Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 3).djvu/128

We first meet with the "grate," or "graper" as it was termed in English, later called the "burr," in French the grappe or agrappe, a heavy ring of metal nailed to the shaft behind the hanste, towards the end of the first quarter of the XIVth century. It was at first essentially an adjunct to the joust, its object being to distribute throughout the jouster's body, through the medium of the "arrest" or "lance rest," the shock of an atteint, which had hitherto been borne by his hand and arm alone. Until towards the end of the XIVth century the "graper" seems to have retained its original form and limited use, but when the "arrest" became an integral part of the ordinary war harness we find its use developed. At about the same time the construction of the "arrest" itself was altered; the grip between the "arrest" and the "graper" ceased to be supplied by a felt pad, and the hollow of the "arrest" from now onwards was filled with lead or wood, while the "graper" itself was fashioned as a wide flange of metal with a series of sharp and heavy spikes in its rear-*ward surface which bit deeply into this leaden or wooden filling. Among XVth century French writers we find the term "arrest" extended justifiably but somewhat confusingly to the "graper."

Fig. 870. Swedish feather

XVIth and XVIIth centuries Collection: the late Mr. Rutherford Stuyvesant, New York

At all times the actually exposed wooden portions of the lance were painted either fancifully in the manner of the war lance now in Eastnor Castle, and formerly in the Meyrick Collection, or in spiral bands in which the colours of the wearer were introduced. There are interesting lances in the Tower of London, though nearly all are of late date, and others in the Wallace Collection (Fig. 869). These lances, however, appear to belong