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The address was too long for the duke's faithful comrade, William Fitz-Osborn. "My lord," said he, "we dally; let us all to arms and forward, forward!" The army got in motion, starting from the hill of Telham or Heathland, according to Mr. Freeman, marching to attack the English on the opposite hill of Senlac.
He raised the folk of the Southern, as he had raised those of the Central and Northern shires; and in sixteen days after a march which in those times was a prodigious feat he was entrenched upon the fatal down which men called Heathfield then, and Senlac, but Battle to this day with William and his French Normans opposite him on Telham hill. Then came the battle of Hastings.
The duke of the Normans heard mass, and received the communion in both kinds, and drew forth his troops for their march against the English post. Then in full armour, and seated on his noble Spanish war-horse, William led his host forth in three divisions. The Normans from the hill of Telham first caught sight of the English encamped on the opposite height of Senlac.
Upon the following day, a Saturday, the battle William had expected was fought, Harold was slain and his heroic force destroyed. The story of that day is well known. Harold's forces were drawn up upon the ridge where the ruins of Battle Abbey now stand. William, upon the thirteenth, had marched out of Hastings and had occupied the hill to the east called Telham, where to-day stands Telham Court.
From the mound of Telham the Normans saw the host of the English gathered thickly behind a rough trench and a stockade on the height of Senlac. Marshy ground covered their right; on the left, the most exposed part of the position, the hus-carls or body-guard of Harold, men in full armour and wielding huge axes, were grouped round the Golden Dragon of Wessex and the Standard of the King.
It was while William was encamped upon Telham Hill, expecting the battle of the morrow, that he vowed an abbey to God if He gave him the victory. He was heard by a monk of Marmoutier, a certain William, called the Smith, who, when Duke William had received the crown at Westminster, reminded him of his promise.
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