Introductory 1 1 



great-grandfather was good enough for him. Or he may have 

 worn them for luck — or for many other reasons. But to say 

 that a prick spur, and an early prick spur at that, belongs to 

 the fifteenth century because it was found at Agincourt, when 

 everything points to its being of a much earlier date, is mis- 

 leading, to say the least of it, to the enquiring Frenchman 

 who may seek to learn what manner of accoutrements his 

 forefathers wore during the Middle Ages. 



In our British Museum there are three spurs which are 

 not exhibited to the public because of a doubt as to their age. 

 They had been thought to have been Roman spurs, because 

 they were found in the Roman stratum of London, having 

 been dug up in Lothbury when the Bank of England was built. 

 There need not have been any doubt as to their being Roman 

 or not, had the learned and courteous gentlemen who preside 

 over that department of the Museum given but a little of their 

 attention to the subject. Two are pyramidal-pointed prick 

 spurs, one with long, straight sides, and one with curved sides, 

 and are of the end of the twelfth and beginning of the thirteenth 

 centuries. The third is broken, but is probably a rowel spur, 

 with the rowel missing, and is, of course, of a later date still. 

 Their presence in the Roman stratum of London was probably 

 due to the fact that they were thrown down some hole or 

 shallow well, and so were found some feet deeper than the 

 surface upon which their wearers had habitually walked. 



Again, in the admirable collection of armour brought 

 together by Sir Richard Wallace, and now to be seen at 

 Hertford House, there are several suits of armour of the 



