Chapter II: Part I (1)

FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE IRON PERIOD TO THE
ELEVENTH CENTURY.

By whatever race Europe may have been originally peopled, this portion of the world seems to have been swept by successive tribes of adventurers from Central Asia. The so-called "Allophylian race" was displaced by the Celts; the Sclaves then drove the Celts to the west, and the Tshuds into the cold regions of the north; and lastly, the Teutonic conquerors, dispossessing at will the nations that had preceded them, laid the foundation of that vast social empire which at present, in Europe, in America, in Asia, and in the new world of the South Seas, rules the destinies of half the globe. For the purposes of art, the long period of time at which we have so rapidly glanced has been divided into the Stone Period, the Bronze Period, and the Iron Period; names derived from the materials which were in _general_ use during the progress of the various races towards civilization;--a division which, though, from its great comprehensiveness, necessarily open to some objection, seems likely to be of much use in simplifying a study hitherto embarrassing alike to the general reader, and to those whose task it is to extend the range of our knowledge.

With the nations of the Stone Period and the Bronze Period we do not purpose to occupy ourselves; not that the relics of their times are of an inferior interest, but that, in commencing with the days of the iron-workers, which for general purposes we assume to be identical with the retirement of the Romans beyond the Alps, and the domination of the northern nations in the centre and west of Europe, we feel that we have a task before us already much greater than we can hope to fulfil, either to the satisfaction of our readers, or our own. If we leave much undone, we shall endeavour, in that we do, to be exact. Modern archæology differs from the old antiquarianism especially in this,--that whatever it contributes to knowledge is required to be scrupulously true. A monkish chronicler of the fourteenth century is no longer held to be an authority for the affairs of the twelfth; an illuminated Froissart of the fifteenth century is no more permitted to supply us with portraits of the Black Prince, or the costume of Duguesclin. Our pictures are no longer copies of copies; neither are they mere _versions_ of old art. We must have line for line, point for point. This is essential, for two reasons: we are freed from the danger of any wrong interpretation of an historic fact, and we keep in view the characteristic art of the period under examination. The importance of this practice admitted, we shall be excused for stating that almost all the illustrations of this work have been drawn by the writer;--when from manuscripts, the collection and folio of the volume have been carefully recorded, so that the truthfulness of the copy may be readily tested;--after the drawings had been transferred to the wood, they were carefully examined before the graver was permitted to commence its work; and if, in spite of every precaution, some unlucky error would at last creep in, the mistake was always rectified with new engraving.

The chief evidences for the military equipment and usages of the Teutonic conquerors of Europe, from the period of the dismemberment of the Roman empire to the great triumphs achieved by the Normans in the eleventh century, are the writers of those times, the miniatures which decorate their works, and the graves of these ancient races; which last have of late years yielded a wondrous harvest of valuable memorials, illustrating as well the domestic practices of their occupants, as their warlike array. If these three classes of monuments are useful in supplying each other's deficiencies, still more valuable do they become to the archæologist and the historian, by the confirmation which they mutually afford to each other's testimony. A few discrepancies indeed occasionally appear on points of minute detail; and it is in the pages of the historians and chroniclers that these are generally found: but when we consider the difficulty of the transmission of knowledge in those days, and the errors that may have crept in from the negligence of book-copyists through so many successive generations, the wonder is, not that something has been left obscure, but that so much has been faithfully transmitted to our times.

The various sons of Odin, whether settled in Germany, in Gaul, in Iberia, in Scandinavia, or in Britain, bore a strong resemblance to each other, both in their military equipment, and in such tactics as they possessed. If we find one branch of this vast family combating the Romans with more than usual art, or conducting a campaign with larger strategical views than their fellows, we must attribute it rather to the superior skill of a particular leader, or to their having borrowed some valuable hints from the practice of their opponents, than to any essential difference between this or that tribe of Teutons,--between the dwellers on the right bank of the Rhine and the dwellers on the left bank,--between those whose huts were on the flats of the Waal, and those who had built their cabins in the valleys of the Loire. Such differences as have been observed, we shall point out in our progress; but we are inclined to believe that, as collections are augmented and comparisons extended, resemblances will be found to increase, and differences to diminish.

Among the writers who afford us information on the early weapons and mode of warfare of that branch of the Teutonic family which acquired the name of Franks, there are three whose testimony is of especial value to us; and we must again remark, that what was particularly true of the Franks was generally true of the Anglo-Saxons, and of all the cognate tribes which traversed Europe as conquerors. These three writers are--Sidonius Apollinaris, bishop of Auvergne, who, in the fifth century, wrote his Panegyric of the Emperor Majorian; Procopius, the secretary of Belisarius, who lived in the sixth century, and was an eye-witness of the facts he records; and Agathias, a Greek historian, who flourished in the seventh century. "The Franks," says Sidonius, describing the defeat of their king Clodion by the Roman general Aetius, "are a tall race, and clad in garments which fit them closely. A belt (_balteus_) encircles their waist. They hurl their axes (_bipennes_) and cast their spears (_hastas_) with great force, never missing their aim. They manage their shields with much address, and rush on their enemy with such velocity, that they seem to fly more rapidly than their javelins (_hastas_). They accustom themselves to warfare from their earliest years, and if overpowered by the multitude of their enemies, they meet their end without fear. Even in death their features retain the expression of their indomitable valour:--

'Invicti perstant, animoque supersunt
Jam propè post animam.'"

Procopius, describing the expedition of the Franks into Italy in the sixth century, tells us:--"Among the hundred thousand men that the king (Theodobert I.) led into Italy, there were but few horsemen, and these he kept about his person. This cavalry alone carried spears (_hastas_). The remainder were infantry, who had neither spear nor bow, (_non arcu, non hastâ armati_,) all their arms being a sword, an axe, and a shield. The blade of the axe was large, its handle of wood, and very short. At a given signal they march forward; on approaching the adverse ranks they hurl their axes against the shields of the enemy, which by this means are broken; and then, springing on the foe, they complete his destruction with the sword[3]."

Agathias, in the seventh century, writes:--"The arms of the Franks are very rude; they wear neither coat-of-fence nor greaves, their legs being protected by bands of linen or leather. They have little cavalry, but their infantry are skilful and well disciplined. They wear their swords on the left thigh, and are furnished with shields. The bow and the sling are not in use among them, but they carry double axes (πελέκεις ἀμφιστόμους,) and barbed spears (ἄγγωνας.) These spears, which are of a moderate length, they use either for thrusting or hurling. The staves of them are armed with iron, so that very little of the wood remains uncovered[4]. The head has two barbs, projecting downwards as far as the shaft. In battle, they cast this spear at the enemy, which becomes so firmly fixed in the flesh by the two barbs, that it cannot be withdrawn; neither can it be disengaged if it pierce the shield, for the iron with which the staff is covered prevents the adversary from ridding himself of it by means of his sword. At this moment the Frank rushes forward, places his foot on the shaft of the spear as it trails upon the ground, and having thus deprived his foe of his defence, cleaves his skull with his axe, or transfixes him with a second spear[5]."

We here see that the usual arms of the Franks at this time were the axe, the sword, the spear, of two kinds, and the shield. Body-armour is not worn by the soldiery at large; and the chief device of the assailant is to deprive his adversary of the aid of his shield, in order that no obstacle may stand between his brawny arm and death. The provision of cavalry is small, and the few horsemen that are found appear rather as a body-guard to the prince than as an ingredient of the army. The evidences above quoted are borne out, not alone by the contents of the Teutonic graves, but by other passages of ancient writers. Gregory of Tours, in the sixth century, tells us that Clovis, reviewing his troops soon after the battle of Soissons, reprimanded a slovenly soldier, by telling him, "There is no one here whose arms are so ill kept as yours: neither your spear (_hasta_), nor your sword (_gladius_), nor your axe (_bipennis_), is fit for service[6]." This author adds a new weapon to the Frankish soldier's equipment, in which he is equally supported by the evidences from the graves. They carried also, he tells us, a dagger, which was worn suspended from the belt. Tacitus, as early as the second century, describes with great exactness the spear-javelin named by Agathias. The whole passage is so curiously illustrative of our subject, that we venture to quote it:--"Rari gladiis, aut majoribus lanceis utuntur, hastas, vel ipsorum vocabulo _frameas_, gerunt, angusto et brevi ferro, sed ita acri et ad usum habili ut eodem telo, prout ratio poscit, vel cominùs vel eminùs pugnent: et eques quidem scuto frameaque contentus est: pedites et missilia spargunt, pluraque singuli, atque in immensum vibrant, nudi aut sagulo leves, nulla cultus jactatio: scuta tantum lectissimis coloribus distinguunt: paucis loricæ, vix uni alterive cassis aut galea."--(_Germania._)

In the long and fierce contention between the North and the South,--between the rugged Goth and the polished Roman,--it could not but happen that an adroit captain of the ruder host would avail himself of the greater skill of his adversaries; that every campaign would teach some new formation, that every battle would disclose some useful stratagem: weapons would be improved, enriched, and augmented in their variety; the defensive armour of the leaders would extend to their subordinates; while the leaders, to retain their distinction, would be induced to render their panoply more splendid and more costly. We find, therefore, in the poems and chronicles of this later time, constant mention of rich arms and armour; and in the capitularies of Charlemagne especially, we get a glimpse of the improvements in northern warfare. "Let each count," commands the emperor, "be careful that the troops he has to lead to battle are fully equipped; that they have spear, shield, a bow with two strings, and twelve arrows, helmet, and coat-of-fence[7]." We here see the soldiery adding to their defensive appointments the casque and lorica, and to their offensive arms the bow and arrows. The equipment of Charlemagne himself has been handed down to us in the contemporary description of the Monk of Saint Gall. The head of the monarch was armed with an iron helmet,--"his iron breast and his shoulders of marble were defended by a cuirasse of iron." His arms and legs were also covered with armour; of which the cuissards appear to have been composed of the jazerant-work so much in vogue at a later period: "coxarum exteriora: in eo ferreis ambiebantur bracteolis[8]." The followers of the prince, adds his biographer, were similarly defended, except that they dispensed with the cuissards, which were inconvenient on horseback.

The proportion of cavalry continued to increase, as we clearly see from this phrase in a capitulary of _Charles le Chauve_:--"Ut pagenses franci qui caballos habent, aut habere possunt, cum suis comitibus in hostem pergant." By the clause, "aut habere possunt," it appears evident that some effort was expected to be made in order to extend this force.

Under Clovis and his immediate successors, (sixth century,) the Frankish army seems to have been pretty strictly limited to that race. But later, the Burgundians, and then the Germans, and at length the Gauls themselves, were admitted to the service. The troops were levied in the various provinces, and bore their names; as the Andegavi, the Biturici, the Cœnomanici, the Pictavi. Their leaders were the king, the dukes, and the counts. The Church lands were bound to furnish their contingent of armed men. The exempts were the very young, the old, the sick[9], and the newly married for the term of one year[10]. The provinces not only furnished the fighting men, but their arms, clothing, and a supply of food. "We order," says another of the capitularies of Charlemagne, "that, according to _ancient custom_, each man provide himself in his province with food for three months, and with arms and clothing for half a year[11]." It may be inferred from this order, that the prince trusted, for the last three months' sustenance of his troops, to the maxim always so much in favour with conquerors, that war should be made to maintain war.

In England, the Teutonic adventurers, when by many a fierce battle they had established a footing, and by the league of many a tribe they had united themselves into a large and powerful community, seem to have divided their society into two classes,--the Eorl, or noble, and the Ceorl, or freeman. "Before the time of Canute," remarks Mr. Kemble, "the ealdorman, or duke, was the leader of the _posse comitatus_, or levy _en masse_, as well as of his own followers[12]." The only superior dignities were the king and archbishop. The subordinate commands were held by the royal officers, who led the nobles and their retainers; the bishops' or abbots' officers, who were at the head of the Church vassals; and the sheriffs, who conducted the _posse comitatus_[13]. No distinct intimation of the dress of the ealdorman has come down to us, but he probably wore a _beáh_, or ring, upon his head, the _fetel_, or embroidered belt, and the golden hilt which seems to have been peculiar to the noble class. The staff and sword were probably borne by him as symbols of his civil and criminal jurisdiction[14]. But the new constitution introduced by Canute reduced the ealdorman to a subordinate position. Over several counties was now placed one eorl, or earl, (in the Northern sense, a jarl,) with power analogous to that of the Frankish dukes. The king rules by his earls and húscarlas, and the ealdormen vanish from the counties. Gradually this old title ceases altogether, except in the cities, where it denotes an inferior judicature, much as it does among ourselves at the present day[15].

The _húscarlas_ were a kind of household troops, variously estimated at three thousand or six thousand men. They were formed on the model of the earlier _comites_, but probably not organized as a regular force till the time of Canute. To this prince, living as he was among a conquered and turbulent people, the maintenance of such a band, always well armed, and ready for the fray, was of the first necessity. Their weapons were the axe, the halbard, and the sword; this last being inlaid with gold. From the collocation of names among the witnesses to a charter of the middle of the eleventh century, we may infer that the _stealleras_, or marshals, were the commanding officers of the húscarlas[16]. In imitation of the king, the great nobles surrounded themselves with a body-guard of húscarlas, and they continued to exist as a royal establishment after the Conquest.

Like his ancestors, the ancient Germans, of whom Tacitus tells us, "nihil neque publicæ neque privatæ rei nisi armati agunt," the Anglo-Saxon freeman always went armed; a circumstance, however, that proves, not so much the extent of his freedom, as the smallness of his civilization. The ancient Egyptians, on the contrary, always went unarmed; and in the _Kristendom's Saga_ we read, that among the Icelanders, about 1139, so great was the security, that "men no longer carried weapons at a public meeting, and that scarcely more than a single helmet could be seen at a judicial assemblage[17]."

The mode of raising ships among the Anglo-Saxons we learn from an entry in the Saxon Chronicle under the year 1008:--"This year the king commanded that ships should be speedily built throughout the nation; to wit: from three hundred hides, and from ten hides, one vessel; and from eight hides, a helmet and a coat-of-fence."

On especial occasions, the ships of war appear to have been decorated in a very costly manner; as we may gather from the present of Earl Godwin to Hardecanute, described by William of Malmesbury:--"Hardecanute looking angrily upon Godwin, the earl was obliged to clear himself by oath. But, in hopes of recovering entirely the favour of the king, he added to his oath a present of the most rich and beautiful kind. It was a ship with a beak of gold, having on board eighty soldiers, who wore two bracelets on either arm, each weighing sixteen ounces of gold. They had gilt helmets; in the right hand they carried a spear of iron; on the left shoulder they bore a Danish axe; in a word, they were equipped with such arms, as that, splendour vying with terror, might conceal the steel beneath the gold[18]."

The military system of the Danes in their own country, and of their Scandinavian brethren, may be gathered from what we have told of the changes wrought in England by King Canute. By the laws of Gula, said to have been originally established by King Hacon the Good, in 940, whoever possessed the sum of six marks, besides his clothes, was required to furnish himself with a red shield of two boards in thickness (_tuibyrding_), a spear, an axe or a sword. He who was worth twelve marks was ordered to procure in addition a steel cap (_stál-hufu_); whilst he who was worth eighteen marks was obliged to have a double red shield, a helmet, a coat-of-fence or gambeson (_bryniu_ or _panzar_), and all usual weapons (_folkvopn_).

Italy, always the theatre of the most sanguinary wars, torn and wasted by the troops of pope and of emperor, and of its own citizens contending against each other; invaded and overrun by barbarian neighbours,--by the Hungarians on the north, and by the Saracens on the south,--presented a _mélange_ of warlike usages and warlike equipment in which the East and the West, the North and the South became intermingled in such a manner as to give to the whole country the appearance of a vast military masquerade; an _imbroglio_ which, in our time, it would be a useless attempt to resolve into its original elements. In the eleventh century, the consuls of the cities, succeeding to the functions which had been enjoyed by the dukes and counts, commanded the troops of their respective districts, and marched at their head, whether the expedition was undertaken under the banner of the emperor, or the result of a private dissension between two rival cities. The forces employed in these services differed in nothing from those of the west of Europe; the strength of the host consisted of the heavy-armed knights with lance and target, while the communal levy fought with such weapons as they could best wield or most easily obtain. The Hungarians, who overran the country as far as the Tiber on the north, and the Saracens, who harried the land to the south of that river, acted in small bodies of light cavalry, compensating by the rapidity of their movements for the inferior solidity of their armament. Before the expeditions of these marauders, the Italian cities had been open; but their depredations at length (that is, about the close of the ninth century,) caused the citizens to construct walls, to organize a communal militia for the defence of their homes, and to place officers selected from their own body at the head of their little armies.

From very early times, and almost throughout the middle ages, the clergy are found occasionally taking part in warlike enterprises;--one principal reason of which may have been, that, by personally heading their contingent, they escaped from the exactions and caprices of the vicedomini. Their presence in battle and siege is proved, not only by the direct testimony of cotemporary writers, but by the prohibitions that from time to time were issued against the practice. From Gregory of Tours we learn, that at the siege of Comminges by the Burgundian monarch, the bishop of Gap often appeared among the defenders of the town, hurling stones from the walls on the assailants. Hugh, abbot of St. Quentin, a son of Charlemagne, was slain before Toulouse, with the abbot of Ferrière; and at the same time, two bishops were made prisoners. The Saxon Chronicle, under the year 1056, says:--"Leofgar was appointed bishop. He was the mass-priest of Harold the earl. He wore his knapsack during his priesthood until he was a bishop. He forsook his chrism and his rood, his ghostly weapons, and took to his spear and his sword after his bishophood; and so went to the field against Griffin, the Welsh king: and there was he slain, and _his priests with him_." At the Council of Estines, in 743, it is forbidden "to all who are in the service of the Church to bear arms and to fight, and none are to accompany the army but those appointed to celebrate mass, to hear confessions, and to carry the relics of the saints." The Council of Soissons, in 744, records a similar prohibition against the abbots:--"Abbates legitimi hostem non faciant, nisi tantum homines eorum transmittant." The capitularies of Charlemagne contain similar ordinances: the priests are forbidden to combat "even against the pagans." The Anglo-Saxon clerics seem to have been no less belligerent than their neighbours; and Mr. Kemble sums up this part of the question in the following words:--"Though it is probable that the bishop's _gerefa_ was bound to lead his contingent, under the command of the ealdorman, yet we have ample evidence that the prelates themselves did not hold their station to excuse them from taking part in the just and lawful defence of their country and religion against strange and pagan invaders. Too many fell in conflict to allow of our attributing their presence on the field merely to their anxiety lest the belligerents should be without the due consolations of religion; and in other cases, upon the alarm of hostile incursions, we find the levies stated to have been led against the enemy by the duke and bishop of the district[19]."

If there were Churchmen whom it was difficult to restrain from fight and foray, there were, on the other hand, laics who sought to escape the service by donning the cowl or chasuble. A capitulary of Charlemagne was necessary to prevent certain "liberi homines" from becoming either priests or monks, in order to avoid the military duties attached to their station[20].

The matrons of the North appear occasionally to have taken part in the defence of their country. William of Jumièges, describing the resistance of the Normans to the attack of the English in 1000, writes:--"Sed et fœminæ pugnatrices, robustissimos quosque hostium vectibus hydriarum suarum excerebrantes." Wace, noticing the same event, says:--

"Li vieilles i sont corues,
O pels, o maches, o machues,
Escorciécs è rebraciées[21]:
De bien férir apareillées."

And the English sailors, on their return after the defeat of their soldiery, themselves describe them as--

"Granz vieilles deschevelées,
Ki sembloent fames desvées[22]."

As we have before seen, the tactics of the Northern nations were borrowed in a great measure from the Romans. As early as the time of Tacitus, the Germans disposed their troops in the form of the _cuneus_, or wedge: "Acies per cuneos componitur."--(_Germania._) And in the account given by Agathias of the battle of the Casilinus in 553, we are told that the wedge was still the arrangement adopted for the central division of the Frankish army, while the remainder was marshalled in two wings[23].

When a force of infantry had to contend against an army in which many horse were employed, they sought by serried ranks and by a favourable position to obtain the advantage over their enemy. This was the plan of the English at Hastings. A trench was before them,--

"En la champaigne out un fossé"--_Wace, Roman de Rou._

Behind which, says the _Carmen de bello Hastingensi_,--

"Anglorum stat fixa solo densissima turba."--v. 451.

And Henry of Huntingdon: "quasi castellum, impenetrabile Normannis." And again, Malmesbury: "All were on foot, armed with battle-axes; and, covering themselves in front by the junction of their shields, they formed an impenetrable body, which would have secured their safety that day, had not the Normans by a feigned flight induced them to open their ranks, which till that time, _according to their custom_, were closely compacted[24]."

As early as the middle of the eleventh century, it was sought to familiarize the Anglo-Saxons with the equestrian mode of warfare of their neighbours, the Normans. In 1055 the alien captain of the garrison of Hereford, Raulfe, directed the English to serve on horseback; which, says the chronicler, was contrary to their usage: "Anglos _contra morem_ in equis pugnare jussit[25]."

Omens in the earlier times, saintly relics in the later, were held in the highest estimation for the assurance of victory. The ancient Germans, as we learn from Cæsar, consulted their matrons as to the lucky hour for them to engage battle, and would not advance till the moon was propitious[26]. At the battle of the Casilinus, already noticed, some of the German auxiliaries of the Franks were unwilling to engage because their augurs had declared the moment to be unfavourable[27]. Gregory of Tours notices the custom of the Christian kings of France to seek a lucky omen from the services of the Church; and recounts that Clovis, arriving in Touraine on his expedition against Alaric, sent his retainers to the church in which the body of Saint Martin was deposited, in order to notice the words that should be uttered on their entry within the sacred walls. The king's satisfaction was extreme when the courtiers reported the passage of the eighteenth Psalm: "Tu mihi virtute ad bellum accinctos meos adversarios subjicis[28]."

Harold's "lucky day" was Saturday; on which he therefore fixes, to measure his strength with Duke William. Saturday was his birthday, and his mother had frequently assured him that projects undertaken on that day would bring him good fortune:--

"Guert, dist Heraut,----
Jor li assis à Samedi,
Por ço ke Samedi naski.
Ma mere dire me soleit
Ke à cel jor bien m'aveindreit."
_Rom. de Rou_, l. 13054.

Saintly relics were carried in procession to insure a successful expedition, or worn about the person of the combatant, or enclosed in a feretory and set up on the field of battle. Pope Gregory the Great included among the presents which he sent to Childebert II., certain relics which, worn round the neck in battle, would defend him from all harm: "quæ collo suspensæ a malis omnibus vos tueantur[29]." When Rollo, duke of Normandy, besieged Chartres, the bishop assembled the clergy and people, and--

"Traist horz entre sis mainz, d'une châsse ù el fu,
La kemise à la Virge.

* * * * *

Reliques è corz sainz fist mult tost avant traire,
Filatieres è testes et altres Saintuaires[30]:
Ne lessia croix, ne châsse, ne galice[31] en aumaire.

* * * * *

Li Eveske meisme porta _por gonfanon_
Li plus chières reliques par la procession."

The effect of all this upon Rollo was most startling:--

"Quant Rou si grant gent vei, si s'en est esbahi
De la procession ki de Chartres issi:
Des relikes k'ils portent, è des cants k'il oï;
De la Sainte Kemise ke la Dame vesti,
Ki Mere è Virge fu----
N'i osa arester, verz sis nés[32] tost s'enfui;
E, come pluséors distrent, la véue perdi.
Mez tost la recovra et asez tost gari."--
_Rom. de Rou_, vol. i. p. 81.

William the Conqueror and his barons, wanting a wind to invade England, addressed themselves to the monks of S. Valery; and--

"----unt tant li covent préié
Ke la châsse Saint Valeri
Mistrent as chams sor un tapi.
Al cors saint vinrent tuit orer
Cil ki debveient mer passer:
Tant i out tuit deniers offert,
Tot li cors saint en ont covert.
Emprez cel jor, asez briement,
Orent bon oré[33] è bon vent."--_Rom. de Rou_, ii. 146.

But the most curious accumulation of these "saintuaires" was on the field of Hastings, where Duke William had a portable altar, enclosing divers relics of saints and martyrs, other relics being suspended round his neck; while before him was borne a sacred standard which had been blessed by the Pope, and on his finger was placed a ring, (also sent by "the apostle,") in which was set, according to some evidences, one of the hairs of St. Peter; according to others, one of his teeth[34]:--

"L'Apostoile (li otréia,)
Un gonfanon li envéia;
Un gonfanon et un anel
Mult precios è riche è bel:
Si come il dit, de soz la pierre
Aveit un des cheveuls Saint Pierre."

Or, following another manuscript of the _Roman de Rou_,--

"----de soz la pierre
Aveit une des denz Saint Pierre."

In these days, when the shock of armies was not accompanied by the thunder of cannon, when the silent flight of the arrow, the hum of the sling-stone, or the whirr of the javelin, were all that preceded the hand-to-hand conflict, no small account was made of the various war-cries of opposing chieftains. And not only war-cries, but even songs, were employed to encourage the assailants or intimidate the foe; of which the Song of Roland, sung by Taillefer on the field of Hastings, is an example in the memory of every reader. Snorro, in the Heimskringla, has preserved a fragment of the improvised verses sung by Harold Harfagar, as, mounted on his black charger, he passed along the line of his troops previous to the battle of Stanford-Bridge[35]. The pagan Northmen invoked their divinities,--a practice that was continued, according to the chronicle of Wace, to the middle of the eleventh century; for, of Raoul Tesson at the battle of Val-des-Dunes, he writes:--

"De la gent done esteit emmie[36]
Poinst li cheval, criant _Tur aïe_[37]

* * * * *

Cil de France crient _Montjoie_.
Willame crie _Dex aïe_:
C'est l'enseigne de Normendie.
E Renouf crie o grant pooir,
_Saint Sever, Sire Saint Sevoir_.
E Dam As Denz[38] va reclamant,
_Saint Amant, Sire Saint Amant_."
_Rom. de Rou_, ii. 32, seq.

In the fight between Lothaire, king of France, and Richard I., duke of Normandy,--

"Franceiz crient _Monjoe_, è Normanz _Dex aïe_:
Flamenz crient _Asraz_ è Angevin _Valie_:
E li Quens Thibaut _Chartres et passe avant_ crie."--
_Ibid._, i. 238.

At the field of Hastings, the English--

"_Olicrosse_ sovent crioent,
E _Godemite_ reclamoent.
_Olicrosse_ est en engleiz
Ke Sainte Croix est en franceiz;
E _Godemite_ altretant
Com en frenceiz Dex tot poissant."--_Ibid._, ii. 213.

To complete our sketch of the Anglo-Saxon warrior, we may add that he wore both beard and moustache, neither of which were in vogue among the soldiers of Duke William. Wace has not omitted this point. The Normans--

"N'unt mie barbe ne guernons[39],
Co dist Heraut, com nos avons."--_Rom. de Rou_, ii. 174.[40]

Let us now examine a little more in detail the arms, offensive and defensive, of the various Northern tribes, at whose military institutions and practices we have taken so rapid a glance.

The SPEARS seem to have been of two kinds: the longer spear in use among the cavalry, or to be employed against them; and the shorter kind, which, as we have seen, might serve either as a javelin, or for the thrust at close quarters. In the accompanying groups of spear-heads, found in graves in different parts of Europe, we have collected the principal varieties of form[41]: the leaf-shaped, the lozenge, the spike, the ogee, the barbed, and the four-edged. These forms are infinitely varied in the monuments of the time, by giving to the weapons more or less of breadth or of slenderness. The blades are always of iron, and those found in England have a longitudinal opening in the socket. Their length is various, but they usually range from ten to fifteen inches. In the cemetery at Little Wilbraham, Cambridgeshire, the smallest found was two and a half inches, the longest eighteen inches[42]. In the Ozingell cemetery (in Kent), they occur of twenty-one inches in length[43]. The spear-heads of this period found in Ireland differ but little from the examples discovered in England and on the Continent. Those from the Ballinderry find, observes Mr. Wakeman, "are singularly like specimens found at Ozingell." In Anglo-Saxon interments, the spears occur in much greater numbers than any of the other weapons. The cemetery at Little Wilbraham produced thirty-five spears, but only four swords; and the axes, in all similar explorations, are of still greater rarity. These usual types of the spear-head found in Great Britain closely resemble those discovered in the graves of France, Germany, Denmark, and Switzerland. Numerous examples of them will be found figured in the Abbé Cochet's work[44], in Lindenschmit's Selzen Cemetery[45], in Worsaae's Copenhagen Museum[46], and in Troyon's _Tombeaux de Bel-Air_.

One of the first things that strikes the student in turning over the illuminated manuscripts of the Anglo-Saxons, and comparing their pictures with the relics procured from the graves, is the great frequency in the paintings of the barbed spear or _angon_, and its extreme rarity in real examples. We have already seen, in the description of Agathias, that this weapon was employed with fearful effect by the Franks in the seventh century; and the constant occurrence of it in the vellum-paintings of a later date, leaves us no room to doubt that it was a familiar form to our Teutonic ancestors. Yet its occurrence in the graves is of the greatest rarity. We have given, in our plate of spears, figure 17, a specimen of the barbed javelin, forming part of the Faussett Collection, found in 1772 in a grave on Sibbertswould Down, in Kent. Its length is eleven inches. Figure 23 in the same plate is from Mr. Wylie's paper in the Archæologia, (vol. XXXV.); the original, of iron, and in length sixteen inches, was found in a Norwegian tumulus. Mr. Wylie has also engraved another example, preserved in the _Musée de l'Artillerie_ at Paris, said to have been procured from a Merovingian grave. In the Abbé Cochet's work (Plate XVI.) is figured another specimen, from a grave at Envermeu, the length of which is five inches; the barbs spreading out widely on each side, exactly in the manner of the royal "broad-arrow." Several examples are given in Worsaae's Copenhagen Museum, p. 69; one of which differs from the rest in having the barb on one side only, the other side being leaf-shaped. The barbed spear or javelin has also been found at Mainz, Darmstadt, and Wiesbaden[47]; but in all cases it occurs in very small proportion to the other weapons discovered.

The four-edged spear-head is of still greater rarity. In the graves opened by Mr. Wylie at Fairford, in Gloucestershire, one of these curious weapons was obtained; which we have copied from the volume describing this find[48], in our plate of spears, fig. 18. It is of iron, sixteen and a half inches in length, and two inches across at the broadest part. "It reminds one," remarks Mr. Wylie, "of the spear of Thorolf in Eigil's Saga:" "Cujus ferrum duas ulnas longum, in mucronem _quatuor acies habentem_, desinebat." These four-edged weapons are of the highest antiquity;--compare those of the Egyptians, figured and described in Sir Gardner Wilkinson's work[49].

Another variety, found at Douvrend, and figured at page 283 of _La Normandie Souterraine_, has a leaf-shaped blade with recurved hooks at the socket end. Mr. Wylie has given this example in his paper in the Archæologia, (vol. xxxv. p. 48,) and considers it to be the weapon named by Sidonius as forming part of the Frankish warrior's equipment: "_lanceis uncatis_, securibusque missilibus dextræ refertæ." Four other examples of this spear were found in the valley of the Eaulne[50].

Occasionally the spear-head was formed with its two sides on different planes; with the object, as it would appear, of giving a rotary motion to the weapon when used as a javelin. Two examples of this construction are described and engraved in the account of the excavations, by Mr. Akerman, at Harnham Hill, near Salisbury[51].

The spear-head was generally attached to its shaft by means of rivets passing through the socket into the wood beneath. Sometimes, in lieu of the socket, there was a spike at the base of it, which was driven _into_ the wood, as in one of the Livonian examples, now in the British Museum, and figured in Dr. Bähr's work, _Die Gräber der Liven_. Sometimes, again, a ferule of bronze or iron was added to the socketed spear-head at its junction with the staff, as in the example in Mr. Rolfe's museum, at Sandwich, obtained from the Ozingell graves, and figured on our Plate II., fig. 6. In this instance the ferule was of bronze. One of iron occurred in the cemetery at Linton Heath, Cambridgeshire, (figured in Archæol. Journal, vol. xi. p. 106). In manuscript illuminations the spear-head of the Anglo-Saxons is constantly represented with one or more cross-bars at the base of the blade. A spear of iron having a cross-piece of analogous form was found among Anglo-Saxon relics near Nottingham in recent excavations, and has been added to the Tower Collection. It is engraved in the Archæological Journal, vol. viii. p. 425. Similar examples are figured in the Illustrated Catalogue of Mr. Roach Smith's Museum, p. 103.

The shaft itself appears to have been generally of ash. Portions of the wood have been found at Wilbraham, at Ozingell, at Northfleet, and other places. Some of that from Northfleet, having been examined by Professor Lindley and by Mr. Girdwood, has been pronounced to be undoubtedly ash[52]. The general use of this wood is strikingly confirmed by several passages in "Beowulf," that curious Anglo-Saxon poem which the concurring opinion of the best Northern scholars has assigned to the close of the eighth century:--

"Their javelins piled together stood,
The seamen's arms, of ashen wood."--_Line_ 654.

And again, line 3535:--

"Thus I the Hring-danes
for many a year
governed under heaven
and secured them with war
from many tribes
throughout this earth
with spears and swords."
(_Æscum and ecgum._)

In this passage, _æscum_, ash, is put for the spear itself. Mr. Roach Smith has collected several other instances of a similar kind. "In Cædmon, the term _æsc-berend_, or spear-bearer, is applied to a soldier." In the fragment of the poetical "History of Judith" we have _æsc-plega_, the play of spears, as a poetic term for a battle. So we have _æsc-bora_, a spear-bearer; and in the Codex Exoniensis, _æsc-stede_, a field of battle. And again, in "Beowulf:"--

"_Eald Æsc-wiga._"
Some old spear-warrior[53].

In the eleventh century we find the ashen spear again mentioned. Robert of Aix, describing the knights his companions in the First Crusade, says: "Hastæ _fraxineæ_ in manibus eorum ferro acutissimo præfixæ sunt, quasi grandes perticæ[54]." The Abbé Cochet, however, describes the remains of a lance-shaft found at Envermeu as being of oak; black with age, and of an extreme hardness[55].

The staves were sometimes of a rich and costly character. The heriot of the Anglo-Saxon Wulfsige consisted of two horses, one helmet, one byrnie, one sword, and a spear twined with gold[56].

The spear-staves deposited in the graves are necessarily of the shorter kind: the length of the entire weapon being about six feet; a fact easily ascertained by measuring the distance from the blade to the iron shoe, where that is found. This iron shoe is generally a hollow spike, into which the wood was fitted; as in that of the "Fairford Graves," Plate XI.; the one from Northfleet, (figured in the Journal of the Archæological Association, vol. iii.); and another in the Faussett Collection, found at Ash-by-Sandwich. Sometimes it was a button, to be driven into the shaft by means of a nail issuing from its centre. An example of this variety is engraved in the _Nenia Britannica_ of Douglas.

Those who used the shorter spear or javelin were provided with several of these weapons, which they hurled successively at the enemy. In Harleian MS., No. 603, folio 30[57], may be seen a spearman holding three lozenge-headed javelins. Cædmon's Paraphrase (Archæologia, vol. xxiv. Plate LV.) has a figure carrying three barbed javelins (_angones_). In Harl. MS., 603, folio 56^b, the Destroying Angel has three barbed spears, one of which is represented in its flight, another poised in the right hand, ready to follow, while the third is held in the left hand, to be employed in its turn. This curious example has been figured by Mr. Akerman, to illustrate his paper, "On some of the Weapons of the Celtic and Teutonic Races," in vol. xxxiv. of the Archæologia.

Vegetius (lib. i. c. 2.) tells us that, in his day, the barbarians were armed with two or three javelins, a weapon which had fallen into disuse among the Romans. In the Bayeux tapestry there are figures of the Anglo-Saxons furnished with three or four of these missiles. Even in the graves of these people, the spears are sometimes found in pairs. Sir Henry Dryden, in his explorations at Marston Hill, in Northamptonshire, met with two warriors having two spears each. And the Hon. Mr. Neville found at Little Wilbraham, in Cambridgeshire, another example of a similar kind. The Wilbraham Cemetery disclosed another curious usage. Where cremation had been employed, spear-heads (and knives also) were in several cases discovered in the urns. Kings as well as their followers were buried with their weapons beside them. The spear-head found in the tomb of Childeric, which is of lozenge form, is engraved in the _Milice Françoise_ of Father Daniel. This tomb was discovered in 1655, and the weapons found in it are preserved in the Imperial Library at Paris[58].

A singular usage appears to have prevailed when the spear and the axe were deposited in the same grave. The spear in this case was reversed,--the point at the feet of the warrior. Examples of this practice have been observed in Normandy, at Mondorf, and at Selzen[59]. At Wilbraham, spear-heads were found at the feet[60].

The pagan Northmen sought to enhance the value of their arms by referring their fabrication to weapon-smiths of a preternatural power. The Christianized Germans of the tenth century obtained a similar result by the employment of iron from the reliquary. At the coronation of the Emperor Otho the Great, in 961, Walpert, archbishop of Milan, presided at the solemnities: the prince placed on the altar of Saint Ambrose all the royal insignia; the lance, of which the head had been forged out of one of the nails of the true cross, the royal sword, the axe, the belt, and the royal mantle. After some intervening ceremonies, he was again armed with the weapons which had been laid upon the altar, and the archbishop placed on his head the iron crown of Lombardy[61].

Not the least interesting among the many singular objects discovered by the Abbé Cochet in his researches in Normandy, is the little silver coin containing the portrait of "un guerrier frank debout." In his right hand the warrior carries his lance, while the left appears to hold the well-known round target of his time. This curious little relic is engraved on page 359 of the _Normandie Souterraine_.

The SWORDS of the ante-Norman period may be divided into three classes: the earlier broadsword without cross-piece, straight, double-edged, and acutely pointed; the later sword, similar in fashion to the above, but having a guard, or cross-piece; and the curved weapon with a concave edge, called in Anglo-Saxon the _seax_; the _sica_ of classical times. The first has become familiar to us from the numerous examples procured from the graves of France, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, and England. This type agrees exactly with the description left us by Sidonius Apollinaris; who, recording a victory obtained by the Franks over the Goths, has this passage: "Alii hebetatorum cæde gladiorum latera dentata pernumerant. Alii _cæsim atque punctim_ foraminatos circulos loricarum metiuntur[62]." We have engraved, figure 1 of our plate of swords, a fine specimen of this kind of weapon, which was found among the "Fairford Graves." It is nearly three feet in length (the usual size of these swords), and when dug up, had fragments of the wood and leather which once formed its scabbard, still adhering to the iron. Other examples discovered in England are engraved in Mr. Neville's "Saxon Obsequies," Mr. Akerman's "Pagan Saxondom," and in the account of the Ozingell Cemetery[63]. German specimens appear in the "Selzen Cemetery," Swiss in the _Tombeaux de Bel-Air_, Danish in the "Copenhagen Museum," p. 66, and Frankish in _La Normandie Souterraine_. The Irish swords are shorter than others of this date,--not exceeding thirty inches,--as we learn from the researches of Mr. Wakeman[64]. That this sword of the earlier Iron Period resembled the anterior bronze sword in being without cross-piece, seems clear from two facts. Firstly, no such provision (except in one or two isolated cases) is found to accompany the weapons disclosed by the graves; secondly, it has been remarked, that in many instances, where the wood of the handle and that of the sheath remain, they approach so closely together, that there is no space left for any intervening appendage.

The sword with cross-piece appears to belong to the later Iron Period. When real examples are found in this country, and in others early Christianised, they are generally dredged from the beds of rivers, or turned up among old foundations; though in states where paganism held a longer sway, they are obtained from the graves. Two very early English specimens are figured in the "Pagan Saxondom:" one found at Gilton, in Kent, and now in Mr. Rolfe's Museum; the other found at Coombe, in Kent, and preserved in the collection of Mr. Boreham. The cross-piece in these examples has projected but little beyond the edges of the blade. From specimens given in our plates, and from the numerous representations of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, we see that the guard eventually became a much more prominent feature of the Northern brand.

The third variety of the Anglo-Saxon sword, the _seax_, which Mr. Kemble[65] defines to be "ensis quidam curvatus," is apparently that old Thracian weapon, the _sica_, which among the Romans was in such little repute, that _sicarius_ came to mean a bandit, or an assassin. The Anglo-Saxon curved sword never appears in their book-paintings, and has not been found in their graves. But in the Copenhagen Museum is a weapon which seems exactly to answer this description of the Northern _seax_. It is engraved in Mr. Worsaae's "Illustrations of the Copenhagen Museum," p. 97, fig. 384.

The handle of the earlier sword appears often to have been a mere haft, like that of our knives; sometimes it had a pommel. The later sword-handle consisted of grip, pommel, and cross-piece. The grip seems to have been commonly of wood, and it is not unusual to find portions of this wood still adhering to the tang of those swords which have been recovered from the graves. Part of such a hilt, found at Northfleet, in Kent, was submitted to the examination of Professor Lindley, and pronounced to be pine. Mr. Worsaae is of opinion that the Danish swords had the handle covered with "wood, leather, bone, or horn; which, however, is now consumed[66]." Mr. Wakeman tells us that some of the Ancient-Irish iron swords "have been found with the handle of bone remaining." Generally the cross-bar was straight; but sometimes it curved towards the blade; as in Cott. MSS., Tiberius, C. vi. fol. 9; Cleopatra, C. viii., in many places; in that fine sword found in the river Witham, and preserved in the British Museum; in the sword discovered in a tumulus in Lancashire (engraved in Archæol. Journal, vol. vi. p. 75); and in the examples given in our plate of swords, figs. 9, 10, 11, from Dr. Bähr's Livonian Collection. These cross-pieces of metal were often, as well as the pommels, richly decorated. The specimen from the Witham, named above, has both pommel and guard, which are of iron, inlaid with gold and copper in a pattern of lozenges. The most usual forms of the pommel were trefoil, cinquefoil, hemispherical, round, and triangular. To some a little ring was added, probably to attach a sword-knot; as in the example already noticed from Gilton, and figured in the "Pagan Saxondom." Of the other kinds named above, the first four occur constantly in the miniatures of Anglo-Saxon books, and it is difficult to understand on what grounds the swords with foliated pommels, when found in this country, are so generally assigned to the Danes. The triangular pommel is more rare. In our plate, fig. 7, we give an example in an ancient Norwegian sword in the possession of Dr. Thurnum. It is entirely of iron, measuring 3 feet, 1-1/2 inches. A sword of similar form is engraved in Worsaae's "Copenhagen Museum," p. 97.

That the sword-hilts were occasionally of a costly character, we have the concurring testimony of ancient charters, poets, chroniclers, and of the graves. The poetical Edda records that Gunnar, a _regulus_ of Germany, replied to the messenger of Attila,--"Seven chests have I filled with swords; each of them has a hilt of gold: my weapon is exceedingly sharp; my bow is worthy of the bench it graces; my byrnies are golden; my helmet and white shield came from the hall of Kiars[67]." Kiars was a _regulus_ of Gaul. In "Beowulf" (line 1338), the "Great Prince" delivers into the keeping of his servant "his ornamented sword, the costliest of blades" (_irena cyst_). Again: "The son of Healfdene gave to Beowulf a golden ensign, as the reward of victory; a treasure with a twisted hilt, a helm and byrnie, a mighty valued sword many beheld borne before the warrior." (Line 2033.) At line 3228, we have "the hilt variegated with treasure;" and afterwards (line 3373,) we read of a "sword, the costliest of irons, with twisted hilt, and variegated like a snake." In this passage, both sword and simile are curiously illustrative of the ornamental art of the Anglo-Saxons, of which so many examples have come down to us. A document of the early part of the tenth century, given in Mr. Thorpe's "Anglo-Saxon Laws[68]," distinguishing between the _eorl_ and the _ceorl_, declares, that if the latter "thrive so well, that he have a helm and byrnie, and a sword ornamented with gold, if he have not five hides of land, he is notwithstanding a ceorl." We have already seen that Canute's huscarlas were armed "with axes, halbards, and swords inlaid with gold." Eginhard tells us that the belt of Charlemagne was "of gold or silver, and the hilt of his sword was made of gold and precious stones." And of the splendid galley fitted out by Earl Godwin, as a present to Hardiknut, we are told that the warriors had "swords whose hilts were of gold."