But the most curious accumulation of these "saintuaires" was on the field of Hastings, where Duke William had a portable altar, enclosing divers relics of saints and martyrs, other relics being suspended round his neck; while before him was borne a sacred standard which had been blessed by the Pope, and on his finger was placed a ring, (also sent by "the apostle,") in which was set, according to some evidences, one of the hairs of St. Peter; according to others, one of his teeth[34]:—
"L'Apostoile (li otréia,)
Un gonfanon li envéia;
Un gonfanon et un anel
Mult precios è riche è bel:
Si come il dit, de soz la pierre
Aveit un des cheveuls Saint Pierre."
Or, following another manuscript of the Roman de Rou,—
"——de soz la pierre
Aveit une des denz Saint Pierre."
In these days, when the shock of armies was not accompanied by the thunder of cannon, when the silent flight of the arrow, the hum of the sling-stone, or the whirr of the javelin, were all that preceded the hand-to-hand conflict, no small account was made of the various war-cries of opposing chieftains. And not only war-cries, but even songs, were employed to encourage the assailants or intimidate the foe; of which the Song of Roland, sung by Taillefer on the field of Hastings, is an example in the memory of every reader. Snorro, in the Heimskringla, has preserved a fragment of the improvised verses sung by Harold Harfagar, as, mounted on his black charger, he passed along the line of his troops previous to the battle of Stanford-Bridge[35]. The pagan Northmen invoked their divinities,—a practice that was continued, according to the chronicle of Wace, to the middle of the eleventh century; for, of Raoul Tesson at the battle of Val-des-Dunes, he writes:—
"De la gent done esteit emmie[36]
Poinst li cheval, criant Tur aïe[37]
Cil de France crient Montjoie.
Willame crie Dex aïe:
C'est l'enseigne de Normendie.
E Renouf crie o grant pooir,
Saint Sever, Sire Saint Sevoir.
E Dam As Denz[38] va reclamant,
Saint Amant, Sire Saint Amant."
Rom. de Rou, ii. 32, seq.
In the fight between Lothaire, king of France, and Richard I., duke of Normandy,—
"Franceiz crient Monjoe, è Normanz Dex aïe:
Flamenz crient Asraz è Angevin Valie:
E li Quens Thibaut Chartres et passe avant crie."—
Ibid., i. 238.