HOW THE NORMAN HOST MET AT ST. VALERY, AND SAILED THENCE.
The duke rejoiced greatly at receiving the gonfanon, and the license
which the apostle gave him. He got together carpenters smiths and other
workmen, so that great stir was seen at all the ports of Normandy, in
the collecting of wood and materials, cutting of planks, framing of
ships and boats, stretching sails, and rearing masts, with great pains
and at great cost. They spent all one summer and autumn in fitting up
the fleet and collecting the forces; and there was no knight in the
land, no good Serjeant, archer, nor peasant of stout heart, and of age
for battle, that the duke did not summon to go with him to England:
promising rents to the vavassors, and honors to the barons.
When the ships were ready, they were moored in the Somme at St Valeri,
and there delivered to the barons. Many were the ships and boats in the
river there, which is called the Somme, and separates Ponthieu and
Vimou. Vimou extends as far as Ou, which separates Normandy from Vimou,
a country under different government. Ou is a river, and Ou is also a
fair castle[1] situate upon that river.
The duke had men from many and various parts. Haimon, the viscount of
Toarz[2] came thither, a man of very great power, who could bring much
people. Alain Felgan also came to the crossing, and brought with him
great baronage from among the Bretons[3]; and Fitz Bertran de Peleit,
and the Sire de Dinan came also; and Raol de Gael, and many Bretons from
many castles, and from about Brecheliant, concerning which the Bretons
tell many fables. It is a forest long and broad, much famed throughout
Brittany. The fountain of Berenton rises from beneath a stone there.
Thither the hunters are used to repair in sultry weather; and drawing up
water with their horns, they sprinkle the stone for the purpose of
having rain, which is then wont to fall, they say, throughout the whole
forest around; but why I know not. There, too, fairies are to be seen
(if the Bretons tell truth) and many other wonders happen. The ground
is broken and precipitous, and deer in plenty roam there, but the
husbandmen have deserted it. I went thither on purpose to see these
marvels. I saw the forest and the land, and I sought for the marvels,
but I found none[4]. I went like a fool, and so I came back; I sought
after folly, and hold myself a fool for my pains.
The fame of the Norman duke soon went forth through many lands; how he
meant to cross the sea against Harold, who had taken England from him.
Then soldiers came flocking to him, one by one, two by two, and four by
four; by fives and sixes, sevens and eights, nines and tens; and he
retained them all, giving them much and promising more. Many came by
agreement made with them beforehand; many bargained for lands, if they
should win England; some required pay, allowances and gifts; and the
duke was often obliged to give at once to those who could not wait the
result[5].
I shall never put in writing, and would not undertake to set down, what
barons, and how many knights, how many vavassors, and how many soldiers
the duke had in his company, when he had collected all his navy; but I
heard my father say--I remember it well, although I was but a lad--that
there were seven hundred ships, less four[6], when they sailed from St.
Valeri; and that there were besides these ships, boats and skiffs for
the purpose of carrying the arms and harness. I have found it written
(but I know not whether it be true) that there were in all three
thousand vessels bearing sails and masts. Any one will know that there
must have been a great many men to have furnished out so many vessels.
[Illustration]
They waited long at St. Valeri for a fair wind, and the barons were
greatly wearied[7]. Then they prayed the convent to bring out the shrine
of St Valeri, and set it on a carpet in the plain; and all came praying
the holy reliques, that they might be allowed to pass over sea. They
offered so much money, that the reliques were buried beneath it; and
from that day forth, they had good weather and a fair wind. The duke
placed a lantern on the mast of his ship, that the other ships might see
it, and hold their course after it. At the summit was a vane[8] of
brass, gilt. On the head of the ship, in the front, which mariners call
the prow, there was the figure of a child in brass, bearing an arrow
with a bended bow.[9] His face was turned towards England, and thither
he looked, as though he was about to shoot; so that whichever way the
ship went, he seemed to aim onwards.
[Illustration]
Of so large a fleet with so many people, only two ships were in any
peril, and those perhaps from being overloaded. The duke had a great
chivalry in his ships; and besides these, he had many archers and
Serjeants, many brave men and warriors, carpenters and engineers, good
smiths and other handicraftsmen.
[Footnote 1:
Ou est ewe, Ou est chastel
Ke seit sor l'ewe d'Ou mult bel.]
[Footnote 2: AIMERI, viscount of THOUARS, the fourth of the name. ALAIN
FELGAN and the other chiefs in the expedition will be more conveniently
noticed hereafter. The only list which _Benoit_ gives will be found in
our appendix.]
[Footnote 3: _Benoit_ goes into much detail concerning William's
previous arrangements with the Bretons.]
[Footnote 4:
Fol m'en revins, fol i alai,
Fol i alai, fol m'en revins,
Folie quis, por fol me tins.]
[Footnote 5: _Benoit de Sainte-More_ thus expresses himself on the
subject:
Ci receveront les granz loiers
Qu'aveir deivent bons chevaliers;
Les terres, les fieus, les honors,
Plus c'unc n'orent lor anceisors;
Par lor valor, par lor proeces,
Auront dès or les granz richesces,
Les granz tenures e les fieus.]
[Footnote 6: The accounts differ as to the number of vessels, arising
principally from a different principle of computation; some reckoning
'the small craft,' others not. _Benoit de Sainte-More_ says,
Si out treis mile nefs au meins,
De ce nos fait l'autor certains.]
[Footnote 7: The fleet sailed on the 29th September, 1066.]
[Footnote 8: 'Wire-wire.']
[Footnote 9: In the Bayeux tapestry, the child will be seen at the poop,
not at the prow, to which, however, he looks; he holds a trumpet. In
Taylor's Anon. MS. (_Littleton_, i. 464) it is stated that William's own
ship was called Mora, being the gift of Matilda; and the child is stated
to have pointed towards England with his right forefinger, and to have
held to his mouth an ivory horn with his left. According to _Ordericus
Vitalis_, one Fitz Stephen under Hen. I. claimed to take the king in the
unfortunate Blanche-Nef, because his father had carried over the
conqueror. _Benoit de Sainte-More's_ short account of the voyage, of the
formation of the first fort, which he places at Pevensey, and of the
progress thence to Hastings, is as follows:
D'entrer es nefs e de charger
Ne sorst esmai ne destorbier,
Kar l'aure venta duce e queie
Eissi que li mers trop n'ondeie.
Enz l'anuitant furent tuit enz;
Od ce que mult fu dreiz li venz,
Traïstrent les veiles, si siglèrent,
Au rei des ceus se comandèrent
Od joie e od tens duz e bel
Arrivent a Pevenesel.
Iloc sempres desus le port
Ferment un chastel bel e fort.
Chevalers bons des sues genz
Laissa li dux assez dedenz
Por tenir le deus anz garniz,
Apres, ce conte li escriz,
Vint a Hastinges senz demore,
Ou maintenant e en poi d'ore
En r'a un autre fait fermer.
Tant entendirent al ovrer
Que li mur i furent si haut
De nule part ne dote assant.
Là remist gardes seguraines
E de lui fei porter certaines.]
[Illustration]