Ancient Armour and Weapons in Europe: From the Iron Period of the Northern Nations to the End of the Thirteenth CenturyHewitt, John
History
Ancient Armour and Weapons in Europe: From the Iron Period of the Northern Nations to the End of the Thirteenth Century
Hewitt, John
Armor; Weapons
The clavones are again mentioned in the Wardrobe Accounts of King
Edward I. in 1300[407]: "factura diversorum armorum, vexillorum,
et penocellorum, pro Domino Edwardo filio Regis et Johanne de
Lancastria, jamberis, poleyns, platis, uno capello ferri, una
Cresta cum _clavis argenti_ pro eodem capello," &c. The chasto
(Fr. _châton_) was a kind of socket or cavity, but the particular
arrangement of it in fixing the crest has not been ascertained.
About the same time we first hear of a defence for the horse of the
nature of the later chanfrein. The same Windsor Roll of 1278 gives
us the earliest notice of these "copita" of leather, made after the
fashion (_de similitudine_) of horses' heads:--
"D Milōn le Cuireu͂r. xxxviij. copita co͂r de similitud' capīt
equoȝ p'̄c pēc ij. s."
They appear again in 1301, under the name of _testaræ_ (or _testeræ_)
in the Indenture of Delivery of the Castle of Montgomery to William
de Leyburn (Cott. MS. Vitell. C. x. fol. 154): "Item liberavit eidem
iij. pa͂r coopertorum ferri et ij. Testaras et v. loricas cum capite
et v. sine capite," &c.
The thirteenth century appears to have retained all the ENGINES
for the approach and attack of towns that were in use during the
preceding age. In this century we first obtain pictorial evidence
of the form and principle of the mangona or trebuchet of the
middle-ages, and from this valuable testimony we learn that the
motive power of _torsion_ employed during the classic period is no
longer in favour; but instead, we have a machine from which, by means
of a counterpoised beam, a large stone is cast forth from a sling
fixed at one end of the beam. We have already (page 330) referred to
the drawings of these instruments in an Arabic manuscript of this
century, used by Captain Favé and M. Reinaud in their work, _Du feu
grégeois, &c._ Other early representations occur in Roy. MS. 16, G.
vi., copied in Shaw's "Dresses and Decorations;" in the ivory carving
figured in the fourth volume of the Journal of the Archæological
Association, and in the _Études sur l'Artillerie_ of the Emperor of
the French, Vol. ii. Plate III. In the work of Gilles Colonne[408],
written for his pupil, Philip the Fair of France, we have a distinct
account of four varieties of the trébuchet: "Of pierriers," he says,
"there are four kinds, and in all these machines there is a beam
which is raised and lowered by means of a counterpoise, a sling being
attached to the end of the beam to discharge the stone. Sometimes
the counterpoise is not sufficient, and then they attach ropes to
it, in order to move the beam. The counterpoise may either be fixed
or moveable, or both at once. In the fixed counterpoise, a box is
fastened to the end of the beam, and filled with stones or sand, or
any heavy body. These machines, anciently called _trabutium_, cast
their missiles with most exactness, because the weight acts in a
uniform manner. Their aim is so sure that one may, so to say, hit a
needle.
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