The Battle Of Hastings Rages from
9am to 3pm
"From nine o'clock
in the morning, when the combat began, till three o'clock
came, the battle was up and down, this way and that, and no
one knew who would conquer and win the land.
Both sides stood
so firm and fought so well that no one could guess which would
prevail. The Norman archers with their bows shot thickly upon
the English; but they covered themselves with their shields,
so that the arrows could not reach their bodies nor do any
mischief, how true so ever was their aim or however well they
shot.
Then the Normans
determined to shoot their arrows upward into the air, so that
they might fall on their enemies' heads and strike their
faces.
The archers adopted this scheme and shot up into the air
toward the English; and the arrows, in falling, struck their
heads and faces and put out the eyes of many; and all feared
to open their eyes or leave their faces unguarded.
The arrows now flew thicker than rain before the wind; fast
sped the shafts that the English call 'wibetes.'
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