Note 1291 — Chapter XV · THE NORMAN INVASION AND THE CAMPAIGN OF HASTINGS.[1055] (continued 2)
Reading edition
I think there can be no doubt that the famous scene of the hauberk must be placed on the height of Telham. Wace probably did not know the ground, and did not realize the distance between Hastings and Battle. William and his knights would hardly ride so far in their full armour, and the real site is clearly marked in two other writers. The Chronicler of Battle Abbey (p. 3) is very distinct; “Perveniens ad locum collis qui Hechelande dicitur, a parte Hastingarum situm, dum sese invicem armis munire contendunt, ac eidem Duci lorica ad induendum porrigitur, ex improviso inversa ipsi oblata est.” The Brevis Relatio (7) is even more precise; “Pervenientes itaque usque ad unum collem qui erat a parte Hastingarum contra illum collem in quo erat Heraldus et exercitus ejus, ibi ut, erant armati, paullisper substiterunt, intuentes Anglorum exercitum.” It is just possible that Wace, by his “tertre,” meant the hill of Telham, only without any idea of its distance from Hastings. Cf. Guy of Amiens (343);
“Haud procul hostiles cuneos nam cernit adesse,
Et plenum telis irradiare nemus.”
On the identity of Telham and Heathland see Lower, Contributions to Literature, 40; Sussex Archæological Collections, vi. 20.