In the south, military science was already so far advanced that a Code for the discipline of troops had been established. The rules laid down by the Emperor Frederic for the control of his army in Italy in 1158, have been preserved by Radevicus of Frisinga[166], and are given by Sismondi[167].
Wherever the feudal system had taken root, a similar arming and similar tactics prevailed. The military
"Chevals quistrent et armes à la guise franchoise,
Quer lor semblout è plus riche è plus cortoise."
But in the border-nations of Europe, where the old liberties of Celt and Teuton still lingered, the fashions of war were very different. In Ireland, in Scotland, in Wales, and in the Scandinavian North, the heroes were by no means clad in the pattern of the Bayeux tapestry. From Giraldus Cambrensis we learn that the Irish in the twelfth century wore no body-armour. In riding they used neither saddle nor spur. Their shields were circular, and painted red. Helmets they had none. Their weapons were a short spear, javelins, and an axe. The axes, which they had derived from the Norwegians and Ostmen, were excellently well steeled. "They make use of but one hand when they strike with the axe, extending the thumb along the handle to direct the blow; from which neither the helmet can defend the head, nor the iron folds of the armour the body; whence it has happened in our time that the whole thigh of a soldier, though cased in well-tempered armour, hath been lopped off by a single blow, the limb falling on one side of the horse, and the expiring body on the other. They are also expert beyond all other nations in casting stones in battle, when other weapons fail them, to the great detriment of their enemies[168]." The bow not being in use among the Irish of this time, and consequently there being nothing to oppose to the distant attack of the Norman archers, the havoc made by these latter troops was terrific; so that Giraldus, in his chapter, "Qualiter Hibernica gens sit expugnanda," recommends that in all attacks upon them, bowmen should be mixed with the heavy-armed force.
The Welsh also retained their old mode of warfare:—
"Gens Wallensis habet hoc naturale per omnes
Indigenas, primis proprium quod servat ab annis,"
says Guillaume le Breton. "They are lightly armed," writes Giraldus Cambrensis, "so that their agility may not be impeded; they are clad in haubergeons (loricis minoribus), have a handful of arrows, long lances, helmets, and shields, but rarely appear with iron greaves (ocreis ferreis). Fleet and generous steeds, which their country produces, bear their leaders to battle, but the greater part of the people are obliged to march on foot over marshes and uneven ground. Those who are mounted, according to opportunity of time and place, both for the retreat and advance, easily become infantry. Those of the foot-soldiers who have not bare feet, wear shoes made of raw hide, sewn up in a barbarous fashion. The people of Gwentland are more accustomed to war, more famous for valour, and more expert in archery, than those of any other part of Wales. The following examples prove the truth of this assertion. In the last assault of Abergavenny Castle, which happened in our days, two soldiers passing over a bridge to a tower built on a mound of earth, in order to take the Welsh in the rear, their archers, who perceived them, discharged their arrows, penetrating an oaken gate which was four fingers thick: in memory of which deed, the arrows are still preserved sticking in the gate, with their iron piles seen on the other side.... Their bows are made of wild elm, unpolished, rude, and uncouth, but strong; not calculated to shoot an arrow to a great distance, but to inflict very severe wounds in closer fight[169]." Guillaume le Breton, in describing the Welsh troops who accompanied Richard Cœur-de-Lion into France, deprives them of defensive armour altogether:—
"Nec soleis plantas, caligis nec crura gravantur:
Frigus docta pati, nulli oneratur ab armis,
Nec munit thorace latus, nec casside frontem[170]."
But he allows them a greater variety of weapons on this occasion than is found in the account of Giraldus:—