ON SPURS AFFIXED WITHOUT STRAPS 



AND ON CERTAIN 



ECCENTRIC FORMS OF SPURS 



W^ 



Although from the earliest times, all through the 

 Middle Ages and down to the present day, spurs were 

 attached to their owner's feet by straps in the very 

 great majority of instances, this has not been invariably the case. 

 It is certain that spurs rivetted on to the armour are more often 

 seen on effigies and church brasses than was actually the case 

 in real life. But in these cases the evidence is not always 

 trustworthy, as I have remarked before. I have seen in more 

 than one instance a marble effigy of a man in armour with 

 the spur rivetted to the front half of the leg-piece. Had this 

 existed in real life, the unfortunate wearer could never have 

 got his leg armour off. In these cases, as in many others, 

 the evidence afforded by effigies and brasses is so tainted with 

 inaccuracy as to render it of doubtful value. But there have 

 been periods when the fashion of attaching spurs without the 

 aid of straps has prevailed to a certain extent. 



In very ancient times this fashion was obviously unknown, 

 since, until the introduction of plate armour, there was nothing 

 to which a spur could be rivetted. And for a very consider- 

 able period when plate armour was worn, the spur was strapped 

 to the man's foot inside the armour, and the neck protruded 

 through a slit in the back of the jambe, as we have already 

 seen. 



