_The Shield_ during this period was cut off as a rule in a straight line at the top, and was convex, so as to partially enclose the figure (see Fig. 108). It gradually decreased in size, until towards the close it became the small, well-known “heater-shaped” shield which remained in vogue for such a lengthy period. It was invariably decorated with the armorial bearings of the wearer, which in the early part of the chain mail period were mostly fanciful or devotional and of a transitory character, but became hereditary as it progressed. The only weapon of importance introduced was the arbalest, which will be dealt with in the next period. [Illustration: FIG. 108.--From the seal (1315) of John de Bretagne, Earl of Richmond.] The equipment of the ordinary rank and file of the chain mail period did not vary in any essential features from that which preceded it. In Fig. 88 we have two foot soldiers from Harl. MS. Y6, one of whom wears the Norman helmet, now truncated, with a nasal, which apparently is very long and wide. A similar helmet, but minus the nasal, defends his companion. The usual hauberk of chain mail or a cheaper substitute covers the body, and the legs are undefended. The mode of wearing the stockings and the cross bar below the leaf-shaped head of one spear tends to the belief that the illuminator was of Saxon blood or depicting others of that descent. The shields are suspended by guiges in both cases, and the fanciful decorations illustrate the assertions previously made in this chapter. In woodcut No. 109 a very characteristic group of soldiery of about the year 1220 is shown, taken from Harl. MS. 4751. The heavily-armed arbalestier in pot-helm and mail is one of a force defending a castle, and has discharged a quarrel which transfixes an archer of the attacking party. Before him, and apparently without any defensive equipment other than a chapelle-de-fer, is a foot soldier with a military pick in his right hand and a sword of short dimensions in the left. An arbalestier is probably shown in the third position from the front, and an archer fourth, while the fifth is unmistakably a slinger. As was generally the rule, no protective covering was allowed the slingers--the one in question has not even a hat--who from the nature of their weapon were perforce compelled to be always in open order when in action and at a distance from the enemy, and presumably suffered less than the closely-packed bodies of men-at-arms, billmen, and even archers. His sling appears to be in no way different to the Saxon weapon shown in Fig. 70. The last man is clad in a coif and hauberk of mail, and is armed with an axe. At this period a weapon appears in the illuminated MSS. which is apparently of recent introduction, namely the Staff Sling or Fustibal. It is generally shown in besieging operations pitted against the defenders on the walls, or in naval warfare as in Fig. 110. The action of the sling is readily seen, the loop at the end