that lies between the Tweed and the Tees;
and Matthew Paris uses a significant phrase which marks how completely
they spread over the land. He calls them the "Scottish Ants." The
Archbishop of York, Thurstan, an aged but vigorous man, collected a
large army to resist the invaders; and he made a politic appeal to the
old English nationality, by calling out the population under the banners
of their Saxon saints. The Bishop of Durham was the leader of this army,
composed of the Norman chivalry and the English archers. The opposing
forces met at Northallerton, on the 22d of August, 1138. The
Anglo-Norman army was gathered round a tall cross, raised on a car, and
surrounded by the banners of St. Cuthbert and St. Wilfred and St. John
of Beverley. From this incident the bloody day of Northallerton was
called "the Battle of the Standard." Hoveden has given an oration made
by Ralph, Bishop of Durham, in which he addresses the captains as "Brave
nobles of England, Normans by birth"; and pointing to the enemy, who
knew not the use of armor, exclaims, "Your head is covered with the
helmet, your breast with a coat of mail, your legs with greaves, and
your whole body with the shield." Of the Saxon yeomanry he says nothing.
Whether the oration be genuine or not, it exhibits the mode in which the
mass of the people were regarded at that time. Thierry appears to
consider that the bold attempt of David of Scotland was made in reliance
upon the support of the Anglo-Saxon race. But it is perfectly clear that
they bore the brunt of the English battle; and whatever might be their
wrongs, were not disposed to yield their fields and houses to a fierce
multitude who came for spoil and for possession. The Scotch fought with
darts and long spears, and attacked the solid mass of Normans and
English gathered round the standard. Prince Henry, the son of the King
of Scotland, made a vigorous onslaught with a body of horse, composed of
English and Normans attached to his father's household. These were,
without doubt, especial partisans of the claim to the English crown of
the ex-empress Matilda; and, as the King of Scotland himself is
described, were "inflamed with zeal for a just cause."[42] The issue of
the battle was the signal defeat of the Scottish army, with the loss of
eleven thousand men upon the field. A peace was concluded with King
Stephen in the following year.

[Footnote 42: Scott has given a picturesque account of the battle in his
_Tal