.SYYA'.Vf'A'. 



They, in the first place, settled the shape of the shield. That of the French 

 barons, which was first of all triangular and somewhat slanting, was replaced 

 by a quadrilateral shield, rounded at the two lower corners, and terminating 

 in a point at the centre of its base. The Germanic shield was remarkable for 

 its rounded basis, and for a lateral indentation, which was used for supporting 



\. \ \ \ \ 



Fig. 221. "Fashion and Manner in which the King of Arms displays to the Four Judges the 

 Plaintiff and Defendant, and presents to them the Letters of the said Plaintiff and Defendant, 

 wearing upon his shoulder the Cloth of Gold and the Painted Parchment of the same." 

 Miniature from the " Tournois du roy Rene 1 ." Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century. In the 

 National Library, Paris. 



the lance when the man-at-arms, mounted upon his charger, held this lance 

 at rest, covering his breast with his buckler. 



Leaving to special heraldic treatises the theoretic description of the 

 different partitions of the shield that is to say, the lines which divide it into 

 horizontal, diagonal, and perpendicular sections or parts we proceed to give 



