"Li Normanz par voisdie[184] s'en alerent fuiant,
Por fere desevrer cels ki vindrent devant;
Et Alemanz desrengent, si vont esperonant:
As portes de Roen la vindrent randonant[185]."
Wace, l. 3972.
The similar incident of the battle of Hastings is in the recollection of all:—
"Normanz aperchurent è virent
Ke Engleiz si se desfendirent
E si sunt fort por els desfendre,
Peti poeint sor els prendre:
Privéement unt cunseillié,
Et entrels unt aparaillié,
Ke des Engleiz s'esluignereient,
E de fuir semblant fereient."—Line 13311.
Another device of Duke William on this eventful day was to assail the English by a downward flight of arrows, for he had found that the shields of his opponents had secured them from the effects of a direct attack: "Docuit etiam dux Willielmus viros sagittarios ut non in hostem directe, sed in aëra sursum sagittas emitterent cuneum hostilem sagittis cæcarent: quod Anglis magno fuit detrimento[186]."
War-cries were still in vogue, and saintly relics and emblems were regarded with a veneration commensurate with the power of the Church and the confiding credulity of the soldiery. The sacred symbol of the Cross is seen constantly on the shields of the knights; and one of the barons of Rufus, on departing for the Crusades, tells the king that his shield, his helmet, his saddle, and his horses, shall all be marked with this holy device[187]. It was even found useful to enrol mock-saints in the armies contending against the enemies of the faith. Thus, in the contest between the Saracens in Sicily and Count Roger, about the year 1070, Saint George mounted on a white horse is seen to issue from the Christian ranks, and head the onslaught on the unbelievers:—"Apparuit quidem eques splendidus in armis, equo albo insidens, album vexillum in summitate hastilis alligatum ferens, et desuper, splendidem crucem et quasi a nostrâ acie progrediens. Quo viso nostri hilariores effecti Deum Sanctumque Georgium ingeminando ipsum præcedentem promptissimè sunt secuti[188]." It is perhaps unnecessary to say that the narrator of this incident gives it in implicit belief of the saintly character of the splendid knight.
Not saints alone, but necromancers were occasionally attached to military expeditions. Such an auxiliary, according to Wace, accompanied Duke William in his expedition to England:—
"Un clers esteit al Duc venuz
Ainz ke de Some fust méuz:
D'Astronomie, ço diseit,
E de nigromancie saveit:
Por devinéor se teneit,
De plusurs choses sortisseit."—Line 11673.
Having predicted a safe voyage to William, and the prediction having been fulfilled, the duke remembered him of his nigromancien, and desired that search might be made for this learned clerk. But the poor fellow had himself been drowned in the passage:—
"En mer esteit, ço dist, néiez,
Et en un nef perilliez."
On which the duke wisely remarks:—