II. THE ASSYRIANS 20 III. THE ROMANS 36 IV. SAXONS AND DANES 47 V. THE NORMAN PERIOD TO 1180 65 VI. THE CHAIN MAIL PERIOD, 1180-1250 81 VII. CHAIN MAIL REINFORCED, 1250-1325 97 VIII. THE CYCLAS PERIOD, 1325-1335 139 IX. THE STUDDED AND SPLINTED ARMOUR PERIOD, 1335-1360 146 X. THE CAMAIL AND JUPON PERIOD, 1360-1410 166 XI. THE SURCOATLESS PERIOD, 1410-1430 194 XII. THE TABARD PERIOD, 1430-1500 213 XIII. THE TRANSITION PERIOD, 1500-1525 265 XIV. MAXIMILIAN ARMOUR, 1525-1600 275 XV. THE HALF-ARMOUR PERIOD AFTER 1600 313 XVI. WEAPONS OF THE EARLY AND MIDDLE AGES 320 XVII. PROJECTILE-THROWING ENGINES 340 XVIII. GERMAN, ITALIAN, AND OTHER INFLUENCES UPON EUROPEAN ARMOUR 349 XIX. THE INTRODUCTION OF GUNPOWDER AND ITS INFLUENCE UPON ARMOUR 360 BRITISH AND FOREIGN ARMS AND ARMOUR CHAPTER I WEAPONS OF PREHISTORIC MAN THE STONE AGE The prehistoric man of the Stone Age had undoubtedly one of the most difficult materials to deal with that can possibly be conceived, inasmuch as it was intensely hard, very brittle, and, so far as flint is concerned, occurred naturally only in comparatively small masses. Yet with this crude matter, and with implements of the same material, he succeeded in producing implements for husbandry and domestic use, weapons of war and for the chase, which excite our warmest admiration, both for the beauty of their proportions and the exquisite skill required in their manufacture. To the worker in flint the number of objects capable of being produced in that exceedingly refractory medium was limited, but these as the age progressed were eventually of a very high order of excellence, probably deemed unattainable by the earlier man. We will take the different weapons in the order of their importance, premising that in this chapter we shall have no armour to deal with, though doubtless the man of the very earliest age had some protection in the way of skins, plaited osier, or bark with which to ward off hostile blows, in addition to the shield, which is common to every race without exception when in the savage state. [Illustration: FIG. 1.--Stone celt with cutting edge.]