Chapter XI: Part II: of the Trachten. The jazerant coats of the fifteenth (2)

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:

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.)

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]."

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.

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.