History of the World/History of the World (Bureau Development, Inc.)(1992).BIN/dp/0298/02982.txt

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$Title{Norman Conquest Of England, Battle Of Hastings
Part II.}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Creasy, Sir Edward Shepherd}
$Affiliation{}
$Subject{english
normans
battle
standard
struck
themselves
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fell
harold
upon
see
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see
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}
$Date{}
$Log{See The Battle Of Senlac*0298201.scf
}
Title:       Norman Conquest Of England, Battle Of Hastings
Author:      Creasy, Sir Edward Shepherd

Part II.

     "The English had built up a fence before them with their shields and with
ash and other wood, and had well joined and wattled in the whole work, so as
not to leave even a crevice; and thus they had a barricade in their front
through which any Norman who would attack them must first pass.  Being covered
in this way by their shields and barricades, their aim was to defend
themselves; and if they had remained steady for that purpose, they would not
have been conquered that day; for every Norman who made his way in lost his
life in dishonor, either by hatchet or bill, by club or other weapon.

     "They wore short and close hauberks, and helmets that hung over their
garments.  King Harold issued orders, and made proclamation round, that all
should be ranged with their faces toward the enemy, and that no one should
move from where he was, so that whoever came might find them ready; and that
whatever anyone, be he Norman or other, should do, each should do his best to
defend his own place.  Then he ordered the men of Kent to go where the Normans
were likely to make the attack; for they say that the men of Kent are entitled
to strike first; and that whenever the king goes to battle, the first blow
belongs to them.  The right of the men of London is to guard the king's body,
to place themselves around him, and to guard his standard; and they were
accordingly placed by the standard to watch and defend it.

     "When Harold had made all ready, and given his orders, he came into the
midst of the English and dismounted by the side of the standard; Leofwine and
Gurth, his brothers, were with him; and around him he had barons enough, as he
stood by his standard, which was, in truth, a noble one, sparkling with gold
and precious stones.  After the victory William sent it to the Pope, to prove
and commemorate his great conquest and glory.  The English stood in close
ranks, ready and eager for the fight; and they, moreover, made a fosse, which
went across the field, guarding one side of their army.

     "Meanwhile the Normans appeared advancing over the ridge of a rising
ground, and the first division of their troops moved onward along the hill and
across a valley.  And presently another division, still larger, came in sight,
close following upon the first, and they were led toward another part of the
field, forming together as the first body had done.  And while Harold saw and
examined them, and was pointing them out to Gurth, a fresh company came in
sight, covering all the plain; and in the midst of them was raised the
standard that came from the Rome.

     "Near it was the Duke, and the best men and greatest strength of the army
were there.  The good knights, the good vassals, and brave warriors were
there; and there were gathered together the gentle barons, the good archers,
and the men-at-arms, whose duty it was to guard the Duke, and range themselves
around him.  The youths and common herd of the camp, whose business was not to
join in the battle, but to take care of the harness and stores, moved off
toward a rising ground.  The priests and the clerks also ascended a hill,
there to offer up prayers to God, and watch the event of the battle.

     "The English stood firm on foot in close ranks, and carried themselves
right boldly.  Each man had his hauberk on, with his sword girt, and his
shield at his neck.  Great hatchets were also slung at their necks, with which
they expected to strike heavy blows.

     "The Normans brought on the three divisions of their army to attack at
different places.  They set out in three companies, and in three companies did
they fight.  The first and second had come up, and then advanced the third,
which was the greatest; with that came the Duke with his own men, and all
moved boldly forward.

     "As soon as the two armies were in full view of each other, great noise
and tumult arose.  You might hear the sound of many trumpets, of bugles, and
of horns; and then you might see men ranging themselves in line, lifting their
shields, raising their lances, bending their bows, handling their arrows,
ready for assault and defence.

     "The English stood steady to their post, the Normans still moved on; and
when they drew near, the English were to be seen stirring to and fro; were
going and coming; troops ranging themselves in order, some with their color
rising, others turning pale; some making ready their arms, others raising
their shields; the brave man rousing himself to fight, the coward trembling at
the approach of danger.

     "Then Taillefer, who sang right well, rode, mounted on a swift horse,
before the Duke, singing of Charlemagne and of Roland, of Oliver, and the
peers who died in Roncesvalles.  And when they drew nigh to the English,

     "'A boon, sire!' cried Taillefer; 'I have long served you, and you owe me
for all such service.  To-day, so please you, you shall repay it.  I ask as my
guerdon, and beseech you for it earnestly, that you will allow me to strike
the first blow in the battle!' And the Duke answered, 'I grant it.'

     "Then Taillefer put his horse to a gallop, charging before all the rest,
and struck an Englishman dead, driving his lance below the breast into his
body, and stretching him upon the ground.  Then he drew his sword, and struck
another, crying out, 'Come on, come on!  What do ye, sirs? lay on, lay on!' At
the second blow he struck the English pushed forward, and surrounded, and slew
him.  Forthwith arose the noise and cry of war, and on either side the people
put themselves in motion.

     "The Normans moved on to the assault, and the English defended themselves
well.  Some were striking, others urging onward; all were bold and cast aside
fear.  And now, behold, that battle was gathered whereof the fame is yet
mighty.

     "Loud and far resounded the bray of the horns and the shocks of the
lances, the mighty strokes of maces and the quick clashing of swords.  One
while the Englishmen rushed on, another while they fell back; one while the
men from over sea charged onward, and again at other times retreated.  The
Normans shouted, 'Dex Aie,' the English people, 'Out.' Then came the cunning
manoeuvres, the rude shocks and strokes of the lance and blows of the swords,
among the sergeants and soldiers, both English and Norman.

     "When the English fall, the Normans shout.  Each side taunts and defies
the other, yet neither knoweth what the other saith; and the Normans say the
English bark, because they understand not their speech.

     "Some wax strong, others weak: the brave exult, but the cowards tremble,
as men who are sore dismayed.  The Normans press on the assault, and the
English defend their post well; they pierce the hauberks and cleave the
shields, receive and return mighty blows.  Again, some press forward, others
yield; and thus, in various ways, the struggle proceeds.  In the plain was a
fosse, which the Normans had now behind them, having passed it in the fight
without regarding it.  But the English charged and drove the Normans before
them till they made them fall back upon this fosse, overthrowing into it
horses and men.  Many were to be seen falling therein, rolling one over the
others, with their faces to the earth, and unable to rise.  Many of the
English also, whom the Normans drew down along with them, died there.  At no
time during the day's battle did so many Normans die as perished in that
fosse.  So those said who saw the dead.

     "The varlets who were set to guard the harness began to abandon it as
they saw the loss of the Frenchmen when thrown back upon the fosse without
power to recover themselves.  Being greatly alarmed at seeing the difficulty
in restoring order, they began to quit the harness, and sought around, not
knowing where to find shelter.  Then Duke William's brother, Odo, the good
priest, the Bishop of Bayeux, galloped up and said to them: 'Stand fast! tand
fast! be quiet and move not! fear nothing; for, if God please, we shall
conquer yet.' So they took courage and rested where they were; and Odo
returned galloping back to where the battle was most fierce, and was of great
service on that day.  He had put a hauberk on over a white aube, wide in the
body, with the sleeve tight, and sat on a white horse, so that all might
recognize him.  In his hand he held a mace, and wherever he saw most need he
held up and stationed the knights, and often urged them on to assault and
strike the enemy.

     "From nine o'clock in the morning, when the combat began, till three
o'clock came, the battle was up and down, this way and that, and no one knew
who would conquer and win the land.  Both sides stood so firm and fought so
well that no one could guess which would prevail.  The Norman archers with
their bows shot thickly upon the English; but they covered themselves with
their shields, so that the arrows could not reach their bodies nor do any
mischief, how true soever was their aim or however well they shot.  Then the
Normans determined to shoot their arrows upward into the air, so that they
might fall on their enemies' heads and strike their faces.  The archers
adopted this scheme and shot up into the air toward the English; and the
arrows, in falling, struck their heads and faces and put out the eyes of many;
and all feared to open their eyes or leave their faces unguarded.

     "The arrows now flew thicker than rain before the wind; fast sped the
shafts that the English call 'wibetes.' Then it was that an arrow, that had
been thus shot upward, struck Harold above his right eye, and put it out.  In
his agony he drew the arrow and threw it away, breaking it with his hands; and
the pain to his head was so great that he leaned upon his shield.  So the
English were wont to say, and still say to the French, that the arrow was well
shot which was so sent up against their King, and that the archer won them
great glory who thus put out Harold's eye.

     "The Normans saw that the English defended themselves well, and were so
strong in their position that they could do little against them.  So they
consulted together privily, and arranged to draw off, and pretend to flee,
till the English should pursue and scatter themselves over the field; for they
saw that if they could once get their enemies to break their ranks, they might
be attacked and discomfited much more easily.  As they had said, so they did.
The Normans by little and little fled, the English following them. As the one
fell back, the other pressed after; and when the Frenchmen retreated, the
English thought and cried out that the men of France fled and would never
return.

     "Thus they were deceived by the pretended flight, and great mischief
thereby befell them; for it they had not moved from their position, it is not
likely that they would have been conquered at all; but, like fools, they broke
their lines and pursued.

     "The Normans were to be seen following up their stratagem, retreating
slowly so as to draw the English farther on.  As they still flee, the English
pursue; they push out their lances and stretch forth their hatchets, following
the Normans as they go, rejoicing in the success of their scheme, and
scattering themselves over the plain.  And the English meantime jeered and
insulted their foes with words.  'Cowards,' they cried, 'you came hither in an
evil hour, wanting our lands and seeking to seize our property; fools that ye
were to come!  Normandy is too far off, and you will not easily reach it.  It
is of little use to run back; unless you can cross the sea at a leap or can
drink it dry, your sons and daughters are lost to you.'

     "The Normans bore it all; but, in fact, they knew not what the English
said: their language seemed like the baying of dogs, which they could not
understand.  At length they stopped and turned round, determined to recover
their ranks; and the barons might be heard crying, 'Dex Aie!' for a halt. Then
the Normans resumed their former position, turning their faces toward the
enemy; and their men were to be seen facing round and rushing onward to a
fresh melee, the one party assaulting the other; this man striking, another
pressing onward.  One hits, another misses; one flies, another pursues; one is
aiming a stroke, while another discharges his blow.  Norman strives with
Englishman again, and aims his blows afresh.  One flies, another pursues
swiftly: the combatants are many, the plain wide, the battle and the melee
fierce.  On every hand they fight hard, the blows are heavy, and the struggle
becomes fierce.

     "The Normans were playing their part well, when an English knight came
rushing up, having in his company a hundred men furnished with various arms.
He wielded a northern hatchet with the blade a full foot long, and was well
armed after his manner, being tall, bold, and of noble carriage.  In the front
of the battle, where the Normans thronged most, he came bounding on swifter
than the stag, many Normans falling before him and his company.

     "He rushed straight upon a Norman who was armed and riding on a
war-horse, and tried with his hatchet of steel to cleave his helmet; but the
blow miscarried, and the sharp blade glanced down before the saddle-bow,
driving through the horse's neck down to the ground, so that both horse and
master fell together to the earth.  I know not whether the Englishman struck
another blow; but the Normans who saw the stroke were astonished and about to
abandon the assault, when Roger de Montgomeri came galloping up, with his
lance set, and, heeding not the long-handled axe which the Englishman wielded
aloft, struck him down and left him stretched on the ground.  Then Roger cried
out, 'Frenchmen, strike! the day is ours!' And again a fierce melee was to be
seen, with many a blow of lance and sword; the English still defending
themselves, killing the horses and cleaving the shields.

     "There was a French soldier of noble mien who sat his horse gallantly. He
spied two Englishmen who were also carrying themselves boldly.  They were both
men of great worth and had become companions in arms and fought together, the
one protecting the other.  They bore two long and broad bills and did great
mischief to the Normans, killing both horses and men.

     "The French soldier looked at them and their bills and was sore alarmed,
for he was afraid of losing his good horse, the best that he had, and would
willingly have turned to some other quarter if it would not have looked like
cowardice.  He soon, however, recovered his courage, and, spurring his horse,
gave him the bridle and galloped swiftly forward.  Fearing the two bills, he
raised his shield, and struck one of the Englishmen with his lance on the
breast, so that the iron passed out at his back.  At the moment that he fell
the lance broke, and the Frenchman seized the mace that hung at his right
side, and struck the other Englishman a blow that completely fractured his
skull.

     "On the other side was an Englishman who much annoyed the French,
continually assaulting them with a keen-edged hatchet.  He had a helmet made
of wood, which he had 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 carrer when its master 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 if 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.  Another Norman sprang forward and eagerly seized
the prize with both his hands, but he kept it little space and paid dearly for
it, for as he stooped to pick up the hatchet an Englishman with his
long-handled axe struck him over the back, breaking all his bones, so that his
entrails and lungs gushed forth.  The knight of the good horse meantime
returned without injury; but on his way he met another Englishman and bore him
down under his horse, wounding him grievously and trampling him altogether
under foot.

     "And now might be heard the loud clang and cry of battle and the clashing
of lances.  The English stood firm in their barricades, and shivered the
lances, beating them into pieces with their bills and maces.  The Normans drew
their swords and hewed down the barricades, and the English, in great trouble,
fell back upon their standard, where were collected the maimed and wounded.

     "There were many knights of Chauz who jousted and made attacks.  The
English knew not how to joust, or bear arms on horseback, but fought with
hatchets and bills.  A man, when he wanted to strike with one of their
hatchets, was obliged to hold it with both his hands, and could not at the
same time, as it seems to me, both cover himself and strike with any freedom.

     "The English fell back toward the standard, which was upon a rising
ground, and the Normans followed them across the valley, attacking them on
foot and horseback.  Then Hue de Mortemer, with the Sires D'Auviler, D'Onebac,
and St. Cler, rode up and charged, overthrowing many.

     "Robert Fitz Erneis fixed his lance, took his shield, and, galloping
toward the standard, with his keen-edged sword struck an Englishman who was in
front, killed him, and then drawing back his sword, attacked many others, and
pushed straight for the standard, trying to beat it down; but the English
surrounded it and killed him with their bills.  He was found on the spot, when
they afterward sought for him, dead and lying at the standard's foot.

     "Duke William pressed close upon the English with his lance, striving
hard to reach the standard with the great troop he led, and seeking earnestly
for Harold, on whose account the whole war was.  The Normans follow their
lord, and press around him; they ply their blows upon the English, and these
defend themselves stoutly, striving hard with their enemies, returning blow
for blow.

     "One of them was a man of great strength, a wrestler, who did great
mischief to the Normans with his hatchet; all feared him, for he struck down a
great many Normans.  The Duke spurred on his horse, and aimed a blow at him,
but he stooped, and so escaped the stroke; then jumping on one side, he lifted
his hatchet aloft, and as the Duke bent to avoid the blow, the Englishman
boldly struck him on the head and beat in his helmet, though without doing
much injury.  He was very near falling, however; but, bearing on his stirrups,
he recovered himself immediately; and when he thought to have revenged himself
upon the churl by killing him, he had escaped, dreading the Duke's blow.  He
ran back in among the English, but he was not safe even there; for the
Normans, seeing him, pursued and caught him, and having pierced him through
and through with their lances, left him dead on the ground.

     "Where the throng of the battle was greatest, the men of Kent and Essex
fought wondrously well, and made the Normans again retreat, but without doing
them much injury.  And when the Duke saw his men fall back and the English
triumphing over them, his spirit rose high, and he seized his shield and his
lance, which a vassal handed to him, and took his post by his standard.

     "Then those who kept close guard by him and rode where he rode, being
about a thousand armed men, came and rushed with closed ranks upon the
English, and, with the weight of their good horses, and the blows the knights
gave, broke the press of the enemy, and scattered the crowd before them, the
good Duke leading them on in front.  Many pursued and many fled; many were the
Englishmen who fell around, and were trampled under the horses, crawling upon
the earth, and not able to rise.  Many of the richest and noblest men fell in
the rout, but still the English rallied in places, smote down those whom they
reached, and maintained the combat the best they could, beating down the men
and killing the horses.  One Englishman watched the Duke, and plotted to kill
him; he would have struck him with his lance, but he could not, for the Duke
struck him first, and felled him to the earth.

     "Loud was now the clamor and great the slaughter; many a soul then
quitted the body it inhabited.  The living marched over the heaps of dead, and
each side was weary of striking.  He charged on who could, and he who could no
longer strike still pushed forward.  The strong struggled with the strong;
some failed, others triumphed; the cowards fell back, the brave pressed on;
and sad was his fate who fell in the midst, for he had little chance of rising
again; and many in truth fell who never rose at all, being crushed under the
throng.

     "And now the Normans had pressed on so far that at last they had reached
the standard.  There Harold had remained, defending himself to the utmost; but
he was sorely wounded in his eye by the arrow, and suffered grievous pain from
the blow.  An armed man came in the throng of the battle, and struck him on
the ventail of his helmet, and beat him to the ground; and as he sought to
recover himself a knight beat him down again, striking him on the thick of his
thigh, down to the bone.

     "Gurth saw the English falling around, and that there was no remedy.  He
saw his race hastening to ruin, and despaired of any aid; he would have fled,
but could not, for the throng continually increased.  And the Duke pushed on
till he reached him, and struck him with great force.  Whether he died of that
blow I know not, but it was said that he fell under it and rose no more.

     "The standard was beaten down, the golden standard was taken, and Harold
and the rest of his friends were slain; but there was so much eagerness, and
throng of so many around, seeking to kill him, that I know not who it was that
slew him.

     "The English were in great trouble at having lost their King and at the
Duke's having conquered and beat down the standard; but they still fought on,
and defended themselves long, and in fact till the day drew to a close.  Then
it clearly appeared to all that the standard was lost, and the news had spread
throughout the army that Harold, for certain, was dead; and all saw that there
was no longer any hope, so they left the field, and those fled who could.

     "William fought well; many an assault did he lead, many a blow did he
give, and many receive, and many fell dead under his hand.  Two horses were
killed under him, and he took a third when necessary, so that he fell not to
the ground and lost not a drop of blood.  But whatever anyone did, and whoever
lived or died, this is certain that William conquered and that many of the
English fled from the field, and many died on the spot.  Then he returned
thanks to God, and in his pride ordered his standard to be brought and set up
on high, where the English standard had stood; and that was the signal of his
having conquered, and beaten down the standard.  And he ordered his tent to be
raised on the spot among the dead, and had his meat brought thither, and his
supper prepared there.

     "Then he took off his armor; and the barons and knights, pages and
squires came, when he had unstrung his shield; and they took the helmet from
his head and the hauberk from his back, and saw the heavy blows upon his
shield and how his helmet was dinted in.  And all greatly wondered and said:
'Such a baron (ber) never bestrode war-horse nor dealt such blows nor did such
feats of arms; neither has there been on earth such a knight since Rollant and
Oliver.'

     "Thus they lauded and extolled him greatly and rejoiced in what they saw,
but grieving also for their friends who were slain in the battle.  And the
Duke stood meanwhile among them, of noble stature and mien, and rendered
thanks to the King of Glory, through whom he had the victory, and thanked the
knights around him, mourning also frequently for the dead.  And he ate and
drank among the dead, and made his bed that night upon the field.

     "The morrow was Sunday; and those who had slept upon the field of battle,
keeping watch around and suffering great fatigue, bestirred themselves at
break of day and sought out and buried such of the bodies of their dead
friends as they might find.  The noble ladies of the land also came, some to
seek their husbands, and others their fathers, sons, or brothers.  They bore
the bodies to their villages and interred them at the churches; and the clerks
and priests of the country were ready, and at the request of their friends
took the bodies that were found, and prepared graves and lay them therein.

     "King Harold was carried and buried at Varham; but I know not who it was
that bore him thither, neither do I know who buried him.  Many remained on the
field, and many had fled in the night."

     Such is a Norman account of the battle of Hastings, which does full
justice to the valor of the Saxons as well as to the skill and bravery of the
victors.  It is indeed evident that the loss of the battle by the English was
owing to the wound which Harold received in the afternoon, and which must have
incapacitated him from effective command.  When we remember that he had
himself just won the battle of Stamford Bridge over Harald Hardrada by the
manoeuvre of a feigned flight, it is impossible to suppose that he could be
deceived by the same stratagem on the part of the Normans at Hastings.  But
his men, when deprived of his control, would very naturally be led by their
inconsiderate ardor into the pursuit that proved so fatal to them.  All the
narratives of the battle, however much they vary as to the precise time and
manner of Harold's fall, eulogize the generalship and the personal prowess
which he displayed until the fatal arrow struck him.  The skill with which he
had posted his army was proved both by the slaughter which it cost the Normans
to force the position, and also by the desperate rally which some of the
Saxons made after the battle in the forest in the rear, in which they cut off
a large number of the pursuing Normans.  This circumstance is particularly
mentioned by William of Poictiers, the Conqueror's own chaplain. Indeed, if
Harold or either of his brothers had survived, the remains of the English army
might have formed again in the wood, and could at least have effected an
orderly retreat and prolonged the war.  But both Gurth and Leofwine, and all
the bravest thanes of Southern England, lay dead on Senlac, around their
fallen King and the fallen standard of their country.  The exact number that
perished on the Saxons' side is unknown; but we read that, on the side of the
victors, out of sixty thousand men who had been engaged, no less than a fourth
perished; so well had the English billmen "plyed the ghastly blow," and so
sternly had the Saxon battle-axe cloven Norman's casque and mail.  The old
historian Daniel justly as well as forcibly remarks: "Thus was tried, by the
great assize of God's judgment in battle, the right of power between the
English and Norman nations; a battle the most memorable of all others, and,
however miserably lost, yet most nobly fought on the part of England."

[See The Battle Of Senlac: Important issues for England were at stake in the
great battle of Senlac, near Hastings, which was fought on October 14, 1066.
Landing on the shores of this country, William I, Duke of Normandy, was
determined to bring the kingdom of England under his power, and leading his
great army to Senlac he awaited the attack of King Harold. In the battle which
ensued the English troops were overthrown. Harold and his two brave brothers
fell with many of their faithful followers. One of the first acts of William
the Conqueror after his coronation was to buil a convent at Senlac.]

     Many a pathetic legend was told in after years respecting the discovery
and the burial of the corpse of our last Saxon King.  The main circumstances,
though they seem to vary, are perhaps reconcilable.  Two of the monks of
Waltham Abbey, which Harold had founded a little time before his election to
the throne, had accompanied him to the battle.  On the morning after the
slaughter they begged and gained permission of the Conqueror to search for the
body of their benefactor.  The Norman soldiery and camp followers had stripped
and gashed the slain, and the two monks vainly strove to recognize from among
the mutilated and gory heaps around them the features of their former King.
They sent for Harold's mistress, Edith, surnamed "the Fair," and "the
Swan-necked," to aid them.  The eye of love proved keener than the eye of
gratitude, and the Saxon lady even in that Aceldama knew her Harold.

     The King's mother now sought the victorious Norman, and begged the dead
body of her son.  But William at first answered, in his wrath and the hardness
of his heart, that a man who had been false to his word and his religion
should have no other sepulchre than the sand of the shore.  He added, with a
sneer: "Harold mounted guard on the coast while he was alive; he may continue
his guard now he is dead." The taunt was an unintentional eulogy; and a grave
washed by the spray of the Sussex waves would have been the noblest
burial-place for the martyr of Saxon freedom.  But Harold's mother was urgent
in her lamentations and her prayers; the Conqueror relented: like Achilles, he
gave up the dead body of his fallen foe to a parent's supplications, and the
remains of King Harold were deposited with regal honors in Waltham Abbey.

     On Christmas Day in the same year William the Conqueror was crowned, at
London, King of England.