76 The History of the Spur 



most of the articles used at the coronation, one after the other. 

 In former days no one was allowed to enter a sacred edifice 

 with military arms upon him. These were generally left with 

 one of the attendants at the door, or in the porch, while the 

 owner went in to pray. When the prayers were finished and 

 the soldier came out again, he had to redeem his accoutrements 

 with such money as he had available, and ' spur money ' had 

 always to be taken into consideration when an armed knight 

 went to his devotions." 



These St. George's spurs are especially interesting to the 

 student, in that they, most appropriately, present a combination 

 of almost every style of spur that has been in use in this 

 country since the Norman Conquest. The short, sharp " prick " 

 is of the kind I have described elsewhere as the "inserted 

 point," and has not been used since the beginning of the 

 twelfth century. This was the first form of arrangement used 

 to prevent any accidental penetration of the horse's side, which 

 must not unfrequently have occurred with the long unguarded 

 spikes, sometimes three inches and more in length, that 

 succeeded the plain, short points of the Roman period. This 

 form of short spike inserted into the end of the neck came 

 into use probably about the beginning of the tenth century, 

 and continued during the eleventh, and this was probably the 

 usual form of spurs worn at the time of the Norman Conquest. 



The conventional rose which forms the end of the neck in 

 these spurs, and from the centre of which the point springs, 

 may be taken to represent the Tudor rose, the amalgamation 

 of the York and Lancaster badges. The peculiar bend in the 



