m85

spears. They appear to have been leaf-shaped and some were barbed, with a tang or socket for the shaft. Shafts which have survived are about 6ocm long, somewhat thicker towards thc point, and had four flights. Quivers which have survived also point to a short arrow of about 6ocm: the quivers were cylindrical and were carried over the right shoulder or on the left hip.

Armour was worn only by the professional soldiers and great lords, and the bulk of the army would have worn everyday clothing, perhaps with the addition of a leather jerkin. The mail shirt is first mentioned in Anglo-Saxon laws at the end of the 7th century, but because of its great value it remained scarce until the end of the period covered by this book. It seems also to have been of a fine mesh, close-htting and closely woven, with short sleeves, a vandyked lower edge reaching to just past the waist, and a simple round opening for the neck. BeowulPs saga mentions mail freąuently, but it would appear men could swim in it—which would have been out of the ąuestion in the mail of the late nth century and it seems to have been cor-respondingly morę fragile: it is often described as being damaged and has to be repaired after every battle.

Axeheads fotmd in England and dating from the ioth and i ith centuries: the bottom right example is probably post-conąuest.

Scramasax of the gth or ioth century, with a Saxon sword of the 7th or 8th century with the ‘cocked hat’ pommel character-istic of this datę.

Finds of mail from the pre-conquest era are rare and their evidence inconclusive. The Sutton Hoo find yielded a mail shirt, but it was corroded together: radiography revealed that it was com-posed of alternate rows of rivetted and butted rings. Mail fragments found on the Benty Grange helmet were possibly only the neckguard, and have not survived. (A good example of a helmet with a mail neckguard occurs in a contemporary grave in