160.

Gibbon followed Nicetas .-- M.] [Footnote 21: As counts of Vexin, the kings of France were the vassals and advocates of the monastery of St.Denys.The saint's peculiar banner, which they received from the abbot, was of a square form, and a red or _flaming_ color.

The _oriflamme_ appeared at the head of the French armies from the xiith to the xvth century, (Ducange sur Joinville, Dissert.xviii.p.

244--253.)] [Footnote 211: They descended the heights to a beautiful valley which by beneath them.

The Turks seized the heights which separated the two divisions of the army.