The greater part, however, made their way
to broken ground to the west of the hill, and made a stand on the steep
bank of a small ravine. The French horsemen charging down upon them,
unaware of the existence of the ravine, fell into it, and were slaughtered
in such numbers by the knives and spears of the English that the ravine was
well-nigh filled up with their dead bodies.
But gallantly as the levies had retrieved their error, it was a fatal one.
As soon as they had left their line, the Normans told off for the duty
pressed into the gap, and were followed by the whole of their main body,
and thus the English lost the advantage of position, and the contending
hosts faced each other on the hill, the ground now occupied by the Normans
being somewhat higher than that on which the housecarls stood. It was now
about three in the afternoon, and the fight had been raging for six hours,
but though thus outflanked and the order of their battle destroyed, the
veterans of Harold showed neither alarm nor discouragement. Their formation
was changed, the shield-wall still faced the Normans, and for a time every
effort to break it failed.
In vain the Norman cavalry charged down upon it, in vain their duke plied
his terrible mace. Occasionally men worn out by the long defensive battle
sprang from the English ranks and engaged knight or baron hand to hand. All
along the line such single-handed conflicts were going on, and the roar of
battle was as loud and fierce as at the beginning of the day.
Pages:
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443