The Chronicle of the Norman Conquest Part 2

CHAPTER II.

HOW THE KING OF FRANCE CAME; AND OF THE BATTLE THAT WAS FOUGHT AT VAL DES DUNES.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The King of France, upon hearing the words that William spoke, and the complaints he made, sent forth and summoned his army, and came quickly into Normandy. And William called together the Cauchois, and the men of Roem, and of Roumoiz[1], and the people of Auge, and of the Lievin[2], and those of Evreux, and of the Evrecin. In Oismeiz also they quickly a.s.sembled when the summons reached them.

Between Argences and Mezodon[3], upon the river Lison[4], the men of France pitched their tents; and those of the Normans, who held fast to William, and came in his cause, made their camp near the river Meance, which runs by Argences[5].

When the Viscount of the Costentin, and the Viscount of the Bessin knew that William was coming, and was determined to fight, and had brought with him the King of France, in order to conquer them with his aid, they gave heed to evil counsel; and in the pride of their hearts, disdained to restore to him his own, or to seek peace or accept it. They sent for their people, their friends and relations, from all quarters; the vava.s.sors and the barons, who were bound by oath to obey their commandment, were all sent for and summoned. They pa.s.sed by various rivers and fords, and a.s.sembled at Valedune.

Valedune is in Oismeiz, between Argences and Cingueleiz[6]; about three leagues from Caen, according to my reckoning. The plain is long and broad, without either hill or valley of any size. It is near the ford of Berangier, and the land is without either wood or rock, but slopes towards the rising sun. A river bounds it towards the south and west.

At Saint Bricun de Valmerei[7], ma.s.s was sung before the king on the day of that battle, and the clerks were in great alarm. The French armed and arranged their troops at Valmerei, and then entered Valedune. There the communes[8] a.s.sembled well equipped, and occupied the river's bank.

William advanced from Argences, and pa.s.sing at the ford of Berangier, followed the river's course till he joined the French. His men were on the right, and the French on the left hand, with their faces towards the west, for their enemies came from that quarter.

Raol Tesson de Cingueleiz[9] saw the Normans and French advancing, and beheld William's force increasing. He stood on one side afar off, having six score knights and six in his troop; all with their lances raised, and trimmed with silk tokens[10]. The king and Duke William spoke together; each armed, and with helmet laced. They divided their troops, and arranged their order of battle, each holding in his hand a baston; and when the king saw Raol Tesson with his people standing far off from the others, he was unable to discover on whose side he was, or what he intended to do. "Sire," said William, "I believe those men will aid me; for the name of their lord is Raol Tesson, and he has no cause of quarrel or anger against me." Much was thereupon said and done, the whole of which I never heard; and Raol Tesson still stood hesitating whether he should hold with William.

On the one hand the viscounts besought him, and made him great promises; and he had before pledged himself, and sworn upon the saints at Bayeux, to smite William wherever he should find him. But all his men besought and advised him for his good, not to make war upon his lawful lord, whatever he did; nor to fail of his duty to him in any manner. They said William was his natural lord; that he could not deny being his man; that he should remember having done him homage before his father and his barons; and that the man who would fight against his lord had no right to fief or barony.

"That I cannot dispute," said Raol; "you say well, and we will do even so." So he spurred his horse forth from among the people with whom he stood, crying TUR AIE[11]; and ordering his men to rest where they were, went to speak with Duke William. He came spurring over the plain, and struck his lord with his glove, and said laughingly to him, "What I have sworn to do that I perform; I had sworn to smite you as soon as I should find you; and as I would not perjure myself, I have now struck you to acquit myself of my oath, and henceforth I will do you no further wrong or felony." Then the duke said, "Thanks to thee!" and Raol thereupon went on his way back to his men.

William pa.s.sed along the plain, leading a great company of Normans, seeking the two viscounts, and calling out on the perjured men to stand forth. Those who knew them pointed them out on the other side among their people.

Then the troops were to be seen moving with their captains; and there was no rich man or baron there who had not by his side his gonfanon, or other enseigne, round which his men might rally; and cognizances or tokens, and s.h.i.+elds painted in various guises[12]. There was great stir over the field; horses were to be seen curvetting, the pikes were raised, the lances brandished, and s.h.i.+elds and helmets glistened. As they gallop, they cry their various war cries: those of France cry, MONT-JOIE! the sound whereof is pleasant to them. William cries, DEX AIE! which is the signal of Normandy; and Renouf cries loudly, SAINT SEVER, SIRE SAINT SEVOIR[13]; and Dam as-denz goes crying out, SAINT AMANT! SIRE SAINT AMANT[14]! Great clamour arose in their onset; all the earth quaked and trembled; knights were p.r.i.c.king along, some retiring, others coming up; the bold spurring forward, the cowards shrinking and trembling.

Against the King of France and the Frenchmen came up the body of the Costentinese; each party closing with the other, and clas.h.i.+ng with levelled lances. When the lances broke and failed, then they a.s.sailed each other with swords. Hand to hand they fight, as champions in the lists, when two knights are matched; striking and beating each other down in many ways; wrestling and pus.h.i.+ng and triumphing whenever any one yields. Each would be ashamed to flee, each tries to keep the field, each one boasts of his prowess with his fellow; Costentinese[15] and French thus contending with each other.

Great is the clamour and hard the strife; the swords are drawn, the lances clash. Many were the va.s.sals to be seen there fighting, serjeants and knights overthrowing one another. The king himself was struck and beat down off his horse. A Norman whom no one knew had come up among them; he thought that if the king should fall, his army would soon be dispersed; so he struck at him 'de travers,' and overthrew him, and if his hauberk had not been very good, in my opinion he would have been killed. On this account the men of that country said, and yet say, jeering,

From Costentin came the lance That struck down the King of France[16].

and if their knight had got clear away, they might well pa.s.s with their jeer. But when he tried to go off, and his horse had begun its course, a knight came p.r.i.c.king, and hit him, striking him with such violence as to stretch him out at full length. And he soon fared still worse than even that; for as he recovered himself, and would have mounted his horse, and had laid his hand on the saddle bow, the throng increased around, and bore him from the saddle, throwing him down; and the horses trod him underfoot, so that they left him there for dead.

There was great press to raise the king up, and they soon remounted him.

He had fallen among his men, and was no way hurt nor injured: so he arose up nimbly and boldly; never more so. As soon as he was on horseback, many were the va.s.sals who were again to be seen striking with lance and sword; Frenchmen a.s.saulting Normans, and Normans turning, dispersing, and moving off the field: and the king shewed himself every where in order to encourage his men, as he had been seen to fall.

[Then Hamon-as-denz was beaten down, and I know not how many of his kindred with him, who never returned home thence, save as they might be borne home on their biers. Dan as-denz was a Norman, very powerful in his fief, and in his men. He was Lord of Thorigny, of Mezi[17], and of Croillie[18]. He had fought on all day, striking down the Frenchmen, and crying out SAINT AMANT! but a Frenchman marked him carrying himself thus proudly; so he stood still on one side, and watched him until he came near; and when he saw him turn and strike the king[19], the Frenchman charged forward with great force, and struck him gallantly, so that he fell upon his s.h.i.+eld. I know not exactly how he was wounded, but only that he was carried away on his s.h.i.+eld dead; and was borne thence to Esquai[20], and buried before the church. Many were the people who saw this feat done; how Hamon struck the king, and beat him off his horse, and how the French killed him for it, taking vengeance for their king.]

Raol Tesson stood by and looked on, till he saw the two hosts meeting, and the knights jousting; then he rode forward, and his course was easy to be marked. I know not how to recount his high deeds, nor how many he overthrew on that day.

Renouf the Viscount (I will not dwell long on the story) had with him a va.s.sal named Harde[21], born and bred at Bayeux, who rode in the front of all, and gloried much in his prowess; William rushed against him, sword in hand, and aiming his blow aright, drove the trenchant steel into his body below the chin, between the throat and the chest, his armour not saving him. The body fell backward to the earth, and the soul pa.s.sed away therefrom.

Renouf saw how the combat raged; he heard the clamour, the cry of war, and the clas.h.i.+ng of lances; and he stood still, and was astounded, like one whose heart is faint. He feared much lest he were betrayed, and lest Neel had fled; and he was greatly afraid of William, and of the people who were with him. Evil betide him, he thought, if he were taken, and worse still would it be to be killed. He repented of having put on his armour, and was eager to get out of the battle; so he wandered in front and in rear, and at last, separating himself from his companions, determined to flee. Accordingly he threw away his lance and s.h.i.+eld, and took to flight, running off with outstretched neck. Those about him who were cowards accompanied his flight, complaining much more than they had any occasion.

But Neel fought on gallantly; and if all had been like him, the French king would have come in an evil hour, for his men would have been discomfited and conquered. He was called on account of his valour and skill, his bravery and n.o.ble bearing, CHIEF DE FAUCON;--n.o.bLE CHIEF DE FAUCON was his t.i.tle. He gave and received many a blow, and did all that lay in his power; but his strength began to fail; he saw that many of his men were lying dead, and that the French force increased on all sides, while the Normans fell away. Some fell wounded around him; some took fright and fled; and Neel at length quitted the field with more regret than he had ever before felt.

I will not tell, and in truth I do not know, (for I was not there to see, and I have not found it written) which of those present fought best; but this I know, that the king conquered, and that Renouf fled from the field. The crowd of fugitives was great, and the press of the pursuers was great also. Horses were to be seen running loose, and knights spurring across the plain. They sought to escape into the Bessin, but feared to cross the Osgne[22]. All fled in confusion between Alemaigne and Fontenai[23]; by fives, by sixes, and by threes, while the pursuers followed, pressing hard upon and destroying them. So many of them were driven into the Osgne, and killed or drowned there, as that the mills of Borbillon[24], they say, were stopped by the dead bodies.

And the king then gathered together his men, to return each into his own land. The sick and wounded were carried away, and the dead were buried in the cemeteries of the country.

William remained in his own land, and for a long while there was no more war. The barons came to accord with him, and paid such fines, and made him such fair promises, that he granted them peace, and acquittance of all their offences. But Neel could not come to an arrangement with him, and dare not stay in the land; so he remained long in Brittany before any accord was come to. Gui retreated from Valedune and fled to Brione; and William followed hard after him, and shut him up in a strong castle.

In those days there was a fortress standing on an island of the river Risle[25], which surrounds the fortress and the mansion. And there, in Brione, Gui was shut up; but he had neither peace nor rest, and was in great bodily fear. The duke built up two castles near; so that provisions failing, and the besiegers pressing him hard, Gui surrendered up Brione and Vernun, when he could get no better terms. He might have remained with the duke, who would have provided for him; but he did not stay long; there was no friends.h.i.+p between them; so he went away to Burguine[26], to the country where he was born.

When the other Norman barons saw that the duke had obtained the upper hand of them all, they delivered hostages to keep the peace, and did fealty and homage to him. They obeyed him as their lord, and pulled down the new castles, and willingly or unwillingly rendered their service. He seized Grimoult del Plesseiz, and put him in prison at Rouen; and he had very good cause for so doing; for Grimoult would have murdered him traitorously, as we have said, at Valognes, had not Golet the fool given him warning. Grimoult confessed the felony, and accused of fellows.h.i.+p in it a knight called Salle[27], who had Huon for his father. Salle offered to defend himself from the charge, and a single combat was thereupon arranged between them; but when the appointed day came, Grimoult was found dead in the prison. It occasioned great talk; and he was buried, chained as he was, with the irons on his legs. At Bayeux, when the church was dedicated, part of Grimoult's lands was granted to Our Lady the Blessed Mary; and part divided in the abbey, to each his share[28].

[Footnote 1: Rouen, and the district attached.]

[Footnote 2: The pays de Lisieux. Oismeiz is the pays d'Exmes.]

[Footnote 3: Argences and Mezidon, both situate in the pays d'Auge.]

[Footnote 4: Laison.]

[Footnote 5: All the topographical details concerning this battle of Val-des-dunes are stated to be perfectly correct, and to show Wace's acquaintance with the neighbourhood.]

[Footnote 6: A small district, of which Harcourt-Thury is the princ.i.p.al place.]

[Footnote 7: Valmeray, near Croissanville.]

[Footnote 8: 'Li c.u.munes,' the troops brought by the barons from their villages and towns. See the very curious pa.s.sage in _Wace_, vol. i. page 307, as to another sense of 'c.u.mune,' in his account of the popular insurrection against Duke Richard II.]

[Footnote 9: One of the greatest proprietors in Normandy: we shall find his son subsequently, as one of those present at Hastings.]

[Footnote 10:

Tuit aloent lances levees Et en totes guimples fermees.

M. Pluquet in his notes interprets guimples as 'cornettes de taffetas attachees a la lance:' for which purpose the knights may have already learned to adopt the colours or tokens of their ladies.]

[Footnote 11: 'Thor-aide,' according to M. Pluquet, which he considers may have been derived from the ancient North-men. Another MS. reads 'Turie:' and M. Le Prevost considers the latter to be the true reading, and that the cry was really Thury, and most probably referred to the chief seat of Raol Tesson.]

[Footnote 12:

Congnoissances u entre-sainz, De plusors guises escuz painz.]

[Footnote 13: The cry of Saint Sever! has been noticed in a preceding note.]

[Footnote 14: The church of the commune called le vieux Thorigny is stated to have been dedicated to St. Amand; but see the observations in _Mem. Ant. Norm_. v. 221.]

[Footnote 15: Men of the Cotentin, a district comprehended in, though not so large as, the present department of La Manche.]