Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 1).djvu/201

 about the middle of which is girded the quiver of arrows. The horse is caparisoned but unarmoured. Most interesting, however, is the helm upon his head, which is of an advanced form, similar to the knightly helm of the second quarter of the XIVth century. In the illuminated manuscript in which this mounted archer is drawn (Roy. MS. 20, D i, British Museum), are shown foot archers, but almost similarly armed with the helm as head-piece.

From an incised Chertsey tile From Dr. Manwaring Shurlock's "Tiles from Chertsey Abbey"

Royal MS. 20, D i, British Museum

The transitional years of the XIIIth-XIVth centuries show us little variation in the formation of the sword or its hilt, and it is not until the first quarter of the XIVth century had passed do we note any characteristic features. However, before we allude to the ordinary straight sword of the first half of the XIVth century, let us pause to consider a somewhat different form of sword, or rather blade, that was gaining popularity, namely, the slightly curved blade widening at the point and known by the name of the falchion. We find it mentioned by Guiart, the famous writer of the XIIIth century. It figures in the hands of one of the warriors in the fresco formerly in the painted chamber, Westminster, assigned to the early years of the XIIIth century (page 118, Fig. 143, page 340, Fig. 409, and page 734, Fig. 907), in the hand of a grotesque figure taken from the Louterell Psalter (Cott. MS. Nero, D ii, British Museum), Fig. 156, and in the hands of a knight from an initial letter taken from an English illumination of about 1280 (page 130,