51. Group of soldiers armed with the staff-sling, axe, spear, and bow with lime-phial: from Strutt's _Horda_, vol. i. Plate XXXI. His authority is the MS. of the "History" of Matthew Paris in Benet College Library, Cambridge: C. 5, xvi. It has been suggested, but with no great probability, that the manuscript in question is the work of Matthew Paris himself. 206 52. Great Seal of King John: drawn from impressions attached to Harl. Charter, 84, C. 7, and Cotton Charter, viii. 25; and Carlton Ride Seal, H. 18. The helmet in this figure is of unusual form; and here, for the first time, the military surcoat appears in a royal seal of England. The mailing has been obliterated at the skirt of the hauberk, from the prominence of the seal at that part. The ornamental "peytrel" of the horse is well defined in this monument, and the fashion of the saddle is very distinctly seen. 228 53. The three knights, from a picture of the Martyrdom of Thomas à Becket, in Harl. MS. 5, 102, fol. 32. The volume is a Latin Psalter, written in the beginning of the thirteenth century, and containing many illuminations. Fitzurse is conspicuous from the figure of the Bear on his shield. The heads of the knights present a curious variety of arming: one wearing the flat-topped helmet, another the rounded casque, and the third having no further defence than his coif of mail. The tunic is seen passing beyond the edge of the hauberk. The legs of the foremost figures are coloured red. 230 54. Sculptured effigy of William Longespée, earl of Salisbury, from his monument in Salisbury Cathedral. His death and burial (in 1226) are recorded in the curious cotemporary manuscript of William de Wanda, the dean; which is still preserved in the Bishop's Records at Sarum. See Dodsworth's History of the Cathedral, pp. 121 and 201. The statue more fully illustrates various points of the knightly equipment at this early period than any other that could be named. These details will be separately noticed in their particular places. The figure still retains much of its ancient painting. The chain-mail is of a brown hue, a singularity not hitherto satisfactorily explained. The spurs have yet sparkles of gold. The Lions on the shield are in relief; gold on a blue field. This device has been repeated, by painting, on the surcoat. The statue, which is of free-stone, has every appearance of having been sculptured at the time of the death of Earl William; and, as it is so clearly identified by the carved device of the shield, becomes one of the most valuable examples for archæological reference. 232