Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 4).djvu/359

 type which one would be inclined at first sight to associate with the tournament field only; but it must be remembered that on the famous tapestry in the Musée Cluny, which depicts the conquest of Tunis in 1535, the knights fully caparisoned for war are represented armed with lances possessing heads exactly similar. This is evidence that such heads must have been in use both in war and tournament.

First half of the XVIth century. Royal Armoury, Madrid

The hafts of the war lance were generally of ash, for which certain countries were famous. In 1593 Sutcliffe, in his "Practice of Arms," says: "The pike and lance I would have, if it might be, of Spanish ash and between 20 and 22 feet long." Navajiro, in his Viaje por España, suggests the cultivation of the ash in the Basque provinces, more especially for the purpose of making the hafts of pole weapons. At an earlier date (1535) there is a record of a contract entered into by commissioners acting on behalf of the Emperor Charles V, with the armourer, Antón Urquiçu of Elorrio, for the supply of 6,000 ash pikes, each of 25-26 hands in length.

As the XVIth century advances, students of armour become sensible that the use in civilized warfare of the pole-axe, of the war-hammer, and of the mace has greatly diminished, and although certain forms of these weapons continued to be carried, they were no longer seriously considered even as auxiliary weapons, but were in favour merely on account of their warlike appearance and decorativeness, qualities which are strikingly apparent in a beautiful example (Fig. 1396) now to be seen in the Metropolitan Museum of New York. The head of this war-hammer is of iron, remarkable for the richness of its workmanship; it is in perfect preservation; its sharpness and the accuracy of its chiselling is very striking. The top of the weapon takes the shape of an octagonal galley lamp, each facet pierced with openwork.