And when at length the knight fell in battle, his kite-shield served him for a bier. The nephew of the emperor Otho having been slain before Rouen, the Germans—
"O li cors se trahistrent el chief d'une valée;
Sor un escu l'ont miz, la teste desarmée."
Roman de Rou, l. 4024.
As we have learned from a preceding passage, the "shaven and shorn" knights of the Conqueror's time had, in the reign of his successor, fallen into disrepute as models of fashion. Long hair came into vogue, called down the anathemas of the Church, suffered a temporary discredit, and again rose into favour. Malmesbury has a curious sketch of this fluctuation of fashion. In the twenty-ninth regnal year of Henry I., he tells us, "a circumstance occurred in England which may seem surprising to our long-haired gallants, who, forgetting what they were born, transform themselves into the fashion of females, by the length of their locks. A certain English knight, who prided himself on the luxuriancy of his tresses, being stung by conscience on the subject, seemed to feel in a dream as though some person strangled him with his ringlets. Awaking in a fright, he immediately cut off all his superfluous hair. The example spread throughout England; and, as recent punishment is apt to affect the mind, almost all military men allowed their hair to be cropped in a proper manner without reluctance. But this decency was not of long continuance; for scarcely had a year expired, before all who thought themselves courtly relapsed into their former vice, vying with women in the length of their locks, and whenever they were defective, supplying their place with false tresses[206]." In 1102, at a council held in London by Archbishop Anselm, it was enacted that those who had long hair should be cropped, so as to shew part of the ear and the eyes. Compare also the well-known passage of Ordericus Vitalis, where he tells us how Bishop Serlo, preaching before Henry I. and his court, inveighed so successfully against the iniquity of long locks, that his audience saw the folly of their ways; and the prelate, seizing the favourable moment, produced a pair of scissors from his sleeve (de manticâ forcipes), and cropped the king and many of his courtiers with his own hand[207].
From Wace and the Bayeux tapestry we have found that the Beard was not worn by the Normans at the time of the Conquest, though in fashion among the Anglo-Saxons:—
"Li Normant * * *
N'unt mie barbe ne guernons,
Co dist Heraut, com nos avons."—Line 12,252.
And the Normans continued their custom till the second half of the twelfth century. The monumental effigy of Henry II. at Fontevraud represents him without either beard or moustache. "The beard," says Stothard[208], "is painted, and pencilled like a miniature, to represent its being close shaven." Among the English, however, the beard was often retained, and became a sort of protest against the new dynasty[209]. In 1196 William Longbeard, "le dernier des Saxons," as he is named by M. Thierry, became conspicuous from his opposition to the Norman rule, the inveteracy of which was manifested to the world by the excessive length of his beard[210]. At this time, however, a beard and moustache of moderate dimensions were in vogue among both races. The effigy of Richard I. at Fontevraud and that of King John at Worcester offer good examples of this change of fashion.
The weapons in use among the knightly order were the lance, the sword, the mace, and, towards the middle of the twelfth century, the axe. The shaft of the Lance was of uniform thickness throughout, the swell at the grip being a much later invention. The material was usually ash or pine. Wace, in the Roman de Rou, has:—
"Mult i véissiez colps è de fer è d'achier,
Mainte hante[211] de sap è de fresne bruissier[212]."—Line 4639.