SCABBARDS AND CHAPES.
ALTHOUGH the sheaths which protected the daggers and swords described
in the preceding chapters consisted probably for the most part of wood
or leather, yet in many instances some portion of the scabbard and its
fittings was made of bronze; and to the description of these objects
it seems desirable to devote a separate chapter. It is rarely that the
metallic portions of the sheaths have been found in company with the
blades; but in one instance at least a portion of a sword blade has
been discovered within a surrounding sheath of bronze; which, however,
does not extend the full length of the blade, the upper part of the
scabbard having probably been formed of wood. This discovery proves
that the short bronze sheaths, which are usually from 8 to 12 inches
long, belonged to swords, and not, as at first sight might be inferred
from their size, to daggers.
[Illustration: Fig. 364. Isleworth. ¼]
In France some much longer bronze sheaths have been found with
the swords still in them. The most noteworthy is that from the
neighbourhood of Uzés,[1136] Gard, now in the Musée d’Artillerie, at
Paris, which is decorated with transverse beaded lines alternating with
ornaments of concentric rings. This scabbard is longer by some inches
than the blade it contains. In fact, in no instance does the point
of the sword appear to have reached so far as the end of the sheath.
Another sheath found at Cormoz (Ain)[1137] is in the museum at Lyons.
In a few instances the wooden sheaths of bronze swords have been found
entire. The finest is that from the Kongshöi,[1138] Vamdrup, Ribe,
Denmark. It was found with a body in a tree-coffin of oak. This sheath
is about a fifth longer than the blade of the sword, and is carved on
both faces, though more highly decorated on what must have been the
outer face, than on the inner. There is no metal mounting at either
end. Another scabbard found in the Treenhöi[1139] is likewise of wood.
Its chape also is formed of some hard wood. It has been lined with
skin, the hair towards the blade of the sword. This sheath is about an
eighth longer than the blade of the sword.
No doubt many of the British sheaths were made of wood alone. Others,
though partly made of that material, were tipped with bronze, the metal
being secured to the wood, or the leather, if that material was used,
by a small rivet which passed diagonally through the metal. As Mr.
Franks[1140] has pointed out, the presence of this rivet-hole would
have been sufficient to show that these objects are not dagger sheaths,
as some have thought, for the rivet leaves too small a part of the
bronze receptacle available for a blade even as long as that of an
ordinary dagger. The discovery already mentioned places this question
beyond doubt.
The bronze sheaths of the iron swords and daggers of the Late Celtic
Period are of a different character from those I am about to describe,
and are made of sheet bronze, and not cast in a single piece.
In Fig. 364 is shown a portion of a sword blade, with the scabbard end
still in position, which was found in the Thames near Isleworth, and
is in the collection of Mr. T. Layton, F.S.A.[1141] This scabbard end
has a central rib and two other slight ribs along each margin in order
to give it strength, and, as will be seen from the figure, probably
extends at least 6 inches beyond the end of the sword, thus giving
an opportunity of securing the metal end to the wooden or leather
scabbard at a place where the blade would not interfere with the
passage of a pin or rivet.
A scabbard end of much the same form (13½ inches) is shown in
Fig. 365. It was found with fifteen others, some broken, near
Guilsfield,[1142] Montgomeryshire, together with looped palstaves,
spear-heads, &c. It has a small rivet-hole about half-way along it.
Another,[1143] somewhat straighter (12½ inches), found with a bronze
buckler in the River Isis near Dorchester, Oxon,[1144] is shown in
Fig. 366. It is now in the British Museum. There is a small rivet-hole
passing transversely through it. Several[1145] other sheath ends of
the same kind are preserved in the same collection. One, imperfect,
from the Thames at Teddington (10 inches), with ribs along the middle
and edges, has a hole for a diagonal rivet, and retains a fragment of
wood inside, as does also another from the Thames at London, which
has a very slightly projecting midrib. A third, of the same character
(10¾ inches), from the Thames at Chelsea, has a small end plate
secured by a central rivet. This has traces of either leather or wood
inside.[1146] In another, also from the Thames (7¾ inches), the end
plate has been cast with the sheath, and there is a wooden lining
secured by a diagonal rivet. The opening is nearly flat.
[Illustration: Fig. 365.—Guilsfield. ¼]
[Illustration: Fig. 366.—River Isis, near Dorchester. ¼]
[Illustration: Fig. 367.—Ireland. ½]
In some there is no rib down the middle, but merely a projecting
ridge, and in others no rivet-holes are visible.
This straight form of scabbard end has been very rarely found in
Ireland. The only specimen mentioned by Wilde is by permission here
reproduced as Fig. 367. Another (5½ inches) was in the collection of
Mr. Wakeman, of Enniskillen.
A scabbard end of much the same general character as that from
Guilsfield, but shorter and broader, is shown in Fig. 368. It was
found at Wick Park, Stogursey, Somerset,[1147] with palstaves,
socketed celts, gouges, spear-heads, and fragments of swords, together
with jets from castings and rough metal.
[Illustration: Fig. 368. Stogursey, Somerset. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 369. Brechin. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 370. Pant-y-maen. ½]
Scabbard ends occur also in Scotland, for one nearly similar to
these last (5¾ inches) was found with four leaf-shaped swords and
a large spear-head, all of bronze, at Cauldhame, near Brechin,
Forfarshire.[1148] They are now in the Antiquarian Museum at
Edinburgh. The scabbard is by permission of the Society of Antiquaries
of Scotland here shown as Fig. 369. Another scabbard tip in the same
museum is rather shorter. It was found at Gogar Burn, near Edinburgh,
together with a sword and a penannular brooch of bronze and a small
penannular ornament of gold. A Scotch specimen from the farm of
Ythsie, Tarves, Aberdeenshire, is in the British Museum. It is like
that from Brechin, and is 5½ inches long.
The straight form of scabbard end has been discovered, though
rarely, in Northern France. One from Caix, Somme, is engraved in the
Dictionnaire Archéologique de la Gaule. A fragment of another, more
like Fig. 365, has been found near Compiègne (Oise).
A still shorter form is shown in Fig. 370, the original of which was
found at Pant-y-maen, near Glancych, Cardiganshire,[1149] together
with broken swords, spear-heads, and ferrules, as well as some small
rings.
A still more simple form, and one more nearly approaching the modern
chape, has occasionally been found. That shown as Fig. 371 formed part
of the hoard found in Reach Fen, Cambridgeshire, which comprised also
some fragments of swords. It is of especial interest, as the small
bronze nail which served to fasten it to the wooden scabbard was found
with it. This nail is shown above the chape in the figure.
[Illustration: Fig. 371.—Reach Fen. 1/1]
Another chape of the same kind, but more like Fig. 372 in form, was
found at Haines Hill, near Hythe, Kent,[1150] with a perforated disc
of bronze, like Fig. 503, and some other objects.
Fig. 372, kindly lent by the Royal Irish Academy, shows a chape found
at Cloonmore, near Templemore, Co. Tipperary.[1151] This form seems to
be of very rare occurrence in Ireland.
It has, however, been found in Savoy,[1152] and in the Swiss
Lake-dwellings.
[Illustration: Fig. 372.—Cloonmore. 1/1]
[Illustration: Fig. 373.—Stoke Ferry. 1/1]
An English form, which is, I believe, as yet unique, is shown in Fig.
373. It was found, with several broken swords and spear-heads, at
Stoke Ferry, Norfolk. It is ornamented with a neat fluting, produced
apparently by means of punches. The rivet-holes are at the sides,
instead of being, as usual, on the face.
A curious socketed object in bronze, found near Piltown,[1153] in
the barony of Iverk, Co. Kilkenny, has been regarded as the haft of
a dagger. It is rectangular in section and expanding at the base
which is closed. But from its analogy with some of the scabbard
ends lately described it seems possible that it formed part of a
sheath. The objection to this view is that the breadth of the socket
is much greater than usual with these chapes. The zigzag and other
ornamentation upon it is described as having been engraved with a fine
point after the object was cast. The lower face is not ornamented.
The form is not unlike that of the end of the scabbard of some modern
African leaf-shaped swords of iron, as to which Mr. Syer Cuming[1154]
has remarked, that while the point of the blade is as sharp as a
needle, the base of its receptacle measures nearly 3 inches across. It
is possible that the object engraved as Fig. 286 may be intended for
the end of a scabbard, and not for that of a hilt, but this can only
be determined by future discoveries.
[Illustration: Fig. 374.—Keelogue Ford, Ireland. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 375.—Mildenhall. ½]
Another Irish form is shown in Fig. 374, the original of which was
found at Keelogue Ford, in the Shannon, and is in the Royal Irish
Academy. In this instance the chape has assumed a kind of boat-like
form with pointed ends. As Sir W. Wilde[1155] has observed, the
indentations at the top mark the overlapping of the wooden portion of
the scabbard, which was fastened to the bronze by two slender rivets,
so that the ends projected about an inch on each side.
Fig. 375 shows an English scabbard tip of the same class, though
differing in details, which was found in the neighbourhood of
Mildenhall, Suffolk, and is in the collection of Mr. Simeon Fenton,
of that town, to whom I am indebted for permission to engrave it. The
surface of this chape is beautifully finished, and the raised rib
round the semicircular notch is delicately engrailed or “milled.”
There is a single minute hole for a pin or rivet on one face only. As
will be seen, this English example closely resembles that from Ireland
shown in the previous figure.
Such projections as those on the chapes of this form would appear to
be inconvenient; but in another variety the projecting ends shoot
out into regular spikes, the ends of which are tipped by a small
button. In some cases the length from point to point is not less than
8 inches. There are several in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy.
Sir W. Wilde considered that the bronze sword was suspended high up
on the thigh and not allowed to trail on the ground, so that these
projections would be less in the way of the wearer than might at
first sight appear. The lengthening of these points may have been the
result of a kind of prehistoric dandyism, analogous to that which led
to the lengthening of the points of boots and shoes in England at the
beginning of the fifteenth century.[1156] Specimens of these still
exist in which the points extend 6 inches beyond the foot, and it has
been asserted that they had to be chained to the knees of the wearers
to give them a chance of walking with freedom.
[Illustration: Fig. 376.—Thames. ½]
Though chiefly found in Ireland, this elongated form of scabbard
has occasionally been discovered in England. Fig. 376 represents a
specimen from the Thames, now preserved in the British Museum.
Another example, but slightly more curved, was found with a bronze
sword at Ebberston, Yorkshire, and is in the Bateman Collection.[1157]
It has been figured. The rivets for attaching it to the wooden
scabbard are still in position.
This type of scabbard end has also been found in France. In the Museum
of Bourges is an example about 5½ inches long, much like Fig. 376, but
rather more V-shaped. Another, more like the figure, was found with a
bronze sword, near Marsanne[1158] (Drôme), and a third in the tumulus
of Barésia[1159] (Jura). Another was found at the end of an iron sword
in a tumulus at Mons[1160] (Auvergne).
It is to be observed that the ends of some of the knife sheaths of the
Early Iron Period[1161] expand in somewhat the same manner, so as to
assume an anchor-like appearance.
A bronze bouterolle or scabbard tip of a very peculiar type, the sides
being elongated and flattened out so as to form two sickle-shaped
wings curving upwards, was exhibited to the Society of Antiquaries in
1867[1162] as having been found in Britain. A figure of it was to have
appeared in the _Archæologia_, but has not yet been published. Perhaps
there was room to doubt its English origin. Certainly the description,
with the exception of the sickle-shaped wings curving upwards, agrees
with a form of which several examples have been found in Germany and
in France.[1163] Some of these are sharp at the end like a socketed
celt, with two expanding sickle-like wings, but their purpose as
chapes has not always been recognised. One from Hallstatt is described
by Von Sacken[1164] as a cutting tool to be attached to a thin shaft.
There are two in the Museum at Prague, found at Korno and Brasy.
One from Oberwald-behrungen is in the Museum at Würzburg. Another is
at Hanover.
[Illustration: Fig. 377.—Isle of Harty. 1/1]
The fact that traces of wooden sheaths to daggers have been found in
the Wiltshire and other barrows has already been mentioned, but no
bronze fittings have been found with them. There are, however, some
objects which may have served either as the mouth-pieces of sheaths
for daggers or small knives, or as ferrules for their hilts.
One of these from the Harty hoard is shown full size in Fig. 377.
Another of identically the same character, but rather shorter, was
found, with a bronze knife or dagger and numerous other articles, at
Marden,[1165] Kent. It was regarded by Mr. Beale Poste as the mounting
of the top of a dagger sheath formed of leather.
Another was found with various other relics near Abergele,[1166]
Denbighshire.
Some elongated loops formed of jet are of a shape that would have
served for the mouth-pieces of sword scabbards, but whether so fragile
a substance was used for such a purpose may well be questioned. They
may have been merely ornamental. One about 3 inches long, found in
Scotland,[1167] has been regarded as a clasp for a belt. Possibly
these objects in bronze may, after all, be of the nature of slides or
clasps.
Another loop, more rounded at the ends, found in the peat at
Newbury,[1168] Berks, has been described as a slider for securing
some portion of the dress, or for passing over a belt. Not improbably
this is their true interpretation. Some outer slides are described at
p. 404.
Some bronze objects of nearly similar form, but about 3 inches in
length, found with late Celtic remains, have been regarded as the
cross-guards[1169] of daggers or knives.
In my own collection is a fine bronze sword from Denmark with broad
side flanges to the hilt plate, on the blade of which is a bronze loop
about ¼ inch wide, rebated for the reception of wood, but without
any rivet-holes. Each face presents four parallel headings. For some
time, in common with some Danish antiquaries, I regarded this loop as
the mouth-piece of a scabbard, for which it appears well adapted; but
I now find that such a view is erroneous, and that this loop is the
ferrule for receiving the ends of the plates of wood or horn which
formed the hilt. For in the barrow of Lydshöi,[1170] near Blidstrup,
Frederiksborg, was a bronze sword with a similar ferrule upon it, and
the remains of the plates of horn beneath it still in position. One of
these Danish ferrules is of gold.[1171] A sheath[1172] from a barrow
at Hvidegaard, made of birch wood with an outer and inner casing of
leather, has a leather band for the mouth-piece, and a leather eye for
receiving the belt. Some small sheaths for bronze knives and for a
flint dagger found at the same time are simply of leather.