CHAPTER XVIII.

THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS:--Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, blesses the Norman army--Arrangement of the Norman army--William in 1066--Superstitious fears of the Normans--William's address to his soldiers--Taillefer, the Norman minstrel--The attack--The Norman first division is repulsed--They renew the charge--Obstinate resistance of the Saxons--William's strategy--Its success--Harold and Leofwine are slain--Gurth's courageous resistance--Gurth is slain--Rout of the Saxons--William pitches his camp for the night