Old England: A Pictorial Museum (page 20/52)

192.—Arms and Costume of Danish Warriors

Two male soldiers are shown, one bearded and one beardless. On the right, a man with a headdress of some kind wears a short kilt or skirt, and has one hand resting on his thigh and the other holding a long thin sword by the blade (one has to assume that this picture was not taken from life?). He is wearing tights, seemingly without [more...] [$]

193.—Costume of a Soldier. From Cotton MS. Tib. C. 6.

Cotton Manuscript Tiberius C. vi is a psalter from the 11th century. The soldier here has a beard pointy shoes (and striped socks I think), and carries a spear. [more...] [$]

194.—Ringed Mail. Cotton MS. Claud. B, 4.

An illustration of a Biblical scene but with Anglo-Saxon costumes and weapons. A king (with a long forked breard) wears a crown, brandishes a heavy sword and carries a shield; he wears ring-mail. [...] [more...] [$]

209.—Tower of Earl’s Barton Church

The church in Earl’s Barton, in Northamptonshire, is a work of several periods of our Gothic architecture; but the tower is now universally admitted to be of Saxon construction (Fig. 209). It exhibits many of the peculiarities recognised as the characteristics of this architecture. 1st, We have the “long stone set at the corner, and a short one lying [...] [more...] [$]

210.—Edward the Confessor’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey,—now used as the Pix office.

“Under its original name of the Isle of Bramble or thorn-ea, Westminster was a place of importance before London existed.

[...]

“The Saxon king Sebert (597 – 616) built a monastery on the site now occupied by the abbey. Offa (700) is said to have had a ‘king’s house’ there. King Canute the Dane (1017 – 35) began the building of what became the palace of Westminster, in which the sovereigns of England held their court for five hundred years, and Edward the Confessor (1042-66) rebuilt Serbert’s monastery on a scale of great magnificence. This new house he called West Minster, by which name both the abbey and Thorn-ea have since been designated.

“Henry III. (1216 – 72) pulled the minster down, and, for the purpose of doing honour to the Confessor’s memory, began the erection of a more splendid building, which was completed by Edward I. (1272 – 1307) and succeeding sovereigns.

“The abbey, indeed, as it has come down to us, represents the work of something like five hundred years. But while the glorious West Minster has been preserved, all that now remains of the [more...] [$]

211.—Windows from the Palace of Westminster

The windows are supposed here to be of Saxon origin; that is, dating between A.D. 440 and A.D. 1100 or so. [more...] [$]

227.—Saxon Emblems of the Month of January.

The central portion of the engraving (Fig. 227) represents the ploughman at his labour. Four oxen are employed in the team, and they are guided by a man in front, who bears a long staff. The sower follows immediately behind the ploughman. Fig. 238, which is a literal copy from another manuscript, presents, at once, the operations of ploughing, sowing, [...]Mr. Sharon Turner has given a brief and sensible account of the Anglo-Saxon husbandry, from which the following is an extract:— [more...] [$]

228.—Saxon Emblems of the Month of February.

February. [more...] [$]