as it arrived. The English were brave
enough, but William was a more intelligent leader than Harold, and his
men were better under control. Twice after the battle had begun the
Norman horsemen charged up the hill only to be driven back. The wily
William, finding that the hill was not to be stormed by a direct
attack, met the difficulty by galling the English with a shower of
arrows and ordering his left wing to turn and fly. The stratagem was
successful. Some of the English rushed down the hill in pursuit. The
fugitives faced round and charged the pursuers, following them up the
slope. The English on the height were thus thrown into confusion; but
they held out stoutly, and as the Norman horsemen now in occupation of
one end of the hill charged fiercely along its crest, they locked
their shields together and fought desperately for life, if no longer
for victory. Slowly and steadily the Normans pressed on, till they
reached the spot where Harold, surrounded by his house-carls, fought
beneath his standard. There all their attacks were in vain, till
William, calling for his bowmen, bade them shoot their arrows into the
air. Down came the arrows in showers upon the heads of the English
warriors, and one of them pierced Harold's eye, stretching him
lifeless on the ground. In a series of representations in worsted
work, known as the Bayeux Tapestry, which was wrought by the needle of
some unknown woman and is now exhibited in the museum of that city,
the scenes of the battle and the events preceding it are pictorially
recorded.

[Illustration: Death of Harold, who is attempting to pull the arrow
from his eye. (From the Bayeux Tapestry.)]

25. =William's Coronation. 1066.=--William had destroyed both the
English king and the English army. It is possible that England, if
united, might still have resisted. The great men at London chose for
their king Eadgar the AEtheling, the grandson of Eadmund Ironside.
Eadwine and Morkere were present at the election, but left London as
soon as it was over. They would look after their own earldoms; they
would not join others, as Harold had done, in defending England as a
whole. Divided England would sooner or later be a prey to William. He
wanted, however, not merely to reign as a conqueror, but to be
lawfully elected as king, that he might have on his side law as well
as force. He first struck terror into Kent and Sussex by ravaging the
lands of all who held out against him. Then he marche