“god and good angels fight on william’s side, and harold fall in height of all his pride.”—shakspere.
edward the confessor was dead; and dying, had bequeathed the crown of merry england to harold, son of godwin, destined, alas! to be the last prince of the saxon race who should possess the throne of the fair island. the oath which he had sworn to william, duke of normandy, engaging to assist him in obtaining that same realm, which had now fallen to himself, alike by testament of the late king, and by election of the people, dwelt not in the new monarch’s bosom! selfishness and ambition, aided, perhaps, and strengthened by the suggestions of a sincere patriotism, that whispered to his soul the baseness of surrendering his countrymen, their lives, their liberties, their fortunes, and his loved native land, into the stern hands of a foreign ruler, determined him to brave the worst, rather than keep the oath, which, with its wonted sophistry, self-interest was ready to represent involuntary and of no avail. not long, however, was he allowed to flatter himself with hopes that the tempest, excited by his own weak duplicity, might possibly blow over. the storm-clouds were already charged with thunder destined to burst almost at once on his devoted head. the cry of warfare had gone forth through christendom; the pope had launched the dreadful bolt of interdict and excommunication against the perjured saxon, and all23 who should adhere to him in his extremity; nay, more, had actually granted to the norman duke, by virtue of his holy office as god’s vicegerent and dispenser of all dignities on earth, the sovereignty of the disputed islands. in token of his perfect approbation of the justice of his cause, the roman pontiff had sent, moreover, to the duke, a ring of gold, containing an inestimable relic, a lock of hair from the thrice-mitred temples of st. peter, the first roman bishop; a consecrated banner blest by himself—the same which had been reared, in token of the greatness and supremacy of holy church, by those bold normans, raoul and william of montreuil, above the captured battlements of every tower and castle through the bright kingdom of campania. thus doubly armed, once by the justice of his cause, and yet more strongly by the sanction of the church, the bold duke hesitated not to strive by force of arms to gain that rich inheritance, which he had hoped to win by the more easy agency of guile and of persuasion.
a herald, sent, with a most noble train, bore william’s terms to the new monarch. “william, the duke of normandy,” he said, boldly, but with all reverence due to his birth and present station, “calls to your memory the oath, which you swore to him by your hand and by your mouth, on good and holy relics!”
“true it is,” answered harold, “that i did so swear; but under force i did so, not by free will of mine! moreover, i did promise that which ’twas not mine to grant. my royalty belongs not to myself, but to my people, in trust of whom i hold it. i may not yield it but at their demand; let them but second william, and instantly the crown he seeks for shall be his! farther, without my people’s leave, i may not wed a woman of a stranger race. my sister, whom he would have espoused unto the noblest of his barons—she hath been dead a year. will he, that i should send her corpse?”
24 a little month elapsed, and during that brief interval, harold neglected nothing that might preserve the crown he had determined never, except with life, to yield to his fierce rival. a powerful fleet was instantly appointed to cruise upon the downs, and intercept the french invaders; a mighty army was collected on the coast, and each and all the saxon landholders, nobles, and thanes, and franklins, bound themselves by strong oaths “never to entertain or truce, or treaty, with the detested normans, but to die freemen, or freemen to conquer.”
a second time the herald came in peace, demanding, in tones fair and moderate, that harold, if he might not keep all the conditions of his oath, would fulfil part, at least, and wed alice, his betrothed wife already, the daughter of the puissant duke, who, thereupon, would yield to him, as being his daughter’s dower, all right and title to the crown, which he now claimed as his by heritage.
harold again returned a brief and stern refusal; resolved, that as he would not yield the whole, he would not, by conceding part, risk the alienation of the love—which he possessed in an extraordinary degree—of the whole english people. then burst the storm at once. from every part of europe, where the victorious banners of the normans were spread to the wind of heaven, adventurers flocked to the consecrated standard of their kinsman.
four hundred vessels of the largest class, and more than twice that number of the transports of the day, were speedily assembled in the frith of dives, a stream which falls into the sea between the seine and orne. there, for a month or better, by contrary winds and furious storms, they were detained inactive. at length, a southern breeze rose suddenly, and by its aid they made the harbor of saint valery; but there, again, they were detained by times more stormy than before; and, superstitious as all men of that period were, the soldiers soon began to tremble and to murmur; strange tales of dreams, and25 prodigies were circulated, and the spirit of that vast host, of late so confident and proud, sank hourly. at length, whether at the instigation of their own fanatical belief, or as a last resource, or hoping to distract the minds of men from gloomier considerations, the norman chiefs appointed a procession round the harbor of saint valery; bearing the holiest relics, and among them, the bones of the good saint himself, the patron and nomenclator of the town; and ere the prayers were ended, lo! the wind shifted once again, and now blew steadily and fair, swelling the canvass with propitious breath, and driving out each vane and streamer at full length, toward their destined port.
the same storm, which had held william on his norman coast, windbound and motionless, which he had cursed as unpropitious and disastrous, fifty times every day, for the last month, had been, in truth—so little is the foresight, and so ignorant the wisdom even of the most sagacious among mortals—had been, in truth, the agent by which his future conquest was to be effected. those gales which pent the norman galleys in their harbors, had forced the english fleet, shattered and storm-tossed, to put in for victuals and repairs, leaving the seas unguarded to the approach of the invaders. nor was this all! those self-same gales had wafted from the northward another fleet of foemen, the norwegian host of the bold sea-king, harold hardrada, and the treacherous tosti, the rebel brother of the saxon monarch. debarking in the humber, they had laid waste the fertile borders of northumberland and yorkshire; had vanquished, in a pitched battle, morcar and edwin, and the youthful waltheof—who had made head against them with their sudden levies, raised from the neighboring countries—had driven them into the walls of york, and there were now besieging them with little hope of rescue or relief. meanwhile, the king, who had, for months, been lying in the southern portion26 of the realm, in essex, kent, or sussex, awaiting, at the head of the best warriors of his kingdom, the arrival of his most inveterate foeman—summoned by news of this irruption, unexpected, yet, as it seemed most formidable, into his northern provinces, lulled into temporary carelessness by the long tarrying of his norman enemy; and hoping, as it indeed seemed probable, that the prevailing wind would not change so abruptly, but that he might, by using some extraordinary diligence and speed, attack and overpower the besieging force at york, and yet return to dover in time to oppose, with the united force of his whole nation, the disembarkation of the duke—had left his post and travelled with all speed toward york, leading the bravest and best-disciplined of his army against the fierce norwegians, while the shores of sussex remained comparatively naked and defenceless. a bloody and decisive battle fought at the bridge of staneford, over the river derwent, rewarded his activity and valor—a battle in which he displayed no less his generalship and valor, than the kind generosity and mercy of his nature. riding, himself, in person, up to the hostile lines, before the first encounter, sheathed in the complete armor of the norman chivalry—which, since his visit to the continent, he had adopted—“where,” he cried, in his loudest tones, “is tosti, son of godwin?”
“here stands he,” answered the rebel, from the centre of the norwegian phalanx, which, with lowered spears, awaited the attack.
“thy brother,” replied harold, concealed by the frontlet of his barred helmet from all recognition, “sends thee his greeting—offers thee peace, and friendship, and all thine ancient honors.”
“good words!” cried tosti, “mighty good, and widely different from the insults he bestowed on me last year! but if i should accept the offer, what will he grant to harold,27 son of sigurd?”
“seven feet of english earth,” replied the king; “or, since he be gigantic in his stature, he shall have somewhat more!”
“let harold, then address himself to battle,” answered tosti. “none but a liar ever shall declare that tosti, son of godwin, has played a traitor’s part to harold, son of sigurd!”
there was no more of parley. with a shock, that was heard for leagues, the hosts encountered; and in the very first encounter, pierced by an arrow in the throat, hardrada fell, and to his place succeeded that false brother and rebellious subject, tosti, the saxon. again the generous harold offered him peace and liberal conditions! again his offers were insultingly rejected! and once again, with a more deadly fury than before, the armies met, and, this time, fought it out, till not a leader or a chief of the norwegian host was left alive, save olaf, harold’s son, and the prince bishop of the orkneys—tosti, himself, having at length obtained the fate he merited so richly. a third time peace and amity were offered, and now they were accepted; and swearing friendship to the english king for ever, the norsemen left the fatal land, whereon yet weltered in their gore their king, the noblest of their chiefs, and twice five thousand of the bravest men of their brave nation. but glorious as that day was justly deemed—and widely as it was sung and celebrated by the saxon bards—perfect as was the safety which it wrought to all the northern counties—and freely as it suffered harold to turn his undivided forces against whatever foe might dare set hostile foot on english soil inviolate—still was that day decisive of his fate!—decisive of the victory of william, whose banners were already floating over the narrow seas in proud anticipation of their coming triumph!
it was a bright and beauteous morning in september, when the great fleet of william put to sea, the galley of the grand28 duke leading. she was a tall ship, of the largest tonnage then in use, well manned, and gallantly equipped; from the main-topmast streamed the consecrated banner of the pope, and from her peak, a broad flag with a blood-red cross. her sails were, not as now, of plain white canvass, but gorgeously adorned with various colors, and blazoned with the rude incipient heraldry, which, though not then a science, was growing gradually into esteem and use. in several places might be seen depicted the three lions, which were even then the arms of normandy; and on her prow was carved, with the best skill of the french artist, a young child with a bended bow, and a shaft quivering on the string. fair blew the breeze, and free the gallant ship careered before it—before the self-same wind which at the self-same moment was tossing on its joyous pinions the victorious banners of the saxon king. fair blew the breeze, and fast the ship of william sped through the curling billows—so fast that, ere the sun set in the sea, the fleet was hull down in the offing, though staggering along under all press of sail. night sank upon the sea; and faster flew the duke; and as the morning broke, the chalky cliffs of albion were in full view, at two or three leagues distance. william, who had slept all that night as soundly and as calmly as a child, stood on the deck ere it was light enough to see the largest object on the sea, one mile away. his first glance was toward the promised land, he was so swiftly nearing; his second, toward the offing, where he hoped to see his gallant followers. brighter and brighter grew the morning, but not a speck was visible upon the clear horizon. “up to the topmast, mariners,” cried the bold duke; “up to the topmast-head! and now what see ye?” he continued, as they sprang up in rapid emulation to that giddy height.
“naught,” cried the first—“naught but the sea and sky!”
29 “anchor, then—anchor, presently; we will await their coming, and in the meanwhile, sir seneschal, serve us a breakfast of your best, and see there be no lack of wines, the strongest and the noblest!” and, on the instant, the heavy plunge was heard of the huge anchor in the deep; the sails were furled; and like a living creature endowed with intellect, and moving by volition, the gallant ship swung round, awaiting the arrival of her consorts.
the feast was spread, and, from the high duke on the poop to the most humble mariner on the forecastle, the red wine flowed for all in generous profusion. again a lookout was sent up, and now he cried, “i see far, far, to seaward, the topsails of four vessels.” a little pause consumed in revelry and feasting, and once again the ship-boy climbed the mast. “i see,” he said, the third time, “a forest on the deep, of masts and sails!”
“god aid! god aid!” replied the armed crew—“god aid!” and, with the word, again they weighed the anchor, and, ere three hours had passed, the whole of that huge armament rode at their moorings off the beach at pevensey.
there was no sign of opposition or resistance; and on the third day after harold’s victory at staneford, the norman host set foot on english soil. the archers were the first to disembark—armed with the six-foot bows, and cloth-yard shafts, then, for the first time, seen in england, soon destined to become the national weapon of its stout yeomanry. their faces closely shorn, and short-cut hair, their light and succinct garments, were seen by the affrighted peasantry, who looked upon their landing from a distance, with equal terror and astonishment. next came the men-at-arms, sheathed in their glittering hauberks and bright hose-of-mail, with conical steel helmets on their heads, long lances in their hands, and huge two-handed swords transversely girt across their persons. after them landed the pioneers, the laborers, and carpenters, who30 made the complement of that immense army, bearing with them, piece after piece, three fortresses of timber, arranged beforehand, and prepared to be erected on the instant, wherever they should come to land. last of the mighty host, duke william left his galley, and the long lines fell into orderly and beautiful array, as he was rowed to land. in leaping to that wished-for shore, the norman’s right foot struck the gunwale of the shallop, and he fell headlong on the sand, face downward. instantly, through the whole array, a deep and shuddering murmur rose—“god guard us—’tis a sign of evil!”
but ere the sounds had passed away, he had sprung to his feet. “what is it that you fear?” he shouted, in clear and joyous tones, “or what dismays you? lo! i have seized this earth in both mine hands, and, by the splendor of our god, ’tis yours!”
loud was the cheer of gratulation which peeled seaward far, and far into the bosom of the invaded land, at that most brilliant and successful repartee—and with alacrity and glee—confident of success, and high in daring courage—the norman host marched, unopposed, in regular and terrible array, toward hastings. here on the well-known heights, to this day known by the commemorative name of battle, the wooden fortresses were speedily erected; trenches were dug; and william’s army sat down for the night upon the land, which was thenceforth to be their heritage—thenceforth for evermore.
the news reached harold as he lay at york, wounded and resting from his labors, and on the instant, with his victorious army, he set forth, publishing, as he marched along, his proclamation to all the chief of provinces and shires, to arm their followers, and meet him with all speed at london. the western levies came without delay; those from the north, owing to distance, were some time behind; and yet, could harold have been brought by any means to moderate his fierce and desperate31 impatience, he would, ere four days had elapsed, have found himself, at least, in the command of twice two hundred men. but irritated to the utmost by the sufferings of his countrymen, whose lands were pitilessly ravaged, whose tenements were burned for miles around the norman camp, whose wives and daughters were subjected to every species of insult and indignity, the saxon king pressed onward. and though his forces did not amount to one-fourth part of the great duke’s array, still, he was resolved to encounter them, precipitate and furious as a madman.
on the eighteenth day after the defeat of tosti and hardrada, the saxon army was encamped over against the fortified position of the invaders. on that same day, a monk, sir hugues maigrot, came to find harold, with proposals from the foe, offering him peace on one of three conditions—either that he should yield the kingdom presently—or leave it to the arbitration of the pope—or, finally, decide the matter by appeal to god in single combat.
to each and all of these proposals, the saxon answered bluntly in the negative. “i will not yield my kingdom! i will not leave it to the pope! i will not meet the duke in single combat!”
again the monk returned. “i come again,” he said, “from william. ‘tell harold,’ said the duke, ‘if he will hold him to his ancient compact, i yield him all the lands beyond the humber; i give his brother gurth all the demesnes his father, godwin, held. if he refuse these my last proffers, tell him before his people, he is a perjured liar, accursed of the pope, and excommunicated—he, and all those that hold to him!’”
but no effect had the bold words of william on the stern spirits of the english. “battle,” they cried—“no peace with the normans. battle—immediate battle!” and with that answer did the priest return to his employer; and either host prepared32 for the appeal to that great arbiter, the sword.
fairly the morning broke which was to look upon the slaughter of so many thousands; broad and bright rose the sun before whose setting one of those two magnificent and gallant armies must necessarily be involved in utter ruin. as the first rays were visible upon the eastern sky, odo, the bishop of bayeux, william’s maternal brother, performed high mass before the marshalled troops, wearing his cope and rochet over his iron harness. the holy rites performed, he leaped upon his snow-white charger, and, with his truncheon in his hand, arrayed the cavalry, which he commanded.
it was a glorious spectacle, that mighty host, arrayed in three long columns of attack, marching with slow and orderly precision against the palisaded trenches of the saxons. the men-at-arms of the great counts of boulogne and ponthieu composed the first; the second being formed by the auxiliar bands of brittany, poitou, and maine; and in the third, commanded by the duke in person—mounted on a superb andalusian charger, wearing about his neck the reliquary on which his rival had sworn falsely, and accompanied by a young noble, tunstan the white, bearing the banner of the pope—were marshalled all the flower and strength of normandy. scattered along the front of the advance were multitudes of archers, lightly equipped in quilted jerkins, with long yew bows, and arrows of an ell in length, mingled with crossbow-men with arbalasts of steel, and square, steel-headed quarrels.
steadily they advanced, and in good order; while, in their entrenched camp, guarded by palisades of oak morticed together in a long line of ponderous trellis-work, the englishmen awaited their approach, drawn up around their standard, which—blazoned with the white dragon, long both the ensign and the war-cry of their race—was planted firmly in the earth, surrounded by the dense ranks of heavy infantry which formed the strength33 of their array.
just as the charge began, william rode out before the lines, and thus addressed his soldiery: “turn your hearts wholly to the combat! set all upon the die, either to fall or conquer! for if we gain, we shall be rich and glorious. that which i gain, shall be your gain; that which i conquer, yours! if i shall win this land, ye shall possess it! know, too, and well remember this, that not to claim my right have i come only, but to revenge—ay, to revenge our gentle nation on all the felonies, the perjuries, the treasons of the english!—the english, who, in profound peace, upon saint brice’s eve, ruthlessly slew the unarmed and defenceless danes; who decimated the bold followers of alfred, my kinsman and your countryman, and slew himself by shameless treachery! on, then, with god’s aid, normans! on, for revenge and victory!”
then out dashed from the lines the boldest of his vavasours, the norman taillefer, singing aloud the famous song—well known through every province of proud france—the song of charlemagne and rollo—tossing aloft the while his long, two-handed war-sword, and catching it adroitly as it fell; while at each close of that proud, spirit-stirring chant, each warrior of that vast array thundered the burden of the song—“god aid! god aid!”
then, like a storm of hail, close, deadly, and incessant, went forth the volleyed showers from arbalast and long-bow; while infantry and horse charged in unbroken order against the gates and angles of the fort. but with a cool and stubborn hardihood the saxon infantry stood firm. protected by the massive palisades from the appalling volleys of the archery, they hurled their short and heavy javelins with certain aim and deadly execution over their stout defences; while their huge axes, wherever they came hand to hand, shivered the norman spears like reeds, and cleft the heaviest mail, even at a single blow! long,34 and with all the hot, enthusiastic valor of their race, did the assailants crowd around the ramparts; but it was all in vain—they could not scale them in the face of that indomitable infantry; they could not force one timber from its place; and they at length recoiled, weary and half-subdued, toward the reserve of william.
after a short cessation, again the archery advanced; but, by the orders of the duke, their volleys were no longer sent point-blank, but shot at a great elevation, so that they fell in a thick, galling shower, striking the heads and wounding the unguarded faces of the bold defenders. harold himself, who fought on foot beside his standard, lost his right eye at the first flight; but not for that did he desert his post, or play less valiantly the part of a determined soldier and wise leader. again with that tremendous shout of “n?tre dame—god aid! god aid!” which had, in every realm of europe, sounded the harbinger of victory, the horse and foot rushed on to the attack; while from their rear that heavy and incessant sleet of bolt, and shaft, and bullet, fell fast and frequent into the dense ranks of the still-undaunted english. at no point did they force their way, however, even when fighting at this desperate advantage. at no point did a single norman penetrate a gate, or overtop a palisade; while at one entrance so complete was the repulse of the attacking squadrons, that they recoiled, hard pressed by the defenders, to a ravine at some considerable distance from the trenches, deep, dangerous, and filled with underwood and brambles; these, as they fell back in confusion, their horses stumbling and unable to recover, were overthrown and slain pell-mell, and half defeated. one charge of cavalry, one shock of barbed horse, would have insured the total rout of the invaders; but—wo for england on that day!—cavalry she had none, nor barbed horse, to complete gloriously the work her sturdy footmen had commenced so gallantly. still, great was35 the disorder, great was the disarray and peril, of the foreign soldiery. the cry went through the host that the great duke was slain; and, though he flung himself amid the flyers, with his head bare, that they might recognise his features—threatening, cursing, striking at friend and foe with undiscriminating violence—it was well nigh an hour before he could restore the semblance of any discipline or order. this, once accomplished, he advanced again; and yet a third time, though he exerted every nerve, was he repulsed at every point in terrible disorder, and with tremendous loss.
evening was fast approaching; and well did william know that, if the following morning should find the saxons firm in their unforced entrenchments, his hopes were vain and hopeless! the country, far and near, was rousing to the saxon war-cry; and to the normans, not to conquer, was to be conquered utterly; and to be conquered was to perish, one and all! valor or open force, it was too evident, could effect nothing against men as valiant and as strong, posted with more advantage. guile was his last resource; and guile, as usual, prevailed!
a thousand of his cavaliers advanced, as though about to charge the trenches at full speed, with lances lowered, and with their wonted ensenzie, “god aid!” but as they neared the palisades, by preconcerted stratagem, as if they had lost heart, they suddenly drew bridle, all as a single man, and fled, as it appeared, in irretrievable disorder, back, back to the main body! meanwhile, throughout the lines, the banners were waved to and fro disorderly, and the ranks shifted, and spears rose and fell, and all betokened their complete disorganization. the sight was too much even for the cool hardihood of saxon courage. with one tremendous shout they rushed from their entrenchments—which, had they held to them, not forty-fold the force of william could have successfully assailed—and,36 wielding with both hands their bills and axes, plunged headlong in pursuit. that instant, all was over! for, at a moment’s notice, at a concerted signal of a single trumpet, the very men they deemed defeated wheeled into line; and with their spears projecting ten feet, at the least, before their chargers’ poitrels, their long plumes floating backward in the current caused by their own quick motion, the chivalry of france bore down on their pursuers, breathless, confused, and struggling. it was a massacre, but not a rout; for not a man turned on his heel, or even thought to fly: but back to back, in desperate groups, they fought after their ranks were broken, hewing with their short weapons at the mail-clad lancers, who securely speared them from the backs of their barbed horses—asking not, nor receiving quarter—true sons of england to the last, annihilated but not conquered! night fell, and gurth, and leofwyn, and harold, lay dead around their standard—pierced with innumerable wounds, gory, and not to be discerned, so were their features and their forms defaced and mangled by friend or foeman. yet still, when all was lost, without array or order, standards, or chiefs, or hopes, the englishmen fought on—till total darkness sank down on the field of slaughter, and utter inability to slay caused a brief pause in the unsparing havoc. such was the vengeance of the norman!
