8o The History of the Spur 



Next we see the one great radical change that took place — 

 the introduction of the rowel. We know within a few years 

 when this change was made, but whose idea it was, and from 

 what country it came, we have no certain knowledge. Then 

 began extravagances of form and size, keeping pace with the 

 extravagance in dress which characterized Plantagenet times. 

 Some of the changes, as we have noticed, were called forth by 

 alterations in armour, notably in the case of the long-necked 

 spurs, but by the end of the Wars of the Roses the height 

 of extravagance was reached as regards size and lavish decoration. 



One wonders how men could have submitted to the 

 inconvenience which must have been occasioned by the enormous 

 rowels which came into fashion. But one must bear in mind 

 that the Lancastrian and early Tudor periods were characterized 

 by extravagance in dress and in all modes of living. After 

 this, when spurs had reached their height as regards size and 

 ornament, there came a great change. What brought it about? 

 Gunpowder. Everything was changed by that invention. Men 

 no longer built grim stone castles, for what was the use of 

 stone walls, no matter how many feet thick, if they could be 

 battered down by cannon ? So there sprang up all over 

 England the beautiful timbered and highly decorated houses 

 which are among the many beauties of our country to this day. 

 At first, in the infancy of gunpowder, our archers laughed at 

 the noisy things which could shoot neither so hard nor so far 

 as they. But when the contest of guns versus armour began 

 in earnest, and guns rapidly developed more and more power, 

 the armour was soon beaten. Men had to carry it on their 



