ABSTRACT
King Henry's second battle in Normandy was an even shorter and simpler affair than the battle of Tenchebrai; it hardly deserves, indeed, to be called anything more than a skirmish. The long civil wars of Robert Fitz-Stephen and Matilda abound with sieges, but only supply the two battles of Northallerton and Lincoln. The first battle of Lincoln fits into the same tactical series as Tenchebrai and Bremule. Each side used the same tactics of a front line of horse and a reserve of dismounted knights: the Welsh light infantry on the rebel flank are the only unusual feature, and they had no influence whatever on the event of the day. The feigned retreat which won the battle of the Dinin was an old Norman device, whose most famous example was seen at Hastings. The Anglo-Normans were almost equally incapable of mastering the woods and bogs in which their enemies took refuge.
