Pentateuch and Forms of Prayer, written in Germany about the close of the thirteenth century. The giant has hauberk and chausses of chain-mail, with knee-pieces of plate, and the broad-rimmed chapel-de-fer. The shield retains the boss and strengthening bands which we have seen in examples from the Anglo-Saxon and Frankish graves. The round mark at the temple is the stone hurled from the sling of David.

290   76. Part of a figure from the wall-pictures of the Painted Chamber at Westminster: to shew the form of the pointed, nasal helmet. Date, the second half of the thirteenth century. 291   77. Glass-painting in the window of the north transept of Oxford Cathedral. The tracery formerly belonging to it no longer appears, and it is now mixed up with glass of a later period. It is scarcely necessary to say that the martyr's head is a "restoration." The knights are armed in suits of banded-mail, with knee-pieces of plate. The uplifted sword is of the falchion kind. Fitz-Urse has on his shield three Bears' heads on a diapered field, in lieu of the usual figure of a single Bear. Compare woodcut, No. 53. The date of this glass appears to be about the close of the thirteenth century. 296   78. Iron spur found in the churchyard of Chesterford, Cambridgeshire, and now preserved in the Museum of the Hon. R. C. Neville, at Audley End. The plain goad, straight neck, and curved shanks are all characteristic of the knightly spur of the thirteenth century. 298   79. Great Seal of King Henry III.; drawn from impressions attached to Harleian Charter, 43, C. 38; Wolley Charter, 5, xxi.; and Topham Charter, No. 8. The king wears the hauberk of chain-mail, with a helm somewhat rounded at top, and having a moveable ventail with clefts for sight and breathing. The mailing has been obliterated from the chausses, if any ever were there. The surcoat is still of great length. The bowed shield exhibits the usual three Lions. But a novelty appears in the spurs of this figure, which are rowelled. No earlier instance of the rowel spur has been observed, and indeed it seldom appears again during the whole century. Usually on the alert to adopt any novelty of military equipment, the knights appear to have rejected with particular obstinacy the innovation of the wheeled spur, though to us it appears so strongly recommended by the greater humanity of its contrivance. Compare woodcut, No. 81: the second Great Seal of Hen. III. 299   80. From Cotton MS., Nero, D. i.; the "Lives of the two Offas," by Matthew Paris. This group, which occurs on folio 7 of the manuscript, represents the Mercian king, Offa I., combating in behalf of the king of Northumberland, and defeating the Scottish army. The drawings of this curious volume, all of which have been copied by Strutt in his Horda, appear to be of the close of the thirteenth century. The body-armour is for the most part banded-mail. King Offa has the distinction of greaves and knee-pieces: the mailing of a portion of his coif differs from the rest of the suits, probably from carelessness of the artist only. The horse of the king is also discriminated from the other steeds by having a housing. The head-defence, composed of a mask of steel placed over the coif of banded-mail, is very remarkable. In the adjoining figure we again see an example of the aperture left at the palm, for the convenience of liberating the hand occasionally from its case of mail. Compare woodcut, No. 62. 303   81. Second Great Seal of King Henry III. From impressions at Carlton Hide (R. i. 34), and select seals in Brit. Museum (xxxiv. 4). The armour consists of hauberk and chausses of chain-mail, helm with moveable visor, shield and sword. The surcoat, of diminished length, is without heraldic decoration. As a work of art, this seal shews a great advance beyond the previous royal seals: the horse is drawn with much truth and spirit, while the figure of the king is just in its proportions and natural in its position. Compare woodcut, No. 79. 307   82. Group from the Painted Chamber. Vetusta Monumenta, vol. vi. Plate xxxvi. We have here many noticeable particulars: the falchion, the archer with his long-bow and cloth-yard shaft, armed with its barbed head, the ornamented helmet of the mounted knight, the conical nasal helmet of the figure behind, the triangular and the round shields, and the curiously-formed brow-band of the horse. All these will be duly examined under their respective heads. 313   83. Incised slab of red sandstone, the memorial of a knight of the Brougham family, in the church of Brougham, Westmoreland. The stone is nearly 7 feet long, by 3 ft. 5 in. wide, and is traditionally known as "The Crusader's Tomb." The "Crusader" himself was disinterred in 1846, in consequence of some repairs within the chancel of the church, and found to have been buried cross-legged. For a particular account of this curious discovery, see the "Archæological Journal," vol. iv. p. 59. 317   84. Military Flail: from Strutt's Horda, vol. i. Plate xxxii. From the same MS. as our No. 51. (Benet Coll. Lib., C. 5. xvi.) Compare the flail on woodcut public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@46342@[email protected]#i_085.jpg"