It is well to furbish up bygone things and ages, and to remember now and then what we owe to cumulative history. Master Wace, the chronicler of the Norman Conquest, says in his retrospections: “All things hasten to decay; all fall; all perish; all come to an end. Man dieth, iron consumeth, wood decayeth, towers crumble, strong walls fall down, the rose withereth away, the war-horse waxeth feeble, gay trappings grow old, all the works of men perish. Thus we are taught that all die, both clerk and lay; and short would be the fame of any after death if their history did not endure by being written in the book of the clerk.” [Illustration: Fig. 51.--Early Hand-guns.] FOOTNOTES [1] Dalstrom’s _Illustreret Verdenshistorie_, vol. i., p. 122. [2] A similar fragment was found at Cataractonium (see _Archæological Journal_, vol. iii., p. 296). [3] _Proc. Soc. Antiq. Newc._ (O.S.), p. 155. [4] In old German “Brunne.” [5] _Zeitschrift für historische Waffenkunde_, vol. i., p. 288. [6] Where the rings have been hammered flat a decidedly double appearance is given to the mail. [7] Demmin. [8] These two figures are given in Hewitt. [9] Since writing the above, I see from Mr. J. Starkie Gardner’s work that Mr. J. G. Waller, F.S.A., considers the insertion of the thong to constitute what is known as “banded mail,” and this would quite account for the appearance it presents on effigies. If this be so, there is an actual specimen at Woolwich, which has already been mentioned. [10] On the brass of William de Aldeburgh, in Aldborough Church, Yorkshire. [11] A kind of cloth. [12] The words “helm” and “var-helm” appear repeatedly in the epic poem of Beowulf. [13] The first attempt at a movable visor seems to have occurred in France, during the reign of Louis le Gros. [14] This helm was given to Sir S. Rush Meyrick by the Dean: a flagrant instance of how such trust property was treated in his day. [15] The term “men-at-arms” was often applied to knights on foot or on horseback, but its early significance was heavy-armed infantry. The grades mentioned in the army of Philip Augustus were: bannerets, knights, squires, and “men-at-arms.” [16] “Notes on the Hanseatic League,” by the writer. _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Newcastle-upon-Tyne_, 1893–94. [17] These pieces will be referred to fully under the section “Maximilian Armour.” [18] Johnes’s _Froissart_, vol. iii., p. 23. [19] _Archæologia_, vol. li., p. 250. [20] Nithard, the nephew of Charlemagne. Book III. [21] The illustration occurs in “Paul Lacroix.” [22] Vol. i., p. 169. [23] The lance of the thirteenth century was always sharp, and, as mentioned more particularly earlier in this chapter, the coronal was a contrivance of the fourteenth century. The word “stechen” means to pierce, so its very designation carries the course back possibly to the thirteenth century. [24] Very often the Grandguard and Volant-piece are screwed together.