and men jammed together ; you might see many men fall, turning one over the other, stumble and bite the ground, unable to get up. Many of the English died there, whom the Normans had drawn on with them . In all the day never were so many Normans slain , as perished in the fosse ; so said they who saw the dead.
The varlets, who stood by the arms (herneiz ) and had to guard them , would have abandoned all on account of the loss (damage) of the French , whom they saw falling head long into the fosse, unable to save themselves, when Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, said to them , " Stay ! Stay ! be at peace, do not move ; fear nothing. For, so God please, we will conquer !" They were assured and did not move. Odo came back where the battle was fiercest. On a milk white horse he sat. All the people knew him . A baton he held in his hand. There, where he saw most need, he made the knights turn, and there he made them stop : often he made them assault. From the third hour of the day, [nine o'clock ,] when the battle began, till the ninth hour [three o'clock ,] was passed, the fight swayed this way and that, and none knew which would conquer. The Norman archers aimed many arrows at the English , but they covered themselves with their shields, nor could they do them any harm . They took counsel to aim high ; when the arrows were coming down again they fell upon their heads, and put out the eyes of several. The arrows flew more thickly than rain before the wind. Then it happened that an arrow , which was falling from on high , struck Harold above the -
