M MILITARY SCIENCES. 



quity on so small a scale that it could be handled by one man. Richard I. 

 introduced it into England, and in the third crusade it was already a common 

 weapon. The crossbow represented in our plate (fig. 3) shows the earliest 

 form of this arm ; the wooden stock is three feet three inches long, one 

 and three-quarter inches broad in the widest place, and five and three- 

 quarter inches thick in the thickest. The bow is of steel, two feet long, 

 and in the broadest part nearly four inches wide ; the whole weapon weighs 

 fifteen pounds. The string was usually double, made of gut, twisted and 

 wound with silk or thread ; each man had two such strings. At the upper 

 end of the stock was a piece of curved iron, in which the bolt or arrow was 

 laid, and then held behind by a catch. For taking aim, there was a small 

 back-sight, which was brought in a line with the notch on the arrow. When 

 the bow was bent, the string was held back by a claw, which, being pushed 

 up by the trigger, let the string fly in firing. Afterwards, a particular kind of 

 lock, similar to our musket-locks, was contrived, to make the discharge easier. 

 The crossbow was bent by means of a windlass which each man carried with 

 him, and which was constructed in various ways. Sometimes it consisted 

 merely of several wheels, sometimes of a kind of pulley ; frequently it was 

 merely a double lever. At first, only arrows like those shot from the bow pro- 

 per (pi. 15, figs. 4, 5, 6) were shot from the crossbow, but afterwards, when the 

 steel bow had been still more strengthened, heavy bolts (fig. 13); and the effect 

 was so powerful, that even at considerable distances such bolts penetrated 

 light cuirasses, shields, and helmets, and completely transfixed the unarmed. 

 The arrows were feathered at the upper end, for greater steadiness of flight, 

 as the figures show ; frequently they, as well as the bolts, were split, and a 

 strip of leather or parchment inserted. The heads of the arrows were of 

 various forms (figs. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12). They are found single, double, 

 and triple-pointed, provided usually with one, often with two and three 

 pairs of sharpened barbs. Sometimes, when objects were to be set on fire, 

 a ball of pitch, tow, and other combustibles, was fastened close behind the 

 head (fig. 6), and lighted just as the arrow was discharged. Such fire- 

 arrows, carrying the Greek-fire, were very much used. For the crossbow 

 heavy bolts were used (fig. 13), pointed also often with several points, and 

 formidable even from their weight alone. 



The dress of the crossbow-man consisted usually of a cuirass, which was 

 woven of wire, and hung low enough to cover the legs. The head was 

 protected by a close-fitting cap of tin plate, which passed afterwards into 

 the form of a kind of helmet. The poorer archers wore only a breastplate 

 or leather jerkin, set here and there with pieces of tin plate. In such cases 

 the archers were protected by shield-formed wicker hurdles, of the height 

 of a man, which were carried by men appointed for the purpose, and set up 

 in the ground before them. A short sword or battle-axe also was usually 

 carried by the archers. 



The spear or lance was the most ancient weapon of the Germans, and 



this arm has been maintained in honor. From the formation of the feudal 



nobility, the lance was the chief weapon of the knightly equipment. The 



staff of this knightly lance, which differed widely from the common spear, 



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