"Wasn't there also some theory about it not drawing blood, this being a Bad Thing for priests?"
I'm not so sure that this isn't just a romantic later addition. Priests were not really supposed to bear arms at all, although I doubt this stopped many priests of knightly families. In the later medieval period, there are a number of famously aggressive Bishops.
The stick-thing Bishop Odo is carrying in his hand on the Bayeux Tapestry is probably a baculum or baton, symbol of command, much like a field-marshal's baton. If you check out the scene on the tapestry where Duke William is talking to Vital, one of Odo's followers, you can see him holding a similar baton, and again when he addresses the troops. I think count Eustace has one as well.
On the other hand, when you see Odo in the fighting, he's certainly waving that thing around his head as if he intends to do someone a mischief with it, and English soldiers are seen fighting with similar things.
William of Malmesbury doesn't mention it, but I haven't looked at the other sources.
That drawing-blood thing, if true, must have been a bit of formal business. If anyone takes the proposition seriously, I recommend smashing him in the face with a baseball bat as hard as you can and seeing if it sheds any blood or not.
-- James Holloway ------------------------------
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