Historic%20Yorkshire

Chapter XIV.
THE BATTLE OF THE STANDARD, 1138.
HE present aspect and condition of our native
England is so different from what it was not
many centuries agothat it is very difficult to
conceive that it has been the scene of so
many bloody struggles as are recorded in its
history, of which,indeed, they form a large proir
portion. Yorkshire, from its size and situation,
was the field of a very considerable number of these
desperate encounters. Here, after the RomanConquest,
the number of Danes and Saxons was largest,and here
the Conqueror found the most stubborn resistance; there
the piratesof the North Sea, the boldvikings of Scandinavia,swooped
down, and gave occasion to many a stern
fight; there also was felt the shock of opposing hosts as
the Scots poureddown from the Northin their ambitious
attempts to conquer the northern part of England,and
were met by the Yorkshire archers,whose "flying devils"
and " stinging flies" made such havoc in the Scottish
ranks. What wonder, then, with such foes, that Yorkshire
is covered with the sites ofbattle-fields,or, that at
one time, so desolate was it that it was styled a waste ?
Not less afterwardsthe extent of moorland, and the situation
in it of important strongholds and centres of
population, gave opportunities for the fell purposes ofwar
that the courageous and sturdy spirit of its occupants
never caused them to shun.
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