3-15 



( IlTVALnV. 



qotntly ini-ribf J on this part of it, to that when a knight 

 wore by hit iword, hit usual oath, he (wort by hit re- 

 ligion, a* well at br hit ralour. The dapper worn by a 

 knight, called by the French writers misfricordc, or the 

 poignard of mercy, was uaed only in close and desperate 

 struggle*, when the combatants, unhorsed, and so near 

 to each other, that they could not use their other wea- 

 pons, were obliged to hire recourse to these. It was 

 alto employed to dispatch the vanquished knight, unless 

 he cried for mercy. It wa commonly worn in the bosom. 

 Th? principal parts of his defensive armour were the 

 hrliret and bacinet, the coats of mail of different kinds, 

 and the shield. The helmet was made with holes for 

 breathing and seeing ; and it was of the utmost import- 

 ance, that the esquire should take care that the rivetting 

 of the top of the cuirass, and of the helmet, should be 

 firmly done, before a battle or tournament, since other- 

 wise it might happen, that, by a violent blow, the helmet 

 might be turned with the wrong side foremost. This 

 happened to a French chevalier at the battle of Bouines ; 

 and the fatal accident which deprived Henry II. of his 

 life, is supposed to have originated from some negligence 

 in this respect. The crest of the helmet, called by the 

 l.:.ights of romance It plus liaut de net biens, was orna- 

 mented with lambrequins, the favours which their mis- 

 tresses had bestowed on them, and frequently with the 

 images of some fancied monster. The bacinet was a 



kind of helmet, so called from its resemblance to a 

 baton ; this the knight, when fatigued, put on instead of 

 his helmet. Sometimes a kind of cap was fastened to 

 the lower part of the crest of the helmet with ribbands ; 



ap was composed of thin plates of iron, and was 

 put on, when the knight took oflT his helmet for the pur- 

 pose of breathing more freely ; in this case, the ribbands 

 '. fastened it to the crest, flowed down on his 

 shoulders, whence they had the name of raids. 



Coats of mail consisted either of chain or plate armour ; 

 the latter . . anc : cnt and more common, having 



'isi-'l in Trance very early in the days of chivalry. 



The haubcrt, haubergcon, or hauberk, as it was indiscri- 



callcd,* was composed of double plates, or 



;.'* of steel, impenetrable to any arrow or lance. It 

 .c body completely from head to foot. This 

 . armour as allowed only to the knights. 

 The hauberk of the timplc esquire was distinguished, by 

 its being without hood and nose. The cuirass, which 

 came into use long after the coat of mail, consisted of 

 two parts : a back and a breast piece of iron, fastened 

 with straps, and covering the body completely before and 

 behind ; it was much more heavy and cumbersome than 

 the coat of mail. It was reckoned as dishonourable for 

 a knight to quit his cuirass or coat of mail, as for a 

 Greek or Roman to lose their shield. Of the shield it 

 it i* not necessary to give any description. 



The armour which was used in tournaments, was much 

 lighter, and more ornamented than that employed in 

 battle : " The helmet was perforated only on the right 



the left side of the face, and the left shoulder and 

 l.iratt, were covered wiih a plate called a grand guard, 

 which wa fastened on at the ttomacli. On each shoul- 

 der WM also fixed a plate, declining from the face like 



, in order to protect the eyes from the point of the 

 j/nsi-guardi. From the right 

 ki:t projected, . 

 ; the lai.c-. ." Grose 

 c a A 



One of the first p. \\hich the knight received Cl 



was, that of bearing a . -,. Coats of arms, in ^""""j"* ^ 



a more loose and extended sense, are very ancient | they p/^'^ " 

 are assigned by Eschylus to the warriors against Thebes ; knight*, 

 but these were of a very different kind, and destined for 

 a very different purpose. The coats of arms used in 

 chivalry were fixed and certain j their purpose to distin- 

 guish families. The coats of arms mentioned by Eschy- 

 lus were frequently changed, and, indeed, were merely 

 temporary, being used only in battle to distinguish 

 friends from foes. There is much difference of opinion 

 respecting the time when armorial bearings, properly so 

 called, were first used. The circumstance of their not 

 appearing on feals till about the eleventh century, has 

 induced many authors to fix their introduction at that 

 period. But the fact will by no means bear out the in- 

 ference ; besides, that if we may credit Urcdius, in his 

 Treatise on the Seals of the Counts of Flanders, a coat 

 of arms is to be seen on the seal of Arnulphus, the 

 great Earl of Flanders, in the year 9+1. But the mode 

 in which figures on seals were for a 'long time represent- 

 ed, prevented the coat of arms from being teen ; as the 

 horseman, on the more ancient seals, appears riding to- 

 \v.irJs the sinister side of the seal, commonly bearing on 

 his left arm a shield cast back in such a manner, that 

 the concave side alone is visible. Now, for a long time 

 the upper side was the only part where the coat of arms 

 was painted. That this is the cause why armorial bear- 

 ings are not visible on ancient seals, is evident from this 

 circumstance : that aa soon as the position of the horse- 

 man on the seal was changed, they became apparent. 

 The fashion altered soon after the reign of Henry I. 

 The most ancient English seal, with arms on it, is that 

 of Richard I. 



But to return from this digression. The sovereign or 

 noble who bestowed the honour of knighthood, encou- 

 raged or permitted the newly made knight to assume the 

 whole or part of his arms ; sometimes, but very seldom, 

 he assumed the entire armorial bearings ; more frequent- 

 ly, he incorporated part of them with his own coat of 

 arms. He in his turn transmitted the whole, or part of 

 his armorial bearings, to th? knights whom he created ; 

 whence the resemblance in different parts of the coats of 

 arms of families not allied, which existed in the days of 

 chivalry. 



Many knights, however, refused to assume any armo- 

 rial bearings, till they had won them by their merit or 

 thfir valour ; or, if their shield was adorned with the ar- 

 morial bearings of their family, they carefully and mo- 

 destly covered it over, till they had acquired celebrity 

 in war or tournaments. It not unfrcquently happened, 

 that the strokes of the sword or the lance cut off the 

 covering from their shields, and displayed at once the fa- 

 mily and the merit of the newly made chevalier. Some- 

 times he exhibited a shield painted white, or of any other 

 uniform colour throughout, and anxiou.ly waited till an 

 opportunity of displaying his valour might give him a 

 rignt to inscribe armorial bearings on it. If be was so 

 unfortunate as to be defeated in combat or in battle be- 

 fore he had assumed his coat of arms, he preferred death 

 to the disgrace of making himself known. In the ro- 

 mances there are many examples of this sort ; and that 

 the authors of these romances copied from the actual 

 practice of chevaliers, appears from the undoubted tes- 

 timony of a chroc, icier qiK<tiil by Si 1'alayr.f 



The new made kuiglit generally carried a white shield, 



. :o sotne authcn, ;-on di/ttrcd from th h.iubert, in being without doevc 



f Si Palityc, i. p. 349. 



