This scene shows three portraits, William the Conqueror being in the centre, with Bishop Odo on his left and on his right Count Robert of Normandy.
On William’s death, his son, William Rufus, succeeded to England, and Count Robert to Normandy. On the death of William Rufus in 1100, Count Robert was still on an expedition in the Holy Land. Hence Henry I. was elected king by the popular voice, in spite of protests from Normandy, and became an English as opposed to a French monarch.
This happy division of powers was, however, not permanent, and England, Normandy and many other French provinces were reunited under the Angevins, an event which marked the beginning of that perpetual trouble with France which hardly ended with King Henry VI.
Plate X.
Burning a House.
In this plate again there seems to be a rough attempt at a portrayal of Norman domestic architecture. The Norman nature of the work is suggested in the house being of two storeys, the Saxon dwelling usually being of one. A woman and her child escape from the hall, which occupies the whole of the ground floor, and is of nearly as much importance as it would have been in the Anglo-Saxon period. The room above is smaller and lit by a window with a Norman arch. No glass, however, would be placed in the window. The top storey would be provided with a rough kind of fire-place, as perhaps might also the ground floor, though the old fire piled right up in the middle of the hall was still quite common.
Plate XI.
The Battle, showing the “packed shield” formation of the English.
This method of fighting particularly impressed William at Hastings, and no doubt the English employed it with great skill. But whereas the most important part of William’s army was the cavalry, Harold’s army consisted entirely of foot soldiers. The Thanes and other important men might be able to ride up to the scene of battle on horseback, but they dismounted for the fight. The “packed shield” formation they proceeded to employ consisted, as is seen in the Tapestry, of a thick wedge of men, widening out from about two in front to an uncertain number at the base; the officers and better armed men formed the front wedge, backed by a dense column of the inferior troops.
The English and Normans wear for the most part the same armour, the body of which goes down to the knees in one piece, a type of armour known as the “hauberk” or “byrnie.” These hauberks occasionally extended to the ankles, but the legs were generally cased in leather gaiters, somewhat resembling the “puttees” of to-day. Later, in the border, the hauberk is correctly shown being pulled off the body of a dead soldier over the head, like a shirt.