508 SOME EXPEDITIONS AND DEEDS OF GREAT VIKINGS. 



a hard fight before we are defeated.' The jarl said : ' You 

 shall have your will, lord, in this as in other things ; but I am 

 not more eager to flee than any other man, though I said what 

 I thought advisable.' Harald put up his standard, the land- 

 waster, and arrayed his host, and made the line (fylking) long, 

 but not thick ; then he bent the wings (arms) backwards, so 

 that they met each other ; it was a wide thick circle, equal on 

 all sides ; it had shield against shield on all sides, and shields 

 above also. 1 The array was thus formed because the king 

 knew that the horsemen were wont to rush up in small squads 

 (ridil) and draw back at once ; the king's guard, very picked 

 men, was inside the circle, the archers also, and Tosti with 

 his men. Then the king ordered the jarl to go forward 

 where it was most needed. ' Those who stand outermost in 

 the array/ he said, ' shall put the handles of their spears 

 down on the ground, and the points against the breasts of the 

 horsemen if they attack ; those who stand next shall direct 

 their spear points against the breasts of their horses ; keep 

 the spears thus everywhere that they cannot advance ; let 

 us stand firm and take care not to break this array.' 



" Harald, son of Godwin, had come thither with an overwhelm- 

 ing host both of horsemen and footmen ; it is told that King 

 Harald had not the half of his men. Harald Sigurdarson, 

 on a black horse with a white spot on its forehead, rode 

 about his army and examined how it was arranged ; his horse 

 stumbled, and he fell forward off it ; as he rose, he said : 

 ' A fall bodes a lucky journey.' 



" King Harald Gudinason said to the Northmen who were 

 with him : ' Do you know the tall man with the blue kirtle 

 (kyrtil) and the fine helmet who fell off his horse?' 'It is 

 the king of the Northmen,' they said. The king added : ' He 

 is a tall and noble-looking man, but nevertheless it is likely 

 that his luck is now gone.' Then twenty English horsemen 2 

 rode forth, fully armoured, as were also their horses ; when they 

 came to the array of the Northmen, one of them asked : 'Where 

 is Tosti jarl in the host ? ' Tosti answered : ' It is not to be 

 concealed that you may find him here.' The horseman said : 

 ' Harald thy brother sends thee greeting, and the message that 

 thou shalt have peace, and get Northumberland, and rather 



1 It was a shieldburgh, with walls and i Then a horseman said: 'Is Tosti jarl 



roof of shields. 



2 In Snorri the twenty hoi-semen are 

 described thus : " Twenty horsemen of 

 the Thingmannalid rode up in front of 

 the array of the Northmen. They were 

 armoured all over and also their horses. 



here in the host ? ' " (Snorri Sturluson, 

 Harald Hardradi's Saga, c. 9.) 



From this we see that the English, 

 like their kinsmen, had horsemen; and 

 the finds of spurs, &c., prove this. 



