Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/617

Rh shield, the slender iron neck of the weapon bent with the weight of the shaft, which then dragged along the ground, so that the shield was rendered useless for defence. When used at close quarters it not only answered all the purposes of the modern bayonet, but when firmly wielded in both hands it was. equally efficient to ward off sword-strokes, which fell harmless upon the long and strong iron neck of the weapon. Polybius states that the legionary receiving the sword-strokes, with cool steadiness, upon his pilum, soon turned the swords of the enemy into mere hacked and blunted strigils or skin-scrapers. Vegetius also describes the pilum in a modified form as used in the armies of the Lower Empire, and in a still more modified form it re appears as the angon of the Franks, to be noticed further on. The defensive armour of the Romans in earlier times resembled that of the Greeks as previously described, and was chiefly of bronze, consisting usually of helmet with crest and cheek-pieces, cuirass of breast and back plates, modelled eo the form of the bust, and having a border of leather bands or straps, falling vertically so as to protect the lower part of the body. On the columns of Trajan and Antonine the cui rass proper is given to the chiefs only, the legionaries having their cuirasses of leather or linen, on which are sewn circular plates of metal, with shoulder-pieces and oblong plates descending vertically from the lower border of the cuirass. There are two varieties of shield on the Trajan column, an oblong, rectangular, and highly convex form, peculiar to the legionaries, and an oval, flattened form borne by the knights and velites. In later times the oval shield was assumed by the legionaries. The Roman helmets in the time of the early emperors were simple skull-caps with a holloved neck -guard, a small bar acting as a visor, and hinged cheek-pieces which fastened under the chin. In the declining days of the empire the helmet became deeper, the shield larger and more varied in form, the length of the sword was greatly increased, and uniformity of weapons and equipment was no longer observed.

Frankish.—The characteristic weapon of the Franks of the Merovingian epoch (450-7GO A.D.) was the frandsca or battle-axe, which they used as a missile. Procopius describes it as having a broad blade and a short haft, and it is said that the blow of an axe when hurled would pierce a shield or kill a man, and that the Franks rarely missed their aim. Agathias, the continuator of Procopius (535 A.O.), says they wear no body armour, few of them even having helmets, but they carry round shields, swords of the length of a man s thigh, axes having double edges, and darts which are used either for throwing or for thrusting. These darts had barbed iron heads, and were used as the Fio. 4. Iron head of Angon from a grave at Darmstadt, 38 in. long. pilum was used by the Romans. When the angon was fixed in the enemy s shield the custom of the Frank was to bound forward, place his foot on the end of the dart as it trailed along the ground, thus compelling the enemy to lower his shield, when he killed him with his axe or sword. The Prankish sword was a short, straight, broad-bladed, double-edged weapon, somewhat obtusely pointed, and usually about 30 to 32 inches in length. The sword and frandsca of Childeric, one of the first of the Merovingian kings (457-481), were discovered in his tomb at Tournay i:i 1G53, and are now in the museum of the Louvre. The sword has a short, straight cross-piece at the lower end of the hilt, and the pommel is of the same form, but smaller. The Carlovingian epoch, though almost devoid of distinc tive characteristics as regards the arms in use, is remark able for the gradual change from infantry to cavalry, and represents the transition to the period of chivalry. The development of the two military orders of the kuights or men-at-arms and the common infantry soldiers, serfs or peasants, may be said to have begun in the armies of Charle magne, and the superior class of fighting men in his time had added to the ordinary equipment of the earlier Franks the helm and coat of mail.

Scandinavian.—The swords of the early Iron Age in Scandinavia are frequently found in the mosses of Schleswig, associated with objects bearing a strongly-marked analogy to those recovered from the graves of our own Pagan Anglo-Saxon ancestors, of the period dating approxi mately from the 5th to the 7th centuries of the Chris tian era. They are long, straight, double-edged, and often richly damascened. On the tangs of several of those found at Nydam are the names of the armourers, some of which are of the Roman form. The grip of the hilt was circular, usually narrow in the middle, and the cross-pieces above and below were similar in shape. The sheaths were of wooden laths, adorned with tastefully- executed mountings in bronze. On one of the chapes an inscription in the earlier Runic alphabet occurred. Associ ated with these swords were flat, circular wooden shields, of 22

Anglo-Saxon. The early Anglo-Saxon sword was usually about 3 feet long, straight, double-edged, broad in the blade, and rounded at the point, with hilt and grip and cross-piece like those of the early Scandinavian swords previously described. As the sword was not carried by any man under the rank of thane, it is not often met with in Anglo-Saxon interments. With them, as with the Franks, it was a horseman s weapon, and the common accoutrement of the infantry was a spear, an axe, a shield, and a scramasax, or heavy single-edged knife. The Saxon spear was a narrow, long-bladed weapon, varying greatly in form and dimensions, but generally characterised by the. socket being slit or unclosed throughout its length. The axe was narrow-bladed and single-edged, and sometimes peaked at the back. The shield, which was circular or oval in form, was of wood, covered with leather, and fur nished with a high conical boss, often terminating in a pipe or a button. Anglo-Saxon warriors of the 10th century are represented in the manuscripts as wearing hauberks of mail and rounded casques. The ^Elfric manuscript, of the end of the llth century, shows the tri-lobed sword-hilt and round shield.

Norman.—The arms and armour of the Normans at the period of the conquest of Normandy were, of course, Scandinavian. The Normati arms of the period of the conquest of England are portrayed on the Bayeux tapestry. The sword is still of the Scandinavian type, long, straight, double-edged, and somewhat tapering, and round or ob tusely pointed with cross piece and pommel. The horse men are armed with long lances as well as swords. On the tapestry the Normans are represented as well provided with archsrs and cavalry, of which the Saxons are ap parently destitute- Maces and clubs appear also among the