HOW THE KING OF FRANCE CAME; AND OF THE BATTLE
THAT WAS FOUGHT AT VAL DES DUNES.
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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
assembled 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
vavassors and the barons, who were bound by oath to obey their
commandment, were all sent for and summoned. They passed by various
rivers and fords, and assembled 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 Briçun de Valmerei[7], mass 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] assembled well equipped, and occupied the river's bank.
William advanced from Argences, and passing 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 passed 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 shields 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 shields 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 pricking 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 clashing with
levelled lances. When the lances broke and failed, then they assailed
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 pushing 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 vassals 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 pass with their
jeer. But when he tried to go off, and his horse had begun its course, a
knight came pricking, 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 vassals who were again to be seen striking with
lance and sword; Frenchmen assaulting 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 shield. I know not exactly how he was wounded, but only
that he was carried away on his shield 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
vassal named Hardé[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
passed away therefrom.
Renouf saw how the combat raged; he heard the clamour, the cry of war,
and the clashing 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 shield, 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 noble bearing, CHIEF DE FAUCON;--NOBLE CHIEF DE
FAUCON was his title. 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 friendship 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 fellowship 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 principal
place.]
[Footnote 7: Valmeray, near Croissanville.]
[Footnote 8: 'Li cumunes,' the troops brought by the barons from their
villages and towns. See the very curious passage in _Wace_, vol. i. page
307, as to another sense of 'cumune,' 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 levées
Et en totes guimples fermées.
M. Pluquet in his notes interprets guimples as 'cornettes de taffetas
attachées à 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
_Mém. 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.]
[Footnote 16:
De Costentin iessi la lance,
Ki abati le rei de France.]
[Footnote 17: Maissy, arrondissement of Bayeux.]
[Footnote 18: Creully, Croleium, or Credolium, in the arrondissement of
Caen; celebrated for its castle, and the lords of the name, who also
held among others the chateau de Gratot. _Mém. Ant. Norm_. ii. 251.
Thorigny and Creully passed with one of Robert Fitz Hamon's daughters to
Robert, Earl of Gloucester, natural son of Henry I.]
[Footnote 19: The Chronicle of Normandy says it was Guillesen, uncle of
Hamon, who overthrew the king; William of Malmesbury says it was Hamon
himself. There is some obscurity in the account of this assault on the
king. The passage marked with brackets looks like merely another version
of the incident just before related; thus incorporating perhaps the
various readings of two MSS. instead of selecting one.]
[Footnote 20: Notre dame d'Esquai is on the banks of the Orne, near
Vieux. There is, however, another Esquai, a league from Bayeux.]
[Footnote 21: The Chronicle of Normandy calls him Bardon; Dumoulin says
he was nephew to Grimoult. Another MS. reads Hardré.]
[Footnote 22: The Orne.]
[Footnote 23: Allemagne and St. André de Fontenay, both in the
arrondissement of Caen. There was an abbey of ancient foundation at the
latter.]
[Footnote 24: The Chronicle of Normandy reports the same.]
[Footnote 25: Brionne is on the Risle. The castle here described must
not be confounded with the one whose remains still exist. There is no
vestige of the old castle on the island. See an article on Brionne in
_Mém. Ant. Norm_. iv. 415. Ordericus Vitalis says the siege lasted three
years.]
[Footnote 26: Burgundy.]
[Footnote 27: The name Salle and Saulz occurs in this district in
_Gallia Christiana_. There is a Saulx-mesnil near Valognes, the scene of
the treachery planned against William.]
[Footnote 28: The charter of donation to Bayeux is in _Gallia
Christiana_, and is dated 1074. Among the witnesses are Robert Fitz
Hamon, son of one of the traitors, and Eudo Dupifer, one of Hubert de
Rie's sons. The curious inquest of the possessions of the see of Bayeux,
(taken temp. Hen. I. and printed in _Mém. Ant. Norm_. vol. viii.) of
which the list of Bayeux knights in the Norman Roll of the Red book is
only an abridgement, says, in speaking of Grimoult, 'in carcere regis
apud Rothomagum mortuus est; et sepultus in cimiterio Sti. Gervasii
extra villam; habens adhuc tibias in compedibus ferreis, in signum
proditionis, de quâ erat ab ipso rege accusatus.' In the roll, which
agrees with the inquest, is this entry, 'Feodum Grimundi de Plesseiz
erat fœdum 8 mil. cum terrâ de Bougeio et de Danvou, quam Grimundus
dederat Willelmo de Albinneio cum sorore sua in maritagio.' Further
particulars are given in the inquest, and in the Bull of Eugenius III.
1144, also printed in _Mém. Ant. Norm_. viii. The word 'abbey' is
probably only used here by Wace to suit his rhyme; though the Chronicle
of Normandy, improving upon the error, says the abbey of Caen. Wace
meant to allude to an appropriation of Grimoult's lands among the
prebends; and in fact, in the Bayeux inquest, it is stated that Odo
created out of them seven prebends; retaining in demesne Plessis, and
the forest of Montpinçon.]
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