Examples of the Mantle worn over the armour are somewhat rare. The two following illustrations, from monuments of the twelfth century, exhibit this arrangement. The first is from a sculptured doorway of Ruardean Church, in Gloucestershire, and represents St. George. The cloak is here fastened by a fibula in front. The second subject is from an enamel preserved at the Louvre. The patriarch Abraham, armed as a knight, with hauberk and nasal helmet, has his mantle fastened at the right shoulder. Another subject from this enamel is engraved in the Revue Archéologique, vol. vi., page 99: Heraclius slaying Cosroes. "Eraclius Rex" is armed exactly like the figure of Abraham before us, and though engaged in the decollation of the infidel monarch, still retains the flowing and capacious mantle. See also, for the cloak of this period, our woodcut No. 36, and "Glossary of Architecture," vol. ii., Plate lxxiii.
The characteristic Helmet of this time is the conical nasal helmet, of which we have seen examples in the close of the former period. The face-guard, or nasal, was a revival from classic days. Good examples, of Greek art, appear among the figures on the tympana of the temple of Minerva at Ægina; careful casts of which have been placed in the collection at Sydenham. The nasal helmet is found, not alone in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, but occasionally in every century down to the seventeenth. In the Bayeux tapestry it is almost universal, the nasal being much broader than that of Greek times, the crown conical, and not much raised above the head. In some cases tasselled cords appear at the back of the head-piece (see Plate xi. of the tapestry), which may have served to fasten it to the coif below; but the chief fastening of the casque was by means of laces meeting under the chin. See the seal of William the Conqueror (woodcut 25), and the excellent example in the Kerrich Collections, from a sculpture at Modena (Add. MSS., 6728, fol. 17). The round and flat-topped helmets of the twelfth century have also the nasal. Of the first an instance occurs in the seal of Patrick Dunbar, earl of March, engraved in Laing's "Scottish Seals." The second appears in the figures of the Harleian Roll, Y. 6, (woodcut 32). In seals, it is often very difficult to tell whether a nasal has existed or not, from the melting of the wax, and from this defence following so closely the line of the face. In some rare instances, a sort of peak is used instead of the nasal, not descending below the eyebrows. See Plate 65 of Hefner's "Costumes;" and compare the figure on folio 9 of Cotton. MS., Tiber., C. vi., an example of Anglo-Saxon times. To the nasal helmet, cheek-pieces and a neck-defence were occasionally added. These pieces are also found on Greek examples, and appear, too, in modern Eastern armour; as may be seen in the helmet of Tippoo Saib, preserved in the India House Museum. The casque with neck-piece appears in the Bayeux tapestry (see Plate ix.), and on the seal of Stephen de Curzun, (Cotton Charter, V. 49). The nasal helmet with neck-guard and cheek-defences occurs among the chess-pieces found in the Isle of Lewis, and now in the British Museum.
The helmets not having nasals are chiefly conical, round and flat-topped. The old combed form of Anglo-Saxon times occurs in Harl. MS. 603, fol. 13vo., a book of the close of the eleventh century. The Phrygian form appears in Harl. MS. 2800, fol. 21 of vol. ii., a work of the close of the twelfth century. The conical casque is found in the annexed seal of Conan, duke of Britanny, circa 1165: from Harl. Chart., 48, G. 40. The round-topped helmet is seen on the first seal of Richard I., (woodcut 1, fig. 1,) and in many examples in Cotton MS., Titus, D. xvi. The cylindrical or flat-topped helmet appears to have come into fashion towards the close of the twelfth century. In its earliest form it resembled that on the second seal of Richard I., (woodcut 1, fig. 2,) and the similar examples figured in Stothard's Monuments, Plate xxiv., and Surtees' Durham, vol. i. p. 24, and vol. ii. p. 139. In all these examples the casque is of one piece, having two horizontal clefts for vision, and being strengthened by bands crossing each other over the face and on the top. The Durham examples are without ornament, but the helmet of Richard has a fan-crest, ensigned in its lower portion with a lion. The seal of Baldwin, earl of Flanders, circa 1191, badly engraved by Vredius, offers another early example of the flat-topped knightly helm. The cylindrical casque common in the next century differs from this in having a grated ventail; by which a better supply of air could always be obtained by the warrior, and a still more abundant provision occasionally acquired by opening the ventaglia, which to this end was constructed with hinges at the side. Some varieties of the casque worn during the twelfth century may be seen in the Archæologia, vol. xxiv., copied by Sir Frederic Madden from the Isle of Lewis chess-pieces in the British Museum. Among these will be remarked the "Iron Hat," with its round crown and flat rim, of which we have already traced the descent from the petasus of classic times[203]. Sometimes the helmets are surmounted with a kind of knop or button; as in the picture given by Silvestre from a Latin Horace in the Paris Library[204]; in the seal of William the Conqueror, in the Bayeux tapestry, and in the Spanish manuscript of the year 1109 in the British Museum, (Add. MS. 11,695, fol. 194).
The fan-crest represented in the seal of Richard I. is a very early instance of a fashion which came into more favour towards the close of the thirteenth century. Fan-crests, as we have seen, were in use among the Ancient Egyptians, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, and again among the Anglo-Saxons. But they do not appear during the rule of the Norman kings in England till the end of the thirteenth century; except in this single instance of Richard's seal. It may perhaps be doubted if the monarch ever wore such a decoration: an embellishment, perhaps, added by the seal-engraver from some monument of classic times. This seems the more likely from the fact that, in classic examples, the union of a fan-crest with a casque adorned on its sides with an animal form, is of constant occurrence. Among a thousand examples that might be cited, we may quote, as a readily accessible authority, Montfaucon's Antiquité Expliquée, vol. i., Plate xlii. At a later period of the middle-ages, this combination is again found: the helmet on the seal of Reinald, Graf von Geldern in 1343, has a striking resemblance to that of Richard: a lion is figured on the part surmounting the crown of the head, and over that again is placed the fan-crest. A copy of this monument may be seen in the useful series of "Ancient Seals" in the collection at Sydenham. Early examples of the casque ornamented with a heraldic device on its surface are offered by the enamelled tablet at Le Mans, attributed to Geoffry of Anjou, (Stothard, Plate ii.,) and the effigy of "Johan le Botiler," circa 1300, engraved in our woodcut No. 74.
The Shields of this period are chiefly the kite-shaped, the triangular, and the round. The first two are sometimes flat, and sometimes bowed; the round are flat or convex. The kite-shield is of most frequent occurrence during the earlier part of the period under examination, the triangular during the latter. As the round target was most convenient for the foot-fighter, so the kite-shield, broad in its upper part, so as to cover the body of the warrior, and narrow where the leg only required to be defended, and where the position of the knight on his horse necessitated a tapering form, seems to have been most in favour with the horseman. The bowed kite-shield is very distinctly shewn in many cotemporary monuments: in Cotton MS., Titus, D. xvi., of the close of the eleventh century; in the curious pyx from the collection of the late T. Crofton Croker, Esq., engraved in the "Gentleman's Magazine" for 1833; in Harl. MS., 2895, fol. 82; in the enamelled figure attributed to Geoffry of Anjou; and in the seals of King Stephen, (woodcuts 30 and 42). The Princess Anna Comnena, at the close of the eleventh century, tells us that the shields of the French crusading knights were of this fashion:—"For defence they bear an impenetrable shield, not of a round, but of an oblong shape; broad at the upper part and terminating in a point. The surface is not flat, but convex, so as to embrace the person of the wearer; an umbo of shining brass is in the middle; and the exterior face is of metal so highly polished by frequent rubbing as to dazzle the eyes of the beholder[205]."
The flat kite-shield is not always to be identified in the drawings of the time, because the shadeless outlines of the limners may pass for either flat or bowed surfaces. But that some at least of those in the Bayeux tapestry were flat, seems clear from the soldiers using them as trays on which to set the cups and dishes of their "Prandium." (See Plate xi.) Ivory carvings also shew the flat kite-shield: the Isle of Lewis chessmen afford good examples.
As we have seen from the above passage of Anna Comnena, the old Northern fashion of the boss or umbo was still occasionally retained; but such an adjunct to a horseman's target seems rather for ornament than use. The bossed kite-shield occurs in the enamel of Geoffrey Plantagenet; in the pyx named above; and in Harl. MS. 2895, fol. 82.
In lieu of the convex boss, the shield has sometimes a projecting spike; as in the great seal of King Stephen, here given; and in the first seal of Richard I. It occurs also in the seals of William de Romara (temp. Hen. I.), in the office of the Duchy of Lancaster, and of a Curzun (Cotton Charter, V. 49).
About the middle of the twelfth century appears the triangular shield,—a form obtained by reducing the arched top of the kite to a straight, or nearly straight, line. This variety also was either bowed or flat; and though the earliest examples are as tall as the kite-shields of the eleventh century, the triangular target soon became much reduced in its height. The form of this defence, both the flat and the bowed kind, may be seen in the seals of Henry II. and Richard I. (cuts 1 and 44), the figures from Hefner's Trachten, (cut 35), and those from Harleian Roll, Y. 6 (cut 32).
The round shield is of more rare appearance. It occurs in Harl. MS. 603, of the close of the eleventh century; in the Spanish MS. of 1109, already cited; and in the Psalter of Eadwine, circa 1150. Though the circular target does not often appear in miniature paintings, it is probable that it was in frequent use among the foot troops.
The kite and triangular shields were provided with straps for attachment to the arm and for suspension round the neck. The first were called enarmes:—
There was some variety in their arrangement, but the object was always to attach the shield to the fore-arm: the round target of the Anglo-Saxons, on the contrary, was held at arm's-length by a bar grasped by the hand. Examples of the enarmes of this period may be found in Plate v. of the Bayeux tapestry. See also the seal of Henry II., (woodcut 43). The guige or strap for suspension has already been described, as to its purpose, in our first division. It is represented in our woodcuts 32, 35, 42 and 43. By aid of the guige, the shield, when not in use, could be carried at the back. An example, of the close of the twelfth century, is offered by a vellum-painting of Harl. MS. 2800, vol. ii. fol. 21. It is also seen in the very curious carved church-door from Iceland, figured at page 103 of Mr. Worsaae's "Copenhagen Museum."
The Devices upon the Shields in the earlier part of the period under examination are devotional or fanciful. In the second half of the twelfth century, heraldic bearings that became hereditary, began to appear. The earlier shield-paintings consist of crosses, rounds or bezants, dragons, interlacing bands, flat tints bordered with a different hue, or simple flat tints; with some varieties which the pencil only can explain with clearness. Numerous examples of these in all their diversity will be found in the Bayeux tapestry, in Sir Frederic Madden's paper on the Isle of Lewis chessmen, (Archæol., vol. xxiv.) and among the plates of Shaw's "Dresses and Decorations."
The two seals of Richard the First very exactly mark the growth of the science of heraldry. In the earliest, the monarch's shield is ensigned with the symbol of valour, a lion. (See woodcut, No. 1). But it is a rampant lion, and as the bowed shield presents only one half of its surface to view, it has been conjectured that the complete device would consist of two lions combatant. This device, whether of one or two lions, has passed away, among the serpents and knot-work of the earlier time; but the bearing on Richard's second seal, three lions passant gardant, retains its place in the royal escutcheon to the present day. In this second seal of Richard (see woodcut, No. 1, fig. 2), the lion passant appears also on the helmet of the monarch. Another example of the repetition of a royal device is afforded by the seal of Alexander II. of Scotland (circa 1214), where the lion rampant figured on the shield is repeated on the saddle. (Cotton Charters, xix. 2.)
The shields were often highly decorated with painting, and even, if we may interpret literally the evidences of chroniclers, with inlaid jewels. Examples of richly ornamented shields of the twelfth century may be seen in Shaw's "Dresses and Decorations," and in Harl. MS. 2895, fol. 82. Robert of Aix, in the eleventh century, writing of the first crusade, tells us that the European knights carried shields "auro et gemmis inserti variisque coloribus depicti."
On board ship, the knights arranged their shields along the side of the vessel, so as to form a kind of bulwark. This is very clearly shewn in Plates ii. and x. of the Bayeux tapestry.
And when at length the knight fell in battle, his kite-shield served him for a bier. The nephew of the emperor Otho having been slain before Rouen, the Germans—
As we have learned from a preceding passage, the "shaven and shorn" knights of the Conqueror's time had, in the reign of his successor, fallen into disrepute as models of fashion. Long hair came into vogue, called down the anathemas of the Church, suffered a temporary discredit, and again rose into favour. Malmesbury has a curious sketch of this fluctuation of fashion. In the twenty-ninth regnal year of Henry I., he tells us, "a circumstance occurred in England which may seem surprising to our long-haired gallants, who, forgetting what they were born, transform themselves into the fashion of females, by the length of their locks. A certain English knight, who prided himself on the luxuriancy of his tresses, being stung by conscience on the subject, seemed to feel in a dream as though some person strangled him with his ringlets. Awaking in a fright, he immediately cut off all his superfluous hair. The example spread throughout England; and, as recent punishment is apt to affect the mind, almost all military men allowed their hair to be cropped in a proper manner without reluctance. But this decency was not of long continuance; for scarcely had a year expired, before all who thought themselves courtly relapsed into their former vice, vying with women in the length of their locks, and whenever they were defective, supplying their place with false tresses[206]." In 1102, at a council held in London by Archbishop Anselm, it was enacted that those who had long hair should be cropped, so as to shew part of the ear and the eyes. Compare also the well-known passage of Ordericus Vitalis, where he tells us how Bishop Serlo, preaching before Henry I. and his court, inveighed so successfully against the iniquity of long locks, that his audience saw the folly of their ways; and the prelate, seizing the favourable moment, produced a pair of scissors from his sleeve (de manticâ forcipes), and cropped the king and many of his courtiers with his own hand[207].
From Wace and the Bayeux tapestry we have found that the Beard was not worn by the Normans at the time of the Conquest, though in fashion among the Anglo-Saxons:—
And the Normans continued their custom till the second half of the twelfth century. The monumental effigy of Henry II. at Fontevraud represents him without either beard or moustache. "The beard," says Stothard[208], "is painted, and pencilled like a miniature, to represent its being close shaven." Among the English, however, the beard was often retained, and became a sort of protest against the new dynasty[209]. In 1196 William Longbeard, "le dernier des Saxons," as he is named by M. Thierry, became conspicuous from his opposition to the Norman rule, the inveteracy of which was manifested to the world by the excessive length of his beard[210]. At this time, however, a beard and moustache of moderate dimensions were in vogue among both races. The effigy of Richard I. at Fontevraud and that of King John at Worcester offer good examples of this change of fashion.
The weapons in use among the knightly order were the lance, the sword, the mace, and, towards the middle of the twelfth century, the axe. The shaft of the Lance was of uniform thickness throughout, the swell at the grip being a much later invention. The material was usually ash or pine. Wace, in the Roman de Rou, has:—
Guillaume le Breton, describing the combat of Richard I. and Guillaume des Barres, says:—
And Albertus Aquensis, speaking of the French, tells us: "Hastæ fraxineæ in manibus eorum ferro acutissimo præfixæ sunt, quasi grandes perticæ." The heads of the lance were commonly of the leaf-form or the lozenge; more rarely barbed. All three appear in the Bayeux tapestry, and are found in many monuments throughout the twelfth century. Lance-flags (or streamers) of two, three, four, and of five points are found at the close of the eleventh and during the twelfth centuries. See Harleian MS. 603, the Bayeux tapestry, and our woodcuts, Nos. 1, 27, 28, 30 and 37. A curious Eastern example of the use of the lance-flag is found in the wall-painting of the Ajunta caves, a work referred to the first century of our era. A fine copy of this interesting monument has been placed in the Museum of the East India House. The spear was also a weapon of the inferior troops:—
Geldon was a name often given to the foot soldiery: "Et ceciderunt de Israël triginta millia peditum:" 1. Kings iv. 10. "Kar il i chaïrent trente milie de gelde."
The Sword was of the old form: straight, broad, two-edged, and pointed. The cross-piece was generally straight: in other cases, curved towards the blade. Examples of the latter fashion occur in the great seal of King Henry II., here given; in Harl. MS. 603, passim; and in Cotton MS., Titus, D. xvi. See also our woodcut, No. 41. The pommel was round, hemispherical, square, lozenge, trefoiled or cinquefoiled. All these forms may be seen in Harl. MS., 603, Titus, D. xvi., the Bayeux tapestry, Addit. MS. 11,695, and the effigy of Henry II., figured by Stothard. This effigy also shews very clearly the Belt with its buckle, by which the sword was fastened round the waist. Compare also the second plate of the Bayeux tapestry, where the form of this short belt is very distinctly exhibited. We have already noticed that the sword was sometimes worn with its handle projecting through a cleft in the hauberk, the scabbard being fixed beneath the hauberk. See cut 34, and Bayeux tapestry, Plate vi. As in our own day, swords attributed to ancient heroes had an especial value, and became the most cherished gifts of kings and nobles. Thus, when Richard Cœur-de-Lion was on his way to the Holy Land, "the king of Sicily sent to him many presents of great value, consisting of gold and silver, of horses and cloth of silk. But the king of England would receive nothing from him, except a little ring, which he accepted as a token of their mutual esteem. On the other hand, King Richard gave to King Tancred that most excellent sword which the Britons call Caliburn, and which had been the sword of Arthur, once the valiant king of England[213]."
The Sword of William the Conqueror became the feudal instrument by which the Umfrevilles held the lordship of Riddesdale, in Northumberland:—"In the tenth year of William the Conqueror, Robert de Umfranvil, knight, obtained from that king a grant of the Lordship, Valley and Forest of Riddesdale, by the service of defending that part of the country for ever from Enemies and Wolves, with that Sword which King William had by his side when he entered Northumberland[214]."
From a very curious drawing in the Psalter of Eadwine, written at Canterbury in the middle of the twelfth century, and now preserved in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, we learn the exact manner in which the soldiery of this day furbished and ground their swords. The implement for furbishing is in the form of an ordinary axe-head, fixed in the centre of a rod or staff, which is held by both hands. This curious subject has been engraved by Mr. Westwood in his Palæographia Sacra.
The Mace does not often appear in the pictorial monuments of the period. It is, however, seen in the Bayeux tapestry, in the hands of both armies. The heads are quatrefoil, or of a heart-shape. What Wace calls the "gibet" is considered to be the mace, and it is carried at the right-hand side of the knight, to be used when the lance had been broken:
It was also the usual arm of Churchmen when they went to battle; who sought thus to avoid the denunciation against those "who smite with the sword." Under the name of clava, it is mentioned by Guillaume le Breton:—
The Axe, which in the Bayeux tapestry is never seen in the hands of the Norman knights, appears in the twelfth century to have come into favour among them, for even the kings of this race are said to have contended with it. Thus Hoveden, describing the valour of Stephen at the battle of Lincoln, in 1141, says:—"Then was seen the might of the king, equal to a thunderbolt, slaying some with his immense battle-axe, and striking down others. Then arose the shouts afresh, all rushing against him, and he against all. At length, through the number of the blows, the king's battle-axe was broken asunder. Instantly, with his right hand, drawing his sword, he marvellously waged the combat until the sword also was broken. On seeing this, William de Kahamnes, a most powerful knight, rushed upon the king, and seizing him by the helmet, cried with loud voice, 'Hither, all of you, come hither! I have taken the King.'"
In the quotation from the Philippidos, above, we have seen that the double-axe, the bipennis, was also in use at this time. Like the mace, it is of rare occurrence in the pictures of the day, but several representations of it will be found in Harleian MS. 603, a Latin Psalter of the close of the eleventh century, probably written in France.
Among the weapons in use by the common soldiery are the cultellus, the guisarme, the pike, the bisacuta, the javelin, the sling, the long-bow, the cross-bow, (at the close of the twelfth century,) and some others in which fire was the offensive agent. The Cultellus, or coustel, was a short sword or long dagger, well calculated for use of the foot-troops, rushing upon the knights who had been unhorsed in the charge of the cavalry; and equally well adapted for close fight of foot against foot. A statute of William, king of Scotland, (1165-1214,) shews the identity of the coustel and dagger: "Habeat equum, habergeon, capitium e ferro, et cultellum qui dicitur dagger[215]." In the fourteenth century, Knighton has: "Cultellos, quos daggerios vulgariter dicunt, in powchiis impositis[216]." And Walsingham, in the fifteenth century, writes: "Mox extracto cultello, quem dagger vulgo dicimus, ictum militi minabatur[217]." The cultellus, like the sica of classic times, not only became the weapon of the depredator, but gave its name to that class; as we see from a statute of the Count of Toulouse in 1152: "Si quis aliquem hominem malum, quem Cultellarium dicimus, cum cultellis euntem nocte causa furandi occiderit, nullum damnum patiatur propter hoc." The Guisarme, which we have already noticed in the previous chapter, was still in favour in the twelfth century, and is frequently mentioned by the writers of this period. A striking passage of the Philippidos brings before us a rich group of the weapons of this day:—
The contus and the sudis of these lines are pikes, of which the particular difference from each other would be a vain enquiry for our times. The clava (mace) and bipennis have been already noticed. The Bisacuta appears to have been an arm of the pick kind. Père Daniel cites from a French poet who lived in 1376, these lines:—
The phrase, deux becs, seems to indicate a form of the kind we have mentioned, and the exact structure of the weapon is perhaps presented to us in the well-known brass of Bishop Wyvil, at Salisbury[218]. A letter remissory of the fourteenth century appears to confirm this view: "Le dit Hue d'un gran martel qu'il portoit, appellé besague, getta au dit Colart," &c. The head of the martel-d'armes was constantly, on one or both sides, of this pick or beak form. The besague was also a carpenter's tool. Thus Wace, on the invasion of England by the Normans, tells us:—
The Sling of this time may be seen, though rudely drawn, in the group from Add. MS. 14,789, copied in our woodcut No. 37. Compare also cuts 12 and 50. The Javelin is found at the close of the eleventh century; in the hands of the English in the Bayeux tapestry, and in the French manuscript, Harl. 603, fol. 60. In the twelfth century it seems to have fallen into discredit among these nations, though probably employed to a much later period by the Spaniards[219], with whom it was always a favourite weapon, and by those races who had retained the rough fashions and the heroic traditions of their Old-Northern ancestry.
The Long-bow was of the most simple construction: it appears frequently in the Bayeux tapestry, (Plates xiii., xv. and xvi.;) in the cotemporary manuscript, Harleian 603, and in many monuments of the twelfth century. The arrows are usually barbed. A curious variety of the arrow is seen in the Spanish codex, Addit. MSS. 11,695, written in 1109. This missile, which is frequently represented in the volume, has three pairs of barbs, fixed at a little distance from each other along the shaft; a cruel contrivance, which does not seem to have reached other nations of Europe, and, we may hope, was not long in vogue within the Pyrennees. Already in the twelfth century the English began to evince that skill in archery which afterwards gave them such celebrity. At the siege of Messina by Cœur-de-Lion, as we learn from Richard of Devizes, the Sicilians were forced to leave their walls unmanned, "because no one could look out of doors, but he would have an arrow in his eye before he could shut it." The king himself did not disdain occasionally to use the bow. When before the castle of Nottingham, which had been seized by "Earl John," the monarch, says Roger of Hoveden, "took up his quarters near the castle, so that the archers therein pierced the king's men at his very feet. The king, incensed at this, put on his armour, and commanded his troops to make an assault upon the castle; on which a sharp conflict took place, and many fell on both sides. The king himself slew one knight with an arrow, and having at last prevailed, drove back his enemies into the castle, took some outworks which had been thrown up without the gates, and destroyed the outer gates by fire[220]."
The practice of archery was encouraged and protected by statute. Among the enactments of Henry I. of England, it was provided, that if any one in practising with arrows or with darts should by accident slay another, it was not to be visited against him as a crime[221].
The Quivers, as represented in the Bayeux tapestry, are without covers; but on folio 25 of Harl. MS. 603, is a drawing of a quiver having a cap attached by cords, so that when the quiver is in use, the cap remains suspended by the strings. The dress of the archers has been already noticed.
The Cross-bow does not appear to have been recognised as a military weapon before the close of the twelfth century. The term balista, by which it is described in monkish annals and other writings, is indeed found at an earlier period; but there is great doubt whether this earlier balista meant a hand-weapon, or one of those "gyns" derived from classic times. The later use of the arm seems confirmed by the fact that it is not found in pictorial representations till about 1200. There appears to have been an attempt to introduce it at the beginning of this century, but it was prohibited by papal decree as unfit for Christian warfare. A council in 1139, under Innocent II., has: "Artem illam mortiferam et Deo odibilem balistariorum et sagittariorum adversus Christianos et Catholicos exerceri de cetero sub anathemate prohibemus[222]." This denunciation was renewed under Innocent III.; but by this time Richard Cœur-de-Lion and Philippe Auguste had sanctioned the use of the arm, and the cross-bow was triumphant. Both Guillaume le Breton and Guiart place the introduction of the weapon at the close of the twelfth century; and both tell us that Richard was the first to adopt it, and that Philip followed his example. Describing the siege of the castle of Boves, Brito says[223]:—
And again, writing of the death of Richard I., he makes Atropos speak thus[224]:—
Guiart has this similar passage:—
The form of the arbalest of this time may be seen in our woodcut, No. 50. It was bent by placing the foot in the loop or "stirrup" at the extremity, and then drawing the cord upwards with the hands. At a later period, the bow was made much stronger, and of steel, then requiring mechanical contrivances to bend it. The arrow of the cross-bow was shorter and stouter than that of the long-bow. As may be seen in our woodcut, No. 50, it was feathered; a particular which is noticed in the Roman de Garin:—
This name of Carriaux (quadrelli or quarrels) was given to these missiles from the four-sided (or pyramidal) form of the head. Thus Guillaume le Breton, speaking of the death of Richard the First:—
From an ordinance of Theobald, count of Champagne, in the next century (1256), we learn that the provision of quarrels for a cross-bow was fifty: "Chascun de la commune dou Neufchastel qui aura vaillant xx. livres, aura arbaleste en son hostel et quarraus jusqu'à cinquante." The arrow of the arbalest is sometimes called vireton, from the French virer, on account of its rotary flight. Compare the classical verutum, a javelin which owed its name to a similar property. Though the English appear to have used the cross-bow from near the close of the twelfth to the end of the thirteenth century, in the succeeding age the long-bow obtained a signal triumph over its rival.
In the hands of a stout soldiery, indeed, the long-bow is a much superior weapon; for a dozen arrows may be discharged while the arbalester is winding up his instrument and fixing a single quarrel: and the long-bow being a vertical arm, permits a close array, which cannot be attained with the horizontal cross-bow: again, the long-bow is a weapon of very light carriage, while its rival, with its thick bow of steel and its apparatus for bending, is both ponderous and unwieldy: the size of the quarrels also permitted only eighteen of them to be brought by each man into the field, ("et auront trousses empanées et cirées de dix-huit traits du moins:" Ordinance of Charles VII. of France), while the English archer carried "twenty-four Scotchmen under his belt." "Les arbalestriers Gennevois," says Froissart, "commencèrent à traire, et ces archers d'Angleterre firent voler ces sagettes de grand' façon, qui entrèrent et descendirent si ouniement sur ces Gennevois que ce sembloit neige. Les Gennevois, qui n'avoient pas appris à trouver tels archers que sont ceux d'Angleterre, quand ils sentirent ces sagettes qui leur perçoient bras, têtes et banlèvre, furent tantôt desconfits[226]." But to handle the long-bow thus effectively, required a race strong in sinew and practised in their art: to wind up and discharge a cross-bow was the feat of a boy.
The Greek fire, still discountenanced among the Christian states of the West, was in frequent use with the enemies of the Cross in the East. All the accounts of the Crusades contain instances of its employment. Of the tubes from which it was discharged we have already spoken. In the Bibliothèque des Croisades of M. Reinaud[227], we have the account of a variety of this incendiary agent, from the pen of an Arabian historian of the Third Crusade, Ibn Alatir. "When Acre was besieged by the Christians," he tells us, "there came into the town a man of Damascus, to assist in its defence. He began by casting upon the towers erected by the besiegers, pots filled with naptha and other ingredients. These not being alight, fell harmlessly among the Christians, who laughed at and jeered the Mussulmans for their seeming failure. Meanwhile, the man of Damascus waited till the mixture had diffused itself over every part of the tower. Then, casting forth a lighted missile, in an instant the tower was in flames, and so rapid and so extensive was the combustion, that the Christians had no time to descend: men, arms, all was consumed."
From a curious passage of Wace we learn what were the weapons employed by the peasantry when driven to revolt against their lords. In describing the insurrection of the "vilains" under Richard the Second, duke of Normandy, he makes these "bachelers de bele juvente" exclaim:—
