POLITICAL HISTORY done to make the position secure, the English soldiery gave themselves up to feasting, song, and minstrelsy, singing of their past victories, drinking to each other and shouting defiance of the enemy. In the rival camp the sterner temperament of the Normans, influenced by the semi-religious character given to their enterprise and the genuine piety of their leader, found expression in prayer : the princely bishops Odo of Bayeux and Geoffrey of Coutances, with other lesser priests and monks, went through the host administering the consolations of religion to all.' When the morning of Saturday, October 14, dawned, William briefly addressed his troops, and then set them in motion. As they rode over the brow of Telham hill the English forces came into view on the ridge below. In the centre waved the national standard, the dragon of Wessex, and Harold's personal ensign of the fighting man : here were stationed Harold himself, his brothers Gurth and Leofwine, and probably Leofric, the aged Abbot of Peterborough, and iElfwig, abbot of Winchester, with the house-carls — the picked troops of the army.' All along the brow of the ridge ran a line of heavy-armed infantry in close order, shoulder to shoulder and shield touching shield, forming a defensive wall, a living rampart ^ ; behind them were the light-armed troops and rustic levies, many with no better weapons than clubs and stones, and in the foreground were probably a number of skirmishers. On Telham hill the Norman knights put on their armour, and once again the Duke showed his freedom from superstition, for in putting on his coat of mail the forepart was turned hindmost ; careless of the ill-omen he lightly said that it but signified that he who was now a Duke should be turned round into a King, and mounted forthwith upon his Spanish war-horse.* As he gazed upon his enemy's array he vowed that if God would grant him the victory he would build a great abbey where Harold's standard flew.^ Then he and his host rode on ; on the left were the Breton cavalry under Alan of Brittany and Ralph of Wader of Norfolk, on the right were the French mercenaries with William Fitz-Osbern, Eustace of Boulogne, and probably Roger of Montgomery.^ In the centre — where the consecrated banner was borne by Toustain of Bee — rode William himself and his brothers Odo, bishop of Bayeux, and Count Robert of Mortain, with many others whose names are famous in English history.^ As soon as the troops had reached the lower ground the gallant minstrel knight Taillefer^ spurred forward, chanting the deeds of Char- lemagne and the song of Roland and of Roncesvalles, tossing his sword in the air and catching it again as he rode on ; then dashing upon the English skirmishers he struck down two, but fell beneath the axe of a third. The overture was finished, and now the curtain rose on the • Freeman, op. cit. 451. ' Ibid. 475-6. » Round, op. cit. 346.
- Freeman, op. cit. 455-6. ^ Ibid. 457.
Although a story of his personal conflict with a gigantic Englishman is related by Wace (ibid. 494), some doubt exists whether he was actually present at the battle. 7 Ibid. 458-66. 8 Ibid. 478. 487
