And now the Knights of France dismount,

For not to brutal strength they deemed it right
To trust their fame and their dear country's weal;
Rather to manly courage, and the glow
Of honourable thoughts, such as inspire
Ennobling energy. Unhors'd, unspurr'd,

their bright steel and shining armour. For in those days the Cavalry were generally armed in mail or polished steel at all points, and besides that, the Nobility wore over their armour rich surcoats of silk and satin embroidery, whereon was curiously sticht or beaten, the arms of their house, whether in colour or metal.

*Nos Ancestres, et netamment du temps de la guerre des Anglois, en combats solemnels et journées assignées, se mettoient la plus-part du temp tous à pied; pour ne se fier à autre chose qu'à leur force propre et vigueur de leur courage et de leur membres, de chose si chere que l'honneur et la vie. Montaigne. Liv. i. c. 48.

In the battle of Patay, Monstrellet says, "les François moult de pres mirènt pied à terre, et descendirent la plus grand partie de leur chevaulx.

Their + javelins lessen'd to a wieldy length,

They to the foe advanced.

The Maid alone,

Conspicuous on a coal-black courser, meets.

The war. They moved to battle with such sound
As rushes o'er the vaulted firmament,

When from his seat, on the utmost verge of Heaven
That overhangs the Void, Father of Winds!
HRÆSVELGER * starting, rears his giant bulk,
And from his eagle pinions shakes the storm.

+ Thus at Poitiers, “the three battails being all ready ranged in the field, and every Lord in his due place under his own banner, command was given that all men should put off their spurs, and cut their spears to five foot length, as most commodious for such who had left their horses.

* Hræsvelgr vocatur

Qui sedet in extremitate cæli,

Gigas exuvias amictus aquilæ:

Ex ejus alis

Ferunt venire ventum

Omnes super homines.

Barnes.

Vafthrudnismal.

High on her stately steed the Martial Maid
Rode foremost of the war: her burnish'd arms
Shone like the brook that o'er its pebbled course
Runs glittering gayly to the noon-tide sun.
Her foaming courser, of the guiding hand
Impatient, smote the earth, and toss'd his mane,
And rear'd aloft with many a froward bound,
Then answered to the rein with such a step,

As, in submission, he were proud to show

His unsubdued strength. Slow on the air

Waved the white plumes that shadow'd o'er her helm.

Even such, so fair, so terrible in arms

Pelides moved from Scyros, where, conceal'd

He lay obedient to his mother's fears

A seemly Virgin; thus the Youth appear'd

Where the Heavens remotest bound
With darkness is encompassed round
There Hræsvelger sits and swings
The tempest from his eagle wings.

The Edda of Sæmund, translated by A. S. Cottle.

Terribly graceful, when upon his neck
Deidameia hung, and with a look

That spake the tumult of her troubled soul,
Fear, anguish, and upbraiding tenderness,
Gazed on the father of her unborn babe.

An English Knight, who eager for renown
Late left his peaceful mansion, mark'd the Maid.
Her power miraculous, and fearful deeds

He from the troops had heard incredulous,

And scoff'd their easy fears, and vow'd that he, Proving the magic of this dreaded Girl

In equal battle, would dissolve the spell, Powerless oppos'd to valor. Forth he spurr'd Before the ranks; she mark'd the coming foe, And fix'd her lance in rest, and rush'd along. Midway they met; full on her buckler driven, Shiver'd the English spear: her better force Drove the brave foeman senseless from his seat. Headlong he fell, nor ever to the sense

Of shame awoke, for rushing multitudes

Soon crush'd the helpless Warrior.

Then the Maid

Rode thro' the thickest battle: fast they fell,
Pierced by her forceful spear. Amid the troops
Plunged her strong war-horse, by the noise of arms
Elate and rous'd to rage, he tramples o'er,
Or with the lance* protended from his front,

In a combat fought in Smithfield 1467, between the Lord Scales and the Bastard of Burgoygne," the Lord Scales' horse had on his chafron a long sharp pike of steele, and as the two Champions coaped together, the same horse thrust his pike into the nostrills of the Bastard's horse, so that for very paine, he mounted so high that he fell on the one side with his master. Edmond Howes..

Lope de Vega is the only poet in whom I have found this weapon mentioned.

Unicornia el cavallo parecia

Con el fuerte pyramide delante,
Que en medio del boçal resplandecia

Como si fuera punta de diamante.

Jerusalen Conquistada. L. 10.

Amadis, after his combat with Gasquilan, was struck

down by one of these pikes.