[66] Ord. Vital. See Note on Lanfranc, at the end of the volume.
[67] Siward was almost a giant (pene gigas statures). There are some curious anecdotes of this hero, immortalised by Shakspere, in the Bromton Chronicle. His grandfather is said to have been a bear, who fell in love with a Danish lady; and his father, Beorn, retained some of the traces of the parental physiognomy in a pair of pointed ears. The origin of this fable seems evident. His grandfather was a Berserker; for whether that name be derived, as is more generally supposed, from bare-sark,—or rather from bear-sark, that is, whether this grisly specimen of the Viking genus fought in his shirt or his bearskin, the name equally lends itself to those mystifications from which half the old legends, whether of Greece or Norway, are derived.
[68] Wace.
[69] See Note (E), at the end of the volume (foot-note on the date of William's marriage).
[70] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
[71] Some writers say fifty.
[72] Hovenden.
[73] Bodes, i.e. messengers.
[74] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
[75] Or Fleur-de-lis, which seems to have been a common form of ornament with the Saxon kings.