These were the usual weapons of the Northern nations: these are seen in their pictures, are named in their laws, are described in their Sagas, are found in their graves. But other arms appear to have been of occasional employment: the mace, the pike, the sling, the stone-hammer, the "morning-star," the fork, and the bill. The Mace is seen in the hands of the Anglo-Saxons (as well as of the Normans) in the Bayeux tapestry; and it seems not unlikely that those dentated hoops of bronze[94] which have been found both in England and on the Continent were the heads of similar weapons; for it must not be forgotten that, even in the "Iron Period," objects of bronze continued in use. From the inexhaustible Wace we learn that the "vilains des viles" who joined Harold's army,—

It will be remembered that the mace is a weapon of the most remote antiquity, and is found, almost identical in form with those of the Northern nations, among the monuments of the ancient Egyptians and Assyrians.

The Stone-Hammer appears to have been employed by the troops of Harold. William of Poictiers says: "Jactant cuspides ac diversorum generum tela, sævissimas quasque secures, et lignis imposita saxa[98]." Of the Bill, an example occurs in the fine Anglo-Saxon Benedictional of Rouen: it closely resembles the common long-handled hedging-bill of our own day. The Morning-star, an instrument formed of a ball of metal (sometimes spiked) attached by a chain to a short staff, after the manner of a whip, is believed to have been another of the arms of this period. Dr. Bähr found the head of one of these in his Livonian researches; a complete one, of bronze, (here engraved) was discovered at Mitau. Professor Thomsen mentions also a bronze specimen, in his account of the Copenhagen Museum. The Sling, according to the opinion of the Père Daniel, was employed by the Franks in intrenched positions and beleaguered towns[99]. This ancient instrument, which is found in Egyptian[100] and Assyrian[101] monuments, was certainly in use among the Anglo-Saxons, whether for warfare or the chase alone, it is not easy to determine. The figure here engraved is that of David, from the Anglo-Saxon and Latin Psalter of Boulogne. See also the slinger in Strutt's Horda, Plate xvii., from Cotton MS., Claudius, B. iv., and Plate iii. of Stothard's Bayeux Tapestry. In the Copenhagen Museum are sling-stones, "either with a groove cut round the middle, or with two grooves cut cross-wise; having, in the latter case, the shape of a ball somewhat flattened." It does not appear that the Northern nations used leaden pellets; as the Greeks and Romans did, inscribing them with a thunderbolt, or some quaint sentence, as "Take this."

had its edge "stained with poisonous twigs." This, indeed, is the evidence of a poet: but the Salic Law, as we have seen, speaks of "sagittæ toxicatæ[102]." And Gregory of Tours tells us, of Fredegonda: "Fredegundis duos cultros ferreos fieri præcipit, quos etiam caraxari profundiùs et veneno infici jusserat, scilicet si mortalis adsultus vitales non dissolveret fibras vel ipsa veneni infectio vitam possit velociùs extorquere[103]." And again, the same writer speaks of these poisoned daggers, or scramasaxi: "Cum cultris validis quos vulgò scramasaxos vocant, infectis veneno, utraque latera ei feriunt[104]."

Let us now examine, as far as we are enabled to do so, what was the Teutonic warrior's defensive equipment. The structure of the Body-armour can only be inferred from indirect evidences; for the vague terms of the writers, such as lorica and byrnie, and the rudely conventional forms of the painters, who indicated a tree by a cluster of three or four leaves, and a coat-of-fence by a few circles penned on the parchment or punched on the bronze, afford us little help in determining with exactness how the armour-smith achieved his task. It is curious that the best testimony we obtain is that of the poets. A simile or an epithet lets in more light than all the limners and all the historians. It seems clear that in the earlier days of Northern rule, none but leaders wore body-armour; but, as years rolled on, and prosperity increased, the subaltern ranks affected this distinction. As we have already shewn (page 38), the Ceorl vied with the Eorl in the richness and completeness of his equipment; and at length, under the rule of Charlemagne, the troops of the Count, as we have seen, are all required to have defensive armour: "Omnis homo de duodecim mansis, bruniam habeat." Those who had not this amount of land, clubbed together and furnished amongst them the panoply in which one of their number went forth to the host. Was this byrnie of interlinked chain-mail? The Anglo-Saxon poem of "Beowulf" may throw some light on the question:—

"The war-byrnie shone, hard (and) hand-locked (heard hond-locen); the bright ring-iron sang in their trappings when they proceeded to go forward to the hall, in their terrible armour."—Canto i. line 640.

"Beowulf prepared himself, the warrior in his weeds, he cared not for life: the war-byrnie, twisted with hands (hondum ge-broden), wide and variegated with colours, was now to try the deep," &c.

Canto xxi. line 2882.

In Canto xxii. we have,—"the war-dress, the locked battle-shirt." ... "On his shoulder lay the twisted breast-net (breost-net broden) which protected his life against point and edge." ... "his war-byrnie, his hard battle-net (here-net hearde)."

If there is meaning in words, surely "the twisted breast-net," the "hard battle-net," the "locked battle-shirt," the "byrnie twisted with hands," the "war-byrnie, hard and hand-locked," can mean nothing but the hauberk of interlinked chain-mail; that garment which, we have so often been told, came to us at some unknown time, from some unknown people, dwelling in some unknown region of the East. If this fabric, which, for brevity, we will call chain-mail, came from the East, where are the eastern monuments that exhibit it? It is not seen in Egyptian, Assyrian, nor Indian sculptures or paintings; and the triumph-scenes of these nations represent in great diversity the numerous tribes of Asia. The same origin has been given to Cannon; but every one who has made any research in this direction knows that the Oriental derivation of this engine has not the smallest foundation in fact[105]. In the Volsunga Saga, a work of the eleventh century, we read that "Sigurd's sides so swelled with rage that the rings of his byrnie were burst asunder;" which could scarcely have happened (adds Von Leber, who notices this passage,) with a garment made of rings sewn contiguously[106]. The well-known enigma of Bishop Aldhelm, written in the eleventh century, so curiously illustrates our inquiry, that we shall be pardoned for reprinting it. It is headed "De Lorica:"—

A lorica formed of metal, without the aid of any texture of wool or of silk, could scarcely be anything else than a coat of chain-mail. We may further refer to the Bayeux tapestry (Stothard, Plate xvi.), where the pillards are appropriating the armour of the slain. The last figure in the second border of that plate is stripping the hauberk over the head of a fallen warrior; and, in thus turning it inside out, discloses the interior of the garment, which exhibits the ring-work exactly in the same manner as it is seen on the outside of others. At a later period, a similar evidence is afforded by the sculptured monumental effigies; the overlapping folds of the hauberk shewing the ring-work on the inside as well as on the outside. Figures of the thirteenth century in the Temple Church and in St. Saviour's Church, London, offer illustrations of this fact. Further instances may be found at Stowe-Nine-Churches in Northamptonshire, and at Aston, Warwickshire; and probably no English county is without similar examples. Compare also the curious fragment of chain-mail found at Stanwick, Yorkshire, and now deposited in the British Museum.

The defence made of iron rings, of which Varro attributes the invention to the Gauls, appears to be no other than the hauberk of chain-mail:—"Lorica a loris, quod de corio crudo pectoralia faciebant, postea succuderunt Galli e ferro sub id vocabulum, ex annulis, ferream tunicam." Whoever may have been the inventors of this armour, the probability seems to be that it came into use gradually: from its costliness and rarity, leaders only could at first obtain it; that, as handicraft improved, and the efficiency of the defence became acknowledged, its adoption was extended, and its costliness diminished. The notion, that in the thirteenth century the hauberk of chain-mail came suddenly and generally into use, is against all known precedent, and contrary to the natural course of human inventions.

Other kinds of body-armour were worn at this time. Charlemagne, as we have seen, was defended by a kind of jazerant-work. Ingulphus tells us that Harold, finding the heavy armour of his troops an incumbrance in their mountain warfare with the Welsh, clothed them in a defence of leather only. Something similar is seen in this figure from Cotton MS., Cleop., C. viii.

The coat here seems to be of hide, with the fur left upon it; a dress still in use among some of the Cossack soldiers of Russia. Wace appears to describe this garment, where, recounting the death of Duke Guillaume Longue-Espée by the traitorous Fauces, he says:—

Armour of padded-work, a defence of a very high antiquity, and of a very wide adoption, was also probably in vogue; and also coats covered with scale-work; but these are difficult to be identified in the monuments of the time. The hauberks of the Anglo-Saxons at the battle of Hastings are remarked to have been both short and small:—

In Anglo-Saxon illuminations, a very large majority of the fighting men appear to have no defensive armour at all but the helmet and shield; as in this example from a MS. of Prudentius, of the eleventh century, in the Tenison Library. The leg-bands seen on these figures, and on many others of the same period, were in common use among the soldiery. It is a fashion of which we find an early example in the calceus patricius of the Romans, and a remnant in the chequered hose of the Scottish Highlanders. Those of the Anglo-Saxons were generally wound round the leg, and then turned down and fastened below the knee. Sometimes they were tied in front; as may be seen in the Ethelwold Benedictional; and compare Stothard's Bayeux Tapestry, Plate iv. Henry of Huntingdon, who wrote in the beginning of the twelfth century, gives us incidentally the full arming of a warrior of the eleventh[107]. When Sigeward, duke of Northumberland, found death approaching him, not on the field of battle, but in the peaceful chamber, he exclaimed: "Quantus pudor me tot in bellis mori non potuisse, ut vaccarum morti cum dedecore reservarer. Induite me saltem lorica mea impenetrabili, præcingite gladio, sublimate galea: scutum in læva, securim auratam mihi ponite in dextra, ut militum fortissimus modo militis moriar. Dixerat: et ut dixerat, armatus honorifice exhalavit."

In the beginning, even the helmet was rare among the Teutonic tribes. Tacitus tells us, of the ancient Germans: "Paucis loricæ, vix uni alterive cassis aut galea." And Agathias in the seventh century mentions that few of the Franks had helmets. Leaders, however, wore them. Dagobert, in a contest with the Saxons, received a blow which, dividing his casque, carried away a part of his hair[108]. And when his father, Clotaire II., came to his relief, this latter prince placed himself on the bank of the Veser, announcing his arrival to the Saxon leader by taking off his helmet and displaying his long locks[109]. In the time of Charlemagne, as we have seen from his capitularies, the count is required to furnish troops who are provided with helmets. The fashion of these headpieces we learn from various vellum-paintings of a little later date. We find them to have been hemispherical, conical, of the Phrygian form, combed, and crested: sometimes of a complicated make, with a sort of crocketed ridge[110]; sometimes terminating in a kind of fleur-de-lis[111]. The figure here given from Add. MS., 18,043, a Psalter of the tenth century, affords a good example of the combed helmet. The personage represented is Goliath; and it may be necessary to add, in order to understand the girding of the sword, that the warrior presents his back to us. In lieu of the combed crest, the figure of a boar, sacred to the god Freya, was often placed on the helmets of the pagan Teutons; a practice which at length became so general, that the word eofor (boar) was poetically used for the casque itself. Thus, in "Beowulf:" "He commanded them to bring in the boar, an ornament to the head, the helm lofty in war:"—

Again: "The white helm covered the hood of mail, ... surrounded with lordly chains, even as in days of yore the weapon-smith had wrought it, had wondrously furnished it, had set it round with the shapes of swine, that never after brand nor war-knife might have power to bite it." (l. 2895.)

Here we see the particular object of this device: it was to act as a holy charm. In Canto 15, the boar seems also to be implied; and in this instance it is "fastened to the helm with wires." "About the crest of the helm, the defence of the head, it held an amulet fastened without with wires, that the sword, hardened with scouring, might not violently injure him when the shield-bearing warrior should go against his foes." Tacitus, in the Germania, has a passage curiously illustrating this superstition. The Æstii, he says, "Matrem Deum venerantur: insigne superstitionis, formas aprorum gestant. Id pro armis omnique tutelâ, securum Deæ cultorem etiam inter hostes præstat." Mr. Bateman, in opening a barrow in Derbyshire, was fortunate enough to meet with one of these Northern helms surmounted with the boar crest. The casque is made of iron and horn, with silver-headed rivets. The hog is of iron, having eyes of bronze. See Mr. Bateman's "Antiquities of Derbyshire" for a more full account of this curious relic[112]. The practice of adorning the helmet with a crest is of a very high antiquity, and is first observed among the Asiatics. The Shairetana, first enemies, then allies, of the Egyptian Pharaohs, "wore a helmet ornamented with horns, and frequently surmounted by a crest, consisting of a ball raised upon a small shaft, which is remarkable from being the earliest instance of a crest[113]." In the Assyrian monuments, the crested helmet is of frequent occurrence; the form of the crest being generally that of a fan, or of a curved horn, or a kind of crescent, with its cusps turned downwards. See Layard's "Nineveh and its Remains," for examples of all these.

In addition to the "white" (or polished) helmet named in a former extract from "Beowulf," we have, at line 5,226, a "brown-coloured" one, (brun-fagne helm). This may have been of leather, of iron bearing the stain of years, or even of bronze. On several occasions, relics of bronze have been disinterred which have every appearance of being the framework of helmets. These metal frames—for they occur of iron as well as of bronze—are presumed to have been fixed over a cap of leather. The example here engraved was found in 1844, on the skull of a skeleton exhumed on Leckhampton Hill, near Cheltenham. The material is bronze, but worked very thin. At the summit is a ring, and on one side appears a portion of the chain which seems to have fastened it beneath the chin. The ring may have served to attach a tufted ornament, or a grelot. A Livonian headpiece, engraved on Plate v. of Dr. Bähr's work, has a boss at the summit exactly similar to this, but with the addition of a grelot fixed to the ring. The bronze fragments found by Sir Henry Dryden in a grave at Souldern, Oxfordshire, appear to have formed part of a helmet like that before us[114]. The example of iron, already noticed, discovered by Mr. Bateman, is also of framework, though somewhat differing in pattern from the Leckhampton relic. Another iron framework helmet, of the thirteenth century, was found in an old fort in the Isle of Negropont, and is figured by Hefner in Plate lxiii. of his Trachten. Compare also Plate xxxiv., Part ii., of the same book[115]. The secretum engraved in vol. vii. of the Archæological Journal, page 305, is of analogous character: as are also the so-called Spider Helmets, and the "skulls for hats;" examples of which may be seen in the Tower Armories. But the most curious illustration of the purpose of the bronze relic represented in our woodcut, is the helmet proposed for the Royal Artillery in 1854. The metal framing of this was identical in arrangement with the ancient defence; consisting of a hoop encircling the head and two semicircular bands, crossing each other at the crown, and surmounted by a metal knob. The metal in this case was brass, and it did not greatly differ in substance from the ancient bronze. The cap beneath was of felt. In Anglo-Saxon illuminations, it is not unusual to see headpieces in which bands of gold-colour traverse a ground of different hue; and it seems not improbable that these examples may represent the kind of helmet under consideration. Similar banded casques occur in the Bayeux tapestry, in the pictures of the Painted Chamber at Westminster, and in other monuments. See also Archæol. Journ., vol. xii. p. 9.

The bronze helmet has also been discovered in Scotland. Dr. Wilson tells us that "part of a rudely-adorned helmet of bronze was found in Argyleshire[116]." Another bronze headpiece is preserved in the Copenhagen Museum, and Professor Thomsen mentions similar ones, "overlaid with gold." (Manual.)

A helmet of wood is mentioned by Wace as being worn by one of the Anglo-Saxon combatants at the battle of Hastings:—

A Norman knight attacked him:—

In book-illuminations of this period the helmet is frequently coloured yellow, which may either signify bronze or gilding. A crown is sometimes added, not in the case of kings alone, but of distinguished personages generally. One of the crowned figures in our woodcut, No. 13, represents the patriarch Abraham. The nasal appears to have been given to the helmet about the end of the tenth century: of which an early example is furnished in the figure of a warrior in Cotton MS., Tiberius, C. vi. fol. 9, a work of this period. By the middle of the next century, its adoption has become general, and in the Bayeux Tapestry it is worn equally by Norman and Saxon.

To a soldiery with whom body-armour appears to have been a secondary consideration, the Shield would be of the first consequence. We find, therefore, the Northern warrior seldom unaccompanied by this useful defence. Leader and retainer, horseman and foot-soldier,—all are equipped with the target. Its form was usually round, though in the pictures, being seen in profile, it often has the appearance of an oval. And, as the plump-cheeked houris of the East were called "moon-faced damsels," so the round targets of the Teutons were named by the poets "moony shields." They were convex, and in the centre was a boss of metal, generally terminating in a button or in a spike, but sometimes without either. The spiked shield was no doubt used as an offensive arm. The buttons are sometimes plated with silver, or tinned, as are the heads of the rivets remaining in the edge of the umbo. Across the hollow of the boss was fixed a handle of wood covered with iron; and by this handle the shield was held at arm's length, the hand entering the hollow of the boss: see woodcut, No. 13. In the Wilbraham Cemetery was found the umbo of a shield to which the handle was still attached by its rivets. (See fig. 10 of our xxth plate.) The shield was sometimes strengthened with strips of iron fixed across the inside; these strips being prolongations of the handle just described. Such a shield-handle was found at Envermeu by the Abbé Cochet, and is figured on Plate xvi. of his work. In this example the handle has a single strip on each side, running towards the edge of the shield. A similar one was found in a Merovingian cemetery near Troyes. In a Frankish grave at Londinières was discovered a variety of this type, in which the strips proceeding from the handle were three on each side, radiating towards the rim. This very curious example is engraved in the Normandie Souterraine, Plate viii. Others were found in the recent excavations in the Isle of Wight.

The body of the shield was usually of wood; the lime having a marked preference. Thus, in "Beowulf[123]," the heroic Wiglaf "seized his shield, the yellow lindenwood" (geolwe linde). And a spell preserved in Harl. MS., 585, f. 186, has:—

"I stood under my linden shield, beneath my light shield." In the Anglo-Saxon poem of "Judith:"—

In a fragment on the battle of Maldon:—

And the Saxon Chronicle tells us, in recounting the defeat of Anlaf in 937, how King Athelstan and his heroes

Leather was sometimes used in the construction of shields, as we learn from the Laws of Æthelstan, which forbid the employment of sheepskins for this purpose under a penalty of thirty shillings. In an example from the cemetery at Linton Heath, Cambridgeshire, the leather covering seemed to have been stretched over the iron umbo as well as over the wooden surface of the shield[126]. The edge was protected by a rim of metal. Portions of these rims have been found in the graves, both in England and on the continent; and as they present segments of circles, become of use in determining the shape of the shields themselves. In the Museum of Schwerin is an example of the metal rim which is complete: it is circular, and the central boss is also present.

The oval shield appears in a few examples only. One was found among the graves explored at Oberflacht, in Suabia; another is figured by Silvestre, (vol. i. pl. cxliv.) from a Longobardic miniature of the eleventh century; and a third occurs in the Bayeux Tapestry, Plate xvi. The surface of the Northern shields was painted in various fanciful devices, sometimes heightened with gilding. And, as Christianity was embraced by the various Northern tribes, the cross became a frequent decoration. The encomiast of Queen Emma, in describing the fleet of Canute the Great, says: "Erant ibi scutorum tot genera, ut crederis adesse omnium populorum agmina. Si quando sol illis jubar immiscerit radiorum, hinc resplenduit fulgor armorum, illinc vero flamma dependentium scutorum[127]."

Among the devices, there is nothing of a heraldic character, and even as late as the time of the Bayeux Tapestry, as Stothard has well remarked, "we do not find any particular or distinguished person twice bearing the same device[128]."

In the accompanying figure from Cotton MS., Cleopatra, C. viii., we observe that the Anglo-Saxon horseman carried his shield, when not in use, slung at his back. The knights of the fourteenth century carried their helmets in the same manner, as may be seen in the fine manuscript of the Roman du Roi Meliadus, Additional MSS., 12,228. Besides the ordinary Northern shields, we sometimes find them represented of so large a size as to cover the whole person. In Harleian MS. 2,908, fol. 53, are two such, but perhaps mere exaggerations of the draughtsman. Shields of this kind were, however, certainly in use in the East at an early date, and may be seen in Egyptian, Assyrian, and Indian monuments[129].

It has been conjectured that the bronze coatings of shields which have from time to time been discovered in this country, and commonly attributed to the Ancient Britons, may belong to the Anglo-Saxon period: while we admit this probability, we must not forget that they have not yet been found in the Anglo-Saxon graves.

The shields placed in the graves were the ordinary "lindens," of which no part commonly remains but the metal boss and handle. The chief varieties of forms offered by the bosses will be found in our Plates xix. and xx., figs. 1 to 10; all from English tombs[130]. Similar relics have been dug up in Scotland; of which No. 11 in our Plate offers an example. This was procured from a tomb in the county of Moray, accompanied with fragments of oak and remains of the hero's horse and its bridle. See Dr. Wilson's "Archæology of Scotland," to which we are indebted for this specimen. On the continent similar objects have been found, differing but slightly from our own examples. No. 12 is from the cemetery at Selzen, in Rhenish Hesse. No. 13 is from a Danish tomb. See also the examples given in Worsaae's Copenhagen Museum, p. 68. The shields of the Danes appear to have been ornamented with gold and colours, the favourite hue being red. In Sæmund's poetical "Edda" we read of a "red shield with a golden border," and Giraldus de Barri tells us that the Irish "carried red shields, in imitation of the Danes." Some of the Danish shields, like the weapons, were inscribed with runes[131]. In the tumulus opened at Caenby, in Lincolnshire, believed to have been that of a Danish viking, part of a wooden shield was procured, ornamented with plates of silver and bronze, bearing the serpentine and scroll patterns so characteristic of this period. These fragments are engraved in the seventh volume of the Archæological Journal.

The guige or strap by which the target was occasionally suspended from the combatant's neck, leaving the hands free to direct the steed or ply the weapon, appears (at least during the later days of Saxon rule) to have been in use among our countrymen, as well as with their Norman neighbours. Of Harold's nobles, Wace tells us:—

And in the Bayeux Tapestry, the kite-shield thus fixed may be seen on the English side.

The place occupied by the shield in the graves of the Frankish, Germanic, and Scandinavian heroes is by no means uniform. It has been found on the breast, on the right arm, upon the knees, and beneath the head. It is by the position of the umbo in the grave that this fact has been exactly ascertained. Examples will be found in the Ozingell Cemetery, in the explorations at Harnham Hill (Archæologia, vol. xxxv.), in the Selzen find, in the Normandie Souterraine, and in the account of the cemetery at Linton Heath (Archæol. Journ., vol. xi. p. 108).

The Horse furniture of the Northern cavalry appears to have been usually very simple. By referring to our engravings, Nos. 16 and 21, it will be seen that the saddle was provided with girth, breastplate, and crupper, the latter being fixed to the sides of the saddle: pendent ornaments are attached to the bridle, breastplate, and crupper. From the poem of "Beowulf" we learn that the war-horse was occasionally furnished with much costliness:—

"Then did the Refuge of warriors command eight horses, ornamented on the cheek, to be brought into the palace: ... on one of which stood a saddle variegated with work, made valuable with treasure: that was the war-seat of a lofty king when the son of Healfdene would perform the game of swords."—Canto 15.

A donation of the Anglo-Saxon king Ethelbert affords another example:—"Missurum etiam argenteum, scapton aureum, item sellam cum freno aureo gemmis exornatam, speculum argenteum, armilaisia oloserica, camisiam ornatam prædicto monasterio gratanter obtuli[132]."

As it was an occasional practice to bury the horse of the hero in the same grave with his master, the metal portions of the fitments have been preserved to our time. Examples of stirrups may be seen in the Annaler for Nordisk Oldkyndighed, in Worsaae's Copenhagen Museum, and in Die Gräber der Liven: all these are of a single piece, having a loop for the attachment of the leather. The bits are of two kinds,—snaffles with rings at the sides, and snaffles with long cheeks. The example here given is from a Kentish barrow opened by the Earl of Londesborough. A similar one is in the Livonian collection of the British Museum. Compare also the York volume of the Archæological Institute, page 29; Worsaae's Copenhagen Museum, pp. 70, 95 and 96; and M. Troyon's paper in the Archæologia, vol. xxxv. p. 396, and Plate xviii. The snaffle with cheeks was found among the Wilbraham relics[133], and occurs also in the Selzen Cemetery[134]. A very curious variety, in which the snaffle is of iron, while the cheeks are of bronze richly foliated, was discovered in an old fort at Lough Fea, in Ireland, and is engraved in the third volume of the Archæological Journal. In a tumulus opened in Denmark were found the remains of a bridle which had been covered with thin plates of silver.

A good example of the Anglo-Saxon Saddle, seen without the rider, occurs in Cotton MS., Claudius, B. iv.; which has been engraved by Strutt in the Horda. See also our cut from Cleopatra, C. viii. (page 77) where the breastplate, crupper, and single girth are very clearly made out.

The Spur of this period consisted of a single goad, sometimes of a lozenge form, sometimes a plain spike. The shanks were straight. The following illustration of the lozenge goad is from the bronze monument of Rudolf von Schwaben, in the Cathedral of Merseburg, a work of the eleventh century[135]. A very similar example, dug up in railway excavations near Nottingham, has lately been added to the Tower collection. This is of iron. Compare the Swiss specimen engraved by M. Troyon in vol. xxxv. of the Archæologia, Plate xvii. This also has a lozenge goad, but the neck of the spur is much longer. A Livonian example in the British Museum has the goad in the form of a plain quadrangular spike. The conical spike is seen among the Danish relics figured on pages 70 and 95 of Mr. Worsaae's "Copenhagen Museum." A very curious variety was found in the excavations of the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Linton Heath, and is figured in the eleventh volume of the Archæological Journal. The buckles in this specimen, instead of being attached to the strap, form part of the spur itself; being contrived at the ends of the shanks.

Among the many curious usages revealed by the examination of the ancient tombs, not the least singular is the practice of burying the equestrian warrior with a single spur. This fact has been noticed, not alone among the pagan Northmen, but as late as the thirteenth century; and it does not rest on the doubtful evidence of careless observers, but has been vouched by the testimony of skilful and practised archæologists. It has been further remarked that the spur, in all such cases, is attached to the left heel. M. Troyon, in his excavations in the Colline de Chavannes, Canton de Vaud[136], found three spurs, all of different sizes, which he therefore concludes "ont appartenu chacun à des cavaliers différents." At Bel-Air, near Lausanne, this gentleman found an interment where a single spur had been fixed to the left heel of the entombed warrior. And in a note to his interesting memoir on the exploration of the Colline de Chavannes, he says: "J'ai retrouvé quelquefois des éperons dans des tombes antiques, mais le mort n'en portait jamais qu'un seul, qui était fixé au pied gauche." The similar instance which has been noticed in an interment of the thirteenth century is that recorded in the fourth volume of the Archæological Journal, page 59. A knight of the Brougham family, found buried in the chancel of the church at Brougham, in Westmoreland, had a single iron spur "round the left heel." "No spur was found upon the right heel." This knight presented the further singularity of having been buried cross-legged[137].

However highly his steed might be prized by the Northern warrior, it was not alone in feats of horsemanship that he was required to excel. The youthful Grymr, in the old poem of "Karl and Grymr," "as he grew up, was accustomed to make his sword ruddy in the warlike play of shields; to climb the mountains; to wrestle; to play well the game of chess; to study the science of the stars; to throw the stone; and to practise such other sports as were held in estimation."

Olaff Trygvason, according to an old Norwegian chronicle quoted by Pontoppidan, "could climb the rock of Smalserhorn, and fix his shield on the top; he could walk round the outside of a boat upon the oars, while the men were rowing; he could play with three darts, throwing them into the air alternately, and always keeping two of them up: he was ambidexter, and could cast two darts at once with equal force; and he was so famous a bowman that none could equal him." At a little later date, Kali, an earl of the Orkneys, boasts of his acquirements:—"I know," says he, "nine several arts. I am skilful at the game of chess, I can engrave runic letters, I am expert at my book, I can handle the tools of the smith, I can traverse the snow on wooden skates, I excel in shooting with the bow, I ply the oar with address, I can sing to the harp, and I compose verses[138]."

In the tenth century, Richard, duke of Normandy