A very interesting little group is shown in [Fig. 79] from a Saxon MS., Cleopatra B. 4, in the British Museum. The book is Ælfric’s Paraphrase of the Pentateuch and Joshua, and the subject of the drawing is the battle of the three kings against the cities of the plain. One king is habited in a ringed byrnie which extends to the knees and half way down the arms; he wields a sword with a trilobed pommel and short quillons, and defends himself with a shield having a spiked umbo. His armour-bearer carries another shield, but is quite unarmed, his duty merely being to defend his master. The Phrygian cap and simple tunic he wears are probably those of everyday life. The second king has no defensive armour and no armour-bearer, unless the figure seen behind him in a grotesque attitude fulfils that office. The bifid beards and the characteristic Saxon wrinkling of the sleeves should be noticed, as also that the legs of the group appear to be bare.
Fig. 79.—Group from Cott. MS., Cleop. B. 4. c. 1000.
Fig. 80.—From Anglo-Saxon MS., Prudentius, 11th century.
The leg-bands seen upon the Saxon soldiery were similar to those worn by all civilians, and adjusted in the same manner; if, however, they were of leather instead of the usual textile fabric a certain amount of defence could be obtained (Figs. [77] and [80]). It is curious to observe that a number of soldiers are habited precisely as the civilians, with no other defences than the helmet and the shield, from which we conclude that the Anglo-Saxon of an early period simply dropped his implements of husbandry at the call to arms and took up the shield, helmet, and the spear.
Towards the latter end of the Saxon period the arms and armour became almost identical with that in use on the Continent owing to the constant intercourse which occurred in the reign of Edward the Confessor, so that in 1066 the difference in accoutrement was simply small matters of detail.