Note 1319 — Chapter XV · THE NORMAN INVASION AND THE CAMPAIGN OF HASTINGS.[1055] (continued 2)

In the Tapestry William appears armed only with the mace. That it is the mace I have no doubt. In pl. 13, where William is addressing his army, it might be a mere baton of command (see vol. ii. p. 255), but in pl. 15 he is shown wielding the same weapon in the very thickest of the battle. William’s weapon is also exactly the same as the “baculus” (Tapestry, pl. 15) or “baston” (Roman de Rou 13259) of Odo. William of Poitiers arms William with the sword (“fulminans ense”—like Eadmund at Assandun, see vol. i. p. 430—“stravit adversam gentem” 134), so does Guy (469 “abstracto gladio,” 483 “devorat ense”). The point is that all agree in arming him with a weapon of close conflict, not with the lance, which, as we shall see, he uses only for quite another purpose. He may very well have carried both mace and sword, but the sword does not appear in the Tapestry.