Harold also had a standard. He planted it on the highest part of the eminence on which he marshalled his army for the fight, and by it he fought unflinchingly until cut down by the overpowering strength of the Norman chivalry. William of Malmesbury and several other writers tell us that Harold’s standard was “in the form of a man fighting.”[83] In the Tapestry it is a dragon. Wace does not describe it, but says, “His gonfanon was in truth a noble one, sparkling with gems and precious stones; after the victory William sent it to the Apostle to prove and commemorate his great conquest and glory.” A glance at the Tapestry will shew that the Saxons were entirely destitute of cavalry.[84] The comparatively limited size of the kingdom had rendered cavalry unnecessary for police purposes, and the Danes, the foreign enemies with whom the English had hitherto to contend, had too wide and stormy an ocean to cross, to attempt the transport of horses for the purposes of war. The great strength of the Norman army consisted in cavalry. William had been accustomed to contend with the King of France and other powerful chiefs in his immediate neighbourhood, and was thus compelled to avail himself of every device which human ingenuity had contrived for maintaining his cause. The saddles of the horses are peculiar, having a high peak before and behind. We can readily understand how William, when he had become corpulent, received a mortal injury by coming down with violence upon the pommel of such a saddle. No horse armour is used, neither have any of the horses a saddle-cloth. “On the seal of Henry I. is the first representation of a saddle-cloth, and either during that reign or the preceding one, the high peak behind the saddle was altered for a back of greater breadth.”[85] Most of the riders are provided with stirrups and with prick spurs. William’s own horse was either an Arabian or a cross from an Arabian. It was presented to him by the King of Spain. The Normans were strong in another force, of which the Saxons were almost entirely destitute--bowmen. In the Saxon lines there appears but one solitary bowman, whilst on the Norman side there are many. The Norman archers must have plied their shafts most diligently, for their arrows are sticking in the shields, and to some extent in the bodies of the Saxons, like pins in a lady’s pincushion. In the battle of Hastings the great event of the day turned upon an arrow skilfully sped. Had Harold’s eye not been pierced, the battle would have been a drawn one, and in William’s peculiar circumstance such a result was defeat.