No 12.
It will have been observed, from several passages already cited, that the use of poisoned weapons is imputed to the Northern tribes of this period. In "Beowulf," and elsewhere, we read of poisoned swords, poisoned arrows, and poisoned daggers; and, however rare may have been the employment of such terrible ministers, it does not seem permitted us to deny altogether their existence. The famous sword of Beowulf,
"Hrunting nama,"
had its edge "stained with poisonous twigs." This, indeed, is the evidence of a poet: but the Salic Law, as we have seen, speaks of "sagittæ toxicatæ[102]." And Gregory of Tours tells us, of Fredegonda: "Fredegundis duos cultros ferreos fieri præcipit, quos etiam caraxari profundiùs et veneno infici jusserat, scilicet si mortalis adsultus vitales non dissolveret fibras vel ipsa veneni infectio vitam possit velociùs extorquere[103]." And again, the same writer speaks of these poisoned daggers, or scramasaxi: "Cum cultris validis quos vulgò scramasaxos vocant, infectis veneno, utraque latera ei feriunt[104]."
No 13.
Let us now examine, as far as we are enabled to do so, what was the Teutonic warrior's defensive equipment. The structure of the Body-armour can only be inferred from indirect evidences; for the vague terms of the writers, such as lorica and byrnie, and the rudely conventional forms of the painters, who indicated a tree by a cluster of three or four leaves, and a coat-of-fence by a few circles penned on the parchment or punched on the bronze, afford us little help in determining with exactness how the armour-smith achieved his task. It is curious that the best testimony we obtain is that of the poets. A simile or an epithet lets in more light than all the limners and all the historians. It seems clear that in the earlier days of Northern rule, none but leaders wore body-armour; but, as years rolled on, and prosperity increased, the subaltern ranks affected this distinction. As we have already shewn (page [38]), the Ceorl vied with the Eorl in the richness and completeness of his equipment; and at length, under the rule of Charlemagne, the troops of the Count, as we have seen, are all required to have defensive armour: "Omnis homo de duodecim mansis, bruniam habeat." Those who had not this amount of land, clubbed together and furnished amongst them the panoply in which one of their number went forth to the host. Was this byrnie of interlinked chain-mail? The Anglo-Saxon poem of "Beowulf" may throw some light on the question:—