w01a

A shield of the von Brienze family. This example was probably madę in the la te i2th century, being modihed between 1230 and 1250 by having the top arch cut off. The wood, 15 mm thick, is covered on both sides with parchment and the lion is painted silver on

a blue field. Therear straps have been cutaway, leaving fragments held by rectangular washers; there are traces of the pad for the ńst. Originally the shieldmay have been about 100 cm long. (Swiss National Museum, Ziirich, LM3405. 178)

to agree to Magna Carta. The arms are not repeated on the surcoat, this being uncommon. The sword is of the latest type, with a slight taper and shorter fuller. It is fitted with a circular disc pommel, the common-est form of the next century. The two halves of the sword belt, like the majority in the i2th and i3th century, are joined by knotting bifurcated ends through two slits. The strap arrangement on the scabbard holds it at a convenient angle.

Further reading

Bennett, Matthew, La Regle du Tempie as a Military Manuał or How to Deliver a Cavalry Charge, Studies in Medieval History Presented to R. Allen Brown, 1989 pp.7-19.

Bennett, Matthew, The Status of the Squire, the Northern Evidence, The ideals and Practice of Medieval Knighthood, 1986.

Bennett, Matthew, Wace and Warfare, Anglo-Norman Studies XI, 1989, pp.37—57.

Bradbury, Jim, Battles in England and Normandy, Anglo-Norman Studies VI, 1984, pp.1-12.

Brown, R. A., The Normans and the Norman Conquest, London, 1969. Good standard text.

Brown, R.A., The Status of the Norman Knight, War and Government in the Middle Ages, ed. Holt and Gillingham, 1984, pp. 18-32.

Chibnall, Marjorie, Feudal Society in Orderic Yitalis, Proceedings of the Battle Abbey Conference 1978, 1979, pp.35^48-

Davis, R.H.C., The Warhorses of the Normans, Anglo-Norman Studies X, 1988, pp.67-82.

Douglas, D., William the Conąueror, London, 1964. A classic reference work.

Douglas, D., The Norman Achierement, London, 1969. Includes Italy and Sicily.

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