THE NORMAN CONQUERORS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS 



of the Isle of Wight and watch the progress of the fleet he was building 

 for the invasion. The success of the expedition was by no means 

 assured, and it is highly probable that a less remarkable man than the 

 Duke William would have failed before he started out. His people did 

 not take very kindly to the sea, in spite of their pirate ancestry ; his 

 barons were many of them sitting on the fence until they got a better 

 viev/ of the prospects of the venture ; the adventurers whom he was 

 collecting from every part of France were coming in slowly and there 

 were practically no ships on the coast suitable for the transport of his 

 army. So the preparations were slow, and the business of cutting the 

 timber and building the ships took an unconscionable time. Had the 

 invaders followed close on the heels of the first warning of their inten- 

 tions it is more than probable that Harold would have defeated them at 

 sea, but after his flleet had been mobilised for months, watching for the 

 attack that never seemed to materialise, its morale began to break up 

 and before the invasion actually occurred the greater part of the ships 

 which composed it were back again at their fishing. The King's own 

 ships were left in London when their crews were demobilised — or rather 

 when they appear to have demobilised themselves — and were taken 

 across to Ireland by his fugitive relatives after his death at Senlac. 



(Macpherson Collection) 



THE " MORA. 



Allhough the accuracy in matters of detail of the Bayeux tapestry 

 has been doubted as being the work of women with no technical 

 knowledge, it is valuable as being contemporary. The Mora 

 being the Queen's present to William, she would naturally know 

 a good deal about that particular ship. 



16 



