The Age of Chivalry | Page 7

appendages were dropped or lost the fair donor would at times send her
knight new ones, especially if pleased with his exertions.
MAIL ARMOR
Mail armor, of which the hauberk is a species, and which derived its
name from maille, a French word for MESH, was of two kinds, PLATE

or SCALE mail, and CHAIN mail. It was originally used for the
protection of the body only, reaching no lower than the knees. It was
shaped like a carter's frock, and bound round the waist by a girdle.
Gloves and hose of mail were afterwards added, and a hood, which,
when necessary, was drawn over the head, leaving the face alone
uncovered. To protect the skin from the impression of the iron network
of the chain mail, a quilted lining was employed, which, however, was
insufficient, and the bath was used to efface the marks of the armor.
The hauberk was a complete covering of double chain mail. Some
hauberks opened before, like a modern coat; others were closed like a
shirt.
The chain mail of which they were composed was formed by a number
of iron links, each link having others inserted into it, the whole
exhibiting a kind of network, of which (in some instances at least) the
meshes were circular, with each link separately riveted.
The hauberk was proof against the most violent blow of a sword; but
the point of a lance might pass through the meshes, or drive the iron
into the flesh. To guard against this, a thick and well- stuffed doublet
was worn underneath, under which was commonly added an iron
breastplate. Hence the expression "to pierce both plate and mail," so
common in the earlier poets.
Mail armor continued in general use till about the year 1300, when it
was gradually supplanted by plate armor, or suits consisting of pieces
or plates of solid iron, adapted to the different parts of the body.
Shields were generally made of wood, covered with leather, or some
similar substance. To secure them, in some sort, from being cut through
by the sword, they were surrounded with a hoop of metal.
HELMETS
The helmet was composed of two parts: the HEADPIECE, which was
strengthened within by several circles of iron, and the VISOR, which,
as the name implies, was a sort of grating to see through, so contrived

as, by sliding in a groove, or turning on a pivot, to be raised or lowered
at pleasure. Some helmets had a further improvement called a BEVER,
from the Italian bevere, to drink. The VENTAYLE, or "air-passage," is
another name for this.
To secure the helmet from the possibility of falling, or of being struck
off, it was tied by several laces to the meshes of the hauberk;
consequently, when a knight was overthrown it was necessary to undo
these laces before he could be put to death; though this was sometimes
effected by lifting up the skirt of the hauberk, and stabbing him in the
belly. The instrument of death was a small dagger, worn on the right
side.
ROMANCES
In ages when there were no books, when noblemen and princes
themselves could not read, history or tradition was monopolized by the
story-tellers. They inherited, generation after generation, the wondrous
tales of their predecessors, which they retailed to the public with such
additions of their own as their acquired information supplied them with.
Anachronisms became of course very common, and errors of
geography, of locality, of manners, equally so. Spurious genealogies
were invented, in which Arthur and his knights, and Charlemagne and
his paladins, were made to derive their descent from Aeneas, Hector, or
some other of the Trojan heroes.
With regard to the derivation of the word "Romance," we trace it to the
fact that the dialects which were formed in Western Europe, from the
admixture of Latin with the native languages, took the name of Langue
Romaine. The French language was divided into two dialects. The river
Loire was their common boundary. In the provinces to the south of that
river the affirmative, YES, was expressed by the word oc; in the north
it was called oil (oui); and hence Dante has named the southern
language langue d'oc, and the northern langue d'oil. The latter, which
was carried into England by the Normans, and is the origin of the
present French, may be called the French Romane; and the former the
Provencal, or Provencial Romane, because it was spoken by the people
of Provence and Languedoc, southern provinces of France.

These dialects were soon distinguished by very opposite characters. A
soft and enervating climate, a spirit of commerce encouraged by an
easy communication with other maritime nations, the influx of wealth,
and a more settled government, may have tended to polish and soften
the diction of the Provencials,