A HANDBOOK
OF
PICTORIAL HISTORY.
HISTORY and GEOGRAPHY
Publications.
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS.
In Four Sets. By H. W. Donald.
Price, each set, 1/6
HISTORY TEACHING
BY BIOGRAPHIES.
In Two Volumes. By Alice Eve, B.A.
Price, each, net, 3/-; post free, 3/4½
“BRITANNIC”
HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY.
In Two Parts. Price, each, net, 5d.
Details of the above will be found
on pages at back of this book.
A
Handbook
of
PICTORIAL
HISTORY
Containing 680 Illustrations from Original & Contemporary Sources treating upon Architecture, Arms and Armour, Antiquities, Costumes, Customs, Shipping, Heraldry, The Church, etc. with Notes and Descriptive Articles on These Subjects for the use of Students & Teachers.
Written and Illustrated
by
HENRY W. DONALD
Compiler of the Britannic Historical Geography &
the Suggestions Historical Drawing Cards etc.
LONDON:
Charles and Son, Ltd.
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AND GLASGOW.
Made and printed in Great Britain.
PREFACE.
It has been felt that in the study of English History, to the ordinary student and teacher, there are great difficulties in the way of consulting the numerous standard and other excellent works, on the subjects dealt with in this volume. Many have not sufficient leisure, and many are unable to make use of the facilities for study and research offered by our great national and provincial libraries and museums. And, to most, the prohibitive cost of a representative collection of these standard works is an effectual bar to the acquisition of a personal collection.
An acquaintance with these subjects is necessary to an intelligent appreciation of the life history and development of our nation, and of the conditions of life of our ancestors, and this work has been undertaken for students and teachers with regard to these matters, with the hope that, by its means, the path of study will be illuminated, and the interest shown in the study of history correspondingly increased.
Too often, in the past, has history been taught as a series of dry lessons on facts and dates, and although in late years there has been a great improvement in this respect, to many the living facts around us, as bearing on our history, in our churches, our historic buildings, our museums, and our national collections, are still disregarded. What eloquent tongues they have, and yet, on what deaf ears do their voices fall!
Mr. Fairholt, in his well-known work on “Costume in England,” says: “A knowledge of costume is, in some degree, inseparable from a right knowledge of history. We can scarcely read its events without, in some measure, picturing in the mind’s eye the appearance of the actors.”
What is true of costume, which includes, of course, civil, military, and ecclesiastical costume, is equally true of architecture and other matters associated with the daily lives of our forefathers.
How they lived and died, how they worked, how they dressed, how and where they worshipped God, and the influences brought to bear upon them by the Church, must be realized as factors in the development of the nation.
It is hoped that this work may prove useful to the student, to the pupils in our schools and colleges, and to teachers who have not been able to make a special study of these things.
Several plans of arranging the subject-matter have suggested themselves, and the writer has thought—though it is open, of course, to criticism—that the work would be most usefully and most easily consulted by arranging it under the heads of our historic periods. It will be readily understood that this is merely an arbitrary arrangement, and that there must be overlapping at times. The aim has been to make each section as complete as possible in the given space, and yet to avoid tedious details. To experts the food may seem very light, but it is to the average student and teacher, to whom the subjects are new, that the work must appeal.
Every effort has been made to secure accuracy and truthfulness, both in the matter and in the six hundred and eighty drawings which illustrate it.
Very many works have been consulted, and, as all the illustrations are from authentic and contemporary sources, it is hoped that the usefulness of the work will be very considerable.
The writer wishes to express his great obligation to the following writers and books, whom he has laid under contribution:—
Greenwell’s British Barrows,
Dawkin’s Early Man in Britain,
Evans’s Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain,
Strutt’s Horda,
Grose’s Military Antiquities,
Wallis Budge’s Roman Antiquities at Chesters,
Jewitt’s Ceramic Art of Great Britain,
Fairholt’s Costume in England,
Mrs. Ashdown’s British Costume during Nineteen Centuries,
Planche’s Cyclopædia of Costume and History of British Costume,
Cutt’s Scenes and Characters of the Middle Ages,
Barnard’s Companion to English History, Middle Ages,
Traill’s Social England,
Green’s Short History (Illustrated Edition),
Parker’s various works on Gothic Architecture,
Rickman’s Gothic Architecture,
Boutell’s Monumental Brasses of England,
Suffling’s English Church Brasses,
Macklin’s Brasses of England,
Ashdown’s British and Foreign Arms and Armour,
Hewitt’s Ancient Armour and Weapons in Europe,
Boutell’s Arms and Armour,
Fox-Davies’s Complete Guide to Heraldry,
Boutell’s English Heraldry,
Bloom’s English Seals,
Abbot Gasquet’s English Monastic Life,
Commander Robinson’s British Fleet,
Oman’s History of the Art of War,
Fowkes’s Bayeux Tapestry,
Gardiner’s History of England,
The Journals of the British Archæological Association, and of various County Associations.
The writer, too, wishes to thank the Library Committee of the City of London Corporation for permission to make drawings of objects in the Guildhall Museum, and Mrs. Ashdown for permission to make use of illustrations in her “British Costume.”
Henry W. Donald.
THE STONE AGE.
The Flint Weapons of Prehistoric Man in Britain.
When Britain was joined to the continent of Europe (at the time when the mammoth lived), it was inhabited by the Palæolithic or Ancient Stone men. They were ignorant of the use of metals, and used implements of bone and of rudely chipped stone and flint, which they did not know how to fasten to handles. These implements and weapons, of a different type from those of later periods, are found in the river beds of drifts, and these early people are spoken of as the “Drift men.”
Cave-dwelling Palæolithic men succeeded these. Their weapons were still very rude, but they made handles and fixed them to the flints, so forming arrows, lances or javelins, and axes.
These were followed by a race called Neolithic men, or men of the New Stone Age. Their stone implements were better shaped, more highly finished, were often ground smooth, and even polished. They also made a rude kind of pottery. These men were, doubtless, of
PLATE 1.
(Fig. 1): Flint hand-hammer or axe found in Gray’s Inn Lane. This was the earliest form, roughly chipped into shape, with unsharpened edges. (Figs. 2 and 3): A dagger in the British Museum (front and side views). The dagger is one of the commonest weapons of the Stone Age, being simple in form and easy of construction. (Fig. 4): A javelin head; a simple, elongated splinter of flint, shaped to a small stem, which was inserted in the end of a shaft and fastened by means of ligaments. (Figs. 5 and 6): A stone celt (pronounced selt) or axe of the simplest form. This is ground, probably by the use of sand and water into a regular and sharp edge. (Fig. 7): A flint flake, probably used as a scraper. (Fig. 8): A stemmed arrow-head. (Fig. 9): A barbed arrow-head (a later development). (Fig. 10): A lozenge-shaped arrow-head. (Fig. 11): A polished stone axe, fixed in a stag’s horn socket. (Fig. 12): A perforated hammer found at Scarborough. (Figs. 13 and 14): A perforated axe (two views) found in Yorkshire. (Both Figs. 12 and 13 show a very high degree of skill in the shaping of the form, in the drilling, and in general finish.) (Fig. 15): A polished celt fixed in its original handle, found in Cumberland. (Fig. 16): A flint chisel-shaped tool. (Fig. 17): A flint borer, used for making holes in wood, bone, or stone, found in the Yorkshire Wolds.
THE BRONZE AGE.
The Iberians were succeeded by the Celts, who conquered, and probably intermarried with, the former.
They had a knowledge of the use of metals, and employed copper first for the manufacture of their weapons and tools. Then they learned that, by mixing tin with copper, a harder metal was obtained, which we call bronze, and this period is, consequently, called the Bronze Age. The early bronze weapons were of the same form as the flint weapons, for probably the latter were used as “patterns” for forming the mould. Later, in the case of the celt, flanges were formed at the side, and, finally, a socketed celt was made, showing a considerable skill in its manufacture. “The knowledge of bronze must have affected the warfare of the time in the same way as the introduction of gunpowder affected the warfare of the Middle Ages.” It has been estimated that the Bronze Age commenced in Britain about 1500 B.C.
PLATE 2.
(Fig. 1): A bronze spear head—Later Celtic—in the British Museum. It is probable that the flint spear-head continued in use into the Bronze Age, and that the spear-head with a socket was not invented until socketed celts were made. (Fig. 2): An ornamental bronze celt or axe found in Suffolk. The simpler form of the celt has been improved upon by the addition of flanges. (Figs. 3 and 4) show how they were probably fixed in handles. (Fig. 5): A bronze knife dagger found in the Isle of Wight (British Museum). (Fig. 6): A bronze arrow-head. (Fig. 7): A bronze socketed celt. (Fig. 8): The same, with the probable method of fastening to a handle. (Fig. 9): A bronze cauldron found in Ireland. (Fig. 10): A late Celtic Helmet, ornamented and showing generally in its structure a very advanced skill in manufacture; found in the Thames; now in the British Museum. (Fig. 11): A bronze dagger in the British Museum. (Fig. 12): A bronze spear-head (elongated form), found at Stanwick in Yorkshire; now in the British Museum. Both the spear heads in Figs. 1 and 12 tend towards a leaf form. (Fig. 13): A bronze sword, narrow and leaf-shaped, in the Guildhall Museum, London; showing rivet holes. The sword of the Bronze Age is remarkable for the beauty of its form. The average length of the blade was about two feet, the handle being made of horn or wood, split and rivetted on either, side. The sword was probably encased in a scabbard of leather, wood or bronze.
PREHISTORIC POTTERY AND FUNERAL CUSTOMS.
Neolithic men (of the Later Stone Age) buried their dead in the caves which they had used for dwellings, or in stone chambers, probably representing the huts in which they lived. Each of these was used as a vault, common to the family or tribe, for they are found containing skeletons of all ages. The dead were buried in the tomb as they died, in a contracted or crouching position, laid upon their sides, probably due to their sleeping in that position, and not at full length on a bed. Implements of various kinds, arrow heads, celts and pottery, were frequently placed in the tombs, and were probably intended for the use of the dead. The tombs were then covered with stones and earth, forming mounds (also known as barrows and tumuli), which were usually long and oval in plan.
Domestic animals were slaughtered, and a feast was made after the interment in honour of the dead.
In the Bronze Age, there was a striking change in the custom of burial, probably the sign of the introduction of a new faith. The dead were burned on a funeral pile, and with them were burned their belongings—the various articles and implements of daily use—and the burnt remains were gathered up with the calcined bones and ashes and placed in an urn. Sometimes this urn was placed upright, and at other times it was inverted over the ashes.
As in former times, a mound was carefully raised, covering the urn and its contents, and the memory of the dead was preserved by periodic feasts, after each of which earth or stone was added to the top of the mound, each feast being represented by a layer of the broken and burnt bones of the animals consumed. These barrows of the Bronze Age were generally circular in plan.
Cremation did not, however, altogether abolish the older practice of burying. It is evident that both customs were carried on simultaneously. Hundreds of these mounds have been carefully opened at various times and the contents investigated, and, in almost every case, earthen-ware vessels of various forms and sizes have been found. It is entirely to these grave mounds that we are indebted for the examples of prehistoric pottery that are preserved in our museums.
There are four classes of pottery of these early times:—
1. Sepulchral or Cinerary Urns, which have been made for, and have contained or been inverted over, calcined human bones.
2. Drinking Cups, which are supposed to have contained some liquid to be placed in the grave.
3. Food vessels (so called), which are supposed to have contained an offering of food, and which are more usually found with unburnt bodies than along with interments by cremation.
4. Immolation Urns (or Incense Cups), very small vessels found only with burnt bones, and usually containing bones and ashes also, placed in the mouths of, or close by, the larger cinerary urns. It has been suggested that these were simply small urns, intended to receive the ashes of the infant, perhaps sacrificed at the death of its mother. They are also known as incense cups, and are supposed by some to have been used to carry the sacred fire with which to light the funeral pile, or as censers in the funeral ceremonies.
These vessels differ much in size and ornamentation, and in the quality of the clay from which they are formed.
In the examination of barrows, the spot where the funeral pyre has been made can often be detected by the burnt soil there. It is
“Drinking Cups” are usually burnt much harder than the other vessels.
Most of the vessels are decorated in a rude fashion with lines or figures, probably drawn by a pointed instrument or comb whilst the clay was soft.
They were made by hand, and are often very uneven and crudely formed.
PLATE 3.
(Fig. 1): Food vessel of the prevailing type, ornamented with dots and lines, forming saw-like patterns around it. (From Greenwell’s British Barrows.) (Fig. 2): Immolation urn or incense cup, covered with a pattern. (British Museum.) (Fig. 3): Food vessel of a rather uncommon type, of good form and elaborately ornamented. (From Greenwell’s British Barrows.) (Fig. 4): A large drinking cup, the outer surface being almost covered with ornament, formed by the point of a sharp instrument (found in a barrow at East Kennet). (Fig. 5): Drinking cup, found in a barrow near Goodmanham, ornamented with patterns formed with lines. (From Greenwell’s British Barrows.)
THE ROMAN WALL.
Much difference of opinion has been expressed between archæologists as to who built the Roman Wall, it being severally attributed to both Hadrian and Severus. A recent writer of authority says: “No one really knows who built the Roman Wall, and the evidence now available is, in the present writer’s opinion, wholly insufficient to enable us to decide the difficult problem.... A commonsense and probable view is that Hadrian caused the vallum (earthen rampart), which may have been there before his time, to be supplemented by walls and forts, built of stone, in such extremely exposed and commanding positions as we find at or near Borcovicus (Homesteads), and that, about 86 years after the Emperor left Britain, Severus ordered these to be repaired, and the whole of the Roman fortifications to be built of stone, and the wall to be carried across from sea to sea.” It stretches from Wallsend, near Newcastle, to Carlisle. A section of its general structure is shown in Pl. 7, Fig. 11. It was very strong, and consisted of a ditch on the north side, about 15 ft. deep, and then a broad stone wall about 18 ft. high and 8 ft. thick. South of the ditch was a broad road, and next to that a rampart or earthen wall. In some parts, however, there were two roads made, parallel to one another.
At fairly regular intervals along the wall were fortified military “stations,” variously computed at from 18 to 23 in number.
Between them, at intervals of about a mile, were rectangular towers, called “mile castles,” and smaller towers or “turrets” were placed about four to the mile between these.
The Stations were small, rectangular towns, the inhabitants of which lived probably under martial law. They varied in extent from one to six acres, were always strongly fortified with walls six to nine feet thick, surrounded by a ditch. Each Station had, at least, four gateways, one on each side, and its area was crossed by two main streets, which bisected each other at right angles.
The larger Stations were provided with a Forum, serving as a marketplace and a place for public assembly; a Pretorium, or residence for the Commandant; baths, barracks, and numerous smaller dwellings for the minor officials and others.
The Mile Castles were rectangular in form, and measured about sixty feet by fifty feet. The Wall formed the northern wall of the Castle, and each had two gates, north and south.
The Turrets were also rectangular, but much smaller than the Mile Castles, measuring about twelve feet by ten feet, and had walls nearly three feet thick. They served the purpose of look-out towers.
The Wall required a garrison of from 10,000 to 12,000 soldiers to man it, and these were of many nationalities, being drawn from different parts of the Roman Empire. Borcovicus, one of the Stations, was garrisoned for about 200 years by a cohort of 1,000 Tungrian (German) Infantry. Other cohorts consisted of Astures (Spaniards), Batavians (Dutch), Gauls, Dalmatians, Moors, and Thracians.
It must be remembered that the soldiers themselves built the Wall and the various structures on it, and kept the masonry in repair, as the numerous inscribed wall tablets testify (Figs. 1 and 2).
After the Romans left Britain, the Wall was used for many centuries as a convenient quarry, with ready-prepared stones, by neighbouring landowners and farmers, and many farmhouses, walls and outhouses in the vicinity of the Wall are built entirely of stones from it.
During excavations on the sites of the Stations, many Roman remains—altars, ornaments, coins, utensils, etc.—have been found, particularly through the public-spirited work carried on by Mr. Clayton, of Chesters.
PLATE 4.
(Fig. 1): A wall tablet, sculptured in relief, with the figure of a boar, the badge of the 20th Legion. The tablet is 20 in. in length, and was found at Vindolana (Chesterholm). (Fig. 2): Another tablet, inscribed with a record of the building of a portion of the Wall, 24 paces long, by the Thruponian Centuria; from the Wall at Procolitia. (Fig. 3): An altar, dedicated to the god Mihr, or Mithras, by Litorius Pacatianus, a consular beneficiary, on behalf of himself and his family; found in the temple of Mithras, at Borcovicus. (Mihr was a form of the Sun-god, who was worshipped in Persia in very early times, and about 100 B.C. the worship of this deity was adopted by the Romans.) (Fig. 4): Small plan of Procolitia (Carranburgh), probably the seventh Station on the Wall, from east to west. The northern rampart is formed by the Roman Wall. Procolitia was about 143 yards long and 118 yards wide, measuring about 3½ acres, and was garrisoned by the 1st Batavian Cohort (Dutch). (Fig. 5): Plan of Cilurnum (Chesters), the sixth Station on the Wall from the east. It was 186 yards by 137 yards, and measured about 5½ acres. The Roman Wall does not, in this instance, coincide with the northern wall of the Station. The walls, surrounded by a ditch, are about five feet thick, and the corners are rounded off. It was garrisoned by the 2nd Ala of the Asturians (Spanish), a famous cavalry regiment. The Stations had usually four gates, but Cilurnum has six.
ROMAN POTTERY, Etc.
(In the Guildhall Museum, London.)
“After the Roman occupation of Britain, glass and pottery were made here in large quantities, so that the importation of glass, which was carried on at first, ceased to be necessary.”
Samian ware, which was a red glazed ware, was used ordinarily throughout the western half of the Roman Empire. It was manufactured first in Etruria, but afterwards its manufacture was imitated in Gaul. Very little of the genuine Samian ware from Etruria found its way into Britain, but the Gaulish Samian ware was imported in large quantities, and was used throughout the province.
The finer specimens are decorated with design in low relief, of a pictorial character, and the ware was of very good quality, for,
Castor ware, a native product, was made at Castor (Durobrivae), near the River Nen, and includes small vases of rusty copper or slate colour, with white ornament in low relief. “Castor ware is not Roman in character, but rather a local survival of late Celtic art.”
PLATE 5.
(Fig. 1): A Roman tablet of wood. This was covered with a thin coating of wax, upon which the writing was done with a stylus of metal or bone. When the inscription was no longer needed, a hot iron was held over the surface, and a new surface formed on the wax. (Fig. 2): A Roman stylus of iron. (Fig. 3): A Roman amphora. (Fig. 4): An ornamented vase of Cologne ware. (Fig. 5): A bowl of Cologne ware. (Fig. 6): An ewer or water bottle, with indented mouth. (Fig. 7): A deep bowl of Roman pottery. (Fig. 8): A cinerary urn of grey ware for containing the ashes of the dead. (Fig. 9): A decorated urn of Cologne ware. (Fig. 10): A vase of Castor ware, red, with black glazed neck ornaments, decorated with pinkish-white slip. (Fig. 11): A Roman glass hemispherical bowl. (Fig. 12): A drinking cup of thick Samian ware, 3¾ in. high.
ROMAN ANTIQUITIES FOUND IN LONDON.
(Guildhall Museum.)
The Roman influence in Britain was directed to the civilizing of the inhabitants. It gave the people better conditions of life; it guaranteed protection against the tyrannies of petty chieftains; and it gave to them the resources of Roman civilisation. The Roman remains that are to be found in our museums, unearthed after centuries of oblivion, show how definite was the influence of the Romans in the comforts and necessities of daily life.
“Keys and steelyards, roofing tiles and hairpins, glass bottles and spoons, statues and bells, represent wants and comforts strange to the ‘savage and shivering Britons,’ dressed in skins, whom earlier writers knew.” The manufacture of glass, chiefly beads, was carried on at Glastonbury in Roman times, but most of the glass found is Roman in character. The large green jars which were used for containing the ashes of the dead were generally made here, but the best specimens came probably from Gaul, where the manufacture of glass was carried on to a considerable extent.
PLATE 6.
(Fig. 1): A square bottle of green glass, found in a grave with cinerary urns. (Fig. 2): An unguentarium, or bottle for unguents, perfumes and other toilet requisites, of Roman glass. (Fig. 3): A Roman lamp of earthen-ware. The wick was inserted in the spout, and the central hole was for the purpose of feeding the lamp. (Fig. 4): Another Roman lamp, viewed from above. (Fig. 5): A Roman pole-axe, with expanded blade, oval shaft-hole, and pointed projection behind, 9 in. long. (Figs. 6 and 7): Two forms of Roman keys of bronze. (Fig. 8): A Roman shoe or buskin, with ten large holes stamped out on each side. (Fig. 9): An axe with crescent-shaped blade and tang for handle. (Fig. 10): A Roman spoon of copper (5 in. long). (Fig. 11): A Roman steelyard of bronze, with hooks and rings. (Fig. 12): A sacrificial knife (7¼ in. long). (Fig. 13): A Roman iron knife with ornamented bone handle.
ROMAN ARCHITECTURE IN BRITAIN.
Roman architecture in Britain, judging from the remains of buildings, was generally of an inferior description, for Britain was a remote and half-civilised province, and little attention appears to have been paid to make the buildings very ornate.
There are two principal varieties of masonry employed in their construction.
The first, which is very characteristic, consists of layers of irregularly shaped stones and flat tiles embedded in mortar, generally arranged in alternate layers of tiles and stones in mortar, forming a kind of concrete (Pl. 7, Fig. 3). The Mint wall at Lincoln, the Jewry wall at Leicester, and the walls at Richborough and Colchester are built in this manner.
The other variety consists of walls formed of regular courses, with wide joints of outer facings of square stones or ashlars, the interior spaces being filled with a rubble embedded in mortar. The blocks, which were of hewn sandstone, were about 8 in. by 10 in. on the face, and as much as 22 in. long in the bed. The whole rests on a course of larger foundation stones (Pl. 7, Figs. 1 and 2).
Roman mortar may generally be distinguished by the fact that it was mixed with powdered brick, and it is extremely hard. It is often easier to break the tile or stone than the mortar, and this hardness arises largely from the fact that the Romans always burnt the lime on the spot, and used it hot and fresh, for on the freshness of the lime the strength of the mortar largely depends. The walls of Burgh Castle, Suffolk, and Richborough, Kent, are among the most perfect Roman walls in England.
There are vestiges of Roman towns and villas throughout the country, but they consist of foundations only. The upper story of these Roman houses was usually of wood, and all the innumerable Roman towns and villas of which foundations have been discovered bear marks of destruction by violence, fire having been usually the agent of destruction.