Arms.

In the Bayeux tapestry, the Saxons fight on foot with javelin and battle-axe, and bear shields with the British characteristic of a boss in the centre. The men were moustached.

The Normans are on horseback, with long shields and pennoned lances. The men are not only shaven, but most of them have a complete tonsure on the back of the head, whence the spies said to Harold, “There are more priests in the Norman army than men in Harold’s.”

· ·

Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.