[26] "Quum ex captivis quÆreret CÆsar, quamobrem Ariovistus proelio non decertaret, hunc reperiebat causam: quod apud Germanos ea consuetudo esset, ut matresfamilias eorum sortibus et vaticinationibus declararent, utrum proelium committi ex usu esset, necne: eas ita dicere, non esse fas Germanos superare, si ante novam lunam proelio contendissent."—Bell. Gall., lib. i.
[37] "Thor, aid!" or perhaps Tyr, the Mars of the Northmen. See Kemble's Saxons in England, i. 350; and Thierry's ConquÊte de l'Ang. par les Normands, sub an. 912-997.
[38] Hamon-aux-Dents, seigneur de Thorigny, of which place the church is dedicated to S. Amand.
[57] In quoting illuminated manuscripts, we shall be careful to give the Collection and the folio; but, where not expressed to the contrary, beg it to be understood that the place of deposit is the British Museum.
[58] See Henault, 1655; and Chiflet, Anastasis Childerici Primi.
[59] See Cochet, Lindenschmit, and the Transactions of the Luxembourg Society, vol. viii. p. 45.
[73] For a fuller account of this transaction, and of other notable deeds of our hero-smith, see the VÖlundar Quida of the Edda SÆmundar, and the Wilkina Saga (c. 21, sq.); also Grimm's Heldensage, p. 14, and Teut. Mythol., 221.
[83] The passage which has furnished these lines is further curious, as it would seem to shew that the Fraternitas Armorum was not confined to the knightly order. These two English guisarmiers enter the field of Hastings under a similar compact to triumph or fall together:—
"Dous Engleiz vit mult orguillos, Ki s'esteient acumpaigniÉ Por Ço ke bien erent preisiÉ. Ensemble debveient aler: Li uns debveit l'altre garder: En lor cols aveient levÉes Dui gisarmes lunges È lÉes."
[105] See the able work of M. Reinaud and Captain FavÉ, Du Feu GrÉgeois, &c.; and M. Lacabane's paper in the Biblio. de l'Ecole des Chartes, Second Series, vol. i.; and the Etudes sur l'Artillerie, by the Emperor of the French.
[106] "Und so schwollen Sigurds Seiten, dass seine Panzerringe entzweisprangen;" welches Entzweispringen doch von nebeneinander gehefteten Ringen nicht fÜglich gesagt werden kÖnnte.—Wien's kaiserliches Zeughaus.
[128] ArchÆologia, vol. xix.; and Memoirs, p. 298.
[129] Compare Wilkinson's "Egyptians," i. 349, ed. 1854; Layard's "Monuments of Nineveh," Plate lxxii.; and the wall-painting of the Ajunta Caves, of the first century of our era, a fine copy of which has been placed in the Museum of the East India House. The Chinese still use a large round shield of cane-wicker, behind which they crouch so as to conceal themselves entirely from the view of the enemy.
[130] See Description of Engravings, for the particular localities where they were discovered.
[137] For much curious information relating to the practice of interring with the hero his horse, chariot, hawks, hounds, &c., and the discovery of their remains in the graves, see ArchÆologia, vol. xxxiii.; the York volume of the ArchÆolog. Instit., p. 28; Saxon Obsequies, pl. xxxviii.; ArchÆol. Journal, vol. vii. p. 43; Kemble's Saxons in England, vol. i. p. 428; Appendix to Kemble's trans. of "Beowulf;" Wilson's ArchÆol. of Scotland, pp. 457 and 552; Worsaae's Antiq. of Denmark, p. 100; BÄhr's Die GrÄber der Liven, pl. xvi. Compare also Tacitus, Germania, x.; CÆsar, Bell. Gall., lib. vi.; and Wilkinson's Anc. Egypt., vol. ii. pp. 270 and 399, ed. 1854.
[145] It is curious to compare these highborn ladies of the ninth century with another fair standard-weaver somewhat nearer our own times. Katherine of Arragon, writing to Wolsey, when the king was campaigning in France, says: "I am horridly busy with making standards, banners, and badges."
[150]Ap. LabbÆum in Chronolog., lib. ii.; Daniel, Mil. Fran., i. 557.
[151] Reinaud et FavÉ: Du feu grÉgeois, &c., p. 218.
[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.
[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.
[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.
[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.
[265] An instructive series of English sculptured figures has been finely engraved in Stothard's Monumental Effigies, and in the continuation of this work by the brothers Hollis. The continental examples, especially those of Germany, are ably figured in Hefner's Costumes du Moyen-Age. The sculptured effigies preserved in the Church of St. Denis are well described in the Monographie de l'Eglise de St. Denis of the Baron De Guilhermy. The monumental brasses of England have been engraved excellently and in large numbers by Messrs. Waller, and in the subsequent works of the Rev. Mr. Boutell. The knightly statues given in Blore's Monuments, though not numerous, are of the highest order of art, and perfect in their truthfulness.
[266] This manuscript is perhaps a little later than the year 1300, but the armour represented in it is essentially that of the thirteenth century.
[297] "Fans, gisarmes, e cotaus, e autres menues armes." Ib.
[298] These are the same equipments as before, only calculated by a money qualification instead of a landed property. The Winchester Statute has a similar provision.
[299] Here the Stat. of Winchester has an additional class: "Qui meins ad de chateux de vynt marcs, espees, cuteus e autres menues armes."
[300] "Arcs et setes hors de forestes, e dedenz forestes arcs et piles (var. pilets)." Stat. Win.
[305] "Culvertage means in plain English the penalty of being a turn-tail. The culprit was liable by law to the forfeiture of all property, and perpetual servitude." Lingard, Hist, of Eng. See also Ducange, v. Culvertagium.
[306] New Rymer, 444. See also Hallam's Middle Ages, vol. i. p. 170. ed. 1855.
[310] This circular formation, however, was no new invention. We have it in CÆsar: "Quum illi, orbe facto, sese defenderent, celeriter ad clamorem hominum circiter millia VI. convenerunt." Bell. Gall., L. 4.
[311] Fordun, xi. 34; Hemingford, 59-165; Walsingham, 75.
[344] Three sculptured effigies had already been noticed in England, having defences of Banded-mail, when in the course of a tour in the midland counties with an archÆological friend, the Rev. Mr. Parke, of Lichfield, the writer had the good fortune to find, in the little church of Newton Solney in Derbyshire, the monument here figured. See ArchÆol. Journ., vol. vii. p. 360. The other statues are those at Tewkesbury, Dodford, Northants, and Tollard Royal, Wilts. The engraving of the Sulney effigy and the following three woodcuts illustrative of Banded-mail have been obligingly lent by the Central Committee of the ArchÆological Institute.
[345] Kerrich Collections in Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 6,731, f. 4.
[347] We are again obliged to borrow illustrations of our subject from the fourteenth century. This manuscript appears to have been illuminated about 1360.
[396] Evidently a mistake of the transcriber. Such a sum of thirteenth century money would make about £300 of modern currency.
[397] The silver matrix of the seal of this baron is still in existence, and was exhibited at a meeting of the Royal Society of Antiquaries in 1777, as recorded in the fifth volume of the ArchÆologia. Plate xvii. of that volume gives us a representation of the seal. It exhibits the "saddle of the arms of the said Robert:" the arms being repeated on the shield and housing: the knight is armed with the sword. This seal was made between 1298 and 1304, as it contains also a shield of the arms of Ferrers; Robert Fitz Walter having married a lady of that house in 1298: she dying in 1304, the baron married into another family.
[398] The Elms in Smithfield; an ancient place of execution. A Close Roll of this century (4. Hen. III.) mentions the "FurcÆ factÆ apud Ulmellos com. Middlesex." Strype, b. iii. p. 238.
[399] Pat. 24 Ed. I. in Turr. Lond.—New Rymer, vol. i. p. 848.
[408] "De regimine principum." The author died in 1316.
[409] Lib. iii. pars iii. The Album of Villard de Honnecourt (of the thirteenth century) contains also directions for constructing the "fort engieng con apiele trebucet." See Revue ArchÉologique, vol. vi. p. 76.
[419]Petrariam turquesiam. Its particular character has not been ascertained. But it was a machine for throwing large stones with considerable force.
[420] This name was given to a wall fortified with battlements and machicoulis, the fashion having been originally introduced by the Saracens.
[421] A BretÈche was a covered passage constructed of wood on the top of a wall or of a tower, carried upon the series of corbels called machicoulis. It was usually removed in time of peace, being easily put up again in time of war: for this reason, examples are not often now to be found. There are probably none remaining in England, and they are rare in France, but occasionally occur in a dilapidated state, and the marks where they have been placed are to be seen on almost every old fortification. They formed a very important part of the defensive system in the middle ages. It was in these wooden galleries that the archers were chiefly placed, and from them stones were hurled on the heads of the assailants through the openings of the machicoulis, the men being entirely protected by the outer boarding and roof of the bretÈche or gallery. (For many engravings of them, see Viollet-Le-Duc, Architecture Militaire du Moyen-Age, 8vo. Paris, 1854.) There were loopholes in the outer boarding; and in the wall behind openings for the supply of projectiles from the inner passage behind the parapet wall, in front of which the bretÈches were built. These projectiles were conveyed to the top of the walls or towers by means of the sort of wells which we find in the thickness of the walls of old castles. The BretÈches were also called Hourds. They were sometimes erected on the top of wooden palisades only, as was the case in this instance.
[422] Wendover (in Paris, p. 270); Dunstab., p. 142; New Rymer, vol. i. p. 175. Annal. Wigorn., p. 486.
[445] Probably for Hampshire; a wide deviation: but when we remember that the word has passed through the Spanish and French, we shall be less inclined to wonder at its present state.
