- Swords
Fig. 7. Norwegian Sword. The pommel and cross-piece are of iron. Figs. 8 to 11. From Livonian graves : the originals are in the British Museum. Fig. 10 is single-edged : its pommel and the chape of the scabbard are of bronze. Fig. 11 has its pommel and guard ornamented with silver - Swords
Fig. 1. Found in the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Fairford. It measures upwards of 2 ft. 11 inches, and is one of the finest examples extant. Fig. 2. In the Hon. Mr. Neville's collection : found in the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Wilbraham, Cambridgeshire. Length of blade, 2 ft. 7 in. It retains the bronze mountings of the sheath, which have been gilt. Fig. 3. Same collection and find • a specimen re-markable for the cross-piece at the hilt. Fig. 4 Ancient-. Irish Sword of the same period : length, 30 inches. From Mr. Wakeman's paper in vol. iii. of Colleetanea Antigua. Fig. 5. Danish sword with engraved runes : in the Copenhagen Museum. Fig. 6. Danish : from the Annaler for Nordisk Oldkyndighed. Remarkable for the form of its cross-piece - Sir Robert Shurland
In the monumental effigy of Sir Robert Shurland, who was made a knight-banneret in 1300, we seem to have a curious and probably unique effigy of a knight in the gameson. We give a woodcut of it, reduced from Stothard’s engraving. The smaller figure of the man placed at the feet of the effigy is in the same costume, and affords us an additional example. - Quilted Armour
Of the quilted armours we know very little. In the illuminations is often seen armour covered over with lines arranged in a lozenge pattern, which perhaps represents garments stuffed and sewn in this commonest of all patterns of quilting; but it has been suggested that it may represent lozenged-shaped scales, of horn or metal, fastened upon the face of the garments. In the wood-cut here given from the MS. Caligula A. vii., we have one of the clearest and best extant illustrations of this quilted armour. - Knight of the latter part of the Thirteenth Century
The other great invention of this period was that of armorial bearings, properly so called. Devices painted upon the shield were common in classical times. They are found ordinarily on the shields in the Bayeux tapestry, and were habitually used by the Norman knights. In the Bayeux tapestry they seem to be fanciful or merely decorative; later they were symbolical or significant. But it was only towards the close of the twelfth century that each knight assumed a fixed device, which was exclusively appropriated to him, by which he was known, and which became hereditary in his family. - Combat on Foot
The engravings of Hans Burgmaier, in the Triumphs of Maximilian and the Weise Könige contain numerous authorities very valuable for the clearness and artistic skill with which the armour is depicted. We have given an illustration which represents a combat of two knights, on foot. The armour is partly covered by a surcoat; in the left-hand figure it will be seen that it is fluted. The shields will be noticed as illustrating one of the shapes then in use. - Brewster's and Standish's Swords
Brewster's and Standish's Swords - Warrior of Java
Warrior of Java - Costume of the Franks in the Eighth Century
Costume of the Franks in the Eighth Century