Then they began to cry out, "You will not see one coward; none here will fear to die for love of you, if need be."
And he answered them, "I thank you well. For God's sake spare not; strike hard at the beginning; stay not to take spoil; all the booty shall be in common, and there will be plenty for every one. There will be no safety in peace or flight; the English will never love or spare Normans. Felons they were and are; false they were and false they will be. Shew no weakness towards them, for they will have no pity on you; neither the coward for his flight, nor the bold man for his strokes, will be the better liked by the English, nor will any be the more spared on that account. You may fly to the sea, but you can fly no further; you will find neither ship nor bridge there; there will be no sailors to receive you; and the English will overtake you and kill you in your shame. More of you will die in flight than in battle; flight, therefore, will not secure you; but fight, and you will conquer. I have no doubt of the victory; we are come for glory, the victory is in our hands, and we may make sure of obtaining it if we so please."
As the duke said this, and would have said yet more, William Fitz Osber rode up, his horse being all coated with iron[7]; "Sire," said he to his lord, "we tarry here too long, let us all arm ourselves. Allons! allons!"
Then all went to their tents and armed themselves as they best might; and the duke was very busy, giving every one his orders; and he was courteous to all the vassals, giving away many arms and horses to them.
When he prepared to arm himself, he called first for his good hauberk, and a man brought it on his arm, and placed before him; but in putting his head in, to get it on, he inadvertently turned it the wrong way, with the back part in front. He quickly changed it, but, when he saw that those who stood by were sorely alarmed, he said, "I have seen many a man who, if such a thing had happened to him, would not have borne arms, or entered the field the same day; but I never believed in omens, and I never will. I trust in God; for he does in all things his pleasure, and ordains what is to come to pass, according to his will. I have never liked fortune-tellers, nor believed in diviners; but I commend myself to our Lady. Let not this mischance give you trouble. The hauberk which was turned wrong, and then set right by me, signifies that a change will arise out of the matter we are now moving. You shall see the name of duke changed into king. Yea, a king shall I be, who hitherto have been but duke[8]."
Then he crossed himself, and straightway took his hauberk, stooped his head, and put it on aright; and laced his helmet and girt his sword, which a varlet brought him.
[1] We make no attempt to translate Wace's Saxon; for which a previous examination of his original MS. not now in existence, would certainly be a necessary preliminary. The existing copies are obviously the work of French transcribers, wholly ignorant, no doubt, of the Saxon. The MS. of Duchesne is said to read, for the two first words, 'bufler' and 'welseil,' Three of the words sound at least like 'wassail,' 'drink to me,' and 'drink health' or 'half.' In the appendix to M. Raynouard's observations on Wace, some suggestions are given from high English authority; but they throw very little light upon the matter. See Jeffrey of Monmouth's story of Vortigern and Rowena. Robert de Brunne, in translating the passage, makes Rowena give this explanation of the Saxon custom:
This is ther custom and ther gest
Whan thei are at the ale or fest;
Ilk man that loves where him think
Sall say wassail, and to him drink.
He that bids sall say wassail;
The tother sall say again drinkhail;
That said wassail drinkes of the cup,
Kissand his felow he gives it up;
Drinkhail, HE says, and drinkes thereof,
Kissand him in bord and skof.
The king said, as the knight gan ken,
Drinkhail, smiland on Rouwen;
Rouwen drank as hire list,
And gave the king, sine him kist.
Ther was the first wassail in dede,
And that first of fame gede;
Of that wassail men told grete tale, &c.
[2] JEFFERY DE MOUBRAY,—Molbraium in Ordericus Vitalis,—chief justiciary of England. See in Cotman's Normandy, vol. i. p. 111, details concerning the munificent spirit of this prelate; and of the cathedral of Coutances, to the erection of which he dedicated his immense wealth. See also Ellis, Domesday, i. 400. The Moubray family at the conquest consisted of the bishop, his brother Roger, whom we shall find noticed below, and a sister Amy, married to Roger d'Aubigny, or de Albini, ancestor of the earls of Arundel. Roger Moubray's son Robert succeeded to the bishop's estates, comprising, it is said, 280 manors in England, and he became earl of Northumberland. At his disgrace not only his estates, but his wife passed to his cousin Nigel d'Aubigny, Amy's son, whose descendants took the name of Moubray. The scite of the castle of Monbrai is in the arrondissement of St. Lo. In the Norman Roll, red book of the Exchequer, we find 'Nigellus de Moubrai 5 mil. de honore de Moubrai, et de castro Gonteri: et ad servituum suum xi mil. quart. et octav.'
[3] ODO, the bishop of Bayeux; son of Herluin, the knight who married Arlette, William's mother.