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Armour of Philip II. Madrid.
Photograph by Hauser & Menet.
ARMOUR & WEAPONS
BY
CHARLES FFOULKES
WITH A PREFACE
BY
VISCOUNT DILLON, V.P.S.A.
CURATOR OF THE TOWER ARMOURIES
OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1909
HENRY FROWDE, M.A.
PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
LONDON, EDINBURGH, NEW YORK
TORONTO AND MELBOURNE
PREFACE
Writers on Arms and Armour have approached the subject from many points ofview, but, as all students know, their works are generally so large insize, or, what is more essential, in price, that for many who do not haveaccess to large libraries it is impossible to learn much that is required.Then again, the papers of the Proceedings of the various Antiquarian andArchaeological Societies are in all cases very scattered and, in somecases, unattainable, owing to their being out of print. Many writers onthe subject have confined themselves to documentary evidence, while othershave only written about such examples as have been spared by time andrust. These latter, it may be noted, are, in almost all cases, such as thebrasses and effigies in our churches, quite exceptional, representing asthey do the defences and weapons of the richer classes. What the ordinaryman wore, how he wore it, and how it was made are all questions worthy ofattention. The works of our greatest romancers have so little regarded thedevelopment of armour, and even to-day such anachronisms are seen inpictures and books, that though many comfortable and picturesque notionsmay be disturbed by the actual truth, yet the actual truth will be foundto be no less interesting than fiction. A handy work, not excessive insize[Pg 6] or price, and giving really correct information, seems therefore tobe needed and should be popular. Such a work is this which Mr. ffoulkeshas undertaken, and if we recognize what an immense amount of informationhas to be condensed within the limits of a handbook, I think we shallfully appreciate his endeavours to give an appetite for larger feasts.
DILLON.
Tower of London Armouries.