Harold stopped to pray at Waltham on his way south from the Battle of Stamford Bridge to fight William of Normandy; the battle-cry of the English troops at Hastings was "Holy Cross". According to "Gesta Guillelmi", an account of the battle written by William of Poitiers in the 1070s, Harold's body was handed over to William Malet, a companion of William the Conqueror for burial; Duke William refused an offer by Harold's mother, Gytha, to exchange Harold's corpse for its weight in gold. The account also relates that some Normans remarked "in jest" that "he who guarded the coast with such insensate zeal should be buried by the sea shore", but does not say that this was actually done. Another account, the "Carmen de Hastingae Proelio", thought to have been written only months after the battle, says that he was buried under a cliff top cairn, but this version does not appear in any other account.