Both commanders had been well informed by spies of the
strength and position of their opponents, and the duke placed his tried
Norman troops in the centre to match themselves against the English
housecarls. His Breton contingent was on his left, while on the right were
the French, the Flemings, and the other foreign adventurers who had come to
fight under his banner. In the front line were the archers and slingers,
who were to open the battle and shake the line of the defenders. Behind
these came the infantry, who were to hew down the palisades and clear a way
for the cavalry charge full into the centre of the English host.
A Norman trumpet gave the signal for the commencement of the battle, and
the archers along the whole line poured a storm of arrows into the English.
It was unanswered, for there were few bowmen among the defenders of the
hill, and the distance was too great for the javelin-men to hurl their
missiles. After the archers had shot several volleys of arrows they fell
back, and the infantry advanced against the hill; but before they did so
Taillifer, a Norman minstrel, dashed forward on horseback, and spurring up
the ascent, tossing his sword in the air and catching it as it fell, rode
up to the English line. One man he pierced with a lance, another he cut
down with his sword, and then fell dead under the blow of a heavy axe.
This mad exploit had scarce terminated when the Norman infantry advanced up
the hill.
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