CHAPTER XI.

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.

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.

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.]