Читать книгу British and Foreign Arms & Armour - Charles Henry Ashdown - Страница 25

Fig. 81.—Danish helmet, shield, and sword.

The military equipment of the Danes was very similar to that of other northern Teutonic nations, and no single piece of their arms and armour has been immortalised as of special significance with the single exception of the Danish axe. Upon their first appearance in England the only armour worn was a defence for the chest, consisting of a broad collar encircling the neck, with depending pieces upon which were sewn flat rings, plates of metal, horn, &c. In addition to this pectoral, if it may be so termed, greaves were used, consisting of stout pieces of leather affixed after the form of shin-pieces, and, judging by representations in illuminated MSS., carefully moulded to the limb, inasmuch as the prominent muscles are shown upon them. This was probably effected by boiling the leather and subsequently pressing it into shape. After their settlement in England they gradually adopted other defences in imitation of the Saxons, but more especially of the Normans, until their equipment in the first half of the eleventh century became in every respect a replica of that of the latter nation.

The Danish helmet in its early form was a close-fitting skull-cap fitting well down into the back of the neck; upon this as a foundation the chiefs wore protruding horns, and at times wings of metal, imparting a highly-ornamental aspect to the headpiece. Later a conical helmet having a knob upon the top and being made of metal or leather, or a mixture of both, was adopted; this in its fully-developed state was fitted with a nasal (Fig. 81).

Fig. 82.—Danish weapons.

The shield is reputed to have been of the shape shown in Fig. 81, which is taken from the prayer-book of King Canute, MSS., Cal. A. 7, in the British Museum. Presuming that the illuminator has not allowed his imagination to run riot we must admire the highly ornamental form there delineated, evidently founded upon the universal circular shield of the Teutonic nations.

The Danish sword was similar to that of the Anglo-Saxons, and differed only in the scabbard, upon which more labour was spent in ornamentation.

The spear illustrated (Fig. 82, No. 2) is that of Canute as shown upon his coins, while the companion weapon is that of the ordinary soldiery.

The Danish axe (Fig. 82, No. 3) was the famed bipennis, consisting of two axe-blades of similar form on either side of the shaft, which latter in a few cases was furnished with a spike. The axe could be used as a pole-axe for close combat, or, if furnished with a shorter handle, be hurled in a similar way to the francisca. A variation of the bipennis is seen in the companion axe, which is furnished upon one side with a diamond-pointed cutting blade of steel in substitution for the axe-blade.

PLATE VIII

The Bayard Armour in the Rotunda, Woolwich