40 MILITARY SCIENCES. 



Saxony {jig. 2), and of the knight {figs. 3 and 4). When the breast- plate 

 was made of a single piece, it became necessary to have a support for the 

 lance when placed in rest, and for this purpose a hook was fixed on the 

 right breast {pi. 16, figs. 9 and 10), or sometimes a short horizontal iron 

 bar, with a curve. 



In the armor, especially of later times, great magnificence was displayed. 

 It is found painted black or red, with gold or silver nails and edges ; of blued 

 steel, with gold and silver borders and leaf- work {fig. 9); bright polished, with 

 graven or inlaid ornaments, and even adorned with precious stones. Armor 

 of silver entirely, or gilt all over, is frequently mentioned. Where the parts 

 of the armor came in contact with each other, they were lined with leather 

 and colored cloth {figs, 14 and 15). The separate pieces were fastened 

 together by straps or hooks {figs. 12, 13, 14, and 15), and in the same way 

 the greaves, which covered only the fore part of the thigh, the shin-bone, 

 and the knee, were buckled over the hose {figs. 13 and 17). Of especial 

 interest are the ring-shaped pieces which protect the elbow and joint of the 

 arms {figs. 9, 12, 13, 14, and 15). 



Particular attention was given to the gauntlets also, as they were to pro- 

 tect the hand and wrist, and yet in no respect interfere with their free 

 motion. The gauntlet proper, therefore, consisted of thick leather only, but 

 all parts which were anywhere exposed to a blow, were protected by larger 

 or smaller strips of iron and steel-plate, sewed on with wire {pi. 16, figs. 18- 

 22). The gauntlets were often engraved or inlaid on the cuffs, and the 

 separate strips ornamented with gilt or silvered edges and studs. 



Spurs are a German invention, for the name {sporen) has passed into 

 foreign languages from the German. At first, the spur had but one point ; 

 later, since the fourteenth century, this has been supplied by a pointed 

 rowel. The fork which held the wheel was at first straight {pi. 9, fig. 64), 

 afterwards curved {fig. 63). The oldest spurs were very broad, often 

 richly adorned ; the rowels had points of an inch and more in length. The 

 golden spur was the mark of a knight ; and a nobleman who was not a 

 knight could wear only silver or steel spurs. 



The oldest nations rode their horses only on the bare back, yet even 

 among the Visigoths saddles are mentioned. Among the Anglo-Saxons 

 the saddle was only a cushion, with a small seat {figs. 47 and 48). In the 

 eleventh century, the front and rear projections were already considerably 

 higher, as was requisite for the mode of fighting practised by the heavy armed. 

 This is shown by the Norman saddle of the year 1120 {fig. 49). How 

 the form of the saddle afterwards changed is shown in figs. 50-56. Fig. 50 

 shows a saddle of the middle, j^^. 51 one of the end of the twelfth century; 

 fig. 52 one of the thirteenth. To the end of the fourteenth century belong 

 the saddles in figs. 54 and 55 ; in the commencement of the fifteenth, the 

 form was as in^^. 53, and at the close of the same as in^^. 56. Fig. 60 is 

 a German saddle of the beginning, fig. 61 of the middle of the sixteenth 

 century, and fig. 62 is of the middle of the seventeenth. A state saddle 

 of the fifteenth or sixteenth century is represented in figs. 57, 58, and 59 ; 

 fig. 58 is the front, fig. 59 the rear view. Both saddle-pads are wrought 

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