The position was a very strong one, and Harold, with great military skill, fortified it with a palisade, thereby making a most formidable barrier against the Norman cavalry. The battle of Senlac, or Hastings, as it is popularly called, was fought on the 14th of October, and the evening before it was spent, it is said, by the Normans in prayer, and by the English in drinking and the singing of songs. The battle began about nine o'clock. The English host was marshalled behind the palisade, all on foot, for they, unlike the Normans, were never fond of fighting on horseback, and Harold, with his brothers Gurth and Leofwine, stood under the royal standard. Against them the Normans advanced in three divisions, of which William commanded the centre. On the left was Alan of Brittany, with a force of Bretons, and troops from Maine and Poitou; on the right was Roger of Montgomery, at the head of the mercenary troops, whom William had hired from wherever they could be collected. The first attack failed completely, and the Normans, after a vain attempt to break down the palisade, were driven back in confusion, the Bretons being the first to fly. Unfortunately, in their excitement, some of the English soldiers pursued beyond the palisade, and were easily cut down in the plain. In the second attack, William of Normandy was unhorsed by Earl Gurth, but went against him on foot and cut him down; about the same time Leofwine was also slain. Still, the English barrier was intact, and it seemed as if the Normans must withdraw in discomfiture. But William's generalship was equal to the occasion. He had seen how helpless the English were upon the open plain, and he resolved, therefore, to lure them from behind their defences by a feigned flight. The ruse was successful, and a considerable portion of the English army suffered for disobedience of Harold's orders by being compelled to make their escape as best they could to the broken ground to the back of the hill. Still Harold fought on, and as evening was coming on, it seemed as if he might even yet be able to hold the field. Then William bethought him of another plan, and ordered his archers to shoot into the air, whereby the English were seriously incommoded. One of the falling shafts pierced Harold through the eye, and he was mortally wounded. The battle was to all intents ended when he died; his house-carls were killed at their posts, the light-armed troops fled into the rocks and swamps, inflicting severe losses upon such of their enemies as ventured to pursue them. Thus did William of Normandy win the great battle of Hastings, which lasted from sunrise to sunset, and which, for the valour displayed by both armies and their leaders, was worthy to decide a contest for a crown. William, in the course of the battle, had three horses killed under him, and lost nearly fifteen thousand men; the loss of the English was probably considerably more.