Note 1128 — Chapter VII · (continued 3)
Reading edition
Ib. “Tunc in quodam proximo colle tria millia pagensium militum stabant, et optimatum molimina satis intelligentes, ad regem vociferando clamabant.” The word “milites” is qualified by “pagenses;” so we are not to conceive three thousand English “chivalers” or “rideras,” least of all in a shire where no King’s thegns were left.