The Story of the Saxon Knight
"The Normans were
playing their part well, when an English knight came rushing
up, having in his company a hundred men furnished with various
arms.
He wielded a northern hatchet with the blade a full foot long,
and was well armed after his manner, being tall, bold, and of
noble carriage. In the front of the battle, where the Normans
thronged most, he came bounding on swifter than the stag, many
Normans falling before him and his company.
He rushed straight upon a Norman Knight who was armed and
riding on a war-horse, and tried with his hatchet of steel to
cleave his helmet; but the blow miscarried, and the sharp
blade glanced down before the saddle-bow, driving through the
horse's neck down to the ground, so that both horse and master
fell together to the earth.
I know not whether
the Englishman struck another blow; but the Normans who saw
the stroke were astonished and about to abandon the assault,
when Roger de Montgomeri came galloping up, with his lance
set, and, heeding not the long-handled axe which the
Englishman wielded aloft, struck him down and left him
stretched on the ground. Then Roger cried out, 'Frenchmen,
strike! the day is ours!' And again a fierce melee was to be
seen, with many a blow of lance and sword; the English still
defending themselves, killing the horses and cleaving the
shields.
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