Shooting the War

MUSKET AND PIKE
An attempt to produce some order in the manufacture of firearms had an odd terminological result. In the army of Piedmont, before the battle of Moncontour in 1569, there were so many sizes of bore amongst the arquebuses that ammunition supply became a difficult problem. To overcome this 7000 arquebuses were ordered of one calibre, and referred to as ‘harquebuze de calibre de Monsieur le Prince’. The type of arquebus which was made to comply with this order had a bore of 10 or 11, weighed 12 pounds and had a barrel length of 42 inches. It became so popular that its use on the Continent became very widespread, and it appeared in England during the last quarter of the sixteenth century.. The original cumbersome reference had been contracted by the soldiers to `Calibre du Prince’, and later simply to ‘Calibre’. This became anglicized as ‘Caliver’, and in 1578 the Tower of London had 7000 of them in store. They were matchlocks, rather. heavier than the previous pattern of arquebus, and about four feet ten inches in overall length. Eventually the term came to mean any firearm which was light enough to be fired without a rest. ‘Arquebus’ was then frequently applied to cavalry wheel-lock arms.
In 1595 the Trained Bands were ordered to exchange their bows for calivers and muskets, and by this time calivers formed part of the armament of every English infantry unit. In fact, in a levy for Ireland of the following year, the ’shot accounted for half the infantry, and of these three-quarters were armed with calivers and only one-quarter with muskets. The days of the caliver, however, were numbered; for, unlike the musket, its shot was too light to pierce heavy armour.
The musket was actually earlier in origin than the caliver, having been invented in about 1546, though its adoption in England was somewhat slow. It was, essentially, an improved form of matchlock arquebus, with a greater g rane and accuracy and firing a heavier
rang
It had a barrel 4 feet long, a bore of 8 or io, and was designed to penetrate the heaviest protective armour. Its weight was 2o pounds, and it was consequently necessary to support the barrel on a forked rest. The first type of musket seems to have been too cumbersome to use for anything except siege warfare, and the Duke of Alva has been stated to have been the first to adapt it for use in the field, in his campaign in the Netherlands in
1567. By the time of the Civil War the musket had been considerably lightened, and it was possible to use it without a rest.
In one respect the musket was destined to achieve undying
FIG. 41. A MATCH-BOX.
fame; for its name came to denote any shoulder firearm, and even ‘rifle’ is merely a shortened form of ‘rifled musket’.
One of the disadvantages of the matchlock was the match. In very wet weather it was liable to be extinguished. To give some protection a ‘match-box’ was introduced. This was a tube of pewter, latten or tin, about a foot long, with holes in the side to let in aif.
It was this difficulty with the .match which was responsible for the development of spark ignition. The first substance to be employed for this purpose was pyrites; a mineral which included a combination of iron and sulphur. The mechanism in which it was used was known as the ‘wheel-lock’, and was invented in Nuremberg about 1517. A fragment of pyrites was held in contact with a steel wheel which had a serrated

FIG, 42. WHEEL- LOCKS.
Top: A Wheel-lock Carbine, Elizabeth I. Bottom: A Wheel-lock Dag, Edward VI.
edge. The wheel was rotated by the release of a powerful V-spring attached to the lock plate. The resulting stream of parks was directed at the priming powder.
The spindle of the wheel had a square end, and the lock was set by fitting a key, or spanner, to the spindle and winding it in a clockwise direction. This pulled a short chain of about three links round the spindle, and tautened the spring. After a three-quarter turn a scear (spring catch), which was fixed on the inside of the lock plate, engaged a slot on the wheel.
The flash-pan was then primed and closed. The bottom of the pan, however, was pierced to admit the top of the wheel. The piece of pyrites, which was held in a clamp at the head of the cock, was next lowered on to the top of the pan cover. Assuming it to have been loaded, the weapon was now ready for firing.
Pressure on the trigger drew back the scear and released the spring, causing the wheel to revolve. An ingenious device then caused the pan cover to open. A cam attached to the wheel spindle struck an arm which was connected to the pan cover. This opened the latter, permitting the pyrites to fall on the wheel. The pan cover was then held open by a spring catch.
The wheel-lock was, as may be imagined, an extremely
FIG. 43. WHEEL-LOCK DAGS.
expensive firearm to make, particularly when compared with the simple matchlock. Its adoption in England was consequently slow, and it never became a general issue to the infantry. It was a very useful lock, however, for a horseman. The management of a matchlock on horseback was a difficult feat, for the match had to be kept alight and any adjustments made to it with one hand.
The first single-handed firearms were intended for the horse soldier. These were the dags or tacks, the forerunners of pistols. The first dags were, in appearance, small arquebuses with wheel-locks. In 1544 they were introduced into England as a cavalry weapon.
The wheel-lock, also known as a firelock, suffered from two disadvantages; the first was the expense, and the second the weakness of the pyrites, which was liable to break into pieces. The demand for a sound and inexpensive method of spark transmission led to the introduction of the flintlock. The name originally given to this new mechanism was ’snaphaunce’. This was derived from the Dutch snaphaan, meaning a pecking fowl, and referred to the pecking motion of the cock.
The sparks in the flintlock were produced by striking a piece of flint against a case-hardened steel plate, with serrated ridges on its face. The flint was held in- a clamp at the top of the cock. The ’steel’, against which the flint was struck, worked on an arm which was hinged to the lock plate and held in position by a V-spring. To fire the weapon the cock -was drawn back, thereby compressing the main spring, which in turn actuated an internal tumbler connected to the cock. The scear engaged the tumbler and held the cock in the fully open position. The steel was then lowered towards the rear of the piece and on to the lip of the flash-pan; bringing it within range of the cock. Pulling the trigger drew back the scear, thereby releasing the cock; with the result that the flint struck the steel, directing a stream of sparks into the pan. This last was uncovered, during the forward movement of the cock, through a tumbler actuating a steel link which thrust against the lower part of the pan cover.
This type of flintlock was complicated and still fairly expensive. It was little used in England, though some of the troops ordered to Ireland in i58o are said to have been armed with it. On the Continent, however, it was in common use for a long time. In England it was superseded in the first quarter of the seventeenth century by the so-called ‘English lock’ flintlock. This was a much better and simpler weapon than the original snaphaunce, and the mechanism remained basically the same for all future flintlock firearms.
In the English lock the steel and pan cover were combined in a single piece which was called the ‘hammer’. This consisted of a hinged pan cover which worked upon a screw set in the lock plate and held in either the open or closed positions by a V-spring. The steel, or striking surface, rose approximately at right angles in a curve from the free end of the cover. When the cock was released the flint hit the steel, causing a shower of sparks, and at the same time pushed the whole member back on the hinge, so uncovering the priming powder to the sparks. The firing mechanism was practically the same as that of the snaphaunce, but the weapon could be put at safety by raising the cock half-way and leaving the pan
FIG. 44. AN ARQUEBUS WITH SNAPHAUNCE LOCK.
closed. This “half-cock’ position was achieved by providing a notch on the tumbler in which the scear engaged.
On some English locks there was an additional safety device. This was a catch on the outside of the lock plate which engaged in a notch on the cock when it was in the `half-cock’ position. This type of safety-catch was called a dog-catch and locks so fitted were known as doglocks.
Although the term `snaphaunce’ seems to have been applied originally to those flintlocks with separate pan covers and steels, it appears to have been soon used, in the early seventeenth century, to denote all flintlocks.
The difficulty of managing a matchlock on horseback has already been mentioned. Nevertheless in about I 53o a modification of the arquebus was produced for this purpose. It was called a ‘Petronel’ or ‘poitrinal’, names derived from the French and signifying that the weapon was intended to be fired from the chest. It was shorter than the arquebus but of a large calibre, and, on account of its weight, was carried on a broad shoulder belt. As a matchlock it was a fairly impracticable weapon, and later -versions were fitted with wheel-locks.
Another horseman’s firearm was the dragon. This was something between a petronel and a pistol. Traditionally it had a. dragon’s head at its muzzle, and it is supposed to have given its name to the French Dragons (Dragoons), first raised by Charles de Cosse, Marechal de Brissac, in 1600. Of the later and similar English troops, Markham, in his Souldier’s
FiG. 45- PETRONELS.
Acidence of 1645, says: ‘The last sort of which our horse troopes are composed are called dragoons, which are a kind of footmen on horsebacks, and do now indeed succeed the light horsemen, and are of singular use in all actions of warre. The armes defensive are an open head piece with cheeks, and a good buffs coat, with deeps skirts; and for offensive armes they have a faire dragon fitted with. an iron works, to be carried in a belt of leather, which is buckled over the right shoulder and under the left arms, having a turnill of iron work with a ring, through which the piece runnes up and downs; and these dragons are short pieces of sixteen inches the barrell, and full musquet bore, with firelocks or snaphaunces, also a belt with a flaske, pryming box, key, and bullet bag, and a good sword.’
In the heavy horse petronel and dag were succeeded in due course by carbine and pistol. The difference between a pistol and a dag is, however, not very clear. Weapons which we should normally call pistols were often called dags in England and tacks in Scotland in the early seventeenth, and, in the case of the latter, eighteenth centuries. Owing to their small size,. and consequent popularity as a personal weapon; pistols from very early days seem to  have expressed tastes in design and decoration of different gunsmiths. In addition, there have
FIG. 46. A DRAGON.
frequently .been fashions in pistol design which gunsmiths have met in their own particular style: To describe all the pistols which have been used in war would, therefore, be quite beyond the scope of the present work. Nevertheless there are two special types which must be mentioned. The first of these is the screw-barrel pistol. This had a cannon-shaped barrel ‘which screwed off so that the charge could be loaded direct into the breech  piece. These enjoyed a great vogue during the reign of Charles I and for some time afterwards. The second is -one of the most famous pistols, or rather -family of pistols, ever made.. This was the Scottish all-metal pistol, which, as far as is known, was first made towards the end of the sixteenth century. The earliest one on record was manufactured byAlison of Dundee. The principal difference between the Scottish pistol and others was that the stock was made of steel or brass instead of wood. The butts of the earliest models had a fish-tailed end, and they were sometimes made of wood encased in, or mounted with, brass or silver.
The early seventeenth-century carbine, according to a 1630 book on cavalry by Captain Cruso, was the same length as an arquebus but had a smaller bore. It was a flintlock, and it was slung from a shoulder belt by a swivel.
There were two disastrous expeditions during the reign of Charles 1, the failure of which was to some extent due to defective firearms. In the force sent to Cadiz, in fact, the majority of the firearms are said to have been either defective or useless. As a result of these deficiencies a special Commission under the Privy Seal appointed a select committee of gunmakers, arniourcrs, pikemakers and bandolier makers, `being the skillfullest and prime workmen of this land’, to undertake an investigation into the arms of the national militia and Trained Bands and to rectify any deficiencies. The London gunmakers mentioned as being on the Commission were Henry Rowland, Richard Burrowe, Thomas Addis, John Norcott, William Dawstin, John Watson and William Graves. These gunmaker members were temporarily vested with powers of proving and testing firearms.

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Nevertheless Henry did his best to ensure that, in spite of the increasing use of firearms, there should remain a large reserve of trained archers in the country from whom he could raise the bulk of his infantry in the event of war. In a new statute of 154:1 the vast majority of the male population between the ages of seventeen and -sixty were required to exercise themselves in archery and to be in possession of a bow and arrows. This was an even wider age limit than was laid down in the statute of 1511. At the same time the use of firearms was limited to certain persons and occasions as follows: ‘It shall be lawful, from henceforth, to all gentlemen yeomen, and servingmen of every lord, spiritual and temporal, and of all knights, esquires, and gentlemen, and to all the inhabitants of cities, boroughs, and market towns, of this Realm of England, to shoot with any hand-gun, demihake, or hagbut, at any butt or bank of earth, only in places convenient for the same: so that every such hand-gun, etcetera, be of the several lengths aforesaid, and not under. And that it shall be lawful, to every of the said lord and lords, knights, esquires, and gentlemen, and the inhabitants of every city, borough, and market town, to have and keep in every of their houses such hand-gun or hand-guns, of the length of one whole yard, and not under, to the intent to use and shoot in the same, at a butt or bank of earth only, as is above said, whereby they and every one of them, by the exercise thereof, in form above said, may the better aid and assist in the defense of this realm, when need shall require.’
There were many to lament the passing of the bow. In 1549 Bishop Latimer, preaching before Edward VI, denounced the vices of the age, and advocated, as a method of combating

FiG. 22. ARBALESTIERS.
The process of loadin,-, is clearly shown. Note the use of the windlass.
them, a return to the noble and manly pastimes which had been practised in his youth. He said: ‘In my time my poore father was as diligent to teach me to shoote as to learn *  me any other thing; and so I think other men did their children. He taught me how to draw, how to lay my body in my bow, and not to draw with strength of arms, as other nations doe, but with strength of the body. I had my bowes bought me according to my age and strength, as I increased in them, so my bowes were made bigger and bigger, for men shall never shoot well except they be brought up in it. It is a goodlie art, a wholesome kind of exercise, and much commended in phisicke. As late as z 55 there is a record in the Venetian State Papers of an appreciation of the English archers by one Giovanni Michele. He says: ‘. . . they, to say the truth; being. most expqrt archers, so that they would not yield to any other people more trained and experienced then they are; and such is their opinion of archery and their esteem of it, that they doubtless prefer it to all sorts of arms, and to harquebuses, in which they trust less, feeling more sure of their bows and arrows; contrary, however, to the judgement of the captains and soldiers of other nations. They draw the bow with such force and dexterity at the same time, that some are said to pierce corslets and body-armour; r; and there are few among them, even those that are moderately practised, who will not undertake at a convenient distance, either aiming point-blank, or in the air (as they generally do, that the arrow may fly further), to hit within an inch and a half of the mark.’    With moulinet or windlass.
The cross-bow was a mechanical
version of the bow, which was far more popular than the latter on the continent of Europe, but which was little used in England. It had neither the range nor speed of discharge of the long bow, but, on the other  hand, comparatively little training was required to enable a soldier to handle it reasonably effectively.
There were two kinds of cross-bow: the arbalest, which was a heavy weapon, and the latch, which was much the lighter, and the more popular in England. The bow of the arbalest was generally of steel. This was strained by means of a small windlass, which fitted on to the end of the butt, and wound up a .tackle which was hooked on to the bow-string. At the foremost end of the arbalest was a stirrup which rested on the ground during this operation, and in which the foot was placed to hold the weapon steady. The windlass and tackle when not in use were carried slung from the waist belt. The arbalest was held in tension, and the bow released by means of a ‘lock’. The early cross-bow locks varied considerably in design. They were not built up on a plate like a gun-lock, but consisted of mutually independent levers set on
FIG. 26. A LATCH.
Elizabeth I.
to the tiller or stock. The lever pivots were pins which passed through the stock from one side to the other. In the sixteenth century the type of lock was introduced which was to be used for many centuries on firearms. In this the mechanism was built on to a plate which was fixed to the stock. The release was actuated by a ‘tricker’, or hair trigger.
The latch was a much lighter weapon, and it was bent by a windlass of much simpler form than that employed for the arbalest. This was the ‘goat’s foot’ lever which worked by means of a cog and ratchet.
The early firearms were more useful for their moral effect than for any damage that they caused; and throughout the mediaeval period the personal, or hand, firearm played a sub-sidiary r6le. The noise and smoke were most impressive; and in the earliest and most inaccurate days there was, from the user’s point of view, a comforting theory that the wounds they caused were poisonous and incurable. Soldiers armed with
FiG. 27. LATCH.
Elizabeth I.
hand-guns would, indeed, need some comfort, for they must have been fearsome weapons to fire, and the observable results extremely disappointing.
0
Hand-auns of sorts were in use in the fourteenth century,  for Froissart mentions their use in an English force commanded by Sir John Chandos in 1369. These were probably very small weapons mounted on the end of a long shaft; for a bill submitted a few years later by William de Sleaforde, Keeper of the Privy Purse, includes the sum of thirteen shillings for fitting eight guns with helves, in the same manner as pikes. The helve, or shaft, was used to give support to the gun, and was generally stuck into the ground at a low angle. To give horizontal fire it might be hooked on to a wall or tree, the front
end being supported by a forked    FIG. 30. A HAND-GUN. rest. The charge was generally
ignited by inserting a red-hot wire through the touch-hole.
In a MS. which is in the British Museum, there is the figure of a soldier firing a hand-gun of a very early form. The MS. is marked `Royal, 15 E IV’, but it is dedicated to Edward V, and must presumably have been completed in 1485. The gun has no stock and is rested on top of the shoulder. It is being fired by applying-a match to the touch-hole, which is on top of the piece. From the attitude of the soldier it looks as if the gun, in its recoil, is likely to prove a far more dangerous weapon to himself than it is to any conceivable enemy This type of gun was, however, already out of date at the time the book was written. The first improvement seems to have been made during the reign of Henry VI, when the touchhole was moved to the side of the barrel, and a pan was secured below the touch-hole to hold the priming powder. Some of
FIG- 32. A HAND-GUN OF 1468.
these guns were turned into dual-purpose weapons by fixing an axe-head to the rear end. By the last quarter of the fifteenth century stocks were being fitted, which enabled the- gun to be held much more firmly and gave the firer some chance of dispatching his bullet in a generally appropriate direction. The butt was, however, held more often between elbow and body than it was into the shoulder. The final improvement to the hand-gun proper was the addition of a cover to the pan to prevent the powder being blown away by the wind.
The match, which replaced the original hot wire, was of cord or similar material which had been soaked in saltpetre or lees of wine. Thus treated, it burnt slowly and was not easily extinguished by inclement weather.
FIG- 33. A HAND-GUN WITH A STOCK.
Although the term ‘hand-gun’ was used to denote a personal firearm until the middle of the sixteenth century, the original crude weapon was replaced by the genesis of the matchlock, when mechanical means were introduced to apply the match to the priming pan about the first quarter of the fifteenth century. This innovation resulted in an enormous improvement in the accuracy of shooting; for the firer could now hold his weapon with both hands, instead of requiring one hand free to apply the loose match. The match was held in a pair of metal jaws, which were brought down on -to the priming pan by raising a long pivoted lever which extended towards the butt. The match holder was called a ‘dog’, ’serpentine’ or ‘dragon’ from its fancied resemblance to these animals.
The matchlock proper was an improvement on the above mechanism, which was now embodied in a ‘lock’. The match was held in the forked holder, or ’serpentine’, by a
FIG. 34. A CALIVER-MAN.
From the Roll of the Funeral of Sir Philip Sydney, 1586.
thumb screw. Linked to the serpentine was a lever, or ’scear’,
which was pivoted inside the lock plate. Raising the rear end
of the scear swung the serpentine over to the flash-pan. The
scear was actuated by a long trigger, similar in form to that of a
cross-bow, which was screwed to its rear end. A scear springwas
fixed inside the lock plate which pressed against the forward
end of the scear, so keeping the lighted match clear of the pan
until the trigger was pressed. The flash-pan was secured to the breech, and was closed by a hinged pan cover. This was always kept closed until the weapon was about to be fired.
The matchlock mechanism was probably suggested by that of the cross-bow. The firearms first fitted with this lock were called ‘arquebuses’; and it has been suggested that the term
FIG. 35. A MUSQUFTUR.
From the. Poll of the Fuxeral of Sir Philip Sydney, r536.
`arquebus’ referred to the lock, and was a corruption of the Italian arcabouza, or ‘bow with a mouth’. When, the first regular unit of English troops, the Yeomen of the Guard, was formed after Henry VII’s victory at Bosworth, one-half of the men were armed with bows and the other half with arquebuses. Of the two the archers were the more-formidable. The effective range of these early arquebuses was only about fifty yards, and they were probably incapable of killing a. man at a greater distance than ioo yards. On the other hand, it was not considered permissible for a fully trained archer to practise at the butts at a shorter range than 22o yards. In addition the archer could shoot six arrows to one shot of the arquebusier. As has already been pointed out, however, it took far less time to train an arquebusier than an archer.
The preparation of the matchlock for firing was, indeed, an appallingly slow business. The procedure for reloading was as follows:
(a) The match, which was lighted at both ends, was removed from the serpentine.
FiG. 36. AN ENGLTSTI MUSQUET.
Elizabeth I.
(b) A charge of powder was measured out from-the powder flask. This was done by reversing the flask and pressing a catch, which allowed the powder to flow into the nozzle of the flask, at the same time stopping up the mouth with a finger. When the nozzle was full the catch was released, this being the requisite charge of powder.
(c) The charge of powder was poured into the barrel.
(d) A bullet was extracted from the pouch and put down the barrel on top of the powder.
(e) A wad of rag, paper or tow was inserted in ‘the barrel and rammed down on top of bullet and powder.
(f) The flash-pan was filled with fine-grained powder from the ‘touch-box’; the cover closed and surplus powder blown away.

(g) The match was put back into the serpentine and adjusted for length. (Adjustments to the match had to be made frequently, or it burnt down too close to the serpentine and went out. The lighted free end was then used to relight the serpentine end.)
The original matchlock arquebus was froze to 31 feet in length overall, with a very short and sharply curved stock. This was intended to be supported against the chest rather than the shoulder. The barrel length was from 24 to 30
FIG- 37. THE HARQUEBUS.
Top: An Harquebus with a Trigger (Henry VIII).
Bottom: The Lock of an Harquebus of a later date with its Serpentine.
inches, and the bore between 20 and 30 (i.e. the number of bullets to the pound).
The different terms used for early firearms are extremely confusing; for not only were different names sometimes applied to the same weapon, but also with the passage of years a name often came to mean something entirely different from its original usage. Thus, ‘arquebus’ and ‘matchlock’ were originally synonymous; but in later years `arquebus’ denoted any light firearm which could be discharged from the breast or shoulder without the use of a rest. Again, ‘hacquebut’ or ‘hakbut’ (and many other spellings) was often used as an alternative to ‘arquebus’, but in earlier times it referred to a firearm with a very curved stock which brought the Ibarrel to eye level. Smaller versions were known as ‘dcmi-hags’ or `half-hackbuts’, and were really a form of pistol.
The introduction of the matchlock marks the close of the
FIG. 38. A D.ENII-FIAG.
mediaeval period, and the approaching end of the superiority of shock weapons. The increasing efficiency of firearms was to result, soon, in the virtual disappearance of armour from the battlefield, and by the latter years of the sixteenth century the bullet had established equality with cold steel.

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The pike was quickly followed by a number of other shafted weapons, all of which owed their origin to it, and all for the use of the foot soldier. The linstock was intended for the artilleryman. It consisted of a pike with the addition of lateral branches on each side of the head, sometimes terminating in bird’s or serpent’s heads. These latter were intended
FIG. 12. PARTIZANS.
Edward IV; C. 1500., Henry VIII; German, c. x61o; James 1.
to hold the match for firing cannon. Previously the cannoneer had had to discard his pike in order to apply the match to the touch-hole, and was frequently slain in the process. The linstock ensured that he remained armed.
The partizan was originally something like a pike with lateral projections at the base of the blade. The blade later became longer, flatter and more ornamental, and often gilt and covered with elaborate engraving. As a mediaeval weapon it had a comparatively short practical life. After the reign of Henry VIII its use seems to have been confined to ceremonial occasions and for the arming of bodyguards.
The spontoon had a flat blade like the partizan, but it did not have the projections at the base. It had a much shorter staff than the pike, and was intended for use in closer combat,
FIG- 13. SPONTOONS.
Tower of London.
The halbert was more akin to the bill than the pike, and it has been suggested that its name is derived from the German Halb-Barthe, meaning ‘half battle-axe’. In form it was something like a pike with an axe-head mounted immediately below the pike blade; so that it could be used either for cutting or thrusting.

Swords were, of course, used at Hastings. It would be difficult to cite any pre-twentieth_century battle in which they were not carried into action. They are, by tradition, the most honourable weapon of all. the very symbol of the profession of arms.
Saxon swords were of two kinds, both being of iron; about three feet in length, and straight. One of these was double-edged and very sharp. It had no guard, not even a simple crosspiece. The other was very similar, but it had a cross-piece as a

FIG. 14. HALBERTS.
Henry VII; Henry V111; Edward V1-, Mary.
guard, and a pommel which was sometimes foliated. The hilts of these swords were generally of wood covered with leather, horn or bone. The sword hilts of some of the greater or wealthier nobles, however, were frequently covered with plates of gold or silver.
The Norm in swords can be seen on the early Royal and baronial seals, and a very similar type was used throughout the mediaeval period. The blade was long and tapering, double-edged, with a simple cross-piece guard to the hilt, either straight or curving towards the blade; the pommels being round or of various ornamental shapes. In the latter half of the fifteenth century the blades tapered to a very fine point, and the upper part was often gilt and engraved. These mediaeval swords were intended for either cutting or thrusting. The many carved effigies which remain in churches throughout the country afford abundant examples of the swords which were in fashion at different periods.

FIG. 15. SWORDS.
Henry V; Edward VI; Henry VII; 1495, engraved by
Albrecht Mirer; Henry VIII.
Saxon and Norman sword scabbards were generally of wood covered with leather, sometimes with bronze mounts. Later, scabbards of metal and cuirbouilli (boiled leather) made their appearance. From about the thirteenth century the mounts and chapel, or metal tips to the scabbard, were ornamental in shape and often heavily engraved.

FIG. 16. SWORD-BELTS.
Top row: A Septvans, Chartham Church, Kent; Brian Lord Fitzalan of Bedale, from Bedale Church, Oxford; Brass of Sir John de St. Quentin, Bransburton Church, Yorkshire. fiddle row: Sir Walter Arden, Aston Church, Warwickshire; Detail of Belt in previous illustration; Brass of a Knight in Laughton Church, Lincolnshire. Bottom row: Mode of fastening Sword-belt, fifteenth century, from• Viollet-le-Duc; Brass of John Cray at Chinnor, Oxfordshire. Ann. 1390. Sword-belt, Queen Elizabeth.

FIG- 17- SWORDS.
Top row: Edward IV-, Henry VI; Henry VII; Henry VII; Henry VIII; Queen Elizabeth. Middle row: Queen Elizabeth; Queen Elizabeth; Queen Elizabeth; Queen Elizabeth; Henry VIII. Bottom row-. Queen Elizabeth; Henry VIII; Henry VIII; Henry VIII-, Queen Elizabeth-, Sword of Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of the Rhine, 1614-

The bow was well known, of course, to the Saxons, but it was used by them far more for hunting than for war. It was the Normans who showed on an English battlefield what a formidable weapon it could be. Nevertheless, even for the Normans the bow was very much of an auxiliary weapon, and it is surprising what a small part it played in warfare for two and a half centuries after the battle of Hastings.
The bows of the eleventh century    Thirteenth century;
were short, stretching only from head    Fourteenth century.
to knee, and they had nothing like the power of the later bows which were to make the English archers so famous. It was Edward III who raised a disciplined force of archers, probably owing to a shortage of heavy horses for men-at-arms, and thereby revived infantry as a factor on the battlefield. The shooting power of these new troops was demonstrated to an astonished Continent at the battle of Crecy in 1346.
The English archers were armed
with a bow measuring six feet or more,
and made chiefly of yew, but sometimes
of ash, elm or witch-hazel. The bow-
string was of hemp, flax or silk. The
standard arrow, the ‘cloth-yard shaft’,
was made of ash, oak, birch or one or
two other woods. The point was of
burnished steel, and it was winged
with feathers from the grey goose; or sometimes the peacock,
the swan or other birds. The bow was generally carried in a case to protect it from the weather and to stop it from warping.
That bows and arrows were adequate both in quality and numbers’was always of concern in mediaeval times. In 1405, for instance, it was found that faulty heads had been made for arrows and quarrels. As a result a statute was promulgated directing that, ‘All the Heads for Arrows and Quarrels after this Time to be made, shall be well boiled or brased, and

FIG. 20. CRAPES.
Henry VIII, Dagger Sheath; Henry VIII, Sword Sheath;
1321 Sword Sheath from effigy in Hereford Cathedral,
hardened at the Points with Steel’ ; and also that, ‘E very Arrow head and Quarrel be Marked with the Mark of him that made the same’. During the latter part of the fifteenth century there was apparently a constant shortage of bowstaves. In 1472 it was decreed that any merchant ship coming from a foreign city, town or country, which had at any time sent bowstaves into England, was to bring four bowstaves with every ton of merchandise. In 1483 there was some trouble with the Lombards, who had been guilty, apparently, of supplying very poor bowstaves, and of profiteering in them as well. They were cnsequently required to include ten good bowstaves free of charge with every butt of wine imported into England.
It was a long time before hand firearms replaced the long bow in England. In the hands of the English archers the latter was a far more accurate weapon than the early and primitive firearm; and it excelled it, too, both in range and rate of discharge. It was not till the sixteenth century was well advanced that the bow was finally superseded; and this was due more to the shortage of trained archers than to superiority in the firearms of the day. It took practice from youth up to train an archer, and in the hey-day of archery it was practised on every village green. But the spread of firearms and their use for sport inevitably resulted in a growing dearth of young men who could draw the long bow. Henry
VIII did his best to keep up.
the standard of archers. In    Left: Steel Sheath, Henry VIII. a statute of i Sog he forbade Right: Copper Sheath, Elizabeth I.
the use of gun or crossbow except under special licence from the King; and in a further statute of 15 11 he required every man under the age of forty to provide himself with bow and arrows and to practise shooting with the long bow.
At the battle of Flodden the bow was still the principal missile weapon of the infantry, but the use of firearms was already increasing rapidly. In 1537 Henry VIII recognized the inevitable, and granted a patent to the overseers of the Guild of Saint George (now the Honourable Artillery Company) by which they and their successors were authorized to establish a perpetual fraternity or guild of artillery and ‘to exercise themselves in shooting with the long-bow, crossbow, and hand-guns’.

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The lance was, of course, the weapon specially associated with the knight. At its head, in the great days of chivalry, it bore the small flag which indicated the knight’s rank and. status. A baron or knight-banneret had a square or rectangular banner emblazoned with its owner’s arms. A knight commanding in the field had a swallow-tailed pennon, also
FIG. 6. BATTLE-AXES.
2, Henry VIII; 3 & 4, Elizabeth I; 5, James I; 6, Dutch.
emblazoned with his arms. If, for his distinguished conduct in action, he was made a knight-bannerct on the battlefield, his pennon was converted technically into a banner by cutting off the swallow tails. An ordinary knight, fighting in the ranks, carried a triangular pennon, or pensil, on which might be either his badge or arms, and frequently depicted so that they were the right way up when the lance was horizontal. In the reign of Henry VIII all this gay individual heraldry was swept away, and the lances of the cavalry bore the white pennon and red cross of St. George.
There were a number of other shafted weapons which had their origin in mediaeval times; some of them lasting until a
FIG. 8. BATTLE-AXES. From the Bayeux Tapestry.
much later period of history. The oldest of these was probably the battle-axe, which was used by the Normans at Hastings, and it had some affinity with the Saxon bill. It had, however, a much shorter shaft, and was essentially a weapon for the mounted man. Another early weapon was the guisarme, which was a form of lance with a hook at,its side, and which was known to the Normans in the eleventh century. It was probably derived from the peasant’s ox-goad.

FIG. 9. MACES.
Top row: Quadrelle, temp. Edward IV; Massuelle, temp. Richard III; temp. Henry VII with hand-gun; Henry VIII; Philip & Mary. Middle row: Mace, temp. Henry V-, Henry VI; Henry VI, Edward IV; Henry VII; Henry VII; Henry VIII. Bottom row: Henry VIII; Henry VIII; Henry VIII; Edward VI.

The guisarme appears to have been little used in England, but from it came a derivative which was very popular in Wales. It had a broad, heavy, pointed blade on the end of a long shaft, and could be used either for cutting or thrusting. Presumably experience of it in the Welsh wars had impressed its value on the English, for in the first year of Richard III’s reign one Nicholas Spicer is recorded as having issued an order for the impressment of smiths to make Zoo Welsh glaives. Chaucer gives a hint at its formidable nature in a line: ‘And
FIG. 10. PIKE HEADS.
Left to right: Henry VII;’Henry VIII; Edward VI; Elizabeth I;
James 1; Charles I; Cromwell; Charles II; Charles II.
whet their tongue as sharp as sword or glaive’. In the sixteenth century the glaive was fashioned in all manner of decorative shapes, and generally richly engraved.
The baston is another of the shafted weapons of the Bayeux Tapestry. At its best it was an iron-tipped staff, but was sometimes merely a wooden bludgeon or a knotted club. It was succeeded by the similar but much more decorative mace. Maces became very popular with the many war-like prelates of the Middle Ages; since by using this arm in battle they were able to persuade their elastic consciences that they were evading the condemnation of all holding office in the Church who fought with the sword. Maces were made in all sorts of decorative and fantastic shapes, and they were the weapons of the King’s Serjeants-at-Arms as early as the fourteenth century. There was a smaller kind of mace called a masuel. This must have been a cheap, handy and dangerous little weapon, for it was included in the list of arms which Edward 1, in the first year of his reign, forbade his turbulent London subjects to carry.
The pike, which from the time of its introduction until the coming of the bayonet was to be the main shock weapon of the British infantry, did not reach England until the reign of
FIG. II. LINSTOCKS.
Early Italian; Elizabeth I; Elizabeth I; Charles 1.
Edward IV. It could not claim to be an original weapon; for it was merely a modification of the cavalry lance adapted to the needs of infantry, and a reintroduction in a slightly different form of the earlier short and light infantry spear. Nevertheless, its appearance on the continent of Europe in the hands of well-disciplined infantry revolutionized military tactics. For the first time for centuries infantry had a shock weapon with which they could face and repel cavalry. For 400 years mounted troops had dominated the battlefield. That place was now to be taken by the infantry until armoured formations arrived to-redress the balance some 5oo years later.

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