[49] Planche’s Strutt, vol. i., p. 14.
[50] Pict. Eng., vol. i., p. 637.
[51] Thierry’s History of the Normans, p. 36.
[52] It is often asserted that the house of Percy derived its name from one of the family having slain Malcolm, King of Scotland, by thrusting the spear into his eye when he came forward to demand the keys of Alnwick Castle. That historic name occurs in the Battle Abbey Roll, and is derived from the cradle of the family, the hamlet of Perci, in Normandy.
[53] The walls of Tintagel Castle “were evidently constructed in a framework of wood; the square holes which pierce the walls at regular intervals, from the foundations upwards, show the places once occupied by bond pieces, by which the wooden frames were held together.”—Notes by Rev. W. Haslam, in Report of Royal Inst. Cornwall, 1850.
[54] Ingulph’s Chronicle (Bohn), p. 14.
[55] Taylor’s Wace, p. 83.
[56] The Normans seem to have been particularly addicted to the worship of relics. They carried them about their persons, and had them enclosed in the handles of their swords. In the Song of Roland that hero is represented, when dying, as addressing his sword thus:—“Ah, Saint Durandal! in thy golden pommel what precious relics lie hid! A tooth of Saint Peter!—Blood of Saint Basil!—Hair of Monseigneur Saint Denis!—Vesture of the Virgin Mary! And shall a pagan possess thee?” Being thus at all times provided with relics, they were never at a loss as to the administration of an oath. In the Song already referred to we have a case in point:—‘Be it as thou wilt,’ answered Ganelon, and upon the relics of his sword he swore to the treason and consummated his crime.
[57] Wace, p. 138.
[58] Wace, p. 20, 21.