Note 381 — Chapter LXXXI · EARL ROGNVALD TAKES A CASTLE.

Dromones, originally used for long and swift ships, was in later times applied to the larger ships of war (Du Cange sub voce). In the early French romances it appears as “Dromons,” and “Dromont.” Matthew Paris, in his account of the crusading expedition of Richard I. of England (A.D. 1191) notices the capture of a Saracen ship—“navis permaxima quam Drómundam appellant.”—Hist. Angl. vol. ii. p. 23, Rolls Ed.