Fig. 33.—Hilt of Two-handed Sword with the Bear and Ragged Staff on the Pommel and Quillons in chased steel. Penshurst.
The chanfron or head-piece to the horse’s armour, originally called the chevron, received as much attention as the helmet or buckler of its rider. It was the pride of the noble, when Monstrelet wrote, to make the horse’s head-front blaze with jewels. Designs for horse-armour by Hans Mielich, and that actually executed for Christian II. at Dresden, are as rich as the suits themselves. The latter illustrates the labours of Hercules, and is the one for which Colman received 14,000 crowns. The chanfron bears a spike, an appendage dating back to the time of Edward III. In the Anturs of Arthur we read—
Opon his chèveronne be-forn
Stode as a unicorn
Als scharpe as a thorn,
An nanlas of stele.
The charger ridden by Lord Scales in his tourney with the Bastard of Burgundy had a “schaffrõ with a large sharpe pyke of stele,” which, penetrating the nostrils of the Bastard’s steed, caused it to rear and throw him. The oldest chanfron handed down is that in Warwick Castle, which was there when visited by Sir William Dugdale. The lower part of one belonging to the suit, [Fig. 29], is seen in [Plate VII.]
Fig. 34.—Venetian Cinquedea, engraved, with Ivory Handle. The Duke of Norfolk.
Swords varied considerably in the sixteenth century, the extremes sometimes meeting in the same army, the two-handed sword, scimitar, rapier, sabre, cinquedea, falchion, and malchus, being borne perhaps simultaneously by the mercenary bands comprised in it. The two-handed sword represents the largest dimensions ever attained by this weapon, perhaps originating in the sword of state, like that of Edward III. in Westminster Abbey. It was used in Scotland at an early period; if not wielded by whole clans, certainly by champions of exceptional vigour. Thus Froissart relates that Sir Archibald Douglas fought on foot and wielded an immense sword, the blade of which was two ells long, and so heavy that scarcely any other man could have lifted it from the ground. This great sword is the real claymore, though the name has been misappropriated to the Scottish basket-hilted broadsword of the last century. The Swiss and Germans were the only people who made it an offensive weapon for large disciplined bodies of troops, and in the sixteenth century it had become an essentially Teutonic weapon. Henry VIII.’s great personal strength and agility enabled him to wield it, as a young man, and to withstand all-comers. The fine hilt illustrated ([Fig. 33]) from Penshurst, with the pommel and quillons carved and chased out of the solid steel into the bears and ragged staff of the Leicesters, is undoubtedly the most beautiful in the country. The blade has been shortened, perhaps under the edict of Queen Elizabeth, who posted guards at the City Gates to break all swords that were too long.
