Page:15 decisive battles of the world Vol 2 (London).djvu/29

Rh by sea. He might have gathered a much more numerous army than that of William; but his recent victory had made him over-confident, and he was irritated by the reports of the country being ravaged by the invaders. As soon, therefore, as he had collected a small army in London he marched off towards the coast: pressing forward as rapidly as his men could traverse Surrey and Sussex, in the hope of taking the Normans unawares, as he had recently by a similar forced march succeeded in surprising the Norwegians. But he had now to deal with a foe equally brave with Harald Hardrada, and far more skilful and wary. The old Norman chroniclers describe the preparations of William on his landing, with a graphic vigour which would be wholly lost by transfusing their racy Norman couplets, and terse Latin prose, into the current style of modern history. It is best to follow them closely, though at the expense of much quaintness and occasional uncouthness of expression. They tell us how Duke William's own ship was the first of the Norman fleet. It was called the Mora, and was the gift of his Duchess, Matilda. On the head of the ship in the front, which mariners call the prow, there was a