Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 1.djvu/101

A. D. 1066.] combating with great bravery at the head of his men, and his two brothers shared his fate.

The English, dismayed by the fall of their king, and having no one to lead them, gave way, and were pursued by the victorious Normans with great slaughter, till night put an end to the horrors of the scene.

Thus did William of Normandy gain the great and derisive battle of Hastings, which lasted from sunrise to sunset, and which, from the valour displayed by both armies and their leaders, was worthy to decide the contest for a crown. William, in the course of the battle, had three horses killed under him, and lost nearly fifteen thousand of his followers. The loss of the English was never exactly known, but it must have been even more considerable.



The darkness of the night, however, saved a good part