Harold, painfully conscious of the inferiority of his military equipments, resolved to act on the defensive. He took up his position on a round-topped hill, having on its summit a circular platform just sufficient to contain his troops drawn up in close order. This hill was anciently called Senlac; it afterwards became the site of the Abbey of Battle. Harold further strengthened his position by earthen ramparts crowned with palisades of wood. Wace, speaking of these precautions, says, “They had built up a fence before them with their shields, and with ash and other wood; and had well joined and wattled in their whole work, so as not to leave even a crevice; and thus they had a barricade in their front, through which any Norman who would attack them must first pass. Being covered in this way by their shields and barricades, their aim was to defend themselves; and if they had remained steady for that purpose, they would not have been conquered that day; for every Norman who made his way in lost his life in dishonour, either by hatchet or bill, by club or other weapon.” In addition to these defences, Wace tells us that Harold “made a fosse, which went across the field, guarding one side of their army.” This was probably lower down the hill than the position occupied by his camp, and was chiefly intended to incommode the cavalry. Harold further feeling that he had not the power to prevent the enemy’s horse outflanking him, ordered “that all should be ranged with their faces towards the enemy”--that they should front three sides at least of the square. We see them (_Plate XIV._) sustaining an attack from opposite quarters, and in both cases fronting the foe. He moreover issued directions “that no one should move from where he was; so that whoever came might find them ready; and that whatever any one, be he Norman or other, should do, each should do his best to defend his own place.” He planted his standard--the dragon of Wessex--on the most elevated part of the hill, and there he resolved to defend it to the last. Nobly Harold fulfilled his purpose--nothing could tempt him from his post--and ere the Saxon ensign bowed to the banner blessed by the Pope, his blood had drenched the soil. Harold’s men consisted but in part of regularly trained troops. Amongst them were many “villains called together from the villages, bearing such arms as they found--clubs and great picks, iron forks and stakes.” These undisciplined Saxons exhibited no lack of that indomitable energy for which the English race is famous; but, as Harold’s brother, Gurth, remarked, “a great gathering of vilanaille is worth little in battle.”