Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 3).djvu/170

 and who is armed in plate possessing a steel cap, hausse col, sword, knife, a brigandine, and hauberk of mail, iron and leather arm guards, shall receive a daily pay of three tournois sous. And we ordain that all foot soldiers be formed into companies of twenty-five to thirty men with their connestables or commanders, and that each connestable shall receive double pay, and that the companies be passed in review before those who are appointed for the purpose, or shall be deputed to hold such review, and further that each connestable shall have a pennon with such arms or device as he may choose."

The dauphin Charles, in 1359, instituted, for the defence of the City of Paris, a body of crossbow men containing two hundred men. This corps chose annually four provosts from its number, each of whom commanded fifty men. Each crossbow man received in ordinary times "deux viel'x gros d'argent" or their value per day, and twice that in war time. The confraternity, moreover, enjoyed numerous privileges. Their numbers increased greatly in a short time; for in 1375 the Dauphin, then Charles V, fixed the number of a confraternity at eight hundred men. Under Charles VI the privileges enjoyed by crossbow men, not only in Paris, but in Rouen, Compiègne, Tournay, Laon, etc., were still further increased. It is in the days of François I that we see the crossbow men disappearing from the armies of France. At the battle of Marignan there were still two hundred mounted crossbow men of the king's guard, who rendered signal service. In 1536 the author of Discipline Militaire, a work attributed to Guillaume de Bellay, says that in front of Turin there was only a single crossbow man in the French army; but that this man by himself killed and wounded more men than the best crossbow men of that fortified town were able to kill and to wound. This crossbowman was a skilful marksman; for at la Bicoque he killed Jean de Cordonne, a Spanish captain, who had for a moment raised the visor of his helmet to take breath.

Throughout the XIVth century, as far as one can judge, little material progress was made in the actual construction of the crossbow. We think it may be taken for granted that what was known as the "horn" bow attached to the stock of the crossbow was of earlier origin than the bow of steel. It is interesting to note that the supposed Oriental origin of the "horn" bow to the crossbow as used in mediaeval times is to a certain extent confirmed by the very close resemblance in construction which the comparatively modern Oriental bows of horn, whalebone, and sinew bear to those few XVth and XVIth century horn bows on European crossbows that we