"Archiers trovent vilainz, dont la terre est planiere, Ki porte arc è ki hache, ki grant lance geldiere." _Rom. de Rou_, l. 4680.
Geldon was a name often given to the foot soldiery: "Et ceciderunt de Israël triginta millia _peditum_:" 1. Kings iv. 10. "Kar il i chaïrent trente milie de _gelde_."
[Illustration: GREAT SEAL OF KING HENRY II.
The Sword was of the old form: straight, broad, two-edged, and pointed. The cross-piece was generally straight: in other cases, curved towards the blade. Examples of the latter fashion occur in the great seal of King Henry II., here given; in Harl. MS. 603, _passim_; and in Cotton MS., Titus, D. xvi. See also our woodcut, No. 41. The pommel was round, hemispherical, square, lozenge, trefoiled or cinquefoiled. All these forms may be seen in Harl. MS., 603, Titus, D. xvi., the Bayeux tapestry, Addit. MS. 11,695, and the effigy of Henry II., figured by Stothard. This effigy also shews very clearly the Belt with its buckle, by which the sword was fastened round the waist. Compare also the second plate of the Bayeux tapestry, where the form of this short belt is very distinctly exhibited. We have already noticed that the sword was sometimes worn with its handle projecting through a cleft in the hauberk, the scabbard being fixed beneath the hauberk. See cut 34, and Bayeux tapestry, Plate VI. As in our own day, swords attributed to ancient heroes had an especial value, and became the most cherished gifts of kings and nobles. Thus, when Richard Cœur-de-Lion was on his way to the Holy Land, "the king of Sicily sent to him many presents of great value, consisting of gold and silver, of horses and cloth of silk. But the king of England would receive nothing from him, except a little ring, which he accepted as a token of their mutual esteem. On the other hand, King Richard gave to King Tancred that most excellent sword which the Britons call _Caliburn_, and which had been the sword of Arthur, once the valiant king of England[213]."
The Sword of William the Conqueror became the feudal instrument by which the Umfrevilles held the lordship of Riddesdale, in Northumberland:--"In the tenth year of William the Conqueror, Robert de Umfranvil, knight, obtained from that king a grant of the Lordship, Valley and Forest of Riddesdale, by the service of defending that part of the country for ever from Enemies and Wolves, with that Sword which King William had by his side when he entered Northumberland[214]."