Chapter VII: Part II (3)

The Musical Instruments used in war were the horn, the trumpet, and a variety of the latter called the _graisle_. Wace mentions all these in his account of the battle of Hastings:--

"Dez ke li dous ost[235] s'entrevirent,
Grant noise è grant temulte firent.
Mult oïssiez graisles soner,
E boisines è cors corner."--_Line_ 13,135.

The horn of battle of this period is very clearly figured on folio 25 of Harleian MS. 603, a work of the close of the eleventh century. It is of the common semicircular form. The trumpet (boisine: buccina) is found, though in a monument of somewhat later date, on the inscribed slab of "Godefrey le Troumpour," now preserved in the library of the London Guildhall[236]. Compare also our woodcut, No. 73. The graisle (from _gracilis_) was, as its name indicates, of a slender form; its exact fashion has not been ascertained.

The Horse-furniture presents some new features; especially in the arming of the steed in chain-mail, a practice which appears to have originated towards the close of the twelfth century. Wace indeed tells us that William Fitz-Osbert, at the field of Hastings, rode a steed thus accoutred:--

"Vint Willame li filz Osber,
Son cheval tot covert de fer."--_Line_ 12,627.

But we may well believe that it was rather the necessity of a rhyme to "Osber" than the usage of the period, that gives us this iron horse at so early a date. Wace, writing in the second half of the twelfth century, appears merely to have availed himself of the usual license of middle-age authorities: to depict a past generation in the lineaments of his own. The practice of arming the horse does not seem to have become general till towards the close of the thirteenth century. A pictorial example of the trapper of chain-mail will be found in our woodcut, No. 86. The Saddle had a high pommel and cantle, as may be seen in our engravings of the royal seals of this period. In many examples of the Bayeux tapestry they form volutes, (viewed laterally,) exactly like the sides of an Ionic capital. The saddle-cloth does not appear in this tapestry, but it is found on the second seal of Henry I., on the seal of King Stephen, and on that of Louis VII. of France. In these examples it is quite plain; but later it acquires an ornamental character, as in the seal of Conan, duke of Britanny, c. 1165, (woodcut 41). It is of a more enriched pattern in the Great Seal of Henry II., here given.

No. 44.]

From Wace we learn that the girths and breastplate were named, in the "Romance" of that day, _cingles_ and _poitrail_:--

"Li peitral del cheval rompi,
E li dui cengles altresi."--_Rom. de Rou_, l. 14,674.

This poitrail has generally, in the period under examination, pendants attached to it, in the form of rounds,--perhaps grelots. See woodcuts 1, 25, 28 and 29.

Roman monuments offer similar examples, as in Trajan's Column, the Pillar of Antonine, and other remains, where the pendants are bells, crescents, trefoils, rounds, and guttæ. Such collars are found also in the paintings of the Ajunta Caves, where bells and rounds alternate. This monument is assigned to the first century of our era. In the curious Spanish manuscript, dated 1109, in the British Museum, Addit. MSS., 11,695, the circular pendants occur, attached not only to the poitrail, but to the saddle (fol. 223). The Bits used for the war-horse have long cheeks, which are often of an ogee form. The rein is generally quite plain, though sometimes ornamented with studs, as in examples in the manuscript last cited.

The Spur was still of a single goad, and fastened by a single strap. The form of the goad offers some variety: it is leaf-shaped, conical, lozenge-shaped, and sometimes consists of a ball from which springs a short spike. A variety is fashioned into a sort of button, having a slender spike in the centre. The first three kinds are seen in the Bayeux tapestry and many of the seals of the period. The ball-and-spike spur is well shewn in the effigies of Henry II. and Richard I. at Fontevraud, figured by Stothard in his "Monuments." The last variety may be seen in Addit. MS. 11,695, fol. 223. The shank of the spur is sometimes straight, as in Anglo-Saxon times: sometimes curved. The curved form appears in the sculptured effigies of King Henry II. and Richard I. The spur of Richard the First seems to have been attached to the strap by rivets.

The Caltrop, or _tribulus_, an instrument derived from classic times, was in use, but not of frequent employment. Anna Comnena tells us that the Emperor Alexis strewed them in the path of the French cavalry; and at a later period, we read of knights fixing their spurs point upwards in the way of their advancing enemy, after the manner of caltrops: but this cruel device appears to have been practised very rarely, and we may venture to believe that it was generally discountenanced as beneath the dignity and generosity of true chivalry. At a later period, caltrops were used to strew over the slope of a breach, to impede the advance of a storming party.

From a very curious passage in the _Roman de Rou_, we learn that the knight sometimes went to battle _tied to his saddle_:--

"Li reis aveit un soldéier,
Brun out nom, novel chevalier.
Sor son cheval sist noblement,
Apareillié mult richement.
A sa sele fu atachiez,
E par li coisses fu liez," &c.--_Line_ 16,064.

However strange such a device may appear, the mention of it by other ancient writers forbids us to regard it as a mere vagary of the poet. Matthew Paris, under the year 1243, recounting the irruption of the Tartars into Europe, says: "They have horses, not large, but very strong, and that require but little food, and they bind themselves firmly on their backs." And, in the fifteenth century, the writer of the life of Earl Richard of Warwick tells us that, at a justing-match, his hero was obliged to dismount from his horse, because some of his adversaries had accused him of being tied in his saddle.

For the Horse itself, Spain appears to have been in the highest favour for the purity of its breed. Walter Giffard had brought from Gallicia the steed on which Duke William rode at the field of Hastings:--

"Sun boen cheval fist demander.
Ne poeit l'en meillor trover.
D'Espaigne li out envéié
Un Reis, par mult grant amistié.
Armes ne presse ne dotast,
Se sis Sires l'esperonast.
Galtier Giffart l'out amené,
Ki à Saint Jame aveit esté."--_Rom. de Rou_, l. 12,673.

And in the well-known passage of the Monk of Marmoustier, where he describes the knighting of Geoffry, duke of Normandy, we are told that the young hero was "mounted upon a Spanish horse, which had been presented by the king."

How the horses of the knights were conveyed in ships and disembarked from the vessels, is curiously shewn in the ninth and tenth plates of the Bayeux tapestry.

Of the ENGINES employed in sieges, all those mentioned in our first division appear to have been still in use. The ancient Vinea (Cat or Sow) is frequently mentioned, and the moveable Tower, or _Beffroi_, becomes a prominent feature in all the great siege operations of this century. William of Malmesbury has left us an excellent description of these two contrivances in his account of the siege of Jerusalem[237]:--

"There was one engine which we call the Sow, the ancients, Vinea; because the machine, which is constructed of slight timbers, the roof covered with boards and wicker-work, and the sides defended with undressed hides, protects those who are within; who, after the manner of a sow, proceed to undermine the foundations of the walls. There was another, which, for want of timber, was but a moderate-sized tower, constructed after the manner of houses. They call it Berefreid[238]. This was intended to equal the walls in height. And now the fourteenth day of July arrived, when some began to undermine the wall with the Sows, others to move forward the Tower. To do this more conveniently, they took it toward the works in separate pieces[239], and putting it together again at such a distance as to be out of bowshot, advanced it on wheels nearly close to the wall. Meantime the slingers with stones, the archers with arrows, and the crossbow-men with bolts, each intent on his own department, began to press forward and dislodge their opponents from the ramparts. Soldiers, too, unmatched in courage, ascend the Tower, waging nearly equal war against the enemy with missile weapons and with stones. Nor indeed were our foes at all remiss, but trusting their whole security to their valour, they poured down boiling grease and oil upon the Tower, and slung stones on the soldiers, rejoicing in the completion of their desires by the destruction of multitudes. During the whole of that day the battle was such that neither party seemed to think they had been worsted. On the following, the business was decided: for the Franks, becoming more experienced from the event of the attack of the preceding day, threw faggots flaming with oil on a tower adjoining the wall, and on those who defended it; which, blazing by the action of the wind, first seized the timber, and then the stones, and drove off the garrison. Moreover, the beams which the Turks had left hanging down from the walls, in order that, being forcibly drawn back, they might, by their recoil, batter the Tower in pieces, in case it should advance too near, were by the Franks dragged to them, by cutting away the ropes; and being placed from the engine to the wall, and covered with hurdles, they formed a bridge of communication from the Tower to the ramparts. Thus what the infidels had contrived for their defence, became the means of their destruction; for then the enemy, dismayed by the smoking masses of flame, and by the courage of our soldiers, began to give way. These, advancing on the wall, and thence into the city, manifested the excess of their joy by the strenuousness of their exertions."

William of Tyre mentions also the use of the beffroi at the siege of Jerusalem; adding that the side towards the city was so constructed that a portion of it might be let down, after the manner of a drawbridge, thus enabling the assailants to enter upon the walls[240]. Philippe Auguste frequently employed this engine. At the siege of Château-Roux, in Berry,--

"Cratibus et lignis rudibus _Belfragia_ surgunt
Turribus alta magis et mœnibus."--_Philippidos_, lib. ii.

And again, at the siege of Radepont, in Normandy: "Erectis in circuitu _Turribus_ ligneis _ambulatoriis_, aliisque tormentis quam plurimis viriliter impugnavit et cœpit[241]."

King Richard I. constructed also in Sicily a wooden tower, which he afterwards carried with him to the Holy Land. After forcing the city of Messina, "the king," says Richard of Devizes, "having but little confidence in the natives, built a new wooden tower of great strength and height by the walls of the city, which, to the reproach of the Griffones, (Greeks,) he called _Mate-griffun_," (sub an. 1190). In 1191, "the king of England, about to leave Sicily, caused the tower which he had built to be taken down, and stowed the whole of the materials in his ships, to take along with him." And "on the third day after his arrival at the siege of Acre," continues Richard of Devizes, "the king caused his wooden tower, which he had named 'Mate-griffun' when it was made in Sicily, to be built and set up; and before the dawn of the fourth day the machine stood erect by the walls of Acre, and from its height looked down upon the city beneath. And by sunrise were thereon archers casting missiles without ceasing against the Turks and Thracians."

The name _Mate-griffon_ appears to be derived from the favourite game of the courtly in these days; "donner eschec et mat" being equivalent to the "check-mate" of our modern chess-players. Ordericus Vitalis has a passage curiously illustrative of this subject: "Castrum condere cœpit, quod Mataputenam, id est, devincens meretricem, pro despectu Haduissæ Comitissæ, nuncupavit[242]."

In 1160, the Emperor Frederick besieging Crema, in Italy, employed the beffroi, filling it with chosen troops. He placed crossbowmen on the upper story, in order that, shooting down upon the walls, they might clear the parapet of its defenders; while, from the lower stage, soldiers of tried boldness might fix their drawbridges on the wall, and advance to the capture of the city[243].

At this same city of Crema, in 1159, occurred an act of patriotism, admirable from the resolution which inspired it, though terrible in its consequences. The emperor advanced a Beffroi towards the beleaguered city, in front of which he placed the youthful hostages whom he had obtained from the unhappy Cremans, in hopes of thus forcing the inhabitants to a capitulation. But the citizens, regardless of all save their liberty, continued to ply their engines against the tower, though every stone that was cast forth fell in death among their children[244].

The siege of Ancona, in 1174, offers another instance of heroism in connection with the belfragium, more pleasing in its circumstances. The besieged had been successful in their endeavours to beat back the towers and scatter their occupants; but as these latter still kept up a steady discharge of missiles from a short distance, no one dared venture beyond the walls to set fire to the deserted structures. At last a widow named STAMURA, seizing a torch, advanced into the plain, and regardless of the storm of bolts and arrows that fell around her, steadily achieved the task she had undertaken, and having set the towers in flames, returned in safety to the city[245].

The siege of Ancona is further remarkable for the employment by the citizens of divers; who succeeded in capturing several of the vessels engaged in blockading the port. Taking advantage of a strong wind blowing from the sea, the divers contrived to cut the cables of seven of the Venetian ships, which then drifted helplessly ashore[246].

The _Vinea_ mentioned in a foregoing extract from Malmesbury, was called also the Cat. Thus Vegetius: "Vineas dixerunt veteres, quas nunc militari barbaricoque usu Cattos vocant[247]." Guillaume le Breton also mentions this machine and its use:--

"Huc faciunt reptare Catum, tectique sub illo
Suffodiunt murum."--_Philipp._, lib. vii.

While, from the Monk of Vau-de-Cernay we learn that the contrivance was of small dimensions: "Machinam quandam parvam, quæ lingua vulgari Catus dicitur, faciebat duci ad suffodiendum murum[248]." There were, however, varieties of the Cat, one of which was used to oppose the besiegers in the beffroi. Thus Radevicus: "Magnaque audacia, super muros et in suis machinis quos Cattas appellant, operiuntur, et cum (oppugnatores) admoverentur pontes, ipsi eos vel occuparent, vel dejicerent, murumque scalis ascendere nitentes vario modo deterrent[249]." And another kind was employed by the assailants in crossing the ditch[250].

The Battering-ram, according to Richard of Devizes, was employed by Cœur-de-Lion at the siege of Messina: "In the meantime, the king with his troops approached the gates of the city, which he instantly forced by the application of the Battering-ram, and entering within, took possession of every part, even to Tancred's palace and the lodgings of the French around their king's quarters, which he spared out of respect to the king."

Among the stone-throwing machines, the Mangona and the Mangonella are discriminated as casting, the former large, the latter smaller stones. The monk Abbo has already, in his account of the siege of Paris in 886, mentioned the

"Mangana----
Saxa quibus jaciunt _ingentia_."

Guillaume le Breton, in the _Philippidos_, tells us:--

"Interea grossos Petraria mittit ab intus
Assidue lapides, Mangonellusque _minores_."

Among the effects recorded of these great projectiles, we may cite the account of Otto of Frisinga, who tells us that when the Emperor Frederic attacked Tortona in 1155, a stone was cast from one of the periers of such magnitude, that, falling before the door of the cathedral, where three of the principal citizens were in deliberation on the best means of defending the city, it killed them all[251].

The term _mangonneaux_ is sometimes applied to the stones or other missiles discharged by the instrument. From the name _mangona_ our word _gun_ appears to be derived: a supposition that seems strengthened by the fact that the earliest "gonnes," like the mangonæ, were employed to cast stones.

The terrors of the balistæ were occasionally aggravated by their being made the instruments of a special vengeance. Thus Malmesbury informs us that, at the siege of Antioch in 1097, the Turks, irritated by losses sustained from the besieging Crusaders, "wreaked their indignation on the Syrian and Armenian inhabitants of the city; throwing, by means of their balistæ and petraries, the heads of those whom they had slain into the camp of the Franks, that by such means they might lacerate their feelings." A somewhat similar incident is reported by Froissart in his account of the siege of Thun l'Evêque in 1327[252]; so that these cruelties do not appear to be mere tales of credulous pilgrims, or inventions of monkish chroniclers.

Forts of wood were of occasional employment, the materials of which were transported from place to place, so that the structure might be speedily raised. Wace gives us a description of that brought over by William the Conqueror, and built up at Hastings:--

"Donc ont des nés mairrien[253] geté,
A la terre l'ont traïné,
Trestut percié è tut dolé:
Li cheviles tutes dolées
Orent _en granz bariz_ portées:
Ainz ke il fust bien avespré,
En ont un chastelet fermé."--_Line_ 11,658.

Mines were in use both by Richard I. and Philippe Auguste. At the siege of Acre in 1191, Richard attacked the city with archers and balistæ: "But more important than these," adds Devizes, "were the miners, making themselves a way beneath the ground, sapping the foundation of the walls, while soldiers bearing shields, having planted ladders, sought an entrance over the ramparts." The French king employed the mine at the siege of the Castle of Boves, as we learn from William the Breton. See also Rigord, page 185. The mines of these days were large caverns in which pillars of wood supported the incumbent mass. The posts being smeared with pitch and surrounded with combustibles, fire was then brought, and the stanchions being consumed, the walls fell in. With the mine came the counter-mine; an example of which occurs in the description by Guillaume le Breton of the siege of Château-Gaillard; where the English, countermining against the French, met them in their works and drove them back with slaughter:--

"Suffodiunt murum. Sed non minus hostis ab illâ
Parte minare studet factoque foramine nostros
Retrò minatores telis compellit abire."--_Philipp._, lib. vii.

Later, challenges were made, to be fought out in the mines, the combatants contending over a barrier of wood fixed in the midst. And Upton tells us that the aspirant to knighthood in a besieging army, no church being at hand, performed in the mine his vigil of arms.

While the besieging force plied their attack by means of the engines and mines already noticed, they had begun, in imitation of the ancients, to construct lines of circumvallation; in order at once to cut off the citizens from all communication with the open country, and to defend themselves against the sorties of the town. An example of this may be seen in the siege of Crema by the Emperor Frederic in 1159[254].

Under the general name of Hastilude (spear-play) were in use several kinds of MILITARY EXERCISES: the joust, the tourney and the behourd. "Torneamenta, justas, burdeicias, _sive alia_ Hastiluda[255]." The joust and the tourney were, in their primary sense, mere modes of attack. The joust was the charge of a single horseman against a single antagonist. The tourney was the onset of a troop, who, having made their charge, turned back to acquire the necessary speed for a fresh attack. At the siege of Rouen--

"Mult voissiez, forment armez, issir Normanz,
Querre tornoiement è joste demandanz,
E joster è férir de lances è de branz."
_Rom. de Rou_, i. p. 209.

Again, at the siege of Mount Saint-Michael,--

"Mult véissiez joster sovent,
E _torneier espessement_

* * * * *

Chescun jor, al flo retraiant,
Vunt chevaliers jostes menant."--_Ibid._, ii. p. 314.

The Behourd (_Bohordicum_) was an exercise with lance and target, of which the distinctive character has not been ascertained. "Trepidare quoque, quod vulgariter _biordare_ dicitur, cum _scuto et lancea_ aliquis clericus publicè non attentet[256]."

Military games, whose object was to familiarize the soldier in time of peace with the usages of war, had been long known. They were practised in classic times: they were in vogue, as Tacitus tells us, among the ancient Germans: they were pursued in Germany, as we learn from Nithard[257], in the ninth century. But that splendid and costly image of battle called a Tournament is not found earlier than the epoch which we are now considering. Several nations lay claim to its invention, but none offer such good proofs as the French. The Chronicle of Tours expressly says, under the year 1066: "Gaufridus de Pruliaco (Preulli), qui torneamenta invenit, apud Andegavum occiditur." And the Chronicle of St. Martin of Tours has a similar passage: "Anno Henrici Imp. VII. et Philippi Regis VI. fuit proditio apud Andegavum, ubi Gaufridus de Pruliaco et _alii barones_ occisi sunt. Hic Gaufridus torneamenta invenit." Matthew Paris, again, names the tournament "conflictus Gallicus." And Ralph of Coggeshall has: "Dum, more Francorum, cum hastis vel contis sese cursim equitantes vicissim impeterent."

Tournaments seem to have first obtained favour in England in the troublous times of Stephen[258]. They were, however, discountenanced by Henry II., and the young aspirants to military renown were forced to seek in other lands the opportunity of distinguishing themselves. "Tyronum exercitiis in Anglia prorsus inhibitis, qui forte armorum affectantes gloriam exerceri volebant, transfretantes, in terrarum exercebantur confiniis[259]." Under Richard I. they again began to flourish, and from that time to the end of the middle ages, though often discountenanced by kings and churchmen, they enjoyed the highest favour among all who practised or admired knightly deeds and military splendour. "After the return of King Richard to England," says Jocelin of Brakelond, under the year 1194, "licence was granted for holding tournaments; for which purpose many knights met between Thetford and St. Edmund's, but the Abbot forbade them. They, however, in spite of the Abbot, fulfilled their desire. On another occasion, there came fourscore young men with their followers, sons of noblemen, to have their revenge at the aforesaid place; which being done, they returned into the town to put up there. The Abbot hearing of this, ordered the gates to be locked, and all of them to be kept within. The next day was the vigil of Peter and Paul the Apostles. Therefore, having promised that they would not go forth, they all dined with the Abbot on that day. But, after dinner, the Abbot having retired to his chamber, they all arose and began to carol and sing, sending into the town for wine, drinking and then screeching, depriving the Abbot and convent of their sleep, and doing everything in scorn of the Abbot; spending the day, until the evening, in this manner, and refusing to desist, even when the Abbot commanded them. When the evening was come, they broke open the gates of the town and went forth bodily. The Abbot, indeed, solemnly excommunicated them all, yet not without having first consulted Hubert, at that time justiciary; and many of them came, promising amendment and seeking absolution."

The more regular tournaments, however, were controlled by royal ordinances. They were restricted in England to five localities: namely, between Sarum and Wilton, between Warwick and Kenilworth, between Stamford and Wallingford, between Brakeley and Mixeberg, and between Blie and Tykehill. And, as nothing in these days could be done without a fine to the king or a tax to the pope, every earl had to pay twenty marks for his privilege to appear as a combatant; every baron, ten; every knight having a landed estate, four; each knight without such estate, two; and all foreigners were excluded[260].

In France, under Philip Augustus, tournaments appear to have been held on a large scale, as Père Daniel has remarked, from the incident of Philip having suddenly procured at an assemblage of this kind, troops sufficient to repel an unexpected attack on Alençon[261].

It is not within the province (if it were in the limits) of this work, to give any detailed account of tournaments and their usages; for at this period and long after, the defensive armour used for the joust (as shewn by the pictorial monuments of the time) differed in no respect from that worn in battle[262].

In the curious sketch of London in the twelfth century by Fitzstephen, an eye-witness of the incidents he records, we have a spirited notice of the military exercises of the young citizens in these days. "Every Sunday in Lent, after dinner, a company of young men go into the fields, mounted on war-horses:--

----in equis certamine primis:

each of which

Aptus et in gyros currere doctus equus.

The lay sons of the citizens rush out of the gates in crowds, equipped with lances and shields (_lanceis et scutis militaribus_); the more youthful with blunt spears; and they engage in sham fights and exercise themselves in military combats. When the king happens to be near the city, most of the courtiers attend, and the varlets (_ephebi_) of the households of earls and barons who have not yet attained knighthood, resort thither to try their skill. The hope of victory animates every one. The spirited horses neigh; their limbs tremble; they champ the bit; impatient of delay, they fret and paw the ground. When at length

----sonipedum rapit ungula cursum,

the young riders, having been divided into companies, some pursue their fellows, but are unable to overtake them; others push their companions out of the course and gallop beyond them.

"In the Easter holidays they have a game resembling a naval conflict. A target is fastened to a post in the middle of the river: in the prow of a boat, driven along by oars and the current, stands a young man who is to strike the target with his lance: if, in hitting it, he break his lance and keep his position unmoved, he gains his point, his wish is fulfilled; but if his lance be not broken by the blow, he is tumbled into the river and his boat passes by. Two boats, however, are placed there, one on each side of the target, and in them a number of young men, to take up the tilter when he emerges from the stream. On the bridge and in chambers by the river-side, stand the spectators:--

----multum ridere parati.

"During the Summer holidays the young men exercise themselves in leaping, in archery, wrestling, stone-throwing, casting javelins beyond a mark, and in fighting with shields."

In the Winter, skaters, "binding under their feet the shin-bones of some animal, take in their hands poles shod with iron, which at times they strike against the ice, and are thus carried along with the rapidity of a bird on the wing, or a bolt discharged from a cross-bow. Sometimes two of the skaters having by mutual agreement placed themselves far apart, come together from opposite sides: they meet, and with their poles strike each other: one or both fall, not without some bodily hurt: even after their fall, they are carried along to a great distance from each other by the velocity of the motion; and whatever part of their heads comes in contact with the ice, is laid bare to the very skull. Frequently the leg or arm of the person who falls, if he chance to light on either, is broken. But youth is an age eager for glory and desirous of victory: thus, in order to distinguish themselves in real fight, these tyros contend with so much boldness in counterfeit battle."

Among the exercises glanced at in this sketch of the Londoner's sportive year, the Quintain is conspicuous. This was especially the game of the "non-noble," and might be practised either on horseback or on foot. The more ancient quintain was merely a post or a shield fixed on a pole, which the tyro attacked in lieu of a living antagonist. But a new element was soon given to the quintain, which at once brought it into favour with the populace: it was so contrived as to inflict summary punishment on the inexpert. To one kind, a bag of sand was fastened, which, whirling round from the force of the blow struck at the opposite end, buffeted the tilter who was not expeditious enough to get out of its way. Others were made in the form of a Turk, armed with sword and shield; and these, moving on a pivot as before, inflicted a smart blow on the lagging assailant. In another variety, a large tub of water was fixed on a post, which discharged its contents on the person of any clumsy jouster. Other kinds are described and figured in Strutt's Sports. And in the little village of Offham, in Kent, may still be seen an example of the quintain, which is fixed "opposite to the dwelling-house of the estate, which is bound to keep it up[263]." It now consists of a post, having a cross-piece moving on a pivot, terminating at one end with a broad perforated board, and at the other with a pendent log of wood. The log, however, seems to have been substituted for a "bag of sand," which is mentioned in old accounts of this relic.

"Besides the practice of feats of arms," says John of Salisbury, writing in the reign of Henry II., "the young knight should qualify himself for the duties of his station by a variety of toil and exemplary abstinence. From the beginning he must learn to labour, run, carry heavy weights, and bear the sun and dust: he must use sparing and rustic food: he must accustom himself to live in tents, or in the open air." Then, turning upon the luxurious and effeminate knights of his day, he upbraids them in a diatribe which gives us a singular picture of the manners of this age. "Some," he says, "think that military glory consists in the display of elegant dress, in wearing their clothes tight to the body, so binding on their linen or silken garments that they seem a skin coloured like their flesh. Sitting softly on their ambling horses, they think themselves so many Apollos. If you make an army of them, you will have the camp of Thaïs, not of Hannibal. Each is boldest in the banqueting-hall, but in the battle every one desires to be the last: they would rather assail the enemy with arrows than come to close fighting. Returning home without a scar, they sing triumphantly of their battles, and boast of the thousand deaths that wandered near their temples. If diligent idleness can procure any spears, which, being brittle as hemp, should chance to be broken in the field; if a piece of gold, minium, or any colour of the rainbow, by any chance or blow should fall out of their shields; their garrulous tongues would make it an everlasting memorial. They have the first places at supper. They feast every day splendidly, if they can afford it, but shun labour and exercise like a dog or a snake. Whatever is surrounded with difficulty, they leave to those who serve them. In the meantime, they so gild their shields, and so adorn their tents, that you would think each one, not a learner, but a chieftain of war[264]."

Built about 1150.

No. 45.]

PLATE XLVI.

KNIGHTLY EFFIGY in HASELEY CHURCH, OXFORDSHIRE.]

FOOTNOTES:

[152] The events depicted in the Bayeux tapestry have been carefully identified and described by M. Lancelot in the _Mémoires de l'Acad. des Inscrip._, viii. 602. This paper has been reprinted by M. Thierry among the _Pièces justificatives_ of his _Conquête de l'Angleterre_, vol. i.

[153] Antoine de la Sale, cited by St. Palaye, _Anc. Chevalerie_, i. 118.

[154] Liv. vi. c. 25.

[155] Vol. i. p. 70. See other Rolls of an early date in the _Traité du Ban_ of the _Sieur de la Roque_.

[156] Sub an. 1386.

[157] Henault, i. 177.

[158] New Rymer, vol. i. p. 37.

[159] Collect, des Ordonnances, viii. 640.

[160] Madox, Hist. Excheq., 435 seq.; Rigord, sub an. 1183. See also Du Cange or Adelung.

[161] Statute of Philip IV. sub an. 1285.

[162] Daniel, Mil. Fran., ii. 95.

[163] Figured by Daniel, by Lenoir, by Willemin, and by Guilhermy.

[164] Having hauberks.

[165] The shore.

[166] Lib. i. cap. 25.

[167] Répub. Ital., vol. ii. p. 84.

[168] Topographia Hiberniæ.

[169] Iter Cambriæ, c. 3.

[170] Philippidos, l. 5.

[171] Wilkinson, i. 356, ed. 1854.

[172] Of the Orkneys, says Hoveden; of Durham, according to Wendover.

[173] _Panza_, abdomen, alvus; whence _Panzeria_, lorica quæ ventrem tegit. Adelung. _Pansière._ Fr.

[174] Cited by Sir Frederic Madden in _Archæologia_, vol. xxiv. p. 259.

[175] Speculum Regale, p. 405.

[176] _Germ._ Iupe; _Fr._ Jupe.

[177] Noregs Konunga Sögor, iv. 298.

[178] Hoveden, sub anno 1175.

[179] Men of Poix, in Picardy.

[180] From _ingruens_.

[181] foulé.

[182] auprès de lui.

[183] Alexiad., bk. v.

[184] par ruse.

[185] charging impetuously.

[186] Henry of Huntingdon.

[187] Ordericus Vitalis, p. 769.

[188] Gaufridus Malaterra, lib. ii. c. 33.

[189] Wien's kaiserliches Zeughaus.

[190] Mem. de la Soc. Royale des Antiq. de France, iv. 277. Nouv. Série.

[191] Collections in British Museum, Add. MSS., No. 6731.

[192] Archæol. Journ., vol. ii. p. 409.

[193] Waller, Part xiii.

[194] Hollis, Part iv. Plate VII.

[195] Vocis etymon a veteri Germanico quidam accersunt, _Wamba_, venter; vel a Saxonico _Wamb_, quod idem sonat: ita ut _Wambasium_ fuit Ventrale, ventris et pectoris tegmen, quod Germanni _Wammes_ vocant.--Adelung sub v. _Gambeso_.

[196] Plac. Cor., 13 Edw. I.

[197] V^e. Livraison: Bible de St. Martial.

[198] Folio, 73 verso.

[199] _Trachten_, Part I., Plate XII.

[200] _Alexiad_, p. 397.

[201] Raumer's _Hohenstauf_: in Von Leber's _Wien's kaiserliches Zeughaus_, p. 507.

[202] Add. MSS., 14,789, fol. 10. The date appears in the colophon. The figures copied in our engraving form part of an illuminated letter: hence the constrained attitude of Goliath. David has in his left hand a sling; at his belt is the pouch for the sling-stones.

[203] See page 112.

[204] Paléogr. Univ., Pl. CLXXX.

[205] Alex., lib. xiii. p. 314.

[206] Will. of Malmesbury, Mod. Hist., bk. i.

[207] Eccl. Hist., lib. xi.

[208] Monum. Eff., p. 6.

[209] "Cujus genus avitum ob indignationem Normannorum, radere barbam contempsit."--Math. Paris, p. 127.

[210] "Recalcitrante Willelmo, cognomento _cum barbâ_."--Math. Paris.

"Cognomento _à la barbe_."--Math. of Westminster.

[211] shaft.

[212] briser.

[213] Hoveden, sub an. 1191.

[214] Blount's "Antient Tenures."

[215] Cap. 23.

[216] Sub an. 1348.

[217] Hist., p. 252.

[218] Waller, part ix.

[219] See Guiart, _Chron. Mét._, pt. ii. v. 10,518, and Froissart, vol. ii. p. 572, ed. Buchon.

[220] Sub an. 1194.

[221] Laws of Henry I., c. 88.

[222] Cap. 30.

[223] Philippidos, lib. ii.

[224] Philippidos, lib. 5.

[225] Arrow of the cross-bow.

[226] Chron., ed. Buchon, i. 237.

[227] Vol. iv. p. 264.

[228] Chron., i. 547.

[229] Malmesbury, lib. i. c. 4.

[230] Ordericus Vitalis, p. 501.

[231] Sub an. 1190.

[232] Henault, i. 179.

[233] Ord. Vitalis, lib. xi.

[234] His retainers; from _mansio_.

[235] les deux osts.

[236] Engraved in Boutell's Christian Monum., pt. i. p. 100.

[237] Sub anno 1099.

[238] Berfredus, belfredus, beffroi. See Ducange and Adelung.

[239] Compare Froissart, vol. ii. p. 444, ed. Buchon.

[240] Lib. viii. c. 12.

[241] Rigord.

[242] Lib. xii.

[243] Radevicus Frising., lib. ii. c. 59.

[244] Ibid., lib. ii. c. 47.

[245] Boncompagni Obsidio Anconæ, cap. iv. p. 931.

[246] Obsid. Anconæ, c. iv. p. 931.

[247] Lib. iv. c. 15.

[248] Hist. Albig., cap. xlii.

[249] Lib. iv. c. 63.

[250] See Adelung in v. _Catus_.

[251] De Gestis Frid., lib. ii. c. 17.

[252] Vol. i. p. 102.

[253] The timbers.

[254] Radevicus Frising., lib. ii.

[255] Charta Edw. I. apud Prynne, cited by Ducange.

[256] Concilium Albiense, cap. xv.

[257] Lib. iii. p. 27.

[258] See William of Newbury, lib. v. cap. 4.

[259] Newbury. This is confirmed by Hoveden.

[260] Harl. MS. 69.

[261] Milice fran., i. 124.

[262] All that may be desired on this subject will be found in St. Palaye's _Mémoires sur l'ancienne Chevalerie_, the treatises of Ménestrier, La Colombière, Honoré de Sainte-Marie, Favin, the _Thurnierbuch_ of Rüxner and Feyerabend, and of Schlichtegroll, Champollion's _Tournois du roi René_, Maximilian's Triumph, Ducange's notes to Joinville and article in Glossary, Adelung in v. _Torneamentum_, and Strutt's Sports.

[263] Hasted's Kent.

[264] Polycraticus, 181.