Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 1).djvu/136

 England, including 800 church fief knights. The fyrd could muster about 60,000 men. English thegns bought back their land by service, and by providing one mounted man for 500 acres. On the Continent the Knight was called miles, the man-at-arms, serviens, or sergeant.

In passing to the offensive weapons, we will consider the sword first.

It is really difficult to differentiate between the sword of the Norman conqueror and that of the conquered. We note no appreciable divergence in their character until towards the close of the XIth century, when, in addition to the lobated pommel to the hilt, we see the flat wheel pommel first make an appearance, as also the Brazil nut form, which becomes the usual type and supersedes by degrees the lobated variety. The quillons still remain of robust proportions, and are, as a rule, straight: at least in every case they are so represented in the Bayeux needlework.

One of the most satisfactory illustrations taken from that source shows the sword carried by Harold in the incident where he parleys with Guy of Ponthieu. Here, as he holds his sword, the lobated pommel is clearly visible, likewise the short, thick, straight quillons (Fig. 77), whilst a noble from the same group of figures holds a sword the details of which are clear (Fig. 78).

The scabbard is shown, and the locket—to which is attached the belt, the buckle being accurately defined. A second sword in this same needlework roll that is distinctly represented is that worn by the Conqueror, where he is seen about to mount on his advance to meet Harold (page 37, Fig. 43). The profile of the hilt there shows it to be a sword with a lobated pommel, and short straight quillons, very similar to the sword in the Wallace Collection (page 15, Fig. 17).

The pommels of certain of the sword hilts in the Bayeux needlework may be intended to be those of wheel formation, but from the extreme crudeness of the drawing and rendering, this point cannot be determined.

Swords of this precise period, other than those with the lobated pommel, have very little to distinguish them from weapons of a later date, say up to the middle of the XIIth century, when onwards for a period extending over a hundred years the Brazil nut and primitive wheel-shaped pommels gradually superseded them.

Next to the sword, the lance may be considered as the most distinguished knightly weapon, but there is little that can be said about it. It appears to