CHAPTER VII--ENGLAND UNDER HAROLD THE SECOND, AND CONQUERED BY THENORMANS
Harold was crowned King of England on the very day of the maudlinConfessor's funeral. He had good need to be quick about it. When thenews reached Norman William, hunting in his park at Rouen, he dropped hisbow, returned to his palace, called his nobles to council, and presentlysent ambassadors to Harold, calling on him to keep his oath and resignthe Crown. Harold would do no such thing. The barons of France leaguedtogether round Duke William for the invasion of England. Duke Williampromised freely to distribute English wealth and English lands amongthem. The Pope sent to Normandy a consecrated banner, and a ringcontaining a hair which he warranted to have grown on the head of SaintPeter. He blessed the enterprise; and cursed Harold; and requested thatthe Normans would pay 'Peter's Pence'--or a tax to himself of a penny ayear on every house--a little more regularly in future, if they couldmake it convenient.
King Harold had a rebel brother in Flanders, who was a vassal of HAROLDHARDRADA, King of Norway. This brother, and this Norwegian King, joiningtheir forces against England, with Duke William's help, won a fight inwhich the English were commanded by two nobles; and then besieged York.Harold, who was waiting for the Normans on the coast at Hastings, withhis army, marched to Stamford Bridge upon the river Derwent to give theminstant battle.
He found them drawn up in a hollow circle, marked out by their shiningspears. Riding round this circle at a distance, to survey it, he saw abrave figure on horseback, in a blue mantle and a bright helmet, whosehorse suddenly stumbled and threw him.
'Who is that man who has fallen?' Harold asked of one of his captains.
'The King of Norway,' he replied.
'He is a tall and stately king,' said Harold, 'but his end is near.'
He added, in a little while, 'Go yonder to my brother, and tell him, ifhe withdraw his troops, he shall be Earl of Northumberland, and rich andpowerful in England.'
The captain rode away and gave the message.
'What will he give to my friend the King of Norway?' asked the brother.
'Seven feet of earth for a grave,' replied the captain.
'No more?' returned the brother, with a smile.
'The King of Norway being a tall man, perhaps a little more,' replied thecaptain.
'Ride back!' said the brother, 'and tell King Harold to make ready forthe fight!'
He did so, very soon. And such a fight King Harold led against thatforce, that his brother, and the Norwegian King, and every chief of notein all their host, except the Norwegian King's son, Olave, to whom hegave honourable dismissal, were left dead upon the field. The victoriousarmy marched to York. As King Harold sat there at the feast, in themidst of all his company, a stir was heard at the doors; and messengersall covered with mire from riding far and fast through broken ground camehurrying in, to report that the Normans had landed in England.
The intelligence was true. They had been tossed about by contrary winds,and some of their ships had been wrecked. A part of their own shore, towhich they had been driven back, was strewn with Norman bodies. But theyhad once more made sail, led by the Duke's own galley, a present from hiswife, upon the prow whereof the figure of a golden boy stood pointingtowards England. By day, the banner of the three Lions of Normandy, thediverse coloured sails, the gilded vans, the many decorations of thisgorgeous ship, had glittered in the sun and sunny water; by night, alight had sparkled like a star at her mast-head. And now, encamped nearHastings, with their leader lying in the old Roman castle of Pevensey,the English retiring in all directions, the land for miles aroundscorched and smoking, fired and pillaged, was the whole Norman power,hopeful and strong on English ground.
Harold broke up the feast and hurried to London. Within a week, his armywas ready. He sent out spies to ascertain the Norman strength. Williamtook them, caused them to be led through his whole camp, and thendismissed. 'The Normans,' said these spies to Harold, 'are not beardedon the upper lip as we English are, but are shorn. They are priests.''My men,' replied Harold, with a laugh, 'will find those priests goodsoldiers!'
'The Saxons,' reported Duke William's outposts of Norman soldiers, whowere instructed to retire as King Harold's army advanced, 'rush on usthrough their pillaged country with the fury of madmen.'
'Let them come, and come soon!' said Duke William.
Some proposals for a reconciliation were made, but were soon abandoned.In the middle of the month of October, in the year one thousand and sixty-six, the Normans and the English came front to front. All night thearmies lay encamped before each other, in a part of the country thencalled Senlac, now called (in remembrance of them) Battle. With thefirst dawn of day, they arose. There, in the faint light, were theEnglish on a hill; a wood behind them; in their midst, the Royal banner,representing a fighting warrior, woven in gold thread, adorned withprecious stones; beneath the banner, as it rustled in the wind, stoodKing Harold on foot, with two of his remaining brothers by his side;around them, still and silent as the dead, clustered the whole Englisharmy--every soldier covered by his shield, and bearing in his hand hisdreaded English battle-axe.
On an opposite hill, in three lines, archers, foot-soldiers, horsemen,was the Norman force. Of a sudden, a great battle-cry, 'God help us!'burst from the Norman lines. The English answered with their own battle-cry, 'God's Rood! Holy Rood!' The Normans then came sweeping down thehill to attack the English.
There was one tall Norman Knight who rode before the Norman army on aprancing horse, throwing up his heavy sword and catching it, and singingof the bravery of his countrymen. An English Knight, who rode out fromthe English force to meet him, fell by this Knight's hand. AnotherEnglish Knight rode out, and he fell too. But then a third rode out, andkilled the Norman. This was in the first beginning of the fight. Itsoon raged everywhere.
The English, keeping side by side in a great mass, cared no more for theshowers of Norman arrows than if they had been showers of Norman rain.When the Norman horsemen rode against them, with their battle-axes theycut men and horses down. The Normans gave way. The English pressedforward. A cry went forth among the Norman troops that Duke William waskilled. Duke William took off his helmet, in order that his face mightbe distinctly seen, and rode along the line before his men. This gavethem courage. As they turned again to face the English, some of theirNorman horse divided the pursuing body of the English from the rest, andthus all that foremost portion of the English army fell, fightingbravely. The main body still remaining firm, heedless of the Normanarrows, and with their battle-axes cutting down the crowds of horsemenwhen they rode up, like forests of young trees, Duke William pretended toretreat. The eager English followed. The Norman army closed again, andfell upon them with great slaughter.
'Still,' said Duke William, 'there are thousands of the English, firms asrocks around their King. Shoot upward, Norman archers, that your arrowsmay fall down upon their faces!'
The sun rose high, and sank, and the battle still raged. Through all thewild October day, the clash and din resounded in the air. In the redsunset, and in the white moonlight, heaps upon heaps of dead men laystrewn, a dreadful spectacle, all over the ground.
King Harold, wounded with an arrow in the eye, was nearly blind. Hisbrothers were already killed. Twenty Norman Knights, whose batteredarmour had flashed fiery and golden in the sunshine all day long, and nowlooked silvery in the moonlight, dashed forward to seize the Royal bannerfrom the English Knights and soldiers, still faithfully collected roundtheir blinded King. The King received a mortal wound, and dropped. TheEnglish broke and fled. The Normans rallied, and the day was lost.
O what a sight beneath the moon and stars, when lights were shining inthe tent of the victorious Duke William, which was pitched near the spotwhere Harold fell--and he and his knights were carousing, within--andsoldiers with torches, going slowly to and fro, without, sought for thecorpse of Harold among piles of dead--and the Warrior, worked in goldenthread and precious stones, lay low, all torn and soiled with blood--andthe three Norman Lions kept watch over the field!