[81] “And all had their cognizances, so that each might know his fellow, and Norman might not strike Norman, nor Frenchman kill his countryman, by mistake.” _Taylor’s Wace_, p. 172. [82] The Saxons as well as the Normans paid great attention to the opinions of the ladies, even upon martial subjects. Strutt says, they “would not go to battle or undertake any great expedition without consulting their wives, to whose advice they paid the greatest regard.” This excellent antiquary pays more regard to truth than gallantry when in the same sentence he adds, “They also superstitiously placed great faith in the neighing of horses.”--_Manners of the English_, vol i., p. 17. [83] “This standard ... was sumptuously embroidered with gold and precious stones, in the form of a man fighting.” Can Malmesbury have had in view here the description which Æschylus gives us of the shield of Polynices? “His well-orb’d shield he holds, New-wrought, and with double impress charged: _A warrior blazing all in golden arms_, * * * * * Such their devices.” [84] Florence of Worcester distinctly states that it was “contrary to the custom of the English to fight on horseback.”--_Bohn’s Ed._ p. 157. [85] Meyrick, vol. i., p. 27. [86] Akerman, in the Archæologia, vol. xxxiv. [87] A stream which enters the sea a few miles to the east of the river Orne, upon which the city of Caen is situated. [88] Roger de Hoveden, vol. i., 134. Ordericus Vitalis, vol. i., p. 464. [89] Perhaps this is an elipsis for _ad litus Pevensæ_; more probably, however, these irregularities of construction are to be ascribed to the low state of Latinity at the period. [90] A stroke has probably been over the last A in _Hastinga_, so as to make it _Hastingam_, which the construction requires. _Raperentur_ seems to have been used as a deponent verb, contrary to classical usage.