Sir Richard Vernon, 1452. Tong Church, Shropshire

Frontispiece

BRITISH AND FOREIGN
ARMS & ARMOUR

BY
CHARLES HENRY ASHDOWN

HON. SEC. ST. ALBANS AND HERTS ARCHITECTURAL AND ARCHÆOLOGICAL SOCIETY;
HON. CURATOR OF NUMISMATICS, HERTS COUNTY MUSEUM; AUTHOR OF
“ST. ALBANS: HISTORICAL AND PICTURESQUE,” ETC.

ILLUSTRATED WITH 450 ENGRAVINGS IN THE TEXT AND 42 PLATES
FROM ACTUAL EXAMPLES, MISSALS, ILLUMINATED MSS., BRASSES,
EFFIGIES, Etc., AND FROM ORIGINAL RESEARCH IN THE
BRITISH MUSEUM, THE TOWER OF LONDON, WALLACE
COLLECTION, ROTUNDA AT WOOLWICH, MANY
PRIVATE COLLECTIONS, Etc.

LONDON
T. C. & E. C. JACK
16 HENRIETTA STREET, W.C.
AND EDINBURGH
1909

TO

THE PRESIDENT

THE VERY REV. THE DEAN OF ST. ALBANS, D.D.

AND TO

THE MEMBERS

OF THE

ST. ALBANS AND HERTS ARCHITECTURAL AND
ARCHÆOLOGICAL SOCIETY,

THESE PAGES ARE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY

THE AUTHOR.

PREFACE

The study of Arms and Armour is one of absorbing interest to a large and ever increasing number of the community, inasmuch as it appeals in a marked degree to the student of history, the antiquarian, and to those who work in the realms of art. To the first it appeals as a concrete reminder of the struggles of nations for liberty, independence, power, or conquest; to the second it breathes of the age in which it saw the light with all the feeling and tone which characterised it; to the third it is a source of delight by the consummate beauty of its form or the exquisite details of its adornment. Unfortunately