The smaller were evidently for domestic purposes, for they are
discovered in female interments as well as in those of the other sex.
But the larger kind appear to have been used as daggers. They have
been more frequently observed in the continental tombs than in those
of our island; and, as they very rarely appear in the pictures of
the Anglo-Saxons, we may conclude that they formed no necessary part
of the equipment of these warriors. A fine example of this weapon
is given on our ninth Plate (fig. 1,) from the Ozingell Cemetery.
It is sixteen inches in length, of iron, and is provided with a
cross-piece. In the following group from the Anglo-Saxon and Latin
Psalter of the Duc de Berri, in the Paris Library, the spearman's
adversary appears to be employing exactly such an instrument as
the example from the Kentish grave[89]. Figure 2 in our Plate is a
two-edged dagger of iron from the Faussett collection. It was found
near Ash-by-Sandwich, and measures ten inches in the blade. Figures
3 and 4 are Ancient Irish. The first is the ordinary type of this
weapon, of which many have been found. The second is remarkable from
the retention of its handle, which is of wood, and ornamented with
carving. Both these are from Mr. Wakeman's paper on Irish Antiquities
in vol. iii. of the _Collectanea Antiqua_. Figures 5 and 6 are German
examples, from the Selzen graves. The first is very remarkable from
the ring at the extremity of the tang. In Denmark, daggers have
been found of a transitional period, the bulk of the blade being of
bronze, edged on both sides with iron. Other Danish examples are
given in Mr. Worsaae's "Copenhagen Museum," pages 66 and 97. In Dr.
Bähr's explorations in Livonia, a dagger of iron was discovered with
its bronze sheath. (See _Die Gräber der Liven_, Plate XV.) Gregory
of Tours, in the sixth century, mentions in several places that the
Frankish soldiers carried large knives at their belts; and there
seems no reason to doubt that the examples from the graves are the
very "cultri validi" of the historian. Of these Frankish war-knives,
several specimens are figured in the _Normandie Souterraine_. They
closely resemble those found in Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, and
England. The handles appear to have been of wood. One of the Frankish
examples still had portions of the wooden haft remaining[90]. Other
specimens of the Northern _cultelli_ will be found collected on Plate
LVIII. of the second volume of the _Collectanea Antiqua_. Some of
these weapons appear to have been inlaid with copper or other metal;
for which purpose one or more incised lines are formed near the back
of the blade. An Anglo-Saxon knife found in excavations in the city
of London, and engraved (fig. 3.) in the Plate of the _Collectanea
Antiqua_ already noticed, still retains the bronze inlaying in the
channels of its blade.
[Illustration:
PLATE IX.]
A curious variety of the war-knife is in the collection of Mr. Roach
Smith, of which the single edge is straight, or nearly so, and the
point formed by a diagonal cut at the back of the blade. It is
believed, in its perfect state, to have measured upwards of thirty
inches; is of steel; and has on both sides a double line of the
channelling already noticed[91]. A weapon of similar form appears
among the Livonian antiquities now in the British Museum, and is
represented on Plate XIX. of Dr. Bähr's _Gräber der Liven_.
The LONG-BOW was another weapon of this era. Agathias, indeed, has
told us that the Franks used neither bow nor sling. But arrows
are expressly mentioned in the Salic Law; and, to reconcile these
conflicting testimonies, it has been suggested that the archery
of the Salic Law is that of the chase alone. _Poisoned_ arrows,
however, are here named, and the hunter does not ply his art with
poisoned shafts. "Si quis alterum de sagitta toxicata percutere
voluerit[92]," &c. Further on, a fine is fixed for him who shall
deprive another of his "second finger, with which he directs his
arrow:"--secundum digitum, quo sagittatur. At a later period, the
bow is especially commanded as a part of the soldier's equipment.
One of the capitularies of Charlemagne directs--"that the Count be
careful to have his contingent fully furnished for the field; that
they have lance, shield, a bow with two strings and twelve arrows,"
&c. According to the testimony of Henry of Huntingdon, William the
Conqueror reproached the English with their want of this weapon. The
Bayeux tapestry, however, seems to authorize the belief that they
were not entirely without it. (See the first group of Anglo-Saxons
in Stothard's XIV^{th}. plate.) The probability seems to be that,
while the Normans employed archers in large bodies, the English
merely interspersed them in small numbers among their men-at-arms.
The bow, at all events, was in use among the Anglo-Saxons: it is
frequently represented in manuscript illuminations, and arrow-heads
have been found in the graves. Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 in our Plate
are from Kentish interments. The first two form part of the Fausset
collection; the others, figured in the _Nenia Britannica_, were
found on Chatham Lines. The whole are of iron. Pictorial examples of
the Anglo-Saxon bow, arrows, and quiver may be seen in Cotton MSS.,
Cleop., C. viii., Claudius, B. iv., Tiberius, C. vi., and in the fine
_Prudentius_ of the Tenison Library. See also Strutt's _Horda_, vol.
i. plate XVII. Arrow-heads of iron have also been found in France,
Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, and Livonia. Figures 5 and 6 of our
Plate are examples from the cemetery at Selzen in Rhenish Hesse;
figs. 7 and 8 from Livonian graves. With the latter was also found
part of a quiver. The Abbé Cochet[93] has engraved and described
specimens found in France, and M. Troyon notices Swiss examples in
his paper in the _Archæologia_, vol. xxxv., and Plate XVII. Compare
also Archæological Journal, vol. iii. pp. 119, 120. In the Suabian
graves at Oberflacht, bows also were found. See _Archæologia_, vol.
xxxvi. Among the figures of the ivory carving forming the cover of
the "Prayer-book of Charles the Bald" are two archers, each holding
a leash of barbed arrows; the arrows very clearly represented. This
curious sculpture, illustrating the lvii^{th}. Psalm, (a favourite
subject with the middle-age artists,) has been carefully engraved in
the sixth volume of the _Revue Archéologique_. The original is in the
Imperial Library at Paris.
[Illustration:
PLATE X.]
These were the usual weapons of the Northern nations: these are
seen in their pictures, are named in their laws, are described in
their Sagas, are found in their graves. But other arms appear to
have been of occasional employment: the mace, the pike, the sling,
the stone-hammer, the "morning-star," the fork, and the bill. The
Mace is seen in the hands of the Anglo-Saxons (as well as of the
Normans) in the Bayeux tapestry; and it seems not unlikely that those
dentated hoops of bronze[94] which have been found both in England
and on the Continent were the heads of similar weapons; for it must
not be forgotten that, even in the "Iron Period," objects of bronze
continued in use. From the inexhaustible Wace we learn that the
"vilains des viles" who joined Harold's army,--
"Tels armes portent com ils trovent:
Machues portent è granz pels[95],
Forches ferrées[96] è tinels[97]."--_Line_ 12840.
It will be remembered that the mace is a weapon of the most remote
antiquity, and is found, almost identical in form with those of the
Northern nations, among the monuments of the ancient Egyptians and
Assyrians.
[Illustration: No. 11.]
The Stone-Hammer appears to have been employed by the troops of
Harold. William of Poictiers says: "Jactant cuspides ac diversorum
generum tela, sævissimas quasque secures, et _lignis imposita
saxa_[98]." Of the Bill, an example occurs in the fine Anglo-Saxon
Benedictional of Rouen: it closely resembles the common long-handled
hedging-bill of our own day. The Morning-star, an instrument formed
of a ball of metal (sometimes spiked) attached by a chain to a
short staff, after the manner of a whip, is believed to have been
another of the arms of this period. Dr. Bähr found the head of one
of these in his Livonian researches; a complete one, of bronze,
(here engraved) was discovered at Mitau. Professor Thomsen mentions
also a bronze specimen, in his account of the Copenhagen Museum. The
Sling, according to the opinion of the Père Daniel, was employed by
the Franks in intrenched positions and beleaguered towns[99]. This
ancient instrument, which is found in Egyptian[100] and Assyrian[101]
monuments, was certainly in use among the Anglo-Saxons, whether
for warfare or the chase alone, it is not easy to determine.
The figure here engraved is that of David, from the Anglo-Saxon
and Latin Psalter of Boulogne. See also the slinger in Strutt's
_Horda_, Plate XVII., from Cotton MS., Claudius, B. iv., and Plate
III. of Stothard's Bayeux Tapestry. In the Copenhagen Museum are
sling-stones, "either with a groove cut round the middle, or with
two grooves cut cross-wise; having, in the latter case, the shape
of a ball somewhat flattened." It does not appear that the Northern
nations used leaden pellets; as the Greeks and Romans did, inscribing
them with a thunderbolt, or some quaint sentence, as "Take this."
[Illustration: No. 12.]
It will have been observed, from several passages already cited, that
the use of poisoned weapons is imputed to the Northern tribes of this
period. In "Beowulf," and elsewhere, we read of poisoned swords,
poisoned arrows, and poisoned daggers; and, however rare may have been
the employment of such terrible ministers, it does not seem permitted
us to deny altogether their existence. The famous sword of Beowulf,
"Hrunting nama,"
had its edge "stained with poisonous twigs." This, indeed, is the
evidence of a poet: but the Salic Law, as we have seen, speaks
of "sagittæ toxicatæ[102]." And Gregory of Tours tells us, of
Fredegonda: "Fredegundis duos cultros ferreos fieri præcipit, quos
etiam caraxari profundiùs et veneno infici jusserat, scilicet si
mortalis adsultus vitales non dissolveret fibras vel ipsa veneni
infectio vitam possit velociùs extorquere[103]." And again, the
same writer speaks of these poisoned daggers, or _scramasaxi_: "Cum
cultris validis quos vulgò scramasaxos vocant, infectis veneno,
utraque latera ei feriunt[104]."
[Illustration: No. 13.]
Let us now examine, as far as we are enabled to do so, what was
the Teutonic warrior's defensive equipment. The structure of the
Body-armour can only be inferred from indirect evidences; for the
vague terms of the writers, such as _lorica_ and _byrnie_, and the
rudely conventional forms of the painters, who indicated a tree by a
cluster of three or four leaves, and a coat-of-fence by a few circles
penned on the parchment or punched on the bronze, afford us little
help in determining with exactness how the armour-smith achieved his
task. It is curious that the best testimony we obtain is that of the
poets. A simile or an epithet lets in more light than all the limners
and all the historians. It seems clear that in the earlier days of
Northern rule, none but leaders wore body-armour; but, as years
rolled on, and prosperity increased, the subaltern ranks affected
this distinction. As we have already shewn (page 38), the Ceorl vied
with the Eorl in the richness and completeness of his equipment; and
at length, under the rule of Charlemagne, the troops of the Count,
as we have seen, are _all_ required to have defensive armour: "Omnis
homo de duodecim mansis, bruniam habeat." Those who had not this
amount of land, clubbed together and furnished amongst them the
panoply in which one of their number went forth to the host. Was this
_byrnie_ of interlinked chain-mail? The Anglo-Saxon poem of "Beowulf"
may throw some light on the question:--
"The war-byrnie shone, hard (and) hand-locked (_heard
hond-locen_); the bright ring-iron sang in their trappings when
they proceeded to go forward to the hall, in their terrible
armour."--_Canto_ i. _line_ 640.
"Beowulf prepared himself, the warrior in his weeds, he cared
not for life: the war-byrnie, twisted with hands (_hondum
ge-broden_), wide and variegated with colours, was now to try the
deep," &c.
_Canto_ xxi. _line_ 2882.
In Canto xxii. we have,--"the war-dress, the locked battle-shirt."
... "On his shoulder lay the twisted breast-net (_breost-net
broden_) which protected his life against point and edge." ... "his
war-byrnie, his hard battle-net (_here-net hearde_)."
If there is meaning in words, surely "the _twisted_ breast-_net_,"
the "hard battle-_net_," the "_locked_ battle-shirt," the "byrnie
_twisted_ with hands," the "war-byrnie, hard and _hand-locked_," can
mean nothing but the hauberk of interlinked chain-mail; that garment
which, we have so often been told, came to us at some unknown time,
from some unknown people, dwelling in some unknown region of the
East. If this fabric, which, for brevity, we will call chain-mail,
came from the East, where are the eastern monuments that exhibit
it? It is not seen in Egyptian, Assyrian, nor Indian sculptures or
paintings; and the triumph-scenes of these nations represent in
great diversity the numerous tribes of Asia. The same origin has
been given to Cannon; but every one who has made any research in
this direction knows that the Oriental derivation of this engine
has not the smallest foundation in fact[105]. In the Volsunga Saga,
a work of the eleventh century, we read that "Sigurd's sides so
swelled with rage that the rings of his byrnie were burst asunder;"
which could scarcely have happened (adds Von Leber, who notices this
passage,) with a garment made of rings sewn contiguously[106]. The
well-known enigma of Bishop Aldhelm, written in the eleventh century,
so curiously illustrates our inquiry, that we shall be pardoned for
reprinting it. It is headed "De Lorica:"--
"Roscida me genuit gelido de viscere tellus:
Non sum setigero lanarum vellere facta:
Licia nulla trahunt, nec garrula fila resultant:
Nec croceâ seres texunt lanugine vermes:
Nec radiis carpor, duro nec pectine pulsor:
Et tamen, en, vestis vulgi sermone vocabor.
Spicula non vereor longis exempta pharetris."
_Roy. MS._, 15, A. xvi.
A _lorica_ formed of metal, without the aid of any texture of wool or
of silk, could scarcely be anything else than a coat of chain-mail.
We may further refer to the Bayeux tapestry (Stothard, Plate XVI.),
where the _pillards_ are appropriating the armour of the slain. The
last figure in the second border of that plate is stripping the
hauberk over the head of a fallen warrior; and, in thus turning it
inside out, discloses the interior of the garment, which exhibits the
ring-work exactly in the same manner as it is seen on the outside
of others. At a later period, a similar evidence is afforded by the
sculptured monumental effigies; the overlapping folds of the hauberk
shewing the ring-work on the inside as well as on the outside.
Figures of the thirteenth century in the Temple Church and in St.
Saviour's Church, London, offer illustrations of this fact. Further
instances may be found at Stowe-Nine-Churches in Northamptonshire,
and at Aston, Warwickshire; and probably no English county is without
similar examples. Compare also the curious fragment of chain-mail
found at Stanwick, Yorkshire, and now deposited in the British Museum.
The defence made of iron rings, of which Varro attributes the
invention to the Gauls, appears to be no other than the hauberk of
chain-mail:--"Lorica a loris, quod de corio crudo pectoralia faciebant,
postea succuderunt Galli e ferro sub id vocabulum, ex annulis, ferream
tunicam." Whoever may have been the inventors of this armour, the
probability seems to be that it came into use gradually: from its
costliness and rarity, leaders only could at first obtain it; that,
as handicraft improved, and the efficiency of the defence became
acknowledged, its adoption was extended, and its costliness diminished.
The notion, that in the thirteenth century the hauberk of chain-mail
came suddenly and generally into use, is against all known precedent,
and contrary to the natural course of human inventions.
Other kinds of body-armour were worn at this time. Charlemagne, as we
have seen, was defended by a kind of jazerant-work. Ingulphus tells
us that Harold, finding the heavy armour of his troops an incumbrance
in their mountain warfare with the Welsh, clothed them in a defence
of leather only. Something similar is seen in this figure from Cotton
MS., Cleop., C. viii.
The coat here seems to be of hide, with the fur left upon it; a dress
still in use among some of the Cossack soldiers of Russia. Wace
appears to describe this garment, where, recounting the death of Duke
Guillaume Longue-Espée by the traitorous Fauces, he says:--
"Fauces leva l'espée ke soz sez _peaux_ porta,
Tel l'en dona en chief ke tot l'escervela."--_Rou_, i. 138.
[Illustration: No. 14.]
Armour of padded-work, a defence of a very high antiquity, and of
a very wide adoption, was also probably in vogue; and also coats
covered with scale-work; but these are difficult to be identified in
the monuments of the time. The hauberks of the Anglo-Saxons at the
battle of Hastings are remarked to have been both short and small:--
"Corz haubers orent è petis,
E helmes de sor lor vestis."--_Wace._
[Illustration: No. 15.]
In Anglo-Saxon illuminations, a very large majority of the fighting men
appear to have no defensive armour at all but the helmet and shield; as
in this example from a MS. of _Prudentius_, of the eleventh century, in
the Tenison Library. The leg-bands seen on these figures, and on many
others of the same period, were in common use among the soldiery. It is
a fashion of which we find an early example in the _calceus patricius_
of the Romans, and a remnant in the chequered hose of the Scottish
Highlanders. Those of the Anglo-Saxons were generally wound round the
leg, and then turned down and fastened below the knee. Sometimes they
were tied in front; as may be seen in the Ethelwold Benedictional; and
compare Stothard's Bayeux Tapestry, Plate IV. Henry of Huntingdon, who
wrote in the beginning of the twelfth century, gives us incidentally
the full arming of a warrior of the eleventh[107]. When Sigeward,
duke of Northumberland, found death approaching him, not on the field
of battle, but in the peaceful chamber, he exclaimed: "Quantus pudor
me tot in bellis mori non potuisse, ut vaccarum morti cum dedecore
reservarer. Induite me saltem lorica mea impenetrabili, præcingite
gladio, sublimate galea: scutum in læva, securim auratam mihi ponite
in dextra, ut militum fortissimus modo militis moriar. Dixerat: et ut
dixerat, armatus honorifice exhalavit."
[Illustration: No. 16.]
In an age when missiles were much in use; javelins, arrows, and the
stones of the mangona and of the slinger; the soldier would naturally
employ his first care to the arming of his head. Consequently we find
in the monuments of this period that, even when the body appears to
have no defensive covering, the head is carefully protected by the
helmet.
[Illustration: No. 17.]
In the beginning, even the helmet was rare among the Teutonic
tribes. Tacitus tells us, of the ancient Germans: "Paucis loricæ, vix
uni alterive cassis aut galea." And Agathias in the seventh century
mentions that few of the Franks had helmets. Leaders, however, wore
them. Dagobert, in a contest with the Saxons, received a blow which,
dividing his casque, carried away a part of his hair[108]. And when
his father, Clotaire II., came to his relief, this latter prince
placed himself on the bank of the Veser, announcing his arrival
to the Saxon leader by taking off his helmet and displaying his
long locks[109]. In the time of Charlemagne, as we have seen from
his capitularies, the count is required to furnish troops who are
provided with helmets. The fashion of these headpieces we learn from
various vellum-paintings of a little later date. We find them to
have been hemispherical, conical, of the Phrygian form, combed, and
crested: sometimes of a complicated make, with a sort of crocketed
ridge[110]; sometimes terminating in a kind of fleur-de-lis[111].
The figure here given from Add. MS., 18,043, a Psalter of the tenth
century, affords a good example of the combed helmet. The personage
represented is Goliath; and it may be necessary to add, in order
to understand the girding of the sword, that the warrior presents
his back to us. In lieu of the combed crest, the figure of a boar,
sacred to the god Freya, was often placed on the helmets of the pagan
Teutons; a practice which at length became so general, that the word
_eofor_ (boar) was poetically used for the casque itself. Thus, in
"Beowulf:" "He commanded them to bring in the boar, an ornament to
the head, the helm lofty in war:"--
"eofor heáfod-segn
heaþo-steápne helm," &c.--_Line_ 4299.
Again: "The white helm covered the hood of mail, ... surrounded with
lordly chains, even as in days of yore the weapon-smith had wrought
it, had wondrously furnished it, had set it round with the shapes of
swine, that never after brand nor war-knife might have power to bite
it." (l. 2895.)
Here we see the particular object of this device: it was to act as
a holy charm. In Canto 15, the boar seems also to be implied; and
in this instance it is "fastened to the helm with wires." "About
the crest of the helm, the defence of the head, it held an amulet
fastened without with wires, that the sword, hardened with scouring,
might not violently injure him when the shield-bearing warrior should
go against his foes." Tacitus, in the _Germania_, has a passage
curiously illustrating this superstition. The Æstii, he says, "Matrem
Deum venerantur: insigne superstitionis, formas aprorum gestant. Id
pro armis omnique tutelâ, securum Deæ cultorem etiam inter hostes
præstat." Mr. Bateman, in opening a barrow in Derbyshire, was
fortunate enough to meet with one of these Northern helms surmounted
with the boar crest. The casque is made of iron and horn, with
silver-headed rivets. The hog is of iron, having eyes of bronze. See
Mr. Bateman's "Antiquities of Derbyshire" for a more full account
of this curious relic[112]. The practice of adorning the helmet
with a crest is of a very high antiquity, and is first observed
among the Asiatics. The Shairetana, first enemies, then allies, of
the Egyptian Pharaohs, "wore a helmet ornamented with horns, and
frequently surmounted by a crest, consisting of a ball raised upon a
small shaft, which is remarkable from being the _earliest instance
of a crest_[113]." In the Assyrian monuments, the crested helmet
is of frequent occurrence; the form of the crest being generally
that of a fan, or of a curved horn, or a kind of crescent, with its
cusps turned downwards. See Layard's "Nineveh and its Remains," for
examples of all these.
[Illustration: No. 18.]
In addition to the "white" (or polished) helmet named in a former
extract from "Beowulf," we have, at line 5,226, a "brown-coloured"
one, (_brun-fagne helm_). This may have been of leather, of iron
bearing the stain of years, or even of bronze. On several occasions,
relics of bronze have been disinterred which have every appearance
of being the framework of helmets. These metal frames--for they
occur of iron as well as of bronze--are presumed to have been fixed
over a cap of leather. The example here engraved was found in 1844,
on the skull of a skeleton exhumed on Leckhampton Hill, near
Cheltenham. The material is bronze, but worked very thin. At the
summit is a ring, and on one side appears a portion of the chain
which seems to have fastened it beneath the chin. The ring may
have served to attach a tufted ornament, or a grelot. A Livonian
headpiece, engraved on Plate V. of Dr. Bähr's work, has a boss at
the summit exactly similar to this, but with the addition of a
grelot fixed to the ring. The bronze fragments found by Sir Henry
Dryden in a grave at Souldern, Oxfordshire, appear to have formed
part of a helmet like that before us[114]. The example of iron,
already noticed, discovered by Mr. Bateman, is also of framework,
though somewhat differing in pattern from the Leckhampton relic.
Another iron framework helmet, of the thirteenth century, was found
in an old fort in the Isle of Negropont, and is figured by Hefner
in Plate LXIII. of his _Trachten_. Compare also Plate XXXIV., Part
ii., of the same book[115]. The secretum engraved in vol. vii. of
the Archæological Journal, page 305, is of analogous character: as
are also the so-called Spider Helmets, and the "skulls for hats;"
examples of which may be seen in the Tower Armories. But the most
curious illustration of the purpose of the bronze relic represented
in our woodcut, is the helmet proposed for the Royal Artillery in
1854. The metal framing of this was identical in arrangement with the
ancient defence; consisting of a hoop encircling the head and two
semicircular bands, crossing each other at the crown, and surmounted
by a metal knob. The metal in this case was brass, and it did not
greatly differ in substance from the ancient bronze. The cap beneath
was of felt. In Anglo-Saxon illuminations, it is not unusual to
see headpieces in which bands of gold-colour traverse a ground of
different hue; and it seems not improbable that these examples may
represent the kind of helmet under consideration. Similar banded
casques occur in the Bayeux tapestry, in the pictures of the Painted
Chamber at Westminster, and in other monuments. See also Archæol.
Journ., vol. xii. p. 9.
The bronze helmet has also been discovered in Scotland. Dr. Wilson
tells us that "part of a rudely-adorned helmet of bronze was found
in Argyleshire[116]." Another bronze headpiece is preserved in the
Copenhagen Museum, and Professor Thomsen mentions similar ones,
"overlaid with gold." (Manual.)
A helmet of wood is mentioned by Wace as being worn by one of the
Anglo-Saxon combatants at the battle of Hastings:--
"Un helme aveit tot fait de _fust_,
Ke colp[117] el chief ne recéust.
A sez dras[118] l'aveit atachié,
Et envirun son col lacié."
A Norman knight attacked him:--
"Sor li helme l'Engleiz féri,
De suz les oils[119] li abati,
Sor li viare[120] li pendi,
E li Engleiz sa main tendi,
Li helme voleit[121] suz lever,
E son viaire delivrer;
E cil li a un colp doné,
E sa hache à terre chaï[122]."
In book-illuminations of this period the helmet is frequently
coloured yellow, which may either signify bronze or gilding. A
crown is sometimes added, not in the case of kings alone, but of
distinguished personages generally. One of the crowned figures in our
woodcut, No. 13, represents the patriarch Abraham. The nasal appears
to have been given to the helmet about the end of the tenth century:
of which an early example is furnished in the figure of a warrior in
Cotton MS., Tiberius, C. vi. fol. 9, a work of this period. By the
middle of the next century, its adoption has become general, and in
the Bayeux Tapestry it is worn equally by Norman and Saxon.
[Illustration:
PLATE XIX.]
To a soldiery with whom body-armour appears to have been a secondary
consideration, the SHIELD would be of the first consequence. We
find, therefore, the Northern warrior seldom unaccompanied by this
useful defence. Leader and retainer, horseman and foot-soldier,--all
are equipped with the target. Its form was usually round, though in
the pictures, being seen in profile, it often has the appearance of
an oval. And, as the plump-cheeked houris of the East were called
"moon-faced damsels," so the round targets of the Teutons were named
by the poets "moony shields." They were convex, and in the centre was
a boss of metal, generally terminating in a button or in a spike,
but sometimes without either. The spiked shield was no doubt used as
an offensive arm. The buttons are sometimes plated with silver, or
tinned, as are the heads of the rivets remaining in the edge of the
umbo. Across the hollow of the boss was fixed a handle of wood covered
with iron; and by this handle the shield was held at arm's length,
the hand entering the hollow of the boss: see woodcut, No. 13. In the
Wilbraham Cemetery was found the umbo of a shield to which the handle
was still attached by its rivets. (See fig. 10 of our XXth plate.) The
shield was sometimes strengthened with strips of iron fixed across the
inside; these strips being prolongations of the handle just described.
Such a shield-handle was found at Envermeu by the Abbé Cochet, and is
figured on Plate XVI. of his work. In this example the handle has a
_single_ strip on each side, running towards the edge of the shield.
A similar one was found in a Merovingian cemetery near Troyes. In a
Frankish grave at Londinières was discovered a variety of this type, in
which the strips proceeding from the handle were _three_ on each side,
radiating towards the rim. This very curious example is engraved in the
_Normandie Souterraine_, Plate VIII. Others were found in the recent
excavations in the Isle of Wight.
The body of the shield was usually of wood; the lime having a marked
preference. Thus, in "Beowulf[123]," the heroic Wiglaf "seized
his shield, the yellow lindenwood" (_geolwe linde_). And a spell
preserved in Harl. MS., 585, f. 186, has:--
"Stod under linde
under leohtum scylde:"
"I stood under my linden shield, beneath my light shield." In the
Anglo-Saxon poem of "Judith:"--
"The warriors marched:
the chieftains to the war,
protected with targets,
with arched linden shields."
(_hwealfum lindum_[124].)
In a fragment on the battle of Maldon:--
"Leofsunu spake
and lifted his linden shield."
(_and his linde ahof_[125].)
[Illustration:
PLATE XX.]
And the Saxon Chronicle tells us, in recounting the defeat of Anlaf
in 937, how King Athelstan and his heroes
"the board-walls clove:
and hewed the war-lindens."
Leather was sometimes used in the construction of shields, as we learn
from the Laws of Æthelstan, which forbid the employment of sheepskins
for this purpose under a penalty of thirty shillings. In an example
from the cemetery at Linton Heath, Cambridgeshire, the leather covering
seemed to have been stretched over the iron umbo as well as over the
wooden surface of the shield[126]. The edge was protected by a rim of
metal. Portions of these rims have been found in the graves, both in
England and on the continent; and as they present segments of circles,
become of use in determining the shape of the shields themselves.
In the Museum of Schwerin is an example of the metal rim which is
complete: it is circular, and the central boss is also present.
The oval shield appears in a few examples only. One was found among
the graves explored at Oberflacht, in Suabia; another is figured
by Silvestre, (vol. i. pl. CXLIV.) from a Longobardic miniature of
the eleventh century; and a third occurs in the Bayeux Tapestry,
Plate XVI. The surface of the Northern shields was painted in
various fanciful devices, sometimes heightened with gilding. And,
as Christianity was embraced by the various Northern tribes, the
cross became a frequent decoration. The encomiast of Queen Emma, in
describing the fleet of Canute the Great, says: "Erant ibi scutorum
tot genera, ut crederis adesse omnium populorum agmina. Si quando sol
illis jubar immiscerit radiorum, hinc resplenduit fulgor armorum,
illinc vero flamma dependentium scutorum[127]."
Among the devices, there is nothing of a heraldic character, and even
as late as the time of the Bayeux Tapestry, as Stothard has well
remarked, "we do not find any particular or distinguished person
twice bearing the same device[128]."
In the accompanying figure from Cotton MS., Cleopatra, C. viii., we
observe that the Anglo-Saxon horseman carried his shield, when not
in use, slung at his back. The knights of the fourteenth century
carried their helmets in the same manner, as may be seen in the
fine manuscript of the _Roman du Roi Meliadus_, Additional MSS.,
12,228. Besides the ordinary Northern shields, we sometimes find
them represented of so large a size as to cover the whole person.
In Harleian MS. 2,908, fol. 53, are two such, but perhaps mere
exaggerations of the draughtsman. Shields of this kind were, however,
certainly in use in the East at an early date, and may be seen in
Egyptian, Assyrian, and Indian monuments[129].
[Illustration: No. 21.]
It has been conjectured that the bronze coatings of shields which
have from time to time been discovered in this country, and commonly
attributed to the Ancient Britons, may belong to the Anglo-Saxon
period: while we admit this probability, we must not forget that they
have not yet been found in the Anglo-Saxon graves.
The shields placed in the graves were the ordinary "lindens," of
which no part commonly remains but the metal boss and handle. The
chief varieties of forms offered by the bosses will be found in our
Plates XIX. and XX., figs. 1 to 10; all from English tombs[130].
Similar relics have been dug up in Scotland; of which No. 11 in
our Plate offers an example. This was procured from a tomb in the
county of Moray, accompanied with fragments of oak and remains
of the hero's horse and its bridle. See Dr. Wilson's "Archæology
of Scotland," to which we are indebted for this specimen. On the
continent similar objects have been found, differing but slightly
from our own examples. No. 12 is from the cemetery at Selzen, in
Rhenish Hesse. No. 13 is from a Danish tomb. See also the examples
given in Worsaae's Copenhagen Museum, p. 68. The shields of the Danes
appear to have been ornamented with gold and colours, the favourite
hue being red. In Sæmund's poetical "Edda" we read of a "red shield
with a golden border," and Giraldus de Barri tells us that the Irish
"carried red shields, in imitation of the Danes." Some of the Danish
shields, like the weapons, were inscribed with runes[131]. In the
tumulus opened at Caenby, in Lincolnshire, believed to have been that
of a Danish viking, part of a wooden shield was procured, ornamented
with plates of silver and bronze, bearing the serpentine and scroll
patterns so characteristic of this period. These fragments are
engraved in the seventh volume of the Archæological Journal.
The _guige_ or strap by which the target was occasionally suspended
from the combatant's neck, leaving the hands free to direct the steed
or ply the weapon, appears (at least during the later days of Saxon
rule) to have been in use among our countrymen, as well as with their
Norman neighbours. Of Harold's nobles, Wace tells us:--
"Chescun out son haubert vestu,
Espée ceinte, _el col l'escu_."--_Rom. de Rou_, ii. 213.
And in the Bayeux Tapestry, the kite-shield thus fixed may be seen on
the English side.
The place occupied by the shield in the graves of the Frankish,
Germanic, and Scandinavian heroes is by no means uniform. It has
been found on the breast, on the right arm, upon the knees, and
beneath the head. It is by the position of the umbo in the grave
that this fact has been exactly ascertained. Examples will be found
in the Ozingell Cemetery, in the explorations at Harnham Hill
(_Archæologia_, vol. xxxv.), in the Selzen find, in the _Normandie
Souterraine_, and in the account of the cemetery at Linton Heath
(Archæol. Journ., vol. xi. p. 108).
The HORSE FURNITURE of the Northern cavalry appears to have been
usually very simple. By referring to our engravings, Nos. 16 and 21,
it will be seen that the saddle was provided with girth, breastplate,
and crupper, the latter being fixed to the sides of the saddle:
pendent ornaments are attached to the bridle, breastplate, and
crupper. From the poem of "Beowulf" we learn that the war-horse was
occasionally furnished with much costliness:--
"Then did the Refuge of warriors command eight horses, ornamented
on the cheek, to be brought into the palace: ... on one of which
stood a saddle variegated with work, made valuable with treasure:
that was the war-seat of a lofty king when the son of Healfdene
would perform the game of swords."--_Canto_ 15.
A donation of the Anglo-Saxon king Ethelbert affords another
example:--"Missurum etiam argenteum, scapton aureum, item _sellam
cum freno aureo gemmis exornatam_, speculum argenteum, armilaisia
oloserica, camisiam ornatam prædicto monasterio gratanter obtuli[132]."
[Illustration: No. 22.]
As it was an occasional practice to bury the horse of the hero in
the same grave with his master, the metal portions of the fitments
have been preserved to our time. Examples of stirrups may be seen
in the _Annaler for Nordisk Oldkyndighed_, in Worsaae's Copenhagen
Museum, and in _Die Gräber der Liven_: all these are of a single
piece, having a loop for the attachment of the leather. The bits
are of two kinds,--snaffles with rings at the sides, and snaffles
with long cheeks. The example here given is from a Kentish barrow
opened by the Earl of Londesborough. A similar one is in the Livonian
collection of the British Museum. Compare also the York volume of the
Archæological Institute, page 29; Worsaae's Copenhagen Museum, pp.
70, 95 and 96; and M. Troyon's paper in the _Archæologia_, vol. xxxv.
p. 396, and Plate XVIII. The snaffle with cheeks was found among the
Wilbraham relics[133], and occurs also in the Selzen Cemetery[134].
A very curious variety, in which the snaffle is of iron, while the
cheeks are of bronze richly foliated, was discovered in an old fort
at Lough Fea, in Ireland, and is engraved in the third volume of the
Archæological Journal. In a tumulus opened in Denmark were found the
remains of a bridle which had been covered with thin plates of silver.
A good example of the Anglo-Saxon Saddle, seen without the rider,
occurs in Cotton MS., Claudius, B. iv.; which has been engraved by
Strutt in the _Horda_. See also our cut from Cleopatra, C. viii.
(page 77) where the breastplate, crupper, and single girth are very
clearly made out.
[Illustration: No. 23.]
The Spur of this period consisted of a single goad, sometimes of a
lozenge form, sometimes a plain spike. The shanks were straight.
The following illustration of the lozenge goad is from the bronze
monument of Rudolf von Schwaben, in the Cathedral of Merseburg, a
work of the eleventh century[135]. A very similar example, dug up in
railway excavations near Nottingham, has lately been added to the Tower
collection. This is of iron. Compare the Swiss specimen engraved by M.
Troyon in vol. xxxv. of the _Archæologia_, Plate XVII. This also has
a lozenge goad, but the neck of the spur is much longer. A Livonian
example in the British Museum has the goad in the form of a plain
quadrangular spike. The conical spike is seen among the Danish relics
figured on pages 70 and 95 of Mr. Worsaae's "Copenhagen Museum." A
very curious variety was found in the excavations of the Anglo-Saxon
cemetery at Linton Heath, and is figured in the eleventh volume of the
Archæological Journal. The buckles in this specimen, instead of being
attached to the strap, form part of the spur itself; being contrived at
the ends of the shanks.
Among the many curious usages revealed by the examination of the
ancient tombs, not the least singular is the practice of burying the
equestrian warrior with a single spur. This fact has been noticed,
not alone among the pagan Northmen, but as late as the thirteenth
century; and it does not rest on the doubtful evidence of careless
observers, but has been vouched by the testimony of skilful and
practised archæologists. It has been further remarked that the spur,
in all such cases, is attached to the left heel. M. Troyon, in his
excavations in the Colline de Chavannes, Canton de Vaud[136], found
three spurs, all of different sizes, which he therefore concludes
"ont appartenu chacun à des cavaliers différents." At Bel-Air, near
Lausanne, this gentleman found an interment where a single spur
had been fixed to the left heel of the entombed warrior. And in a
note to his interesting memoir on the exploration of the Colline
de Chavannes, he says: "J'ai retrouvé quelquefois des éperons dans
des tombes antiques, mais le mort n'en portait jamais qu'un seul,
qui était fixé au pied gauche." The similar instance which has been
noticed in an interment of the thirteenth century is that recorded in
the fourth volume of the Archæological Journal, page 59. A knight
of the Brougham family, found buried in the chancel of the church at
Brougham, in Westmoreland, had a single iron spur "round the left
heel." "No spur was found upon the right heel." This knight presented
the further singularity of having been buried cross-legged[137].
However highly his steed might be prized by the Northern warrior, it
was not alone in feats of horsemanship that he was required to excel.
The youthful Grymr, in the old poem of "Karl and Grymr," "as he grew
up, was accustomed to make his sword ruddy in the warlike play of
shields; to climb the mountains; to wrestle; to play well the game of
chess; to study the science of the stars; to throw the stone; and to
practise such other sports as were held in estimation."
Olaff Trygvason, according to an old Norwegian chronicle quoted by
Pontoppidan, "could climb the rock of Smalserhorn, and fix his shield
on the top; he could walk round the outside of a boat upon the oars,
while the men were rowing; he could play with three darts, throwing
them into the air alternately, and always keeping two of them up:
he was ambidexter, and could cast two darts at once with equal
force; and he was so famous a bowman that none could equal him." At
a little later date, Kali, an earl of the Orkneys, boasts of his
acquirements:--"I know," says he, "nine several arts. I am skilful
at the game of chess, I can engrave runic letters, I am expert at my
book, I can handle the tools of the smith, I can traverse the snow on
wooden skates, I excel in shooting with the bow, I ply the oar with
address, I can sing to the harp, and I compose verses[138]."
In the tenth century, Richard, duke of Normandy
"---- sout en Daneiz, en Normant[139] parler:
Une chartre sout lire, è li parz deviser:
Li pere l'out bien fet duire è doutriner.
De tables è d'eschez sout compaignon mater:
Bien sout paistre[140] un oisel è livrer è porter:
En bois sout cointement è berser[141] è vener.
As talevas[142] se sout bien couvrir è moler[143],
Mestre pié destre avant è entre d'els dobler:
Talons sout remuer è retraire è noxer,
Saillir deverz senestre è treget[144] tost geter:
C'est un colp damageux ki ne s'en seit garder,
Mais l'en ne s'i deit lungement demorer."
_Roman de Rou_, vol. i. p. 126.
Of the STANDARDS in use at this period, the notices that have reached
us are neither numerous nor clear. In Asser's "Life of King Alfred"
we read, that the Christian English gained a signal victory over
the pagan Danes in Devon, slaying their king, and capturing "among
other things, the standard called Raven; and they say that the three
sisters of Hingwar and Hubba, daughters of Lodobroch, wove that flag
and got it ready in one day[145]. They say, moreover, that in every
battle, wherever that flag went before them, if they were to gain
the victory, a live crow would appear flying on the middle of the
flag; but if they were doomed to be defeated, it would hang down
motionless. And this was often proved to be so." (Sub an. 878.) The
Danish chronicles and sagas, however, make no mention of this Raven
standard. Mr. Worsaae ("Danes in England") gives the engraving of a
coin of Anlaf, on which he recognises the national device, and finds
it again in that figure of a bird on one of the flags of the Bayeux
tapestry; "for it is very natural," he says, "that the Scandinavian
vikings, or Normans, who had achieved such famous conquests under
Odin's Raven, should continue to preserve this sign," &c.
Ancient evidences are not agreed as to the Anglo-Saxon standard
used at the battle of Hastings. William of Poitiers describes it as
"memorabile vexillum Heraldi, hominis armati imaginem intextam habens
ex auro purissimo." Malmesbury follows him: "vexillum--quod erat in
hominis pugnantis figura, auro et lapidibus arte sumptuosa contextum."
In the Bayeux tapestry this design does not appear, but the old
Dragon Standard, derived by the Northern nations from the Romans.
And it will be observed that the dragon of Harold is not a picture
painted on a flag; but, like the Roman _draco_, a figure fixed by
the head to a staff, with its body and tail floating away into the
air. Compare the representations on the Trajan and Antonine columns,
and in the Bayeux tapestry. The dragon is found also among the
continental Saxons. Of Witikind we are told: "Hic arripiens Signum,
quod apud eo habebatur sacrum, leonis atque _draconis_ et desuper
aquilæ volantis insignitum effigie[146]," &c. And this device of a
dragon appears to have been in use till at length displaced by the
more exact distinctions of hereditary heraldry.
The well-known custom mentioned by Plot, of the inhabitants of
Burford, in Oxfordshire, carrying the figure of a dragon yearly "up
and down the town in great Jollity, to which they added the Picture
of a Giant," in memory of a victory over Ethelbald, king of Mercia,
in which this prince lost his "Banner, whereon was depicted a Golden
Dragon;" seems entitled to greater consideration than most of the
customs of old times. The Dragon Standard of the Anglo-Saxons is a
fact substantiated by many monuments; and the portraying a vanquished
enemy under the lineaments of a hideous giant, is a practice which
has had the sanction of all times and all nations.
A very curious kind of flag occurs in the Anglo-Saxon manuscript
of _Prudentius_ in the Tenison Library. It is suspended from a
horizontal bar near the spear-head, after the manner of a sail
looped up to its yard, and from the side hangs a kind of fringe. It
decreases below, presenting altogether a triangular form, and seems
to be the same object as that figured by Mr. Worsaae, from a coin of
Anlaf, in his "Danes in England."
The celebrated _Carrocio_ or Car Standard of the Italians appears
to have been invented during the war between the Milanese and the
Emperor Conrad, about 1035, by Heribert, the archbishop of Milan.
This car had four wheels, and was drawn by four yoke of oxen,
caparisoned in red. The chariot itself was red: in the midst of
it was a tall red mast, surmounted by a golden globe, and bearing
the banner of the city: beneath the banner was a large crucifix, of
which "the extended arms appeared to bless the troops." A kind of
platform in front of the _carrocium_ was occupied by a company of
chosen heroes, elected for its especial defence; while, on a similar
platform behind, the trumpets of the army contributed by their
inspiriting strains to give confidence to all around. Before leaving
the city, mass was solemnised upon the platform of the chariot,
and not unfrequently a chaplain was assigned to accompany it into
the field of battle, and to give absolution to the wounded. This
device of the Milanese was soon imitated by others of the Italian
cities, and with all it was held to be in the last degree humiliating
to abandon the _carrocio_ to the enemy[147]. Other origins have,
however, been given to the Car Standard. It has been attributed to
the Saracens; and the monk Egidius ascribes its invention to the Duke
of Louvain, who caused the banner which had been embroidered by the
Queen of England to be placed in a superb chariot drawn by four oxen.
The Italians have a large balance of evidence on their side.
Of the various kinds of "GYNS" in use, the notices are not very
distinct. And a chief source of the vagueness arises from the
circumstance that, as the earliest chroniclers wrote in Latin, they
applied the names of Roman engines to instruments which probably
differed both in form and principle from their ancient prototypes.
Tacitus, indeed, tells us that the barbarians borrowed these engines
from those of the Romans; deserters or prisoners from whose ranks
taught to the Northmen the art of their construction. But there seems
good reason to believe that the motive principle of the classic
periers, _torsion_, was no longer in use among the middle-age
engineers: their instruments consisting of a lever furnished at one
extremity with a sling and at the other with a heavy weight; the
sudden liberation of the latter contributing the force necessary to
propel the stone from the sling. See this subject fully discussed in
the second volume of the _Études sur l'Artillerie_ of the Emperor of
the French; and compare the evidences furnished by monuments of the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, given in later pages of this work.
In 585, we learn from Gregory of Tours, that the Battering Ram
and the Testudo were employed by the Burgundians in the siege of
Comminges[148]. This Tortoise, or screen for the propellers of the
Ram, is described by the translator of Vegecius in 1408 under the
name of the "Snayle or Welke[149]:" "For, righte as the snaile hath
his hous over hym where he walkethe or resteth, and oute of his hous
he shetethe his hede whan he wolle, and draweth hym inne a-yene, so
doth this gynne." In the ninth century we obtain considerable light
on this subject from the curious description of the Siege of Paris,
written in Latin verse by Abbo, a monk of St. Germain-des-Prez, who
was an eye-witness of the events he records. He names the Musculus
and the Pluteus, both of which were contrivances to shelter the
besiegers while at work; the Balista and Mangana, machines for
casting large stones; the Catapulta, which cast both stones and
darts; the Terebra, a spiked beam for boring into the walls; and
the Falarica, a gyn throwing darts to which burning substances were
affixed; a terrible instrument in those days, when the roofs of
houses were almost invariably covered with thatch.
The Moveable Towers formed of wood, in imitation of those of the
Romans, and placed by the walls of city or castle in order to bring
the assailants to a level with the defenders, are first mentioned
in medieval annals under the eleventh century; but they play no
conspicuous part in the military history of these days till the
succeeding century, when their employment appears to have been
frequent. In 1025, Eudes, comte de Chartres, is said to have used the
Moveable Tower in besieging the Castle of Montbrol, near Tours; and so
high was it, that it overtopped the keep-tower of the fortress[150].
In the east of Europe, the Greek Fire had been known as early as the
year 673; when, according to the historians of the Lower Empire,
Callinicus, the philosopher, taught the use of it to the Greeks.
He himself had probably derived the knowledge of this composition
from the Arabians; for, though powder acting by _detonation_ (and
consequently cannon) appears to have been first produced in Europe,
and that not earlier than the beginning of the fourteenth century,
the Asiatics had the use of powder that would _fuse_ at a very early
date. The Greek Fire was discharged from tubes, which could be turned
in any direction. The Princess Anna Comnena, in the _Alexiad_,
describes its use, as it was employed by the Emperor Alexis against
the Pisans, from tubes fixed at the prow of his vessels:--"They (the
Pisans) were astonished to see fire, which by its nature ascends,
directed against them, at the will of their enemy, downwards and on
each side." The receipt for the composition of the Greek Fire may be
found in the Treatise of Marcus Grecus. The terrors of these early
fire-mixtures were enhanced by the belief that not only they, but the
flames kindled by them, were inextinguishable by water: "de quibus
fit incendarium quod ab aqua non extinguitur[151]." The Greek Fire
did not, however, reach the west of Europe till a much later period.
It was objected against its use, that such an agent was contrary to
the spirit of religion and the nobleness of chivalry: it was felt
that a weapon which could be used alike by the weak and the strong,
by the humble and the powerful, might become a dangerous rival to the
knightly lance and panoply.
[Illustration: 24.]
[Illustration:
PLATE XXV.
GREAT SEAL OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR.]
FOOTNOTES:
[3] De Bello Goth., lib. ii. c. 25.
[4] See Archæologia, vol. xxxvi. p. 78.
[5] Bk. ii.
[6] Lib. ii. c. 27.
[7] Vol. i. p. 508, ed. Baluz.
[8] Life of Charlemagne, bk. ii.
[9] Laws of the Visigoths.
[10] Capit. of Charlemagne.
[11] Lib, iii. c. 74.
[12] Saxons in England, vol. ii. p. 138.
[13] Ib., p. 164.
[14] Ib., p. 145.
[15] Ib., p. 149.
[16] Codex diplom. Ævi Sax., no. 956.
[17] c. 14.
[18] Malmesb., ad an. 1041.
[19] Saxons in England, ii. 395.
[20] Lib. i. cap. 120.
[21] _découvertes et retroussés._
[22] _femmes enragées._
[23] Lib. ii.
[24] Lib. iii.
[25] Roger of Hoveden, _sub an._ 1055.
[26] "Quum ex captivis quæreret Cæsar, quamobrem Ariovistus
prœlio non decertaret, hunc reperiebat causam: quod apud Germanos
ea consuetudo esset, ut matresfamilias eorum sortibus et
vaticinationibus declararent, utrum prœlium committi ex usu esset,
necne: eas ita dicere, non esse fas Germanos superare, si ante novam
lunam prœlio contendissent."--_Bell. Gall._, lib. i.
[27] Agathias.
[28] Lib. ii. c. 37.
[29] Epist. Greg. Papæ ad Childebert. Apud Scrip, rer. Franc., iv. 17.
[30] Holy things.
[31] Chalice.
[32] Ships.
[33] Gale.
[34] Chron. of Battle Abbey; Ordericus Vitalis; Wace.
[35] Heimsk., iii. 161.
[36] "in the midst."
[37] "Thor, aid!" or perhaps Tyr, the Mars of the Northmen. See
Kemble's _Saxons in England_, i. 350; and Thierry's _Conquête de
l'Ang. par les Normands_, sub an. 912-997.
[38] Hamon-aux-Dents, seigneur de Thorigny, of which place the church
is dedicated to S. Amand.
[39] Moustaches.
[40] See also Malmesbury, bk. iii., sub an. 1066.
[41] The particular localities where the spears and other weapons
have been found are mentioned in the Description of the engravings.
[42] "Saxon Obsequies," by the Hon. R. C. Neville.
[43] Collectanea Antiqua, vol. iii.
[44] La Normandie Souterraine.
[45] Das germanische Todtenlager bei Selzen in der Provinz
Rheinhessen.
[46] Afbildninger fra det Kongelige Museum for Nordiske Oldsager i
Kjöbenhavn.
[47] See the examples engraved in the Archæologia, vol. xxxv. p. 78.
[48] "Fairford Graves."
[49] Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. p. 353, sq., ed. 1854.
[50] See the Abbé Cochet's work, p. 283.
[51] Archæol., vol. xxxv.
[52] Journal of Archæol. Association, vol. iii.
[53] Ibid.
[54] Apud Bongars, p. 241.
[55] Normand. Souterr., p. 369.
[56] Kemble, Codex Dipl., No. 979.
[57] In quoting illuminated manuscripts, we shall be careful to give
the Collection and the folio; but, where not expressed to the contrary,
beg it to be understood that the place of deposit is the British Museum.
[58] See Henault, 1655; and Chiflet, _Anastasis Childerici Primi_.
[59] See Cochet, Lindenschmit, and the Transactions of the Luxembourg
Society, vol. viii. p. 45.
[60] Saxon Obsequies.
[61] Landulphi senioris Mediolanens.--Hist. Rer. Ital., tom. iv. p. 79.
[62] Lib. iii. Ep. 3.
[63] Collect. Antiq., vol. iii.
[64] Ibid.
[65] Glossary to "Beowulf."
[66] Primeval Antiq. of Denmark, p. 49.
[67] Atla-Quida, vol. ii. p. 370.
[68] Vol. i. p. 186.
[69] Saxons in England, ii. 100.
[70] Manual of the Society of Northern Antiquaries of Copenhagen.
[71] Worsaae's Antiq. of Denmark.
[72] Worsaae's "Danes in England."
[73] For a fuller account of this transaction, and of other notable
deeds of our hero-smith, see the Völundar Quida of the Edda Sæmundar,
and the Wilkina Saga (c. 21, sq.); also Grimm's Heldensage, p. 14,
and Teut. Mythol., 221.
[74] Kemble's "Saxons in England," p. 280.
[75] _Normandie Souterraine_, p. 44.
[76] Boys' Hist. of Sandwich. The charter is given in Mr. Kemble's
_Codex Diplom. Ævi Sax._, iv. 23.
[77] Stothard, Pl. XIX.
[78] Northern.
[79] blade.
[80] long-handled.
[81] must hold it.
[82] From _ira_.
[83] The passage which has furnished these lines is further curious, as
it would seem to shew that the _Fraternitas Armorum_ was not confined
to the knightly order. These two English guisarmiers enter the field of
Hastings under a similar compact to triumph or fall together:--
"Dous Engleiz vit mult orguillos,
Ki s'esteient acumpaignié
Por ço ke bien erent preisié.
Ensemble debveient aler:
Li uns debveit l'altre garder:
En lor cols aveient levées
Dui gisarmes lunges è lées."
[84] Cap. 23. sect. 4.
[85] weapons.
[86] javelin.
[87] iron headpieces.
[88] Wilson's "Memorials of Edinburgh," vol. ii. p. 3; from the
Borough Records.
[89] We are indebted to Mr. Westwood for this curious drawing.
[90] Abbé Cochet, p. 237.
[91] Figured in _Collect. Antiq._, ii. 245, and at p. 101 of the
Illustrated Catalogue of Mr. Roach Smith's Museum.
[92] Titulo de Vulneribus, n. 2.
[93] _Normandie Souterraine_, pp. 285, 351, 385.
[94] See Archæol. Journal, vol. vi. p. 181; and Wilson's "Archæology
of Scotland," p. 393.
[95] pikes.
[96] forks.
[97] bâtons.
[98] Ap. Duchesne, p. 201.
[99] _Mil. Fran._, i. 7.
[100] See Wilkinson's Egyptians, vol. i. p. 357, ed. 1854.
[101] See Layard's Nineveh, p. 332, ed. 1852.
[102] Ante: page 54.
[103] Hist. Franc., lib. viii. c. 29.
[104] Ibid., lib. iv. c. 46.
[105] See the able work of M. Reinaud and Captain Favé, _Du
Feu Grégeois, &c._; and M. Lacabane's paper in the _Biblio. de
l'Ecole des Chartes_, Second Series, vol. i.; and the _Etudes sur
l'Artillerie_, by the Emperor of the French.
[106] "Und so schwollen Sigurds Seiten, dass seine Panzerringe
entzweisprangen;" welches Entzweispringen doch von nebeneinander
gehefteten Ringen nicht füglich gesagt werden könnte.--_Wien's
kaiserliches Zeughaus._
[107] Lib. vi.
[108] Gesta Regum Franc., cap. 41.
[109] Ibid.
[110] See the Tenison _Prudentius_.
[111] See Strutt, "Dress and Hab.," Pl. XXIX.
[112] It is engraved in vol. ii. of _Collectanea Antiqua_.
[113] Wilkinson's "Ancient Egyptians," p. 287, ed. 1837; vol. i. p.
338, ed. 1854.
[114] See Archæol. Journ., vol. iii. p. 352.
[115] _Trachten des christlichen Mittelalters._ There is also a
French version of this admirable work.
[116] Archæology of Scotland, p. 266.
[117] _coup._
[118] _draps._
[119] _yeux._
[120] _visage._
[121] _voulait._
[122] _tomba._
[123] Line 5215.
[124] Thorpe's Analecta, p. 137.
[125] Ibid., p. 128.
[126] Archæol. Journ., vol. xi. p. 98.
[127] Ap. Du Chesne, p. 168.
[128] Archæologia, vol. xix.; and Memoirs, p. 298.
[129] Compare Wilkinson's "Egyptians," i. 349, ed. 1854; Layard's
"Monuments of Nineveh," Plate LXXII.; and the wall-painting of the
Ajunta Caves, of the first century of our era, a fine copy of which has
been placed in the Museum of the East India House. The Chinese still
use a large round shield of cane-wicker, behind which they crouch so as
to conceal themselves entirely from the view of the enemy.
[130] See Description of Engravings, for the particular localities
where they were discovered.
[131] Copenhagen Manual.
[132] Monast. Ang., vol. i. p. 24.
[133] Saxon Obsequies, Plate XXXVIII.
[134] _Todtenlager bei Selzen_, p. 6.
[135] Hefner; _Trachten des christlichen Mittelalters_, Pt. I.
[136] Described in _Archæologia_, vol. xxxv.
[137] For much curious information relating to the practice of
interring with the hero his horse, chariot, hawks, hounds, &c., and
the discovery of their remains in the graves, see _Archæologia_, vol.
xxxiii.; the York volume of the Archæolog. Instit., p. 28; Saxon
Obsequies, pl. XXXVIII.; Archæol. Journal, vol. vii. p. 43; Kemble's
Saxons in England, vol. i. p. 428; Appendix to Kemble's trans. of
"Beowulf;" Wilson's Archæol. of Scotland, pp. 457 and 552; Worsaae's
Antiq. of Denmark, p. 100; Bähr's _Die Gräber der Liven_, pl. XVI.
Compare also Tacitus, _Germania_, x.; Cæsar, _Bell. Gall._, lib. vi.;
and Wilkinson's Anc. Egypt., vol. ii. pp. 270 and 399, ed. 1854.
[138] _Orkneyinga Saga._
[139] That is, in the Romance language.
[140] feed.
[141] use the long-bow.
[142] shield.
[143] contend.
[144] sling.
[145] It is curious to compare these highborn ladies of the ninth
century with another fair standard-weaver somewhat nearer our own
times. Katherine of Arragon, writing to Wolsey, when the king
was campaigning in France, says: "I am horridly busy with making
standards, banners, and badges."
[146] Gestor. Sax., lib. i.
[147] Arnulphus Mediol., 1. ii. c. 16; Ricordano Malespina, Hist.
Fior., cap. 164; Burchardus, Epistola de excidio urbis Mediolanens.,
tom. vi.; Hist, Rer. Ital., p. 917.
[148] Lib. vii. c. 37.
[149] Roy. MS. 18, A. xii., f. 105.
[150] _Ap._ Labbæum in Chronolog., lib. ii.; Daniel, _Mil. Fran._, i.
557.
[151] Reinaud et Favé: _Du feu grégeois_, &c., p. 218.