314 HERALDIC SCIENCE. 



and represented lions, horns, chimscras, and human arms bearing some 

 weapon. Gradually, however, it became the custom to replace these acces- 

 sories by plain coronets enriched with gems and pearls, the shape and number 

 of which varied according to the rank of the wearer. 



About the middle of the fifteenth century it became customary for families 

 which had enrolled troops, and led them to join the ost (army) of the sove- 

 reign under their own banners, to place above the crests a Imtel, or scroll, 

 bearing upon it their battle-cry. Gradually this right was claimed by every 

 chevalier banneret who had the means of assembling under his pennon, or 

 gonfalon (a standard with the arms or colours of a noble), four or five gentlemen 

 and twelve or fifteen men-at-arms equipped at his expense. 



Moreover, the battle-cry is of very much earlier date than the fifteenth 

 century, for even the Barbarians were accustomed to nerve themselves for 

 the fight by cries which were also used as signals. The usage of rallying 

 the soldiers upon a field of battle by means of some shout uttered by the 

 whole army in chorus is to be discovered in the Bible, for Gideon, when he 

 was about to take the camp of the Midianites by surprise at night, ordered 

 his own men to shout when they attacked the enemy whom the Lord 

 had delivered into their hands, " For the Lord and for Gideon ! " 



In the Middle Ages battle-cries were universal. Most of them were 

 nothing more than the names of the different nobles and chevaliers, supple- 

 mented by some flattering epithet or pious invocation, such as Mailly ' La 

 Tremoille ! Bourbon, Bourbon, Notre Dame ! Coucy, a la Marveille ! The 

 great barons used as a battle-cry the name of a province, of a lordship, or of 

 an important town upon their domains, and these did not change even when 

 the town or lordship changed owners. Under the Dukes of Burgundy the 

 Hennuyers still cried, Hainaut an noble due ! The men of Gascony, Navarre, 

 and Arragon shouted, Bigorre ! Bigorre ! as under the Kings of Navarre and 

 of Arragon. The men of Beauvais, when they went out to do battle, invoked 

 Beauvais lajolie! while those 'of Louvain shouted, Lou m in rni riche due ! 



The battle-cries of certain families contained allusions to the charges iipon 

 their coat-of-arms, and Flandre au lion was the cry of the Counts of Flanders, 

 and Au peignc d'or (the golden comb) that of the lords of Gallant. Another 

 family used as its battle-cry a sort of exhortation to the valiant, or of menace 

 to the vanquished, without any special or generic characteristic. The Counts 

 of Champagne cried, Passarant les meillors ! the Chevaliers of Bar, Au feu ! 



