That at a very early period the soldier swore by his sword, is shown by the Anglo-Norman poem on the conquest of Ireland by Henry II., published by Thomas Wright, Esq.: London, 1837, p. 101.:
"Morice par sa espé ad juré,
N' i ad vassal si osé."
In a charter of the thirteenth century, made by one Hugh de Sarnefelde to the Abbey of Thomascourt in Dublin, of a certain annuity, we find the passage:
"Et sciendum quod jam dictus Adam de Sarnefelde affidavit in manu Magistri Roberti de Bedeford pro se et heredibus suis quod fideliter et absque omni fallacia persolvent, etc. redditum prenominatum."
And such clauses are probably of frequent occurrence in ancient charters. The expression "affidavit in manu" may be perhaps explained by referring to the mode in which the oath of homage was accustomed to be taken. This form, as it was of old time observed in England, is, I presume,
fully described in other publications; but as many of the most valuable of the ancient public records of Ireland have been, and are still, in a sadly neglected state, it is not probable that the following description of the manner in which certain of the Irish chieftains in the time of Richard II. performed their homage to Thomas Earl of Nottingham, his deputy, has been hitherto printed:
"Gerraldus O'Bryn predictus zonam, glaudium et capitium ipsius a se amovens, et genibus flexis ad pedes dicti domini comitis procedit, ambas manus suas palmis [adgremium] junctis erigens, et inter manus dicti domini comitis crectas tenens, protulit hec verba in lingua hibernicana," &c.—Inquisition deposited in the Exchequer Record Office, Dublin; James I. No. 84.
James F. Ferguson.
Dublin.