Crests are frequently found surmounting the helm at the close of this

century; but they are not of that distinctive kind, consisting of

lions, griffins, eagles, wings, axes, and-so-forth, which appear in

such diversity during the next age. They are merely of the fan form.

The seal of De Quinci, indeed, seems an evidence to the contrary,

and has been often described as an instance of a helm of the early

part of the thirteenth century bearing a wyvern for a crest (woodcut,

No. 87). But the wyvern in the upper part of this seal seems to be

placed there merely to fill up the space between the letters, and

belongs to the legend, not to the effigy; just as we see a flower

occupying the space beneath the lion's feet, and in the obverse of

the seal, the wyvern filling up the void beneath the horse and under

the housing. Heraldic bearings do in fact appear on the casques

of several figures previously to 1300. But they form part of the

headpiece itself: they do not surmount it. The helm of Richard the

First has a lion, but it is a figure embossed or painted on a part

of the casque. The well-known effigy of a Plantagenet (Stothard, Pl.

II.) is an analogous instance. The monument of Le Botiler at St.

Bride's, Glamorganshire, (woodcut, No. 74,) affords another example:

and in the curious helm of Louis of Savoy (woodcut 71, fig. 11) we

have the heraldic eagle forming the _visor_ of the casque, while the

crest is composed of the usual fan ornament. This fan we have already

seen on the helm of Richard I., but it does not come into general use

till towards the close of the thirteenth century. See examples on our

woodcuts, Nos. 71 and 72. Other instances may be found in Laing's

"Scottish Seals," p. 54; in the Lives of the Offas, Cott. MS., Nero,

D. i.; and in great number among the miniatures of Roy. MS. 20, D.

i., where they are attached to the heads of the horses as well as

to the helms. At the Windsor tournament in 1278, also, crests were

provided both for man and horse:--

"Īt p̴ qualibet galea j. cresta }

Īt p̴ quolibet equo j. cresta } S͂m. LXXVI. Cres̄t."

And for the making of these crests, calf-skins and parchment were

employed:--

"LXXVI. pell' vitul' p̴ cres̄t faciend' p'̄c pell' iij. d."

"Īt p̴ qualibet cresta j. pell' parcamēn rud'. S͂m. LXXVI.

pell' rud' p̴cameni[352]."

Occasionally feathers supply the place of the fan ornament. A plume

of seven peacock's feathers surmounts a crowned helm on folio 205

of Roy. MS. 20, D. i.; and similar examples occur at ff. 60^{vo}. and

239^{vo}. of the same manuscript. Compare also Add. MS. 15,268: both

these books being of the close of the century.

[Illustration:

PLATE LXXIV.]

Another curious appendage to the knightly helm of this time consisted

of Horns; made, as we learn from Guillaume le Breton, of whalebone,

and borne for the purpose of striking terror by the gigantic

appearance of the wearer. The Count of Boulogne at the Battle of

Bovines, in 1214, adopts this expedient:--

"Cornua conus agit, superasque eduxit in auras,

E costis assumpta nigris quas faucis in antro

Branchia balenæ Britici colit incola ponti:

Ut qui magnus erat magnæ super addita moli

Majorem faceret phantastica pompa videri."

_Philipp._, lib. xi. 322.

The Helms of kings have a crown encircling them, as seen in the seals

of Henry III. and Edward I. of England (woodcuts, No. 79, 81 and 85);

but on the capelline of King John is no such ornament. See also our

engraving, No. 72. The crown is occasionally placed on the coif of

chain-mail: as on folio 7 of the Lives of the Offas (woodcut, No.

80), and in the pictures of the Painted Chamber.

[Illustration: No. 75]

Of the smaller casque--helmet, or chapel-de-fer--we have already

observed that some were worn beneath the coif-de-mailles. Others

were placed above it, or formed of themselves the whole arming of

the head. They are cylindrical, hemispherical, conical, wide-rimmed,

and of the nasal kind. The first-named appears in our woodcut, No.

53, from Harl. MS. 5,102, of the beginning of the century. It is

found also on the seal of St. Louis, and in the effigy in the Temple

Church, figured by Stothard, Pl. X. The rounded helmet occurs on

the seal of King John (woodcut 52); in our engraving, No. 53, from

Harl. MS. 5,102, early in the century; and in Nos. 49 and 74, both

monuments of the close of this period. It appears plentifully in

Roy. MS. 20, D. i., and in the groups of the Painted Chamber. The

conical chapel is seen in our engraving, No. 58; it occurs also in

Harl. MS. 1,527, and in the Painted Chamber and Lives of the Offas.

The Wide-rimmed Helmet is found throughout this century. An early

example appears in our engraving, No. 50, from Harl. MS. 4,751. The

figure here given is from Add. MS. 11,639, fol. 520; of the close of

the century. It represents Goliath, and the casque is thus painted:

crown, iron-colour; rim and crest, gold. The book is in Hebrew, but

believed to have been written in Germany. See also our woodcut, No.

49, from Add. MS. 15,268; and Hefner's Plate V.; and the pictures

of the Painted Chamber. A good example in sculpture occurs in the

arcade of the north aisle of the Lady Chapel at Worcester Cathedral.

On Cotton Roll, XV. 7, a variety of this headpiece has an upright

spike at the top. In the Archæological Journal, vol. viii. p. 319,

is engraved a knightly effigy in which the wide and pointed iron-hat

is worn over a close skull-cap of plate, to which, is joined a coif

of chain-mail. The Nasal Helmet is found of three varieties: the

cylindrical, the round-topped, and the conical. The first occurs on

the monumental effigy of Raoul De Beaumont, in the abbey of Estival,

founded by him in 1210. (Kerrich Collections, Add. MS. 6,728.) The

hemispherical appears in the Lives of the Offas and the Painted

Chamber, and on Plate XXXIII. of Hefner. The pointed crown is found

among the subjects of the Painted Chamber, of which the following is

an example. See also our woodcut, No. 82.

[Illustration: No. 76.]

Besides the above, which are the usual types of casque found in

the thirteenth century, there are some varieties of occasional

appearance. Among these may be mentioned the open-faced helmet of

the Temple effigy figured by Stothard, Pl. XV. In this curious

example, all the head above the neck is cased in a defence of some

rigid material (metal or cuir-bouilli?), and encircled by a band or

turban. Another singular headpiece occurs on folio 7 of the Lives

of the Offas (woodcut, No. 80); where the coif of banded-mail is

covered in front with a plate, perforated for vision and breathing,

and strengthened with the cross-bands already seen in the knightly

heaume. Helmets formed of a framework of metal covering a cap of

leather, similar to the defence noticed at an earlier period (see

page 69), seem to have been in use during this century. Hefner has

figured the metal portion of a real one found in the island of

Negropont, which he assigns to this period (_Trachten_, Pl. LXIII.)

It closely resembles the bronze example discovered at Leckhampton

(woodcut 18), consisting of a hoop from which spring two arcs of

metal crossing at the crown. Of similar mixed materials appear

to be those helmets seen in the groups of the Painted Chamber,

where a frame of gold-colour encloses a cap of crimson or purple

(Plates XXXV. and XXXVI.). And compare our woodcut, No. 82, also

from the Painted Chamber, in which the frame of the headpiece is of

iron-colour, while the enclosed portion is painted yellow.

The Bassinet and Cervellière are named in documents of this time,

but do not appear to have been anything more than the round-topped

skull-cap already noticed.

The bassinet is mentioned in the will of Odo de Rossilion in 1298,

cited by Ducange[353]; a monument further curious from its giving us

the detail of a knight's equipment in these days:--

"Idem do et lego domino Petro de Monte Ancelini predicto centum

libras Turonenses et unam Integram Armaturam de Armaturis

meis, videlicet meum heaume à vissere, meum bassignetum, meum

porpoinctum de cendallo, meum godbertum[354], meam gorgretam,

meas buculas[355], meum gaudichetum, meas trumulieres[356]

d'acier, meos cuissellos, meos chantones[357], meum magnum

cutellum, et meam parvam ensem."

The Bassinet with camail _attached_ is not a characteristic of this

century, though isolated examples may perhaps be found. The knightly

effigy at Ashington, Somersetshire, already noticed, seems to be one of

these: the mail-coif being fixed to the plate-cap by rivets. (Archæol.

Journ., vol. viii. p. 319.) It will be remarked in that very valuable

monument, the Pictures of the Painted Chamber, that the skull-caps of

plate are in many instances so placed on the coif-de-mailles as to

shew very clearly that the two defences are quite distinct.

Guiart, in the _Chronique Métrique_, frequently uses the name

_cervellière_:--

"Sus hyaumes et sus cervelières

Prennent plommées à descendre

Et hachètes pour tout porfendre."--_Line_ 1912.

"Aucuns d'entr'eus testes desnuent

De hyaumes et de cervelières."--_Line_ 5267.

"Hauberjons et cervelières,

Gantlez, tacles et gorgières."--_Line_ 5467.

An amusing tale is told in the _Chronicon Nonantulanum_, of the

invention of the cervellière by Michael Scot, "Astrologus Friderici

Imperatoris familiaris." Having foreseen that he should meet his

death from the fall of a stone of two ounces weight upon his head, he

contrived a cap (_infulam_) of plate-iron. But being at mass one day,

at the exaltation of the host, he reverently lifted his cap, when a

little stone fell upon his head, and inflicted a slight wound. Weighing

the stone, he found it to be exactly two ounces; and then, knowing his

doom to be sealed, he arranged his worldly affairs and died.

From the manuscript collection of "Proverbes" of the thirteenth

century, preserved in the Imperial Library at Paris, and cited by Le

Grand d'Aussy in the _Vie privée des François_[358], we learn that the

"Heaumes de Poitiers" had obtained the highest meed of approbation.

The ordinary SHIELD of this period was the triangular: its dimensions

decreasing as the century advanced. It was bowed or flat. Other

targets of this time are the kite-shaped, the pear-shaped, the

heart-shaped, the round, the quadrangular, and a shield angular at

the top and rounded below.

The triangular, bowed shield appears in our engravings, Nos. 52,

53, 57 and 87; all early examples. Later instances occur in the

seal of Edward I. (No. 85), and our woodcut, No. 75, from Add. MS.

11,639. The flat triangular shield is found in the very curious

figure on folio 27 of Harl. MS. 3,244, _circa_ 1250; in the brass of

Sir John D'Aubernoun, 1277 (woodcut, No. 55); in the glass-painting

at Oxford Cathedral (woodcut, No. 77); and in the effigy of Le

Botiler (woodcut, No. 74): the last two monuments, of the close

of the century. See also Painted Chamber, Plate XXXVI. It will be

observed that the shield of D'Aubernoun is curiously small. Those of

Crouchback and William de Valence on their tombs are scarcely larger.

(Stothard, Pl. XLIII. and XLIV.) The Kite-shaped shield appears very

frequently in Roy. MS. 20, D. i.; a subject from which, with this

form of target, is given in our woodcut, No. 72. It occurs also in

Harl. MS. 1,527, and on Plate XXXVI. of the Painted Chamber. This

form, like the foregoing, is sometimes bowed and sometimes flat.

The Pear-shaped variety is found on the seal of Saer de Quinci,

1210--19, engraved in Laing's Ancient Scottish Seals, Pl. XI.; and on

that of John de Methkil, c. 1220 (Laing, Pl. VII. fig. 3). Another

Scottish seal gives us the Heart-shaped shield, a rare and early

example (Laing, Pl. X. fig. 11). The Round target supported by its

guige appears in a group of fighters in Harl. MS. 1,527; again in

the Malvern effigy (Stothard, Pl. XIX.); in the Lives of the Offas;

and among the pictures of the Painted Chamber. The quadrangular

bowed shield is figured in our woodcut, No. 88, from a Tower Roll,

commemorating a wager of battle in the reign of Henry III. The shield

made angular at top and rounded below may be found on Plate XXXI.

of the Painted Chamber, and occurs again on the seal of a Melros

charter of 1285, engraved on page 30 of Laing's Scottish Seals. It is

scarcely necessary to say that the types which we have endeavoured to

distinguish will be found somewhat varied in particular examples: to

describe every modification of the general forms we have detected,

would be a tedious and a useless task.

The Boss is still retained in some of the shields of this time,

though but rarely. It appears in our woodcuts, Nos. 75 and 88, and on

folio 4 of the Lives of the Offas. The Enarmes, or straps by which

the knight sustained his shield in combat, are well shewn in the

effigy of De Shurland (Stothard, Pl. XLI.), and receive some further

illustration from the statues of De Vere at Hatfield Broadoak, Essex,

and of Brian Fitz Alan at Bedale, Yorkshire. Compare also folio 4 of

the Lives of the Offas, and Plate XXXVIII. of the Painted Chamber.

The Guige, or strap by which the shield was hung round the neck, is a

usual adjunct to this defence during the whole of the century, and is

sometimes of a highly enriched character. Many of our woodcuts shew

the manner of its use.

From a passage of "The Ancren Riwle," lately printed by the Camden

Society, from a MS. of the thirteenth century, we learn that the

materials of the shield at this time were "wood, leather, and

painting." (p. 393.) These ingredients frequently reappear in

the real targets of a later time which have been saved from the

destruction of passing centuries.

[Illustration: No. 77.]

Armorial bearings are the usual adornment of the knightly shield

throughout this period; and the field was sometimes richly diapered,

as in this example from the window of the north transept of Oxford

Cathedral. Compare the monument of De Vere at Hatfield (Stothard,

Pl. XXXVI.) Where heraldic devices are not found, a "pattern"

generally takes their place: a cross, a rosette, a star, a fret, or

some such simple ornament. In other cases the face of the shield is

painted of a single colour. In the effigies placed over the tombs of

the knights, the shield is usually represented as borne on the arm.

The figure of William de Valence in Westminster Abbey has it slung at

the hip; an arrangement frequently adopted in French monuments, and

occasionally in those of other continental countries.

Another continental custom sometimes imitated by our own countrymen,

was that of adorning the walls of the banqueting-hall on great

occasions with the shields of distinguished heroes. When, in 1254,

the English king entertained the French monarch in the Temple

in Paris, "the banquet was given," says Matthew Paris, "in the

great hall of the Temple, in which were hung up, according to the

_continental custom_, as many bucklers as the four walls could hold."

Amongst others was seen the shield of Richard, king of England,

concerning which a witty person present said to King Henry, "Why, my

Lord, have you invited the French to dine with you in this house?

See, there is the shield of the noble-hearted English king, Richard!

your guests will be unable to eat without fear and trembling[359]."

From the curious volume already cited, the _Ancren Rule_, we learn

that at the demise of a brave knight, his shield was hung aloft on

the church walls, in honour and remembrance of his valorous deeds.

[Illustration: No. 78.]

The Spur of this century is of three kinds: the simple goad, the

ball-and-spike, and the rowel. The goad is sometimes straight,

sometimes curved. The straight spike is seen in this example of an iron

spur found in the churchyard of Chesterford, Cambridgeshire, and now

preserved in the collection of the Hon. Richard Neville. Compare our

engravings, Nos. 58 and 85. The curved goad appears in woodcuts 55 and

73. Our engravings, Nos. 62, 72 and 81 shew the ball-and-spike kind;

of which we have already seen examples in the statues of Henry II. and

Richard I. at Fontevraud. The rowel spur is found but in one or two

instances during this century. It is represented on the seal of Henry

III., here given; where, in order to bring up the rowel to the middle

of the heel, the seal-engraver has resorted to the singular expedient

of raising the field into a sort of hillock, on the top of which he has

sculptured the star-like rowel. See Harleian Charter, 43, C. 38. The

rowel spur again appears on the effigy of Le Botiler (woodcut, No. 74).

It is, however, rather a characteristic of the fourteenth than of this

century; and, generally speaking, its presence alone should lead one

to hesitate long before assigning a monument to the earlier period,

even though it should exhibit all the other features of the more

ancient costume. The monument of Johan Le Botiler, just named, is by no

means exempt from the operation of this rule.

[Illustration: GREAT SEAL OF KING HENRY III.

No. 79.]

The shank of the spur is curved, each end being formed into a loop

to receive the strap. The strap itself is single, buckling over the

instep. See Stothard's Plates XVII. and XXII. Some exceptions occur

to this usual arrangement. In the effigy of a De L'Isle, figured by

Stothard, Plate XX., the outer shank is flattened into a trefoil and

rivetted upon the leather. In the figure at Norton, Durham, (woodcut,

No. 70,) the shanks terminate in rings, and two straps are employed to

fix the spur to the foot. Both straps and spurs are occasionally shewn

of an enriched character. On folio 27 of Harl. MS. 3,244, the spur

is ornamented with a row of studs or bosses. In the brass at Acton,

Suffolk, 1302 (Waller, Pt. ii.), the pattern consists of rosettes.

The gilded spurs of the knights occasionally became the trophy of a

victory; as in the case of the battle of Courtray, in 1302. More than

five hundred pairs, Froissart tells us, were suspended in a chapel of

the church of Our Lady of Courtray: "Et ces éperons avoient jadis été

des seigneurs de France, qui avoient été morts en la dite bataille;

et en faisoient ceux de Courtray tous les ans, pour le triomphe, très

grand solemnité[360]."

The Beard during this century appears to have been usually worn

by the aged only. The young knight has commonly neither beard nor

moustache: indeed, this imberbed state of the Western cavaliers is

made a reproach to them by the Saracens. The Sultan, we are told by

Matthew Paris, under 1250, addressing his chiefs, in arms against

the forces of St. Louis, exclaimed: "What rash madness excites these

men to attack us and endeavour to deprive us of our inheritance, who

have inhabited this noble country since the Flood? A certain motive,

however slight, urges the Christians to covet the land which they

call Holy: but what have they to do with Egypt? Unfit indeed are they

to lord it over a land which is watered and enriched by the river

sent from Paradise: beardless, shorn men, unwarlike and imbecile,

more like women than men, what rash daring is this[361]!"

For the arrangement of the beard of this time, see the effigies of

King John and Henry III. (Stothard, Plates XI. and XXXI.), and Plate

XXXIX. of the Painted Chamber.

The fashion of the Hair differs considerably in the first and second

portions of the century. In both it was cut short at the forehead: but

in the first half it was allowed to fall in its natural flow to some

length at the sides of the head and behind; while, in the second, it

was most carefully arranged in large curls, which cover the ears, and

give a strongly marked character to the monuments of this time. In the

effigy of King John at Worcester, the side hair is cut sheer off just

below the ear. In the figure of Prince John, the son of St. Louis, in

the Abbey Church of St. Denis, the hair falls in a natural ringlet to

the neck[362]. The large and formal curl of the later period is well

shewn in the knightly sculpture from Norton Church, Durham (woodcut,

No. 70). See also the statue of Henry III. (Stothard, Pl. XXXI.), and

the series of monumental figures sculptured in 1263-4 by order of St.

Louis, to perpetuate the memory of his ancestors entombed at St. Denis.

(Guilhermy, pp. 218, 223, 225 and 228.)

[Illustration:

PLATE LXXX.]

The SPEAR for war of the thirteenth century offers no change from

that of the preceding age. The shaft of it is still uniform from

end to end, not yet being hollowed out for the grip, as in the

lance of a later date. The head is of three forms: the lozenge,

the leaf, and the barbed. The lozenge spear-head is the most usual,

and appears in the accompanying group from the Lives of the Two

Offas, Cott. MS., Nero, D. i. fol. 7. See also our woodcuts, No. 62

and 75. The leaf-shaped head occurs on fol. 4 of Nero, D. i.; on

fol. 27 of Harl. MS. 3,244; and on the Shurland monument (Stothard,

Pl. XLI.) The barbed spear was probably not considered a knightly

weapon, but carried by soldiers of an inferior grade. At all events,

we occasionally find men-at-arms furnished with it, as in Roy. MS.

20, D. i., a book of about the close of this century. And earlier in

the period, at the battle of Bovines in 1214, we have the curious

account of Rigord, shewing the jeopardy in which the life of King

Philip was placed through the attack of a soldier armed with a spear

of this description. This soldier of the emperor's host struck at

the neck of the king, the usual point of attack, and though the

gorget of the monarch prevented the weapon from inflicting any wound,

the barbs of the spear became so firmly fixed between the hauberk

and the head-defence, that the sturdy German was enabled to pull

Philippe Auguste from his horse and lay him prone at his feet. The

king managed to raise himself again, but the soldier held firm. The

emperor, who was near at hand, rushed forward to terminate the strife

by the death of his rival, and all seemed over. Galon de Montigny

meanwhile, the Bannerer of the king, proclaimed the danger of his

master by incessantly _raising and lowering_ the Standard over the

spot where this contest was taking place. The French were animated to

new exertions: a band of seigneurs and gentlemen cut their way to the

spot where the king was struggling in unequal conflict with his

foes: the spearman, struck down or slain, let go his hold: the fight

continued, furiously as ever, but in numbers less disproportionate

than before: Etienne de Longchamp, one of the bravest of the

French nobles, is slain by the side of the king: Pierre Tristan,

another distinguished knight, leaps from his steed, and gives it

to his monarch: Guillaume des Barres at this moment comes up with

reinforcements, charges the German host with impetuous bravery, and

turns their triumph into a rout.

The Lance is occasionally furnished with a streamer, as at a former

period. It is seen in our last engraving (No. 80), from the Lives of

the Offas; and again in woodcuts, Nos. 55 and 62. Compare also Harl.

MS. 3,244, fol. 27, and other groups from the Lives of the Offas.

In some of these examples, the lance-flag is ensigned with a cross

only; in others it is quite blank: in others, again, as the brass of

D'Aubernoun, it bears a device clearly heraldic.

In a few rare instances the spear is represented on the tomb of the

knight. The necessity of reducing it far beneath its legitimate

proportions, in order to be comprised within the narrow limits of the

sepulchral memorial, would furnish a sufficient reason for its being

generally excluded from the monumental design: but it is not improbable

that mere fashion (for the tomb has its fashions) contributed in some

degree to this exclusion; because we find that the royal and knightly

seals, which at a previous date constantly exhibited the lance with its

streamer, now more usually represent the warrior armed with the sword.

The lance is found on the brass of D'Aubernoun (woodcut, No. 55), on

the sculptured effigy of a knight in the churchyard of Ruabon, in

Wales, and in the incised slab at Ashington, Somersetshire, figured in

the Archæological Journal, vol. viii. p. 319.

For the hastilude, the spear-head was blunted, and "about the breadth

of a small knife;" as we learn from Matthew Paris, in his account of

the Round-Table Game held at the Abbey of Wallenden in 1252. Here,

one of the knights, Roger de Lemburn, aimed his weapon, the point of

which was not blunted as it ought to have been, in such a way that

it entered under the helm of his adversary, Arnold de Montigny, and

pierced his throat; for he was uncovered in that part, and without

a collar (_carens collario_). The Earl of Gloucester with the other

knights immediately sought to extract the fragment of the lance,

and when he had succeeded in withdrawing the wooden shaft of it,

the iron head remained behind: on this being at length extracted,

and examined by the surrounding knights, it was found to be very

sharp at the point, like a dagger; though it ought to have been

blunt, and about as broad as a small knife. Its shape was like that

of a ploughshare on a small scale, whence it was commonly called a

little plough (_vomerulus_), and in French, _soket_[363]. We have

here the description of two spear-heads very distinct in character:

one rebated for the Jousts of Peace, seemingly the prototype of

the coronel which afterwards replaced it; and the other a sharp

instrument, the form of which we may perhaps recognise among the

tilting weapons of the _Triumph of Maximilian_. See, for instance,

the group of knights armed for the "Course appelée Bund."

When, in battle, the charge had been made with the Lance, and that

weapon was no longer available in the _mêlée_, it was cast aside, and

the conquest carried on with the Sword:--

"Aprés le froisseis des Lances,

Qui ja sont par terre semées,

Giettent mains à blanches espées,

Desquels ils s'entr'envaissent,

Hyaumes e bacinets tentissent

E plusieurs autres ferreures.

Coutiaux trespercent armeures."--_Guiart._

[Illustration: SECOND GREAT SEAL OF KING HENRY III.

No. 81.]

The knightly SWORD of this day resembled in its essentials that of

the preceding century: indeed, it did not materially change during

the whole Gothic period. The blade was straight, broad, double-edged,

and pointed. The type is well shewn in the second seal of Henry III.

(woodcut, No. 81).

The cross-piece was usually curved towards the blade, as represented

in several of our engravings. Sometimes this curved guard threw out a

kind of cusp in the middle, as in the sculpture at Haseley, (woodcut

46,) and the effigy figured by Stothard, Plate XX. The cross-bar was at

other times straight, as in the seal of King John (woodcut, No. 52),

and in our other woodcuts numbered 53, 56, and 63. Compare the sword of

De Vere (Stothard, Pl. XXXVI.). A variety of the straight guard forms

also a cusp over the centre of the blade, as in the example given in

our engraving, No. 80. The knightly effigy in Walkerne Church (Hollis,

Pt. i.) has a sword-guard in the form of a chevron. Edward I., on his

great seal, (woodcut, No. 85,) offers us a further variety, in which

the outline somewhat resembles that of the Greek bow.

The pommel of the sword during this century takes many forms: the

round, the trefoil, the cinquefoil, the rosette, the lozenge, the

conical, the pear-shaped, the square, and the fleur-de-lis. The round

is either plain or ornamented on its sides: in the latter case the

ornament is usually a cross, or a shield of arms. The plain round

pommel is generally wheel-formed; that is, it has a projection

in the centre something like the nave of a wheel. See Journal of

Archæological Association, vol. i. p. 336. The sacred symbol of

the Cross is very frequently found on the circular pommel; as in

our woodcuts, No. 55 and 77. The shield of arms appears in our

engraving, No. 70. Compare the Fitz-Alan monument (Hollis, Pt. iv.).

The trefoil pommel is represented in our cuts, No. 56 and 74; the

cinquefoil, on our engraving, No. 64, and in Plate XX. of Stothard's

Monuments. The rose form occurs in our woodcut, No. 62; the lozenge

on the effigy of King John (Stothard, Pl. XI.); the conical, in our

print, No. 63; the pear-shaped, in Stothard's 37th Plate; the square,

on Plate XXXV. of the Painted Chamber; and the fleur-de-lis on the

seal of Edward I. (woodcut, No. 85).

The sword-handle is sometimes of a highly enriched character. That of

King John, on his monument in Worcester Cathedral, represents a weapon

in which both pommel and cross-bar were inlaid with precious stones.

Ornamental grips are seen in the monument of Crouchback (Stothard, Pl.

XLIII. fig. 4), and the brass of De Bures, 1302 (Waller, Pt. ii.).

The Sheath also occasionally exhibits enrichments. These are either

metal harnessings, of Gothic patterns, similar to the architectural

designs of the day, as in our woodcut, No. 70, and the effigy

of Brian, lord Fitz-Alan (Hollis, Pt. iv.); or the scabbard is

embellished from end to end with a series of shields of arms, as in

our engraving, No. 73, and the statue of De Montfort (Stothard, Pl.

XXXIX.). These escutcheons were probably tinctured by means of enamel.

The characteristic Sword-Belt of this century consisted of two

straps, a long and a short one. The long strap was looped to the

scabbard about two hands-breadths from the top, passed round the

waist, and fastened to the buckle in front, leaving a long end tipped

with a metal tag. The short strap held the buckle, and was split

into two thongs, one of which was laced into the top of the (leather)

scabbard; the other, passing obliquely across the sheath, being laced

into the loop of the long strap below. See our woodcuts, Nos. 55

and 73. A variety of this mode consisted in attaching the long and

short straps to the scabbard by ring-lockets of metal, in lieu of

the loop and lacings. This occurs late in the century. See woodcut,

No. 70, and the effigy of Brian Fitz-Alan (Hollis, Pt. iv.). The

common sword-belt of the soldiery was formed on the old plan: at one

end of a broad strap were two clefts, through which the two thongs

into which the other end was split were passed and tied into a knot.

See woodcut, No. 63. The figures there given represent the soldiers

of Herod engaged in the Massacre of the Innocents. The knightly

sword-belt is often highly enriched; being covered with elaborate

patterns, worked in the most brilliant colours, and harnessed with

bars and bosses of gilt metal, or perhaps of gold itself; the bosses,

towards the end of the period, taking not unfrequently the form

of lions' heads. The ornament of bars only, appears on a Temple

Church effigy, figured by Hollis, Pt. i.; of bars and rosettes, in

Stothard's 15th and 45th Plates; of a painted pattern, in Plate XXI.

of Stothard's work; of bosses in the form of lions' heads, in Part

iv. of Hollis. The sword-belt of Edmund Crouchback is enriched with

heraldic bearings. See Stothard, Pl. XLIII. detail 1.

Minute variations from the above types of Sword-belt may be found,

but do not seem to require a particular description. We must not omit

to remark, however, that, in some early monuments of this period, the

sword is represented as worn at the right side of the warrior. Three

effigies in the Temple Church, London, exhibit this arrangement.

At York, on Christmas-day, 1252, King Henry III. conferred knighthood

on the young king of Scotland; who, the day following, espoused the

Princess Margaret, daughter of Henry, amidst great rejoicings and a

splendid ceremonial. To obtain a detailed description of the Sword

used by the king of England on this occasion was scarcely within the

hope of the archæologist; but, singularly enough, such an account,

of curious minuteness, has come down to us. It is preserved in the

Tower, (Close Rolls, 36 H. III. m. 31,) and has been Printed in

Walpole's "Painting in England" (vol. i. chap. 1):--

"Mandatum est Edwardo de Westm. quod cum festinatione perquirat

quendam pulchrum gladium et scauberg. ejusdem de serico, et pomellum

de argento bene et ornate cooperiri, et quandam pulcram zonam eidem

pendi faciat, ita quod gladium illum sic factum habeat apud Ebor., de

quo Rex Alexandrum Regem Scotiæ illustrem cingulo militari decorare

possit in instanti festo Nativitatis Dominicæ. Teste Rege apud

Lychfeld xxi. die Novembr. Per ipsum Regem."

Besides the ordinary knightly sword of the thirteenth century, the

size of which is authenticated by many existing monuments, we have

the evidence of cotemporary writers that swords of differing sizes

were employed by different nations. The Germans affected a large

brand, the French a shorter weapon. Thus Guiart:--

"A grans espées d'Allemagne

Leur tranchent souvent les poins outre."

* * * * *

"Là Francois espées reportent

Courtes et roides, dont ils taillent."

And again, under 1301:--

"Epées viennent aux services

Et sont de diverses semblances,

Més Francois, qui d'accoutumance

Les ont courtes, assez legieres,

Gietent aux Flamans vers les chieres."

In the description of the Battle of Benevento, in 1266, Hugues de

Bauçoi, an eye-witness of the conflict, tells us that the troops

of Manfred, Germans and Saracens, fought with long swords, axes

and maces; but the French, coming to close quarters, pierced them

with their short swords: "ex brevibus spathis suis eorum latera

perfodiebant[364]." Guillaume de Nangis gives similar testimony[365].

How far these German weapons approached the great two-hand swords

of later times, or the French reverted to the short blade of the

Romans, it is vain to inquire. Commentators have seen in the above

descriptions both the types here named; but the evidence of pictorial

monuments does not confirm the conclusion. As large and small are but

comparative terms, it is probable that the swords of the French and

Germans differed in no great degree.

Other varieties of Sword which appear in the thirteenth century are

the Falchion, the curved Sabre, the Espée à l'estoc, the Cultellus,

and the Anelace.

The Falchion (_fauchon_, Fr., from the Latin _falx_) is of two kinds:

the first a broad blade, becoming wider towards the point, the edge

convex, the back concave; as in this example from the Painted Chamber:

[Illustration: No. 82.]

the other differing from it only in having the back quite straight.

The latter is figured on Plate XXXI. of the Painted Chamber; and of

this form is the curious tenure sword of the lordship of Sockburn,

co. Durham, engraved in the Archæologia, vol. xv. Plate XXVI. See,

in Blount's "Antient Tenures," an account of this weapon; of the

"monstrous Dragon, Worm, or flying Serpent, that devoured Men, Women,

and Children," which fell at last under its keen edge; and of the "tomb

of the great Ancestor of the Conyers, having carvings of the falchion,

and of a dog, and of the monstrous Worm or Serpent, lying at the

Knight's feet, of his own killing, of which the History of the Family

gives the above account." The passage is too long for extract[366].

The falchion is a weapon of very remote antiquity. It appears among

the paintings on the tomb at Thebes of Rameses III., B.C. 1230. See

Plate III. of Wilkinson's "Ancient Egyptians" (ed. 1837). And it is

found, almost identical in shape, in the wall-paintings of the Ajunta

Caves, of the first century of the Christian era; of which a careful

copy has been made for the Museum of the East India House. Guiart

often mentions it in the _Chronique Métrique_, as in this passage:--

"Là ou les presses sont plus drues

Est le chaple[367] aux espees nues,

Aux fauchons, aux coutiaus à pointes,

Si merveilleus que les plus cointes

N'ont ores soing de vanteries."

The curved Sabre is of very rare appearance. It occurs among the

pictures of the Painted Chamber, Plate XXXV.

The Epée à l'estoc (Stabbing Sword) is named in a judgment of the

Parliament of Paris in 1268: "Sufficienter inventum est quod dictus

Boso dictum Ademarum percussit cum Ense a estoc in dextro latero

propria manu, et de ipso ictu cecidit dictus Ademarus." It appears

also to be the weapon which Rigord assigns to some of the imperial

troops at the battle of Bovines: "Habebant cultellos longos,

graciles, triacumines, quolibet acumine indifferenter secantes, a

cuspide usque ad manubrium, quibus utebantur pro gladiis."

The Cultellus, as we have seen[368], was a weapon partaking of the

character of the sword and the dagger. It clearly varied in size; for

Odo de Rossilion, in 1298, names in his will "meum magnum cultellum

et meam parvam ensem." Being the chief arm of the coustillers, it

must have been of some considerable size: and of this larger kind

must also have been the weapon assigned, in the "Outillement du

villain," to the peasant, for the defence of his home:--

"Si le convient armer

Por la terre garder,

Coterel e hauvet,

Macue e guibet,

Arc e lance enfumée," &c.

In other places, it appears as a mere secondary arm, a knife or

dagger; as in the Statutes of Arms already cited, where the various

classes of proprietors are directed to have "espe, cutel e cheval,"

or "espe e cutel," or "espes, arcs, setes e cutel."

The particular construction of the Anelace, as well as the derivation

of its name, has hitherto eluded the most careful examination of

antiquaries and glossarists. Some have referred the name to the

Latin or Italian, _annulus_, or _annello_. Others to the Old-German,

_Laz_, from _latus_; the weapon being therefore a "side-arm." Matthew

Paris often uses the word, and tells us that the arm was worn at the

girdle: "Loricâ erat indutus, gestans anelacium ad lumbare." Without

hoping to settle this question, we may venture to point out that a

weapon of the dagger kind, carried at the belt, and having a chain

with _a ring running loosely upon the grip_, to prevent its being

lost in the _mêlée_, was certainly in use during the middle-ages; an

example of which may be seen in the effigy of William Wenemaer, at

Ghent, dated 1325; engraved in the Archæological Journal, vol. vii.

p. 287. We may note also that the wheel-like form of the _guard_ may

have supplied the name; for Florio, in the sixteenth century, defines

"Annelle" to be "thin plates of iron made like rings, called of our

gunners washers," &c. Guiart also mentions the anelace: under the

year 1298, he has:--

"Aucuns d'entr'eus testes desnuent

De hyaumes e de cervelieres,

E plantent alenaz es chieres

En pluseurs lieus jusques es manches."

In the manufacture of Swords at this period, Cologne seems to

have had the palm. The volume of Proverbs already noticed gives

the highest place to the "Espees de Cologne." And Matthew Paris,

under 1241[369], relating how certain wicked German Jews, wishing

to assist the Tartars, sent them certain barrels, (filled, as they

told the Christians, with poisoned wine,) adds that, on the toll-man

suspiciously scrutinizing the contents, "all the casks were found to

be filled with Cologne swords and daggers, without hilts, closely

and compactly stowed away. The Jews were, therefore, at once handed

over to the executioners, to be either consigned to perpetual

imprisonment, or to be slain with their own swords."

The Exercise of the Sword and Buckler (_Eskirmye de Bokyler_) was in

vogue in this century, and schools were established for teaching it.

But disorders arising from the practice, the schools were ordered

to be closed. Thus the "Statuta Civitatis London" of the 13 Edw. I.

has: "Primerement pur ceo qe multz des mals com des murdres robberyes

e homycides ont este fetz ca en arrere deinz la Citee de nuyt e de

jour, e gentz batues e mal tretes e autres diverses aventures de mal

avenuz encontre sa pes (du roi), defendu est qe nul seit si hardi

estre trove alaunt ne batraunt parmy les ruwes de la Citee apres

coeverfu parsone a seint Martyn le grant, a espey ne a bokuyler ne a

autre arme pur mal fere ne dount mal suspecion poet vienir, &c....

"Ensement pur ceo qe fous qe sei delitent a mal fere vount aprendre

eskirmye de bokyler e de ceo plus sei abaudissent de fere lour

folyes, purveu est e defendu qe nul ne tiegne eskole ne aprise de

eskirmye de bokyler de deinz la Citee de nuyt ne de jour, e si nul le

faceo, eit la prison de xl. jours."

Representations of the Sword-and-buckler contest occur in Roy. MSS.

14, E. iii. and 20, D. vi., both engraved in Strutt's Sports. See

also Hefner, Pt. ii. Plate VII. All these, however, are miniatures of

the fourteenth century; though 14, E. iii. is early in the period.

From these examples we learn that the buckler was about a foot and

a half in diameter, had a boss in the centre, and was held at arm's

length by a bar crossing the hollow of the umbo, exactly in the

manner of the Anglo-Saxon shields described and figured in a former

page. (See woodcut, No. 20.)

[Illustration: No. 83.]

Occasionally the figure of a Sword was carved on the tomb of the

knight, to indicate his calling, as in this incised slab from Brougham

Church, Westmoreland, commemorating one of the Brougham family. The

example is further curious from its including also the round shield

of the period; differing, as we see, from the buckler named above,

in having no boss. The sword is usually, on tombs of this kind,

accompanied by a Cross: sometimes it forms itself the cross on the

monument, as in the Gorforth memorial, engraved on page 84 of Mr.

Boutell's work on Incised Slabs. At Aycliffe, Durham, is a tomb on

which appears a cross, having on one side a sword, on the other a

hammer and pincers. This group of emblems has been thought to indicate

a weapon-smith. The monument is figured in the Archæological Journal,

vol. v. p. 257. Not the sword only, but the spear, the axe, the dagger,

and other weapons, are found on the incised slabs of the thirteenth and

fourteenth centuries; many examples of which may be seen in the works

on these memorials by the Rev. Mr. Cutts and the Rev. Mr. Boutell.

The Dagger by no means filled that prominent place in the knightly

equipment during this century which it is found to occupy in the

fourteenth; though, towards the close of the period, it is seen to

be coming into vogue. It is worn by the knights represented in our

engravings, Nos. 58 and 72; and the Ash Church effigy (woodcut,

No. 59) shews us the lace by which the dagger, now destroyed, was

fastened to the waist-belt. The figure of De Montford (Stothard,

Pl. XXXIX.) has the dagger. It appears also in the Shurland

monument (Stothard, Pl. XLI.), worn by the knight's attendant; and

in this example the guard of it is formed of two knobs, a fashion

occasionally found up to the sixteenth century. In Durham Cathedral

is preserved a real dagger, which is believed to have belonged to

one of the retainers of Bishop Anthony in 1283. It is entirely of

iron, and the blade, which is sixteen inches in length, is inscribed

"ANTON: EPS: DUNOLM.[370]"

Under the name of _Misericordia_, the dagger has an early mention

in the Charter of Arras, in 1221: "Quicumque cultellum cum cuspide,

vel curtam sphatulam, vel misericordiam, vel aliqua arma multritoria

portaverit," &c. Under 1302, Guiart speaks of it by the same name:--

"Plusieurs piétons François ala,

Qui pour prisonniers n'ont pas cordes,

Mais coutiaux et misericordes,

Dont on doit servir en tiex festes."

And under 1303:--

"Fauchons trenchans, espées cleres,

Godendas, lances émoulues,

Coutiaux, misericordes nues."

This name of misericorde appears to have been given because, in the

last struggle of contending foes, the uplifted dagger compelled the

discomfited fighter to cry for mercy. In this view, the murderous

misericorde was by the middle-age poets assigned to "Pity," as an

emblem of her benevolence. Thus Jean de Méun in the Romance of the

Rose:--

"Pitiez, qui à tous bien s'accorde,

Tenoit une Misericorde

Decourant de plors e de lermes."

The Short Axe is very rarely given to the knightly combatant by the

artists of the thirteenth century. It appears to have been resigned to

the less dignified order of soldiery. The form of the head exhibits

three principal varieties: the single blade, of which we have a good

example in Harl. MS. 4,751, fol. 8 (woodcut, No. 50); the double

weapon, in which one side has a vertical axe-blade and the other a

pick (see Strutt's Dress and Habits, Pl. LXV.); and the double weapon,

in which one side has a horizontal blade and the other a pick (see

Stothard's Monuments, Pl. XIX.). Guiart, under 1264, mentions the axe

mingling in the strife of battle with the mace and the sword:--

"Le chaple commence aus espees,

Dont là a de maintes manieres.

Sus hyaumes e sus cervelieres

Prennent plommees à descendre,

E hachetes, pour tout porfendre."

And when, in the same year 1264, the Earl of Leicester assembled his

army on Barham Downs, in addition to the ordinary military levy,

every township was required to send eight, six, or four footmen well

armed with spears, bows and arrows, swords, cross-bows, and hatchets.

(New Rymer, 444.)

From the collection of thirteenth-century Proverbs, which has already

supplied us with several curious particulars of this early time, we

learn that the "Haches de Dannemark" held the first place among the

axes of the period: but whether this distinction is accorded for

the form or the manufacture of the weapon, is not clear. Matthew

Paris speaks of it under 1256: "Cum jaculis----Danisque securibus et

gesis[371]----hostiliter insequuntur."

The "Danish Axe" is mentioned in several military tenures of this

century; but a more remote antiquity is usually assigned to the

origin of the grant itself. The weapon (more or less original) was

always exhibited with great pride in the family mansion. Dugdale

tells us that Plumpton in Warwickshire "was possest in _Henry_ 3.

time by one _Walter de Plompton_, who held these lands by a certain

weapon called a _Danish Axe_: which, being the very Charter whereby

the said land was given unto one of his Ancestors, hung up for a

long time in the Hall of the capitall messuage belonging thereto,

in testimony of the said tenure; untill that the said House was

seized upon by Sir _John Bracebrigge_, Knight, Lord of KINGSBURIE in

_Edward_ 3. time, and pulled to the ground: After which it remained

a great while in the Hall of the mansion belonging to _William de

Plompton_, in HARDRESHULL (about two miles distant), being commonly

reputed and called _the Charter of_ PLOMTON[372]."

And in the 12th Edw. I.: "Robertus Hurding tenet unam acram terrae et

unum furnum in villa Castri de Lanceveton (Launceston, co. Cornwall)

nomine serjantiae essendi in Castro de Lanceveton cum uno Capello

ferreo et una Hachet Denesh per XL. dies tempore guerrae ad custum

suum proprium, et post XL. dies, si Dominus Castri velit ipsum tenere

in eodem Castro, erit ad custus ipsius domini[373]."

The Mace is both named and pictured in evidences of this century.

Matthew Paris, describing the disasters of a tournament near Hertford

in 1241, adds: "Many other knights and men-at-arms were also wounded

and seriously injured with maces (_clavis_) at this same tournament,

because the jealousy of many of those concerned had converted the

sport into a battle[374]." This and similar mishaps led to the mace,

with other weapons, being interdicted at these pastimes; for in a

"Statutum Armorum ad Torniamenta" of this century, it is ordered by

the king "qe nul Chivaler ne Esquier qe sert al Turney ne porte espeie

a point, ne cotel a point, ne bastoun, ne mace, fors espee large pur

turneer[375]." Pictured examples of the mace occur in Roy. MS. 20,

D. i., ff. 12 and 69; and on Plate XXXIII. of the Painted Chamber.

The striking part is formed in the manner of a cogged wheel: the top

sometimes terminates in a knob; sometimes it is prolonged into a pike.

The Bâton named in the above Statute was probably no more than a

stout cudgel. The form of the tournament bâton of a later time is

given in full detail in the "Tournois du roi René."

The long-handled weapons of the infantry named in this century are

the Guisarme, the Godendac, the Croc, the Faus, the Faussar, and the

Pilete.

The Guisarme, or Pole-axe, has already been described, (ante, p. 50).

It is named by Matthew Paris: "Gestabant autem gladios, bipennes,

_gaesa_, sicas et anelacios." It occurs also in the Statute of

Winchester: "E que ad meyns des chateus de XL. soudes, seyt juree

as faus, gysarmes, coteaux e autres menus armes." The Pole-axe with

a single vertical blade is seen in a miniature of the thirteenth

century, inserted into the Gospels of Mac Durnan in the Lambeth

Library (figured in Westwood's Palæographia); and it appears again in

the Lives of the Offas, Cott. MS., Nero, D. i.

The Godendac was the name given by the Flemings to the Halbard.

Guiart, describing the battle of Courtrai, in 1302, has this very

curious passage:--

"A grans batons pesans ferrés

Avec leur fer agu devant

Vont ceux de France recevant

Tiex baton qu'il portent en guerre

Ont nom Godendac en la terre.

_Goden-dac_, c'est _Bon jour_ à dire,

Qui en Francois le veut décrire.

Cil baton sont long e traitis,

Pour férir a deux mains faitis."

Should the axe-stroke fail, then the skilful halbardier repairs his

mishap with a prompt thrust of the piked head:--

"Et quand l'on en faut au descendre,

Si cil qui fiert y veut entendre,

Et il en scache bien ouvrer,

Tantot peut son cop recovrer,

Et férir sans s'aller moquant,

Du bout devant en estoquant

Son ennemi."

The halbard, consisting of an axe-blade balanced by a pick, and

having a pike-head at the end of the staff, is figured on Plate XXXI.

of the Painted Chamber.

The Faus (_falso_: from _falx_) appears to have been a kind of spear

with a broad, cut-and-thrust blade. It is made synonymous with the

spear in this passage of the Synodus Nemausensis, in 1284: (de

Clericis) "Enses non deferant, nec cultellos acutos, nec lanceas _seu

falsones_," &c. But in the Statuta Eccles. Cadurcensis, in 1289, it is

distinguished from the spear: "balistas et arcus, lanceas, falsones,

costalarios seu alia arma non deferant." In the Statute of Winchester,

as we have seen, (ante, p. 211,) it was placed at the head of the

humbler class of weapons prescribed to the militia of small means.

The Faussar, a kindred word, was probably a kindred weapon. Like the

falso, it most likely presented some variety in the exemplars turned

out from the village weaponers' smithies. One kind was three-edged,

and had a second name, the Trialemellum. At Bovines, "Ante oculos

ipsius regis occiditur Stephanus de Longo Campo, in capite percussus

longo, gracili Trialemello[376], quem Falsarium nominant[377]." The

faussar appears to have been sometimes used as a missile: thus, in

the Chron. de Duguesclin (of the fourteenth century) we are told that

the combatants

"Gettent dars et faussars, moult en vont ociant."

The Croc was probably the Bill. It is named by Guiart among the

weapons of the Ribauds in 1214:--

"Li uns une pilete porte,

L'autre croc ou macue torte."

The fashion of the Bill of this time, a broad, cutting blade, forming

a beak near the top and terminating in a pike, may be seen in Plate

XXXI. of the Painted Chamber.

The Pilete (dimin. of _Pilum_) named in the above passage of Guiart,

was a pike, the exact form of which, like that of so many of the

weapons of this period, has not been ascertained. The "macue torte"

is a knotted club.

The missile weapons of this day were the javelin, the long-bow, the

cross-bow, the cord-sling and the staff-sling.

The Javelin is mentioned by Matthew Paris: "cum jaculis Danisque

securibus et gesis[378]."

The Long-bow has already been noticed in our examination of the troops

of this century. Its form is seen in our woodcuts, Nos. 47, 48, 49 and

50. The fashion of the Quiver appears in the engraving from Roy. MS.

20, D. i. (No. 47). The feathering of the arrows is shewn in the same

print; the shaft and head in woodcut, No. 82, from the Painted Chamber.

Besides the ordinary arrows, shafts armed with phials of quick-lime

were occasionally discharged from the long-bow. Strutt, in his

_Horda_[379], has furnished an example of this missile, from a MS. of

Matthew Paris in Benet College, Cambridge (copied in our woodcut, No.

51); and in the Additamenta to the printed History of Matthew Paris,

page 1091, is given the letter of Sir Guy, a knight of the household of

the Viscount of Melun, in which, recounting the capture of Damietta,

he says: "We discharged fiery darts (_spicula ignita_) and stones from

our sea mangonels, and we threw small bottles full of lime (_phialas

plenas calce_), made to be shot from a bow, or small sticks like arrows

against the enemy. Our darts, therefore, pierced the bodies of their

pirates, while the stones crushed them, and the lime, flying out of the

broken bottles, blinded them."

The Cross-bow, as we have seen, (ante, p. 201,) was in general use

throughout this century. It is figured in our woodcuts, Nos. 49 and

50. In both these examples there is a provision for holding down the

bow with the foot, while the cord was drawn up to the notch. The

bow might thus be bent by the hand: but there appears also to have

been, at this early date, some apparatus similar to the moulinet

of later days, by which a stouter bow might be easily bent by

mechanical appliance. Such a bow was called an "arbaleste à tour,"

and the instrument by which it was wound up was named "la clef." No

delineation of this little engine has yet been noticed among the

monuments of the time. Guiart has:--

"Messire Alphonse un jour ataignent,

Qui armez iert[380] de son atour,

D'un quarrel d'arbaleste a tour."

And again:--

"En haste vont les clefs serrant des arbalestes."

2^e. Partie, vers 8,625.

Several further varieties of the Cross-bow are named about this

time:--Balistæ corneæ; ad stapham[381]; ad viceas[382]; de torno vel

de lena[383]; ad unum pedem; ligneæ ad duos pedes; de cornu ad duos

pedes; a pectoribus; a pesarola[384]; and among the rest, a _Double

Cross-bow_, discharging two quarrels: "Balista sine nuce, quæ duos

projicit quarrellos." See Ducange and Adelung, v. _Balista_.

The Quarrel (_carreau_), as its name indicates, was an arrow with a

four-sided or pyramidal head. This distinctive form of the arbalest

shaft is carefully kept in view in the illumination from Add. MS.

15,268 (our No. 49); where, while the archer plies his barbed arrow,

the cross-bowman discharges his angular quarrel. The feathering

of the quarrel is seen very clearly in woodcut, No. 50; where the

markings shew that _feathers_ are really intended, and not slices

of wood, leather, or metal. These last-named materials being found

in later monuments, it seems not unlikely that they may have been

used thus early; and we have the distinct evidence of cotemporary

writers that the _larger_ quarrels discharged from the engines called

espringales were "empennés d'airain[385]."

The Slings of this period have already been noticed (page 204): the

cord-sling is figured in our woodcut, No. 50, the staff-sling in No. 51.

The Military Flail appears in the following woodcut from Strutt's

_Horda_ vol. i., Plate XXXII. The original miniature is in the MS.

of Matthew Paris, at Benet College, Cambridge, which has already

furnished us with examples of the Staff-sling and other weapons of

this time. The flail-man in our engraving is engaged in the assault

of a castle: other assailants in the same vessel are armed with bows

and slings. Adelung cites the following passage, in which the flail

is mentioned under the name of _flaellum_: "Cum ducentis hominibus in

armis, electis et gleatis, et cum flaellis[386]."

[Illustration: No. 84.]

The Greek Fire, still rejected among the nations of Western Europe,

for the reasons assigned in a former page, was in frequent use among

the Saracens. In 1250, the Christians, advancing towards Damietta

by water, were intercepted by their enemies. "The Saracens in their

vessels met the Christians sailing down the river, where a most fatal

naval conflict ensued, the missiles of the combatants flying like

hail. At length, after an obstinate battle, rendered more dreadful by

the Greek fire hurled on them by the Saracens, the Christians, being

worn out by grief and hunger, suffered a defeat[387]." The letter

"to his respected lord, Richard, earl of Cornwall," from "John, his

Chancellor," gives a similar account of this terrible fight; from

which one only of the Christians escaped, "Alexander Giffard, an

Englishman of noble blood." "The Saracens, by throwing Greek fire on

the Christians, burnt many of their boats and killed the people in

them, thus obtaining the victory. The Christians were drowned, slain,

and burnt[388]." The authors of the treatise, _Du feu grégeois_,

Captain Favé and M. Reinaud, remark that during the fifty-seven years

of the reign of French princes at Constantinople (taken in 1204), the

secret of the Greek fire could not have remained concealed from men

who had made some advances in the science of chymistry. "Mais alors

les préjugés de l'ignorance se joignaient aux idées religieuses et

aux sentimens chevaleresques, pour repousser l'emploi d'un art qui

semblait rendre inutiles la force et le courage individuels[389]."

In the East, however, the employment of incendiary weapons was

constant, and the variety of them very great. An Arabic treatise of

this century, published in the work named above by MM. Reinaud and

Favé, gives us the most curious information relating to them, and the

interest of the manuscript is heightened by its containing drawings

(somewhat rude, it is true) of the principal instruments and engines

described. From this "Treatise on the Art of Fighting," by Hassan

Alrammah, we learn that the Arabs of the thirteenth century employed

their incendiary compositions in four different ways: they cast them

by hand; they fixed them to staves, with which they attacked their

enemies; they poured forth the fire through tubes; and they projected

burning mixtures of various kinds by means of arrows, javelins,

and the missiles of the great engines resembling the trebuchets

and mangonæ of their Western neighbours. Among these fire-weapons

we have--"Balles de verre; Pots à feu; La Maison de feu; Massue de

guerre; Massue pour asperger; Lance de guerre; Lance à fleurs; Lance

avec massue; La lance avec la flèche du Khatay; Flèches en roseau;

Flèches du mangonneau; Flèches de la Chine; Marmite de l'Irac;

Marmite de Mokharram; Vase de Helyledjeh; Cruche de Syrie (the last

four for the mangonel); L'œuf qui se meut et qui brûle (Captain Favé

takes this to be a projectile on the principle of our rockets); Dard

du Khatay; Des Coupes; Des Volants; Des Lunes," &c.

The vessels of glass and pottery, discharged by hand or by machines,

were so contrived that on striking the object at which they

were aimed, their contents spread around, and the fire, already

communicated by a fusee, enveloped everything within its reach. A

soldier on whose head was broken a fire-mace, became suddenly soaked

with a diabolical fluid, which covered him from head to foot with

flame; and a flame of so terrible a nature that it was believed to

be absolutely inextinguishable. The receipt for making the Massue

de Guerre is given with great particularity: "Tu feras faire par le

verrier une massue, &c. Ensuite tu feras les mélanges usités, &c.

Tu mettras le feu à la massue et tu la briseras pour le service de

Dieu[390]." One of the lances is furnished with a firework "so that

the spear shall burn the enemy, after having wounded him with its

point." Another lance "brulera bien et s' étendra à plus de mille

coudées." It will be remembered that the Arabic superlative is

commonly expressed by "a thousand." What we learn, therefore, is that

this fire-missile was contrived to wound at a distance. In applying

the Massue à asperger, you are to break it against the person of

your antagonist, "but keep out of the current of the wind, lest the

sparks return upon and burn you." The machines for casting forth the

fire-pots and vases of larger dimension bear so close a resemblance

to the trebuchets and mangonas in use by the Christian nations, that

Captain Favé is inclined to think that the latter warriors copied

their engines from those of the Arabs during the Crusades (p. 49).

On the second plate of the treatise are given examples of two of

the Arabian mangonels. One is formed of a sling and weighted lever,

like the instruments represented in Roy. MS. 16, G. vi., engraved in

Shaw's "Dresses and Decorations," and on the ivory casket figured in

the fourth volume of the Journal of the Archæological Association.

The other differs only in having, in lieu of a weight, a number of

cords hanging from the end of the lever; from which it would appear

that the lever was in this case moved by men acting together by means

of the cords. Captain Favé remarks that the expressions, La flèche

de la Chine, La fleur de la Chine, in shewing us that the Chinese

practised the fabrication of incendiary agents and contributed these

names to the Arabs at so early a period, may permit us to suppose

that this mode of warfare received its chief development from them,

and even that to them may be ascribed its invention (p. 44).

The various STANDARDS and FLAGS found in the last period are continued

throughout the present. But the advancement of the science of heraldry

gave to the devices of this age a permanence which has in many cases

subsisted to the present day. The Dragon Standard was still in use in

England. At the battle of Lewes, in 1264, between the king and his

barons, "the king, being informed of the approach of his enemies,

soon set himself in motion with his army, and went forward to meet

them with unfurled banners, preceded by the royal ensign, which was

called the Dragon[391]." In the same battle, on the barons' side, we

find the ancient Carrocium. When the revolted nobles, with De Montford

at their head, "had reached a place scarcely two miles distant from

the town of Lewes, Simon with his friends _ascended an eminence_ and

placed his Car thereon, in the midst of the baggage and sumpter horses.

There he displayed his Standard, fastening it securely to the car, and

surrounded it with a great number of his soldiers[392]." The Milanese

still held their Carrocio in the utmost veneration. When the Emperor

Frederic, in 1236, crossed the Alps to attack them, "the citizens

sallied forth from the city in great strength, to the number of about

fifty thousand armed men, and proceeded with their Standard, which they

call Carruca, or Carrochium, to meet the emperor, sending word that

they were ready to fight him[393]." In 1237 the Milanese again placed

their defiant Carrocium in front of the imperial host. They went forth

with an army of about sixty thousand men, and fixed their Carrocium

where their ranks seemed to be strongest. At sight of this, the emperor

summoned his counsellors, and, animating them by warlike words, said:

"Behold how these insolent Milanese, our enemies, dare to appear

against us, and presume to provoke me, their lord, to battle; enemies

as they are to the truth and to Holy Church, and borne down by the

weight of their sins. Cross the river, unfurl my Banner, my victorious

Eagle! and you, my knights, draw your formidable swords, which you

have so often steeped in the blood of your enemies, and inflict your

vengeance on these mice, which have dared to creep out of their holes,

to cope with the glittering spears of the Roman Emperor[394]." From

the letter of the emperor himself, addressed to "Richard, earl of

Cornwall, his beloved brother-in-law," we learn that the Standard-Car

was drawn by horses: "quod apud Crucem-Novam (_Nuova Croce_) in equorum

celeritate præmiserant." And further on he writes: "We now directed

our attention to the attack and capture of this standard, and we saw

that some of our troops, having forced their way over the top of the

trenches, had penetrated almost to the mast of the Carrocium. Night,

however, coming on, we desisted from the attack till the following

morning; lying down to rest with our swords drawn, and without taking

off our iron hauberks. When day broke, however, we found the Carrocium

deserted, left amidst a crowd of vile wagons, entirely undefended and

abandoned, and from the top of the staff where the Cross had been, the

Cross was now severed: but, being found too heavy for the fugitives to

carry off in safety, they had left it half-way[395]."

The Car with its Dragon and Eagle, forming the standard of the

Emperor Otho at Bovines, has already been noticed, (page 164). The

Oriflamme of the French monarchs maintains its illustrious position.

Captured by the Mahometans, with Saint Louis and his equipage, it

still miraculously subsists; and when destroyed by the Flemings at

the battle of Mons-en-Puelle, it is discovered that the banner which

has been torn to pieces is, after all, only a counterfeit oriflamme,

the real one being still intact under the guardianship of the Abbot

of St. Denis. Thus Guillaume Guiart:--

"Aussi li Sire de Chevreuse

Porta l'Oriflamme vermeille,

Par droite semblance _pareille_

_A cele_ s'élevoit esgarde

Que l'Abbé de Saint Denis garde.

* * * * *

Et l'Oriflamme _contrefaite_

Chaï à terre, et la saisirent

Flamans, qui après s'enfuirent."

_Chron. Mét._, ann. 1304.

The "Royal Standard" of the French monarchs is described as of blue,

adorned with fleurs-de-lis of gold. That of Philip Augustus at

Bovines is thus noticed by Guiart:--

"Galon de Montigni porta,

Ou la Chronique faux m'enseigne,

De fin azur luisant Enseigne

A fleurs de lys d'or aornée,

Près du roi fut cette journée

A l'endroit du riche Estendart."

An ordinance of Philip IV. in 1306, quoted by Père Daniel (Mil. Fran.

j. 520), under the heading, "L'ordonnance du Roy quant il va en

Armez," directs: That the chief Ecuyer Tranchant shall have charge of

the Royal Standard: that the chief Chamberlain shall carry the Banner

of the king: and that the chief Varlet Tranchant shall follow close

behind the king, bearing his Pennon; and his duty is to accompany the

king wherever he may go, in order that all may know where the monarch

is stationed.

The knightly Banner of this time may be seen in Roy. MS. 20, D. i.;

in the Lives of the Offas (Cott. MS., Nero, D. i.); and in many

of the plates of the Painted Chamber. In all these examples it is

quadrangular, but _not square_: its height is double its breadth. The

effigy at Minster, Isle of Sheppey, (Stothard, Pl. XLI.) gives us in

sculpture a large specimen of the banner, and shews very distinctly

how it was fastened to the staff by tasselled cords.

The office of Bannerer of the City of London was filled in the

thirteenth century by the family of Fitz Walter, who held the

castlery of Baynard's Castle in fee for the performance of this duty.

The services and privileges attached to the office are laid down in

a curious document printed in Blount's "Antient Tenures," from a MS.

preserved by Dugdale. They are recorded under two heads: the rights

in time of war, and the rights in time of peace. We give the first in

full: a mere note will suffice for the other, which are privileges

rather of a civil than a military character:--

"These are the rights which Robert Fitz Wauter, Castellan of London,

Lord of Wodeham, has in the city of London: That is to say, the said

Robert and his heirs ought to be, and are, Chief Bannerers of London,

by fee, for the said Castlery, that _his ancestors_ and he have of

Castle Baynard in the said City. In time of War the said Robert

and his heirs are to serve the city in manner following. The said

Robert is to come on his barded horse (_sus son Destrier covert_),

he the twentieth man-at-arms, all with horses housed with cloth or

iron (_coverts de teyle ou de fer_), as far as the great gate of the

minster of St. Paul, with the Banner _of his arms_ displayed before

him. And when he is come to the great gate of the aforesaid minster,

mounted and equipped as aforesaid, then ought the Mayor of London,

with his Sheriffs and Aldermen (_ove touz ses Viscountz et ses

Audermans_), armed in their arms, to come out of the minster of St.

Paul as far as the said gate, with his Banner in his hand; all being

on foot. And the Banner shall be red, having an image of St. Paul in

gold, the feet, hands and head of silver, with a silver Sword in the

hand of the said image. And as soon as the said Robert shall see the

Mayor and his Sheriffs and his Aldermen come on foot out of the said

minster, bearing this Banner, then the said Robert, or his Heirs, who

owe this service to the said City, shall dismount from his horse,

and shall salute the Mayor as his companion and peer, and shall say

to him: 'Sir Mayor, I am come hither to fulfil the service which I

owe to the city.' Then the Mayor, Sheriffs, and Aldermen shall say:

'We deliver to you, as the Bannerer by fee of this City, this Banner,

to bear and govern to the honour and profit of our City, to the best

of your power.' Then the said Robert or his Heirs shall receive the

Banner. Then the Mayor of the said City and his Sheriffs shall follow

him to the gate, and shall deliver to the said Robert a horse of the

value of twenty pounds[396]. And the horse shall have a saddle of

the arms of the said Robert[397], and shall have a housing of Cendal

silk of the same arms; and they shall take twenty pounds sterling,

and shall deliver them to the Chamberlain of the said Robert, for his

expenses this day. And the said Robert shall mount the horse which

the said Mayor has given to him, holding the Banner in his hand.

And as soon as he is mounted, he shall require the Mayor to cause

to be elected a Marshal out of the troops of the City. And as soon

as the Marshal is elected, the said Robert shall direct the Mayor

and Citizens to have the Tocsin of the said city rung (_que facent

soner le Sein communal de la dicte Citee_); and all the commonalty

shall go with the Banner of St. Paul, which the said Robert shall

carry, as far as Aldgate. Beyond that, the Banner shall be borne by

one approved of the said Robert and the Mayor. If so be (_si issint

soit_) they have to go forth out of the city, then ought the said

Robert to elect two of the most discreet persons from each ward of

the city, to provide for the safe keeping of the city during their

absence. And this council shall be held at the Priory of the Trinity

by Aldgate. And for every town or castle that the host of London

shall besiege, the said Robert shall receive from the commonalty of

London a hundred shillings for his pains, and no more, though the

siege should last for a year. These are the rights that the said

Robert shall have in London in time of War."

The rights of the Chief Bannerer in time of peace were the possession

of one of those jurisdictions called a Soke, the power of imprisoning

and punishing certain offenders within his district, the privilege of

taking part in every "Great Council" held by the Mayor, and some others

of a similar kind. And if the culprit within his jurisdiction has

deserved death for treason, "then shall he be tied to the post which

is in the Thames at the Wood Wharf, where boats are fastened, there to

remain for two floods and two ebbs of the tide. And if he be condemned

_pur commun larcin_, then is he to be taken to the Elms[398], and there

undergo his punishment like other common thieves."

Not less in honour than was the gold-and-silver Banner of Saint Paul

in the south, was the Banner of Saint John of Beverley in the north

of England. It accompanied the heroic Edward the First in his wars in

Scotland; and, besides the military bannerer, appears to have had a

clerical custodian: as we learn from this curious document preserved

in the Tower:--

"Rex dilecto et fideli suo, Johanni de Warenna, Comiti Surr',

custodi suo regni et terræ Scotiæ, salutem.

"Cum nos, ob reverentiam Sancti Johannis de Beverlaco, gloriosi

confessoris Christi, concesserimus dilecto clerico nostro

Gileberto de Grymesby, qui Vexillum ejusdem Sancti ad nos

usque partes Scotiæ, detulit, et ibidem de præcepto nostro

cum Vexillo illo, durante guerra nostra Scotiæ, moram fecit,

quandam ecclesiam, viginti marcarum vel librarum valorem annuum

attingentem, ad nostram donationem spectantem, et in regno Scotiæ

proximo vacaturam.

"Vobis mandamus quod præfato Gileberto, de hujusmodi ecclesia,

in prædicto regno Scotiæ, provideri faciatis, quamprimum ad id

optulerit se facultas.

"Teste Rege, apud Kyrkham xiij. die Octobris." (1296[399].)

The triangular Pennon occurs in many of the groups of the Painted

Chamber. It is not always heraldically charged; but this may have

arisen from the partial decay of the colours.

The Lance-flag, of one, of two, or of three points, may be seen in

our woodcuts, Nos. 55, 62 and 80.

The Horns and Trumpets used in battle are not frequently represented

in the pictures of the time; but good examples occur in Roy. MS.

20, D. i., and on Plate XXXVI. of the Painted Chamber. The trumpets

are of two kinds, straight and slightly curved; and are figured as

of four or five feet long. The straight trumpet appears on folio

222^{vo}. of Roy. MS. 20, D. i.; and is borne as a heraldic charge

on the shield of Sir Roger de Trumpington (woodcut, No. 73). The

long, curved trumpet occurs on folio 21^{vo}. of Roy. MS. 20, D. i.

Both kinds are pictured in Plate XXXVI. of the Painted Chamber. The

smaller semicircular Horn is drawn on folio 70 of 20, D. i.

[Illustration: GREAT SEAL OF KING EDWARD THE FIRST.

No. 85.]

From the collection of medieval "Proverbes" already cited, we learn

that Spain was still the favourite mart for the knightly CHARGER.

Denmark and Brittany had also a celebrity for their breeds of horses

of a different character. The fiat of popular approval is given to the

"Dextriers de Castille.

Palefrois Danois.

Roussins de Bretagne."

Such was the noble nature of the high-bred dextrarius that, when

two knights had been dismounted and were continuing the fight on

foot, their horses, left to themselves, instantly commenced a

conflict of their own of the most gallant and desperate character.

A representation of a double battle of this kind is given on folio

42 of Roy. MS. 12, F. xiii., a treatise _"De natura Pecudum,

Volucrum," &c._ The form of the Saddle of this time, with its high

pommel and cantle, may be seen in the Royal seals engraved on Plates

52, 79, 81 and 85; and again in the figure numbered 58. It was

sometimes heraldically decorated. In the purchases for the Windsor

Tournament[400], in 1278, we have:--

"D Feli͂s Le Seler. viij. sell' de ar̄m Angɫ. p'͂c. LXiiij. ɫi.

P'i͂s.

"D Eodem. iiij. selle brond' de filo auri et argen͂t trac͂t

videlicet una de ar̄m Rob'ti Tibetot una de ar̄m Jo͂his de Neele.

j. de ar̄m Imb'ti Guidonis et una de ar̄m Comitis Cornub' p'͂c

xx/iiij. viij. ɫi.

"D Eodem. j. sella brond' eodem modo de ar̄m Jo͂his de Grely. ͂c

scalo͂p argent' p'͂c. xxxviij. ɫi." &c.

On the seal of Alexander II. of Scotland, 1214--49, the king's saddle

is ensigned with a lion rampant (Cotton Charter, xix. 2). And the

seal of Robert Fitz-Walter, 1299, presents an analogous example

(Plate XVII. of vol. v. of the _Archæologia_). The Stirrup of the

period is shewn by numerous examples to have been triangular. See

woodcuts, No. 47, 48 and 56. The Peytrel or breastplate was sometimes

of plain fashion, as in the first seal of Henry III. (woodcut, No.

79): sometimes it had the pendent ornaments of the preceding period,

as in the example on Plate XXXVII. of the Painted Chamber, where the

pattern is a string of golden trefoils. From the Windsor Roll quoted

above we find that the poitrail was of leather, and that this leather

was occasionally gilt:--

"De Stephano de Perone xi. pa͂r. stre͂p et xi. pectoral' deaura͂t

p'͂c. xxij. ƚi.

"De eodem. iiij frēn cū pecto͂r et strepis de corea. p'͂c. vi.

ƚi.

"De eodem. ij. frēn ij. pecto͂r et ij. stre͂p deau͂r. p'͂c.

iiij. ƚi."

The Bridle presents two kinds of bits: one has the cheeks joined by

a bar from their lower end, as in woodcut, No. 80; the other has no

such cross-bar (see fol. 27 of Harl. MS. 3,244). The last quotation

from the Windsor Roll shews us that the bridles were sometimes gilt.

The group from the Painted Chamber on our woodcut, No. 82, offers a

curious arrangement of the brow-band. The rounds in the original are

gold-colour.

The Caparison of the knightly steed appears to have been of five

kinds. 1. The horse has a "couverture" of chain-mail only. 2.

The couverture is of quilted work. 3. The housing is of a light,

fluttery material, probably covering an armour of chain-mail. 4.

A light housing, heraldically decorated, which seems to have no

armour beneath. 5. The horse has no furniture beyond the ordinary

war-saddle, peytrel and bridle.

Of the mailed dextrier we have already had some notice in the

preceding century (see page 169). The example here given is from the

Painted Chamber.

[Illustration: No. 86.]

The trapper of chain-mail occurs on two of the plates of that

work: those numbered 31 and 37. A fragment of a similar defence is

seen on the Shurland monument at Minster (Stothard, Pl. XLI.). But

representations of this kind of armament are of the greatest rarity.

It is, however, often mentioned by the writers of the time; though,

perhaps, not without some exaggeration of the numbers of mail-clad

steeds gathered in the host. At the battle of Nuova Croce in 1237,

between the imperialists and the Milanese, Matthew Paris tells us

that: "A credible Italian asserted that Milan with its dependencies

raised an army of six thousand men-at-arms with iron-clad

horses[401]." The _Chronicon Colmariense_, under the year 1298,

describing the force of "Australes, qui armis ferreis utebantur,"

brought against the duke of Austria, says: "Habebant et multos qui

habebant dextrarios, id est, equos magnos. Hi equi cooperti fuerunt

coopertoriis ferreis, id est, veste ex circulis ferreis contexta."

An ordinance of Philip the Fair in 1303 provides that every holder

of an estate of 500 livres rental, shall furnish for defence of

the realm "un gentilhomme bien armé et monté à cheval de cinquante

livres tournois et couvert de couvertures de fer ou de couverture

pourpointé[402]." The particular use of the barding of steel or

pourpointerie was to defend the horses against the missiles of the

enemy. Sutcliffe's "Practice of Arms," written in the sixteenth

century, when the musquet was rapidly supplanting the long-bow, has:

"Use of late times hath brought in divers sorts of Horsemen, which,

according to their armes and furniture, have divers names. Some

Horse are barded; others without bardes. The French Men-of-armes,

in times past, used barded Horses, for feare of our Arrowes. Nowe,

since Archerie is not so much reckoned of, and Bardes are but a weak

defence against Shotte, Lanciers, leaving their bardes, are armed

much like to the Albanian Stradiots."

The pourpointed housing is named in the ordinance of Philip IV. quoted

above, and it may probably be implied in most cases where we read of a

"cheval couvert." Rigord, under 1214, (battle of Bovines,) describes

the approach of the Imperialists on their barded horses: "Dixit quod

viderat equos militum coopertos, ... quod erat evidentissimum pugnæ

signum." In a roll of expenses, of 1294, given by Du Cange[403], "Pour

les gages de Monsieur Bertran Massole, retenu aux gages accoustumez

pour lui et deux Ecuyers," we read: "Et estoit luy et autre à chevaux

couverts, et un autre sans cheval couvert:" and again: "Pour onze

Ecuyers à chevaux couverts, à chacun vii. sols vi. deniers par jour, et

pour deux qui n'ont point chevaux couverts, chacun v. sols."

In England, the armed horse came into use between the years 1285 and

1298; for, while the Statute of Winchester in 1285 makes no mention

of any defence for the steed, the Statute of 27 Edw. I. in every case

requires such an armament:--

"Le Rey ad ordene qe sire Thomas de Furnivall voit en les contees

de Notingham et de Derb', de eslire, trier, ordener et asseer gentz

d'armes en meismes les contez, aussi bien a chival come a pie, de

toutz ceus qui sont de age d'entre vint anns e seissaunte: ensi

qe chescun qe eyt XXX. liverees de terre, seit mis a un _chival

covert_: e de seissaunte liverees, a deux _chivaux covertz_: e se

vers mount de chescune XXX. liveree de terre, a un _chival covert_.

E s'il eit plus avant qe XXX. liveree de terre e ne mie seisaunte,

qe en ceo qe il avera entre les XXX. livereez, seit joint e mis a

un autre qe serra de meisme la condicion.

"E de ceus qui averont meins de trente liveree de terre en aval

jusqes a seisaunte soudes, e de ceus qe out seisaunte soudees, e de

seisaunte soudees en amount, soient enjoingnz e mis as autres qe

serront de meisme l'estat, de si qe il seient a XXX. liverees, e

adunkes soient assis a un _chival covert_: ensi qe chescune trente

liveree de terre, aussi de greindres come de meindres, face un

_chival covert_.

"E face le dit sire Thomas mettre en roulle les nouns de touz ceaus

qi serront assis as chivaux covertz, e le noumbre des chivaux par

eus severeaument de chescun wapentakel, e aussi les nouns de gent a

pe par eus.

"E ausitost come il avera ce fet, distinctement e apertement de ce

certifie le Rey.

"Don' a Noef Chastel sur Tyne, le xxv. jour de Novembre[404]."

The housing of a lighter material seems to be presented to us in the

engravings, Nos. 47, 72 and 80. The folds of the drapery in these

examples have in no degree the character of a stiff quilted garment.

The last of the three miniatures (from the Lives of the Offas) is

further curious from its exhibiting in the same group the horse with

and without its housing. The caparisoned steed in front is that of King

Offa the First, who leads his troops to the defeat of the Scots. A very

early example of the trapper is found in the seal of Saer de Quinci,

earl of Winchester, 1210--19: engraved in Laing's Scottish Seals, Plate

XI. In this monument, too, the housing is armoried; which seems to shew

that the heraldic and the plain housing were introduced simultaneously.

Neither of them was at this early time a necessary concomitant of

knightly dignity; for we find no English royal seal exhibiting the

caparisoned steed till the time of Edward I. (See woodcut, No. 85.)

Another early instance of the armorial trapper is afforded by the seal

of Hugo de Vere, earl of Oxford, 1221-63[405]; and in this, as in

other examples, it will be remarked that, while the couverture of the

horse is decorated with heraldic devices, the surcoat of the knight

is altogether plain. The seal here given, of Roger de Quinci, earl of

Winchester from 1219 to 1264, has the same arrangement.

[Illustration:

PLATE LXXXVII.]

Other examples of the armoried housing will be found in the Lives

of the Offas, the Painted Chamber, in the seal of Patrick, earl of

March, 1292 (Laing, p. 54), in the monument of Edmund Crouchback,

1296, (Stothard, Pl. XLIII.) and in our engravings, Nos. 47 and 85.

Towards the end of the thirteenth century came in the fashion of

ornamenting the head of the horse with a Fan Crest, similar to that

fixed on the helm of the knight. This fan crest for the horse is a

decoration of very high antiquity: it appears among the Assyrian

sculptures, and again among the Lycian marbles in the British Museum.

See the engravings at page 159 and page 285 of Mr. Vaux's able work

on our national collection. The seal of Patrick Dunbar, earl of

March, 1292, affords a good example of knight and steed decorated

with the fan crest: it is figured in Laing's Ancient Scottish Seals,

page 54. In the provision for the Windsor Tournament in 1278, crests

are furnished for every knight and every horse[406]:--

"Īt p̴ qualibet galea j. cresta }

Īt p̴ quolibet equo j. cresta } S͂m. LXXVj. Cres̄t."

They were in this case made of parchment, and fastened by means of

nails or rivets and "chastones":--

"Īt p̴ qualibet cresta j. pell' parcamēn rud'.

Īt p̴ qualibet cresta j. pa͂r chastōn et j clauōn."

The clavones are again mentioned in the Wardrobe Accounts of King

Edward I. in 1300[407]: "factura diversorum armorum, vexillorum,

et penocellorum, pro Domino Edwardo filio Regis et Johanne de

Lancastria, jamberis, poleyns, platis, uno capello ferri, una

Cresta cum _clavis argenti_ pro eodem capello," &c. The chasto

(Fr. _châton_) was a kind of socket or cavity, but the particular

arrangement of it in fixing the crest has not been ascertained.

About the same time we first hear of a defence for the horse of the

nature of the later chanfrein. The same Windsor Roll of 1278 gives

us the earliest notice of these "copita" of leather, made after the

fashion (_de similitudine_) of horses' heads:--

"D Milōn le Cuireu͂r. xxxviij. copita co͂r de similitud' capīt

equoȝ p'̄c pēc ij. s."

They appear again in 1301, under the name of _testaræ_ (or _testeræ_)

in the Indenture of Delivery of the Castle of Montgomery to William

de Leyburn (Cott. MS. Vitell. C. x. fol. 154): "Item liberavit eidem

iij. pa͂r coopertorum ferri et ij. Testaras et v. loricas cum capite

et v. sine capite," &c.

The thirteenth century appears to have retained all the ENGINES

for the approach and attack of towns that were in use during the

preceding age. In this century we first obtain pictorial evidence

of the form and principle of the mangona or trebuchet of the

middle-ages, and from this valuable testimony we learn that the

motive power of _torsion_ employed during the classic period is no

longer in favour; but instead, we have a machine from which, by means

of a counterpoised beam, a large stone is cast forth from a sling

fixed at one end of the beam. We have already (page 330) referred to

the drawings of these instruments in an Arabic manuscript of this

century, used by Captain Favé and M. Reinaud in their work, _Du feu

grégeois, &c._ Other early representations occur in Roy. MS. 16, G.

vi., copied in Shaw's "Dresses and Decorations;" in the ivory carving

figured in the fourth volume of the Journal of the Archæological

Association, and in the _Études sur l'Artillerie_ of the Emperor of

the French, Vol. ii. Plate III. In the work of Gilles Colonne[408],

written for his pupil, Philip the Fair of France, we have a distinct

account of four varieties of the trébuchet: "Of pierriers," he says,

"there are four kinds, and in all these machines there is a beam

which is raised and lowered by means of a counterpoise, a sling being

attached to the end of the beam to discharge the stone. Sometimes

the counterpoise is not sufficient, and then they attach ropes to

it, in order to move the beam. The counterpoise may either be fixed

or moveable, or both at once. In the fixed counterpoise, a box is

fastened to the end of the beam, and filled with stones or sand, or

any heavy body. These machines, anciently called _trabutium_, cast

their missiles with most exactness, because the weight acts in a

uniform manner. Their aim is so sure that one may, so to say, hit a

needle. If the gyn carries too far, it must be drawn back or loaded

with a heavier stone: if the contrary, then it must be advanced or a

smaller stone supplied. For without attention to the weight of the

stone, one cannot hope to reach the given mark.

"Others of these machines have a moveable counterpoise attached to

the beam, turning upon an axis. This variety was by the Romans named

_biffa_. The third kind, which is called _tripantum_, has two weights:

one fixed to the beam and the other moveable around it: by this means,

it throws with more exactness than the _biffa_, and to a greater

distance than the trebuchet. The fourth sort, in lieu of weights fixed

to the beam, has a number of ropes; and is discharged by means of men

pulling simultaneously at the cords. This last kind does not cast such

large stones as the others, but it has the advantage that it may be

more rapidly loaded and discharged than they. In using the perriers by

night, it is necessary to attach a lighted body to the projectile: by

this means, one may discover the force of the machine, and regulate the

weight of the stone accordingly[409]."

The trebuchet arranged with cords is represented in the treatise _Du

feu grégeois_ noticed above, and in the _Études sur l'Artillerie_,

vol. ii. Pl. III. Those familiar with the sights of the Thames will

not fail to be struck with the curious resemblance between this

ancient engine of warfare and the apparatus by which a gang of

colliers raise the cargo from the hold of their ships.

Matthew Paris mentions the plying by day and by night of the terrible

trebuchet. Under 1246, he gives us the letter of Master Walter de

Ocra, a clerk of the Emperor, to the king of England, recounting

the events of the Italian campaign: "About eight days before the

end of last July, my Lord laid siege to the Castle of Capaccio, in

which were (certain knights) traitors to him, and who had attempted

his life, with a hundred and fifty others, including knights,

cross-bowmen, and other friends of theirs; all of whom my said Lord,

by uninterrupted discharges of missiles, day and night, from seven

well-ordered Trebuchets, and by vigorous and unceasing assaults,

also made night and day, reduced to such a helpless state that they

could not assist one another[410]." The castle was finally taken

and destroyed, the garrison punished by loss of eye-sight and other

mutilations; and the six leaders who had attempted the life of the

Emperor, having partaken the punishment of their comrades, were by

the imperial order "sent to all the kings and princes throughout the

various countries of the world, with the impression of the papal

bull, which was found there, stamped on their foreheads, to give

public notice of their treachery."

The trebuchets were sometimes distinguished by particular names,

a fancy already begun in the "Mate-Griffon" of Cœur-de-Lion's

war-tower, and afterwards largely indulged in the great bombards of

the fifteenth and succeeding centuries. In 1303, when the Bernese

besieged Wimmis, they had two trebuchets, one of which was named _La

fille de bois_, the other _L'Âne_[411].

In 1850, under the direction of the present Emperor of the French,

a trebuchet of large dimensions was constructed after the ancient

monuments, and set up at the École d'Artillerie at Vincennes. A

minute account of its formation and the experiments made with it, has

been given in the Report to the Minister of War by Capt. Favé: this

report is printed in the _Études sur l'Artillerie_, vol. ii. page 38.

The projectiles thrown from the ancient trebuchets were rounded

stones, barrels of Greek fire or other incendiary compositions,

and occasionally the putrid bodies of animals, when the siege was

obstinately prolonged, or the combatants were greatly exasperated.

The rounded stones are particularly mentioned by Guiart:--

"Giétent mangonniaus et perrières:

La grosse pierre areondie

Demainne a l'aler grant bondie."

_Chron. Métr._, Par. i. vers 3,296.

The English seem to have been somewhat behindhand in the

construction of their perriers, for Matthew Paris tells us that in

1253 the Gascons hurled stones and darts of such wonderful size on

the army of the king, that many of them were carried into England, to

be exhibited as curiosities[412].

The mangonel was used also in sea-fights. In the Additamenta to

the _Historia Major_ of Matthew Paris, we have an account of the

taking of Damietta, in which occurs this passage: "Et lapides de

_mangonellis navalibus_, qui sic parabantur ut quinque vel sex

lapides simul longo jacerent[413]." It does not seem, however, (as it

has been suggested,) that we have here the description of an engine

which threw five or six stones at once: we must rather understand

that five or six mangonels were so managed as to shoot in volleys.

Another variety of the trebuchet was the Biblia or Bible; but its

distinctive character has not been ascertained. It is mentioned

in 1238: "adducens secum Bibliam, Petrariam et caetera bellica

instrumenta[414]." And in the _Roman de Claris_:

"Li rois fait ses engins drecier

Et vers les haus murs charroier;

Bibles et Mangoniaux geter,

Et les Chats aux fossez mener,

Les Berfrois traire vers les mur:

Cil dedens ne sont pas à sur."

And again, in the same romance:--

"Et pierres grans et les Pierriers,

Et les Bibles qui sont trop fiers,

Getent," &c.

Other names occur at this time, indicating machines for casting stones:

some of these are probably mere synonyms of the words already noticed;

and of the particular mechanism implied by others, it is vain, in the

absence of cotemporary drawings, to hope for an exact idea.

Besides the engines of the mangona kind, formed by a sling and

weight, there was another class constructed on the principle of the

cross-bow. The Spingarda and Spingardella (_Espringale_) appear to

have been arbalests mounted on frames with wheels, somewhat after

the manner of the field-pieces of our own day. The French used them

against the Flemings at the battle of Mons-en-Puelle in 1304:--

"Joignant d'eus rot deux Espringales,

Que garçons au tirer avancent."--_Guiart._

They shot forth, not only stones, but darts or quarrels:--

"Et font getter leurs espringales:

Ça et là sonnent li clairain:

Li garrot, empené d'airain,

Quatre on cinq en percent tout outre."

_Guiart_, année 1304.

They were also called _Arbalestes à tour_, and under this name

are included by Christine de Pisan (in the fourteenth century) in

the armament for a strong siege: "Deux cens arbalestres, _trente_

autres _arbalestes à tour_, et cent autres à croc, ... douze tours

tous neufs, à tendre arbalestres," &c. From the last item we see

very clearly that the distinctive name of this arbalest was derived

from the instrument used to bend its powerful bow. The figure of

an espringale mounted on its carriage is given in the _Études sur

l'Artillerie_, vol. i. Plate I.

The old contrivances to cover the sappers as they approached the

walls of a besieged place, still continued in use: the Cat, the

Cat-castle (CHAT-CHASTEL) the Vinea, and other varieties of the

mantlet occurring frequently in the chronicles and poems of the

time. The king, in the _Roman de Claris_,

"----fait ses engins drecier,

Et les Chats aux fossez mener."

In 1256, the Papal troops, led by the Archbishop of Ravenna, attack

Padua, defended by the partisans of the tyrant Eccelino; the

archbishop, surrounded by a medley of knights and monks, soldiers and

priests, assaulted the city at the gate of the Ponte Altinato: they

had made their approaches under cover of a "kind of moveable gallery

which they called _Vinea_." The defendants from their walls poured

burning pitch and boiling oil upon the wooden vinea, so that it took

fire; but the city gate being also of wood, the besiegers pushed the

machine close to the gate, burnt it down and entered the place[415].

The Moveable Towers also were still in vogue. Under the name of

_berfrois_, they are mentioned in the passage on a preceding page from

the _Roman de Claris_. Under the year 1204 they are named by Guiart:--

"Un fort Chastel se fust drécié:

Le sommet plus haut en repose

Que les murs de Gaillart grant chose."

In Roy. MS. 20, D. i., of about the close of this century, the wooden

Tower occurs in several of the miniatures. It is constructed in the

manner of a scaffolding, having at the top an open platform filled

with archers: its height, that of the city walls, close to which it

is placed. Examples will be found on folios 305, 306 and 317. The

besieged, when they were able to discover the point to which the

assaulting tower was to be moved, loosened the soil in that spot

by digging; so that, when the ponderous machine arrived, it was

overturned by its fore-wheels sinking into the soft earth[416]. The

_Chat-Chastel_ combined the _beffroi_ and the _cattus_.

But the best account that can be offered of the Siege operations of

this time, is furnished by a cotemporary writer, the Seneschal of

Carcassone; himself the commander of the defending forces. This very

curious document is preserved in the Archives of France, and has been

published in the _Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes_, vol. vii.

p. 363. Carcassone was besieged in the autumn of 1240 by the son

of the Vicomte de Béziers; and the defender of the city, Guillaume

des Ormes, sends to Queen Blanche, regent of the kingdom during

the absence of Saint Louis, an exact account of the proceedings.

Carcassone was surrounded with a double wall, furnished as usual with

towers, and having several barbicans in advance of its various gates.

The object of the Barbican was to afford the besieged the means of a

flanking attack: it was formed something like a street, with a wall

on each side, terminating in a kind of open tower: and it thus became

necessary that the enemy should act in the first instance against

this outwork; for, by assaulting the curtain, they would be exposed

to a flank attack from the barbican, and might also be assailed in

the rear by sorties from the head of the work.

"To his most excellent and highly illustrious mistress, Blanche, by

the grace of God, Queen of the French, William des Ormes, Seneschal

of Carcassone, her humble and devoted servant, greeting and faithful

service.

"Madame, this is to let you know that the city of Carcassone

was besieged by him who calls himself the Viscount, and by his

accomplices, on the Monday following the Octave of the Nativity of the

Blessed Mary[417]. And immediately we who were within the city took

from them the suburb _Graveillant_, which is before the Toulouse gate;

and thence we obtained much timber, which was of great use to us. The

said suburb extended from the Barbican of the city as far as the corner

of the said city. And the same day, our enemies, through the multitude

of their forces, took from us a mill. Afterwards, Olivier de Termes,

Bernard Hugon de Serre-Longue, Géraud d'Aniort, and those who were with

them, lodged themselves between the corner of the city and the water;

and there, on the same day, by means of the ditches in that spot,

and by breaking up the roads which lay between them and us, they so

fortified themselves that we could by no means get at them.

"On another side, between the bridge and the Castle Barbican, Pierre

de Fenouillet and Renaud de Puy, Guillaume Fort, Pierre de la Tour,

and many others of Carcassone, established themselves. And at both

these places they had so many Cross-bowmen[418], that no man could

stir out of the city without being wounded. Afterwards they set up a

mangonel before our barbican, when we lost no time in opposing to it

from within an excellent Turkish petrary[419], which played upon the

mangonel and those about it; so that when they essayed to cast upon

us, and saw the beam of our petrary in motion, they fled, utterly

abandoning their mangonel. And in that place they made ditches and

palisades. Yet, as often as we discharged our petrary, we drove them

from it, still being unable to approach the spot on account of

the ditches, the pits, and the bolts from their bows(?)--_propter

fossata, quarellos et puteos qui ibi erant_.

"Moreover, Madame, they began to mine at the barbican of the Narbonne

gate; and we, having by listening ascertained where they were at

work, proceeded to countermine; and we built within the barbican a

strong stone wall, so as still to retain half the barbican in surety:

they then set fire to the props of their mine, and a breach was made

in the outer part of our barbican.

"They also began to mine against another tower (_tornellam_) of the

outer ballium, but by countermining we succeeded in dispossessing

them of the work. Afterwards they began (to mine) beneath another

wall, and destroyed two of our battlements (_cranellos de liceis_):

but we speedily set up a good strong palisade between us.

"They mined also at the corner of the city, towards the bishop's

house, and beginning their mine from a very great distance, they came

beneath a certain Saracenic wall (_murum sarraceneum_[420]) to the

wall of the _ballium_, which, when we perceived, we forthwith made

a good strong palisade between us and them, and countermined. Then

they set fire to the props of their mine, and brought down about

ten fathoms of our battlements. But we speedily made a good strong

palisade, on the top of which we constructed a good _bretèche_[421],

with good loopholes for arrows; so that none of them dared to come

near us in this place.

"They began also to mine at the barbican of the _Porte de Rhodez_,

working underneath in order to reach our wall; and in that place

they formed a wonderfully large passage. But when we perceived this,

we immediately made, on each side of their work, a great and strong

palisade; and we also countermined, and having broken into their

mine, speedily dispossessed them of it.

"Be it further known to you, Madame, that, from the beginning of the

siege, they have never ceased making assaults. But we had such good

store of cross-bows, and of brave fellows determined to resist to

the utmost, that they never assaulted us but with very great loss to

themselves.

"At length, on a certain Sunday, they got together all their

men-at-arms, cross-bowmen, and others, and in a body made an

assault on the barbican below the castle: but we went down into the

barbican, and discharged so many stones and quarrels against them

that we forced them to retire; many being killed or wounded. On the

following Sunday, after the Feast of St. Michael, they made a very

fierce assault. But we, thanks to the brave defence of our men,

repulsed them, killing and wounding many: on our side, not one was

either slain or mortally wounded.

"The day after, towards the evening, hearing, Madame, that your

troops were approaching to relieve us, the enemy set fire to the

suburb of Carcassone. They have entirely destroyed the buildings of

the Friars Minor, and those of the monastery of the Blessed Mary, in

the suburb, using the timber from them to construct their palisades.

But at night all the besiegers furtively withdrew; and, with them,

those of the suburb.

"In sooth, Madame, we were well prepared to hold out much longer;

for, during the whole siege, not one of your people, however poor his

estate, ever suffered for want of food; and we had corn and meat enough

for a much more obstinate resistance, if need had been. Be it known to

you, Madame, that these evil-doers, on the second day of their coming,

slew thirty-three priests and other holy men whom they met on entering

the suburb. Know also, Madame, that the Seigneur P. de Voisin, your

Constable of Carcassone, R. de Capendu, and Gerard d'Ermenville, have

greatly distinguished themselves in this affair. But the Constable, by

his vigilance, his bravery and his daring, is entitled to the chief

praise of all. On other matters concerning the district, we can better

render a faithful account, Madame, when we shall be in your presence.

In a word, they began mines against us in seven different places: but

we in most cases countermined them, and offered a stout opposition.

They commenced their mines at their own quarters, so that we knew

nothing of their approach till they were near our walls.

"Given at Carcassone, 13 Oct. 1240.

"Know, Madame, that the enemy burned the castles and towns which they

passed in their flight."

The town of Carcassone in its present state is probably the most

perfect fortification of the middle ages in existence. The whole of the

walls, towers, barbicans, ditches, and even the drawbridges, are still

in being, and wonderfully little injured, considering that they date

from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Enough remains to restore

the whole perfectly, without doubt or hesitation. An admirable series

of plans and drawings of these interesting fortifications has been made

by M. Viollet-Le-Duc for the French Government, shewing every part in

its actual state, and an equally complete series of designs for their

restoration, representing them exactly as they appeared at the siege so

well described by the Seneschal. The accounts relating to the building

of these walls and the preparations for their defence, are preserved

in the French archives. The very valuable and interesting series of

drawings named above was exhibited by the French government in the

Architectural Gallery of the _Exposition des Beaux Arts_ in 1855, and a

great part of them are beautifully engraved on a reduced scale in the

"Essai sur l'Architecture Militaire du Moyen-Age," already noticed. In

these plans the situation of the castle on one side of the town, and of

the different barbicans as described by the Seneschal, are very clearly

marked. There are a few barbicans remaining perfect in England, as at

Warwick and Alnwick.

The siege of Bedford Castle in 1224 affords another good example

of the mode of attacking a stronghold at this period. The garrison

in this instance were rebels to the king; their leader, one Fawkes,

a foreigner, a partisan of the Bishop of Winchester; though not

himself present at the time of the siege. The castle was invested

by the king himself. Two lofty towers of wood, of the kind already

described, were raised by the walls and filled with archers. Seven

mangonæ cast forth ponderous stones from morning till night. Sappers

approached the walls under cover of the Cat. First, the barbican, then

the outer ballium, was taken. A breach in the second wall soon after

gave the besiegers admission to the inner bailey. The donjon still

held out, and the royalists proceeded to attack it by means of their

sappers. A sufficient portion of the foundations having been removed,

the stanchions were set on fire, one of the angles sank deep into

the ground, and a wide rent laid open the interior of the keep. The

garrison now planted the royal standard on the tower, and sent the

women to implore mercy. But a severe example was required, in order to

strike terror among the disaffected in other quarters of the realm. The

knights and others, therefore, to the number of eighty, were hanged;

the archers were sent into Palestine, to redeem their fault by fighting

against the enemies of the faith; while their leader, Fawkes, who now

surrendered himself at Coventry, was banished from the island[422].

Matthew Paris records the existence of a singular and somewhat

poetical Monument of Victory, left to celebrate the capture of a

castle in the Campagna of Rome. The emperor "had taken a castle

near Montfort, belonging to the nephews and other relatives of the

pope, which he, the pope, had newly built with the money of the

Crusaders. The emperor destroyed the fortress, hanged all whom he

found therein, and in token of the destruction of it, left a sort of

_tower half-destroyed_, that the memory of the offence, as well as of

his vengeance, might never die[423]."

SEA-FIGHTS were still achieved by the same knights, men-at-arms,

archers and "satellites," as contended in land warfare. A good

pictorial example of a naval battle of this time occurs on folio 357

of Roy. MS. 20, D. i. See also fol. 23^{vo} of the same MS., for the

picture of an armed fleet. Further examples of a similar kind will be

found in this very curious volume, as well as of Tents and many other

objects of military use.