Introductory 3 



I am aware that some distinguished antiquarians consider 

 this idea to be much exaggerated, and think that the spur, even 

 in the Middle Ages, never had more than its practical value. 

 In support of this idea Chaucer may be quoted, in his Prologue 

 to the "Canterbury Tales," written about a.d. 1370 — a period when 

 the spur was beginning to be highly elaborated. Chaucer, when 

 describing the pilgrims on their way to Canterbury, makes no 

 mention of spurs when describing the knight. He therefore did 

 not look upon the spur as the typical emblem of knighthood. 

 But in describing the "Good Wyf" he says — 



" Upon her amblere easily she sat, 

 A foot-mantel upon her hippes wide, 

 And on her feet a paire of spores sharpe." 



And this is the only mention of spurs that Chaucer makes 

 in describing the all sorts and conditions of men that composed 

 the Canterbury pilgrims. 



Still, one is reluctant to give up the idea that the spur 

 was once looked upon as the emblem of knighthood, and 

 the frequently used expression "to win his spurs," and the 

 ceremonies observed as to the putting on the spurs at the 

 investiture of a knight, and the cutting off the spurs on the 

 occasion of a knight's degradation, all point to the idea that 

 spurs once had a value beyond that of mere utility. 



In an account of " How Knyghtis of ye Bathe shulde be 

 mayd," written in the early part of the fifteenth century, " the 

 squyers" are directed "to their (the knights') swerdis, and a 

 payre of gilt sporis, hangynge upon the hyltis of the same 

 sworde, and shall bear the sworde with the sporis before them." 



A 2 



