



Produced by Douglas L. Alley, III, Chris Curnow and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
(This file was produced from images generously made
available by The Internet Archive)







[Illustration: GREAT SEALS OF KING RICHARD THE FIRST.]




                            ANCIENT ARMOUR
                                  AND
                          WEAPONS IN EUROPE:

                               FROM THE

            IRON PERIOD OF THE NORTHERN NATIONS TO THE END
                      OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY:

                                 WITH

               ILLUSTRATIONS FROM COTEMPORARY MONUMENTS.

                            BY JOHN HEWITT,

        MEMBER OF THE ARCHÆOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

                          OXFORD AND LONDON:
                     JOHN HENRY AND JAMES PARKER.
                               MDCCCLV.




            PRINTED BY MESSRS. PARKER, CORN-MARKET, OXFORD.




                    DESCRIPTION OF THE ENGRAVINGS.


  1. (_Frontispiece._) Great Seals of King Richard Cœur-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.

  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