OF ARROW-RELEASE. 191 



The earliest figure I have met with, illustrating archery 

 in England, was copied from the Saxon manuscripts in 

 the Cotton Library. These manuscripts are of the 

 eighth century. If the wood-cut contained in Strutt's 

 " Sports and Pastimes " is correct, then the attitude of the 

 hands shows distinctly the three-fingered Mediterranean 

 release. The bow is short and thick, and has a double 

 curve, something like the Roman bow, from which indeed 

 it might naturally have been derived. 1 



The following examples have come under my notice in 

 a very hasty and imperfect survey of the field, principally 

 derived from books, engravings, and ivory carvings, re- 

 productions, etc., in museums. 



The celebrated Bayeux Tapestry, a copy of which 

 may be seen at the South Kensington Museum, represents 

 the archers in the attitude of the two-fingered Mediterra- 

 nean release, though a few are shown using three fingers. 

 Also the following show the two-fingered form of the Med- 

 iterranean release without exception : a fresco in Kumla 

 Church, Vestmanland Co., Sweden, 1492; a sculptured 

 figure in wood by Albrecht Durer, figured in Som- 

 merard's "Arts of the Middle Ages" (5th Series, Plate 

 xxvii.), also in the same work (10th Series, Plate xxv.) ; 

 a chess piece in ivory supposed to be of the tenth or 

 eleventh century ; in Meyrick's "Ancient Armour" (Plate 

 vin., Vol. i.), a figure of a Norman of the eleventh cen- 

 tury, on the doorway of the Cathedral of Amiens, a 

 cast of which may be seen at the Trocedero Museum ; 

 and, finally, in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts are a 

 number of Florentine engravings of the early half of the 

 fifteenth century, and these in every case represent in the 



1 It may be well to state here that opportunity has not permitted an examina- 

 tion of sources for early Roman releases. On Trajan's column a few releases 

 are shown, and these are of the Mediterranean form. 



