Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 3).djvu/159

 Late XIVth century. Wallace Collection (Laking Catalogue, No. 20)

Northern (?) Europe. Late XIVth century. Metropolitan Museum, New York

First half of XVth century. This example, though of the usual form, appears to have been decorated in Venice. Metropolitan Museum, New York

Scottish, early XVIIth century. Collection: the late Sir Noël Paton, Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh

on the other." We make this quotation merely to show how very serious a factor in warfare such a weapon as the heavy battle-axe must have been, especially when wielded by powerful men. Indeed, until the advent of the latter years of the XIVth century the effective force of the axe of all types depended far more on the warrior's physical strength than on any cunning he showed in the manipulation of the weapon. When a school of attack and defence was at last established its practice followed lines similar to those which had been adopted for the use of the pole-hammer and of the quarter-staff. In handling the axe King Henry VIII was well versed: Hall tells us that the King carried the axe on his 1513 campaign in