DESCRIPTION OF THE ENGRAVINGS.

Previous
John Hewitt
1. (Frontispiece.) Great Seals of King Richard Coeur-de-Lion. The first of these (with the rounded helmet) has been drawn from impressions appended to Harleian Charters, 43, C. 27; 43, C. 29; and 43, C. 30; and Carlton Ride Seals, i. 19. In this, as in other cases, more seals have been examined, but it seems unnecessary to supply references to any but the best examples. The king wears the hauberk of chain-mail with continuous coif, over a tunic of unusual length. The chausses are also of chain-mail, and there is an appearance of a chausson at the knee, but the prominence of the seal at this part has caused so much obliteration, that the existence of this garment may be doubted. The helmet is rounded at the top, and appears to be strengthened by bands passing round the brow and over the crown. The shield is bowed, and the portion in sight ensigned with a Lion: it is armed with a spike in front, and suspended over the shoulders by the usual guige. Other points of this figure will be noticed at a later page.
Second Great Seal of Richard I. Drawn from impressions in the British Museum: Harl. Charter, 43, C. 31, and Select Seals, xvi. 1; and Carlton Ride Seals, H. 17. The armour, though differently expressed from that of the first seal, is probably intended to represent the same fabric; namely, interlinked chain-mail. The tunic is still of a length which seems curiously ill-adapted to the adroit movements of a nimble warrior. The shield of the monarch is one of the most striking monuments of the Herald's art: the vague ornament of Richard's earlier shield has given place to the Three Lions Passant Gardant so familiar to us all in the royal arms of the present day. The king wears the plain goad spur, and is armed with the great double-edged sword, characteristic of the period. The helmet is described at page 141. The saddle is an excellent example of the War-saddle of this date.
Page
Vignette.—Knightly monument combined with an Altar-drain, in the Church of Long Wittenham, Berkshire: of the close of the thirteenth century. The whole is of small proportions, the statue of the knight not exceeding two feet and a quarter. xxv
2. Spear-heads of iron.—Fig. 1. From the Faussett collection: found in the parish of Ash, near Sandwich: length, 18 inches. Figs. 2 and 3. In Mr. Rolfe's collection at Sandwich, found in the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Ozingell, near Ramsgate. Fig. 4. In the Faussett collection, found at Ash, near Sandwich. Figs. 5, 6 and 7. From Ozingell: No. 6 has the bronze ferule which bound the spear-head to the shaft. Fig. 8. From Mr. Wylie's collection: found in the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Fairford, Gloucestershire. Figs. 9 to 12. From the Faussett collection: fig. 11 was found on Kingston Down, Kent; the others at Ash-by-Sandwich: fig. 10 is two feet long. 22
3. Spear-heads of iron.—Fig. 13. In the British Museum: found in an Anglo-Saxon grave at Battle Edge, Oxfordshire. Fig. 14. Found in the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Fairford. Figs. 15 and 16. Found near Bredon Hill, Worcestershire, and preserved in the Museum of the Worcestershire Society of Natural History. Fig. 17. Barbed spear, or Angon, found in a grave on Sibertswold Down, Kent: eleven inches long. In the Faussett collection. Fig. 18. Four-sided spear-head, found by Mr. Wylie, in the "Fairford Graves:" length, 16½ inches. Figs. 19, 20, 21. Found in Ireland: from Mr. Wakeman's paper in the third volume of the Collectanea Antiqua. Fig. 22. A Livonian example, from Dr. BÄhr's collection. The original is in the British Museum. Fig. 23. A barbed spear, found in a tumulus in Norway: from Mr. Wylie's paper in the thirty-fifth vol. of the ArchÆologia. 23
4. Swords.—Fig. 1. Found in the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Fairford. It measures upwards of 2 ft. 11 inches, and is one of the finest examples extant. Fig. 2. In the Hon. Mr. Neville's collection: found in the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Wilbraham, Cambridgeshire. Length of blade, 2 ft. 7 in. It retains the bronze mountings of the sheath, which have been gilt. Fig. 3. Same collection and find: a specimen remarkable for the cross-piece at the hilt. Fig. 4. Ancient-Irish Sword of the same period: length, 30 inches. From Mr. Wakeman's paper in vol. iii. of Collectanea Antiqua. Fig. 5. Danish sword with engraved runes: in the Copenhagen Museum. Fig. 6. Danish: from the Annaler for Nordisk Oldkyndighed. Remarkable for the form of its cross-piece. 32
5. Swords.—Fig. 7. Norwegian Sword. The pommel and cross-piece are of iron. Figs. 8 to 11. From Livonian graves: the originals are in the British Museum. Fig. 10 is single-edged: its pommel and the chape of the scabbard are of bronze. Fig. 11 has its pommel and guard ornamented with silver. 33
6. Bronze Sheath containing the remains of an iron Sword: found near Flasby, in the West Riding of Yorkshire: exhibited in the temporary Museum at York, formed by the ArchÆological Institute in 1846. 44
7. Axe-heads or iron.—Figs. 1 and 2. From the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Ozingell: now in Mr. Rolfe's Museum. Figs. 3 and 4. Ancient-Irish examples: from Mr. Wakeman's paper in the Collectanea Antiqua. Figs. 5 and 6. German specimens: from the cemetery at Selzen, in Rhenish Hesse; described by the brothers Lindenschmit. Figs. 7 to 10. From Livonian graves explored by Dr. BÄhr: all four are in the British Museum. 46
8. Anglo-Saxon figures contending with the war-knife and barbed spear: from a Latin and Anglo-Saxon Psalter, formerly belonging to the Duc de Berri, in the Imperial Library at Paris. 51
9. War-knives.—Fig. 1. From the Ozingell cemetery: pommel and cross-piece of iron: length, 16 inches. Fig. 2. From the Faussett collection: found at Ash, near Sandwich. Figs. 3 and 4. Ancient-Irish: from Mr. Wakeman's paper. Fig. 3. is 16 inches long: the other, of which the blade is broken, is remarkable for retaining its handle, which is of carved wood. Fig. 5 is from the Selzen cemetery, and curious from the ring at the end of the tang. Length, 2 feet. 52
10. Arrow-heads.—Figs. 1 and 2. From the Faussett collection: the first, 3 inches in length, was found in the parish of Ash-by-Sandwich, the second on Kingston Down: both have tangs. Figs. 3 and 4. Arrow-heads with sockets: found on Chatham Lines. From Douglas's "Nenia." Figs. 5 and 6. From the jpg" class="pginternal">205
51. Group of soldiers armed with the staff-sling, axe, spear, and bow with lime-phial: from Strutt's Horda, vol. i. Plate xxxi. His authority is the MS. of the "History" of Matthew Paris in Benet College Library, Cambridge: C. 5, xvi. It has been suggested, but with no great probability, that the manuscript in question is the work of Matthew Paris himself. 206
52. Great Seal of King John: drawn from impressions attached to Harl. Charter, 84, C. 7, and Cotton Charter, viii. 25; and Carlton Ride Seal, H. 18. The helmet in this figure is of unusual form; and here, for the first time, the military surcoat appears in a royal seal of England. The mailing has been obliterated at the skirt of the hauberk, from the prominence of the seal at that part. The ornamental "peytrel" of the horse is well defined in this monument, and the fashion of the saddle is very distinctly seen. 228
53. The three knights, from a picture of the Martyrdom of Thomas À Becket, in Harl. MS. 5, 102, fol. 32. The volume is a Latin Psalter, written in the beginning of the thirteenth century, and containing many illuminations. Fitzurse is conspicuous from the figure of the Bear on his shield. The heads of the knights present a curious variety of arming: one wearing the flat-topped helmet, another the rounded casque, and the third having no further defence than his coif of mail. The tunic is seen passing beyond the edge of the hauberk. The legs of the foremost figures are coloured red. 230
54. Sculptured effigy of William LongespÉe, earl of Salisbury, from his monument in Salisbury Cathedral. His death and burial (in 1226) are recorded in the curious cotemporary manuscript of William de Wanda, the dean; which is still preserved in the Bishop's Records at Sarum. See Dodsworth's History of the Cathedral, pp. 121 and 201. The statue more fully illustrates various points of the knightly equipment at this early period than any other that could be named. These details will be separately noticed in their particular places. The figure still retains much of its ancient painting. The chain-mail is of a brown hue, a singularity not hitherto satisfactorily explained. The spurs have yet sparkles of gold. The Lions on the shield are in relief; gold on a blue field. This device has been repeated, by painting, on the surcoat. The statue, which is of free-stone, has every appearance of having been sculptured at the time of the death of Earl William; and, as it is so clearly identified by the carved device of the shield, becomes one of the most valuable examples for archÆological reference. 232
55. Monumental Brass of "Sire Johan D'Aubernoun, Chivaler," in the church of Stoke D'Abernon, Surrey. This is the most ancient sepulchral brass yet observed, whether in England or on the continent: its date, about 1277. Till lately it was partly hidden beneath the altar-rails, but is now fully disclosed. On the shield, the tincture of the field (blue) is represented by enamel; the copper lining being plainly discernible in the narrow edge that borders the colour. The heraldic bearing is repeated on the lance-flag and on the escutcheon above the effigy. The armour of the knight will be described as the various parts of it come to be examined in detail. 237
56. From Willemin's Monumens InÉdits, vol. i., Plate cii. The original is a drawing in the Album of Wilars de Honnecort, an artist of the thirteenth century. The chain-mail chausses of the knight are drawn together behind the leg and under the foot by lacing. The coif of the hauberk thrown back on the shoulders, discloses the under-coif, worn by the men-at-arms to protect the head from the rough contact of the iron garment. The figure is further curious from the "cotte À mancherons dÉchiquetÉs." 238
57. Chess-knight of ivory, preserved in the Ashmolean Museum: seen in two views. The knight wears the hauberk of chain-mail, and the cylindrical helm of its earliest form. The gamboised chausson is seen overlying the mail chausses. The triangular bowed shield is very exactly represented, and the draping of the surcoat has more freedom than is usually found at this early period. The date appears to be the beginning of the thirteenth century. 243
58. From a marble bas-relief in a cloister of the Annunziata Convent at Florence, 1289. After a drawing in the Kerrich Collection, Add. MSS., No. 6,728. The knight, Gulielmus Balnis, among several singularities of equipment, presents us with a very unusual pattern of leg-armour: the whole suit will be duly examined at a future page. The composition conveys no very exalted idea of Italian art in 1289; and, in the drapery, the sculptor might well take a lesson from the humble chess-piece carver of the days of Magna Charta, whose handiwork was the subject of our last notice. 244
59. Knightly effigy, of free-stone, in the church of Ash, near Sandwich. Date, the close of the thirteenth century. The chain-mail has been expressed in stucco, and painted of a red-brown colour. Traces of gilding are found on the genouillÈres and other parts of the monument. The knight wears the quilted gambeson; hauberk, hood, and chausses of chain-mail; genouillÈres of plate or cuir-bouilli, and long surcoat. Ailettes are at the shoulders: of the shield, little is left but the strap that sustained it: the cord looped to the waist-belt held a dagger, now wanting: the spurs, of a single goad, have been gilt. 247
60. A mounted knight clothed in banded-mail, and having armoried ailettes. The shield is carried by allowing the enarmes to slip over the wrist. A fortified bridge, with flanking towers, "bretÈche," gates, and portcullis, is in face. The miniature appears on fol 58vo. of Add. MS. 10,293: a collection of Romances, dated 1316. 250
61. Mounted knight armed in banded-mail and visored bassinet, and having ailettes of a lozenge form: from Roy. MS. 14 E. iii. fol. 94vo.; a volume of Romances, written and illuminated in the first half of the fourteenth century. A fine book for armour subjects: the drawings clear, richly coloured and gilt, and the details well made out. This volume passed into the possession of King Richard III., whose autograph appears on the second folio. 250
62. Knightly figure of the close of the thirteenth century: from Roy. MS. 2, A. xxii. fol. 219. The drawing shews very clearly the manner in which the mail-coif was drawn over the chin, and tied above the ear on the left side of the head. An opening at the palm permitted the knight to disengage his hand from the hauberk at pleasure. nected with the main structure by means of drawbridges, and at the right-hand corner is a mill, turned by the stream which supplies the moat. 377

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Clyx.com


Top of Page
Top of Page