the ordinary mode of constructing houses of the meaner sort in Saxon times was by driving large stakes into the ground, and filling up the spaces by interweaving pliant branches of young trees, and covering the whole with clay or mud—a style of building still retained for out-houses in some parts of Sussex, and known by the rather unclassical designation of "raddle-and-dab." ”

“ Far different was the scene presented by the Norman army on the eve of the battle. The priests were everywhere busy, confessing and shriving the soldiery, and mingling with their penances and pardons exhortations to valorous deeds. All night they watched and prayed in portable chapels which had been fitted up throughout the camp. Among the priests-militant so engaged, two were especially conspicuous: Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, the Conqueror's uterine brother, afterwards Earl of Kent; and Geoffrey de Mowbray, Bishop of Coutances, a name subsequently famous in Sussex history. ”

“ For I contend that the study of archæology is every way calculated to improve the human mind and character. We review the barbarous past with interest it is true, but with no regret that our lot was not cast in Saxon or in Norman times. We can survey these venerable walls with pleasure, without the slightest yearning after cloistral life. In a word, like the traveller who has laboriously gained the summit of a lofty hill, we can look back upon the devious windings and rugged passes of the way, brightened and mellowed by distance ”

“ A cry now ran through the Norman host that the duke had fallen in the disaster at Malfosse, and the varlets [38] who had been set to guard the harness, seeing the sad loss of life in the fosse, began to quit their post and to fly from the impending danger. But William having been apprised of the report, and seeing numbers running away, hastened to stop them. Brandishing a spear with his right hand in a menacing manner, and at the same time removing his helmet with his left, he cried out, "Look! I am alive, and with God's help I will yet conquer." ”

“ Harold's personal bravery throughout was unimpeachable. Not content with the functions of a general in exhorting his followers, he was assiduous, we are told, in every soldier-like duty; often would he strike the enemy when coming to close quarters, so that none came within his reach with impunity; for in an instant he brought down at one blow both horse and rider. [43] On his part, William was equally intrepid, everywhere ready to encourage his chevaliers by his voice, his presence, and his example. "He lost," says Malmesbury, "three choice horses [44] that were pierced under him that day." ”

“ William de Warenne, afterwards lord of Lewes, came too, "his helmet setting gracefully on his head;" Robert earl of Mortaine, the future lord of Pevensey, "never went far from the duke's side, and brought him great aid; "Robert, earl of Eu, the counsellor of William, was there, and for his services received the rape of Hastings. He "demeaned himself as a brave man, and those whom his blows reached were ill handled." The names of D'Albini, De Aquila, Monceux, Mowbray, and Tregoz, all afterwards eminent in Sussex, also receive honourable mention in the Chronicle of Wace. ”

“ The men of Harold stood well together, as their wont in battle was, and woe to the hardy Norman who ventured to enter their redoubts; for a single blow of a Saxon war-hatchet would break his lance and cut through his coat of mail. [33] What force therefore could not do was at length effected by stratagem. To quote the words of the monk of Battel: "By a preconcerted scheme the duke feigned a retreat with his army, and Eustace the valiant count of Boulogne, nimbly following the rear of the English who were scattered in the pursuit, rushed upon them with his powerful troops." ”

“ He had a helmet made of wood, which he fastened down to his coat, and laced round his neck, so that no blows could reach his head. The ravage he was making was seen by a gallant Norman knight, who rode a horse that neither fire nor water could stop in its course when its lord urged it on. The knight spurred, and his horse carried him on well till he charged the Englishman, striking him over the helmet, so that it fell down over his eyes; and as he stretched out his hand to raise it and uncover his face, the Norman cut off his right hand, so that his hatchet fell to the ground. ”

“ Here the duke marshalled his followers into three columns of attack. In the first column of cavalry were the warriors of Boulogne and Ponthieu, with most of those adventurous mercenaries who so largely swelled the invading force; [9] in the second were the auxiliaries from Bretagne, Mantes, and Poitou: the great duke himself led what might be regarded as the flower of this congeries of armies, his own proper subjects, the chivalry of Normandy. While these preparations are being made, let us take a rapid glance at the appearance presented by William's soldiery. ”

“ They now proceeded to march from Telham Hill, and to cross the valley which separates that elevation from the one upon which Harold's army was encamped; the graceful and gradually rising spot upon which "the Abbey of the Battel" now rears its time-stained turrets. A finer site for a camp cannot be conceived: almost in its whole circumference bounded by low, and, in those days, marshy ground, it was difficult of access to the attacking army, and proportionably easy of defence ”

“ To the westward of the town of Battel, on the London road, is a large tree, called the Watch-Oak which is supposed to have derived its epithet from some watch set either the night before or the night after the battle; but the tradition is very vague. One other place may be noticed: this is Stan-dard-hill, in the adjacent parish of Ninfield, where somebody's standard, William's or Harold's, was set up. So says tradition; but there seems nothing to support such a notion. Harold's standard was first pitched here, and here it remained until it was supplanted by the oriflamme of the Conqueror ”

“ The Carmen, with admirable latitude of expression, says, that William killed "two thousands, besides innumerable other thousands!" Ordericus tells us, from the information of eye-witnesses, that the Normans lost 15,000 men. "How great think you," asks the monk of Battle, "must have been the slaughter of the conquered, when that of the conquerors is reported, upon the lowest computation, to have exceeded ten thousand?" ”

“ On the political causes of the battle I shall say nothing: they are well known to all. And on the events which succeeded William's landing at Pevensey on the 28th of September up to the fatal day—October the 14th, 1066, I have already contributed some remarks which have been published in the Society's transactions. [3] You will therefore have the goodness to consider the Norman duke as intrenched in his temporary castellum at Hastings, and the unfortunate Harold as having erected his standard and fixed his gonfanon upon this spot. ”

“ Then a hostile meeting of two semi-barbarous nations intent upon shedding each other's blood—now confluence of beauty, rank, and intelligence, equally intent upon diffusing pleasure, harmony, and good-will, and promoting the great cause of human progress. ”

“ The close order in which Harold's army was drawn up is noticed by several of our authorities. The Carmen says:—
"Anglorum stat fixa solo densissima turba, [32]
Tela dat et telis, et gladios gladiis;"
and Huntingdon compares it to a castle, impenetrable to the Normans—"quasi castellum impenetrabile Normannis." "Each side," says Wace, "defies the other, yet neither knoweth what the other saith; and the Normans say that the English hark (as in more modern times they tell us they whistle with 'la langue des oiseaux,' and for the same reason) —because they understand not their speech;" ”

“ Upon the vallum his soldiery erected a barricade, composed of their shields and of wood from the adjoining forests, principally ash, the whole being so joined and wattled together as to form an almost impenetrable wall. ”

“ There is no place near Battel which can, with a due regard to the proprieties of language, be called a "dreadful precipice" (miserabile præcipitium vaste patens) , though, by comparing Malmesbury with the Monk of Battel, I think I have succeeded in identifying the locality of this "bad ditch." From all the probabilities of the case it would seem that the flight and pursuit must have lain in a north-westerly direction, through that part of the district now known as Mountjoy. ”

“ Now if even contemporary accounts of modern battles are found to differ inter sese in some essential particulars, it must be a matter of great difficulty to frame an intelligible history, of the sanguinary conflicts of ancient times from the materials furnished us by partial and often incompetent chroniclers, and written from oral traditions at periods considerably subsequent to the transactions themselves. ”

“ Now it was that twenty of the Norman knights bound themselves to each other by a solemn vow that they would break the Saxon's ranks and bear off his standard, or perish in the attempt. In this hazardous enterprise many fell, but the rest, hacking a path with their swords, made themselves masters of the prize. [49] With this ensign of his regal authority fell Harold himself. An armed man," says Wace, "came in the throng of the battle and struck him on the ventaille of the helmet, and beat him to the ground ”

“ On the eve of such a crisis as they knew the next day must inevitably bring, they might have been more rationally employed than in drinking and dissipation. The Saxon camp in fact rather resembled that of a victorious host, than that of one which stood upon the very brink of destruction. "All night," says our graphic chronicler, "they might be seen carousing, gambolling, and dancing, and singing ”

“ It would appear that the conflict sometimes degenerated into mere skirmishes and personal encounters; and the historians, particularly Wace, give us some very interesting episodes of this kind, which, from internal evidence, would seem to have been furnished to him by eye-witnesses. One of these may be quoted:—
"On the other side was an Englishman who much annoyed the French, continually assaulting them with a keen-edged hatchet. ”

“ Edit. Aug. le Prevost. ↑ Chronicle of Battel Abbey, page 41. ↑ Rom de Rou, p. 167. ↑ Ibid., p. 194. ↑ Rom. de Rou, pp. 168, 169. ↑ Rom. de Rou. The Bayeux Tapestry makes little or no distinction between the dress of the Saxons and that of the Normans. ↑ Rom. de Rou, p. 200. ↑ Bayeux Tapestry. ↑ V. 369, 370. ↑ V. 377. Yet a popular picture, by A. Cooper, r.a., represents Harold (receiving the arrow in his eye) on horseback. ↑ Rom. de Rou, p. 186. ↑ Translation of Chron. de Bello, p. 5. ↑ Ibid. ↑ The Carmen styles him "Incisor ferri," "mimus," "histrio." ”