The others were Gifford and Montfort. One ran his spear through Harold's
breast, another struck off his head with his sword, a third pierced the
dead body, while the fourth further insulted the dead hero by cutting off
one of his legs--an action, however, which William when he heard of it
pronounced to be shameful, and expelled its perpetrator from the army.
But though the king was dead and the standard lost, the survivors of the
housecarls still fought on until darkness fell. The levies had fled just
before, hotly pursued by the Norman horse. Knowing the ground well the
light-armed footmen fled across a bog, and in the fast-gathering darkness
their pursuers did not notice the nature of the ground, but galloping on
plunged into the morass, where great numbers of them perished miserably,
either suffocated in the mud or slain by the English, who turned and fell
upon them with axe and spear as soon as they saw their plight. So great was
the slaughter, that those who had reined up their horses in time were
stricken with horror even after all the carnage they had witnessed on the
field of battle.
With darkness the battle came to an end. Few indeed of the housecarls drew
off under cover of the darkness; their force being almost annihilated. With
them had perished almost the whole of the thanes of the South of England
and East Anglia. The Sheriff of London had been carried off desperately
wounded by a few of his friends, but with this exception none of Harold's
companions and thanes left the field alive while daylight lasted.
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