Supplementing these and completing our description, Saxon poetry tells us that the wood was by preference the lime tree. I need not give quotations; they will be found in the several works on ancient arms and armour. Beowulf [line 5215] describes how Wigluf "seized his shield--the yellow linden wood." Again, these lines occur [_Poem of Judith_, Thorpe's _Analecta_, p. 137]:-- "The warriors marched "The chieftains to the war "Protected with targets, "With arched linden shields." It seems almost as if linden trees were cultivated with this view, for the _Saxon Chronicle_, under anno 937, tells us how King Athelstan and his heroes "the board walls clove, "And hewed the war lindens." But certainly on one occasion remains of oak timber were found in connection with the bronze boss of an Anglo-Saxon shield. Occasionally rims of metal have been found with such remains, but such protecting edgings do not seem to have been the usual custom. The laws of Gula, quoted above, mention "two boards in thickness," that is, glued crossways, to prevent warping or splitting. Such a formation in a convex shield would show a very great amount of skill in the working of wood at this early date. Leather seems to have been sometimes stretched over the shield; because the laws of Athelstan forbade the use of sheepskins for the purpose, under a penalty of 30s.: a very large sum. Had skin coverings been common, remains of such skins would be found still attached inside the bronze bosses; but only one skin-covered shield has been found [at Linton Heath, in Cambridgeshire], and in that the skin covered the boss also, having been stretched over the whole shield. Lastly, _red_ seems to have been at least a favourite colour, for Sœmund's _Edda_ mentions a red shield with a golden border, and Giraldus de Barri says the Irish "carried red shields, in imitation of the Danes." The boss was often carried out into a sharp spike, and the shield could thus be used for offence as well as for protection. But perhaps such points were also found of use in stopping the cut of a sword, which might otherwise slip down the shield and find a resting-place in the leg or other exposed part. [Illustration: Date 1473.]