met with, but not frequently, in the illuminations of that period: it consisted of a tunic, perhaps of quilted cloth or leather, upon which were fastened rings of steel, side by

Fig. 48.

side, covering the entire surface, exactly similar to those worn by the soldiers of William the Conqueror, which have been engraved on a future page of this volume. The principal object in the annexed group is the singularly-shaped

shield,

which appears to have been peculiar to the Danes, who had, however, the orbicular shield also in use.1 This is perfectly Phrygian in form, and is another instance added to the many, of their preservation of the form of an

tique war-implements from very remote periods. The antique Phrygian shield is here engraved from one depicted in Hope's Costume of the Ancients, for the sake of immediate reference. The bipennis of the same ancient nation is also given; and the reader, by comparing it with that held by the Saxon warriors at p. 53, will see its perfect similarity.

Fig. 49.

The bow and arrows, the former of which is richly ornamented, are from Cotton MS., Tiberius C 6. The hatchets,

1 "Red were the borders of our moonlike shields," is an expression used by the hero Lodbroc.

spears, shields, swords, etc., are collected from Strutt's "Horda Angel-Cynan," Meyrick's "Critical Inquiry into Ancient Arms and Armour," Cottonian MS., Claudius B 4, and Harleian MS., No. 603; and give a general idea of the weapons in use during this period.

His

Twenty-four years before the invasion of William the Conqueror, the crown of England reverted to the Saxons, and during that period Edward the Confessor and Harold II. were seated on the British throne. Driven for safety to Normandy when but thirteen years of age, Edward returned, at the age of forty, to his native land, a Norman in manners; and the feeling generated by twenty-seven years' intercourse with the people of another land, at a period when the mind is most susceptible of lasting impressions, clung to him, of course, through life. Norman predilections were visible in all he did: he spoke in their language, and introduced their customs into his palace, which was pretty nearly populated by Norman adventurers, whose company the king, from long habit, generally preferred. The Saxons, who desired to be well with their monarch, learned to speak French, and urge their claim to notice in the favourite language of their masters; and the dress, fashions, and manners of the Normans were as faithfully imitated, much to the disgust of the genuine Saxon lords: all this caused daily enrolments in the ranks of Earl Godwin, and others of the disaffected, who were loud in their condemnation of the changes wrought by the king. One novelty was introduced by Edward, for which we may be grateful-the introduction of the Great Seal, which has continued from his era to our own, and furnishes us with the authentic regal costume of each sovereign in undoubted accuracy; and combined, as it has been since the conquest, with an armed figure on the reverse, it becomes of considerable value. The great seal of William I. and his successors contains on one piece of wax, the two seals he would use as Duke of Normandy and King of England. Upon his great seal, Edward is represented seated in regal costume, consisting of a plain robe reaching to his feet, and having tight sleeves, over which hangs a mantle, covering the left arm and leaving the right one free: upon this right shoulder it is secured by a

1

brooch or fibula. He holds in his right hand a scept upon which is a dove. This sceptre is a staff of consid able length, reaching to the ground, after the fashion the antique; a sword in his left hand. Upon his head wears the regal helmet, a fashion not unfrequent with t Danish sovereigns, who are often represented with it up their coins.2

This may not be an improper place to say a few wor on the subject of early regal head-dresses and crow

The earliest form a distinctive orr ment for kings is be met with in t fillet, or head-ba of gold and jewe or, as it sometim appears, of strings jewels alone, and whi is to be seen on t earliest coins of o national series. Up the coins of the kin of Mercia it is ve distinctly visible, a two examples are he given. No. 1 is fro a coin of Offa, w reigned between a 757 and 796. No. 2

from a coin of Behrtulf, who flourished A.D. 839-852. Nos

1 An engraving of it is given in the Glossary, under the wo Sceptre.

The chest containing the body of Edward the Confessor was open during the reign of James II., when there was found under one of shoulder-bones of the royal corpse a crucifix of pure gold, rich enamelled, suspended by a chain of gold twenty-four inches long, whi passing round the neck, was fastened by a locket of massive go adorned with four large red stones. The skull was entire, and was circled by a band or diadem of gold, one inch in breadth. Several fra ments of gold, coloured silk, and linen, were also found, the relics of t regal dress, in which it was customary then, and centuries afterwards, inter kings.

aud 4 are of a later date, from Strutt's "Horda AngelCynan.' In some instances tassels or strings occur, dependent from it at the back of the head. On the coins of Egbert and Ethelwulf, a round close cap or helmet appears, which becomes very distinct in those of Ethelred and Canute; in the first of these two instances it is visibly a helmet, encircled by the points or rays of a crown; in that of Canute it takes the form of a close helmet, projecting over the forehead, or else of that conical shape so common to warriors, and which has been already described when treating of that period. The best representation of this regal helmet I have yet seen occurs in Cotton MS., Tiberius C 6, and which is engraved at No. 5. That of Edward the Confessor, from his Great Seal, as rendered by Sir S. R. Meyrick, is placed below it, No. 6. Of crowns, many varieties occur, and we frequently see them of the apparently inconvenient square form that the helmet of the soldiers appears to have also taken: an example, No. 7, is selected from Cotton MS., Tiberius C 6, and others might easily be quoted. There is a representation of King Edgar, in Tiberius A 3, of the same collection of manuscripts, in which that sovereign appears with a richly ornamented crown of that shape, No. 8; and similar ones are worn by Lothaire, and other early French kings, as may be seen on reference to the plates of the first volume of Montfaucon's "Antiquités de la Monarchie Française." The most common form of crown in AngloSaxon times appears to have been that depicted as worn by Edgar, in a representation of that monarch which occurs in his book of grants to the Abbey of Winchester in the year 966, which is still preserved in the British Museum among the Cottonian MSS., marked Vespasian A 8; it forms No. 9 of the group we engrave. No. 10 is from Harleian MS. 603. No. 11 from Cottonian MS., Tiberius OC 6, and is remarkable for the arch springing from its sides, which are decorated with florid ornaments, strikingly resembling fleur-de-lis, and which are of such frequent occurrence on all these ancient diadems. Edward appears with crowns of various shapes upon his coins: one has a double arch, No. 12; and Harold II. wears one still more richly decorated upon one of his coins (No. 13),

exhibiting clearly the pendants that hang from the back of it." 1

In the time of Edward the Confessor, noblemen wore dresses of fur or skins (pelles, from which comes pilche, our modern pelisse); and in Michel's "Chroniques AngloNormandes," 1836, vol. i., p. 107, written about 1185, is a curious passage relating to a rencontre on a little bridge between London and Westminster (Strand bridge, probably), between Tosti, Earl of Huntingdon, son-inlaw of Earl Godwin, and Siward, afterwards Earl of Huntingdon, which runs thus:-"The said Earl (Tosti) approached so near to Siward on the bridge, that he dirtied his pelisse (pelles) with his miry feet; for it was then customary for noblemen to use skins without cloth."

During the reign of Harold II., who had also visited and resided in Normandy (at the court of William, the Duke of that province and afterwards the Conqueror of England), we meet with the same complaint of the prevalence of Norman fashions. The monkish chroniclers declare that the English had transformed themselves in speech and garb, and adopted all that was ridiculous in the manners of that people. They shortened their tunics, they trimmed their hair, they loaded their arms with golden bracelets, and entirely forgot their usual simplicity. The custom of covering the arm from the wrist to the elbow with ornamental bracelets has been before alluded to; these appear to have been marks of distinction, of which they were not a little vain. There is a curious representation of the temptation of Christ in Cotton MS., Tiberius C 6, in which the Evil One is displaying the "riches of the world" to the Saviour, and these bracelets form a conspicuous part of the "glory thereof.”

The Bayeux Tapestry, of which we shall have much to say during the next reign, gives a curious representation of the coronation of Harold. The monarch is seated upon a raised throne, and holding a florid sceptre of a singular

1 A glance at the plates of Ruding's "Annals of the Coinage of Great Britain," or Hawkins's "Silver Coins of England arranged and described," will furnish other examples to those already given, and bear out these remarks more fully.