Feats of arms

“ We will not employ any incantations that are forbidden by the Church, but make use of the bodily strength given us by God, with armour as may be most agreeable to everyone for the security of his person, and with the usual arms, that is lance, battle-axe, sword, and dagger ... ”

“ Fourth:—Every soldier must wear good armor, well quilted, a neck guard, head piece, leggings and shield, for defence from javelins, stones and darts of our enemy. Fifth:—No man should gamble for horses or arms. ”

“ I only ask, to make mine arms prevail,
Strength for the fight!
Still let mine eyes look ever on the foe,
Still let mine armor case me strong and bright;
And grant me, as I deal each righteous blow,
Strength for the fight! ”

“ Their arms are lances and pikes, bows and arrows, rockets, and matchlocks, but whether with or without other weapons, every man constantly wears a sword and shield. In battle, the different arms move in distinct bodies ”

“ Those who use the five arms [20] with skill, who are clever, strong and quick, and careless of the enemy, should be given rank and decoration, and used to decide the victory. Their parents and families should be cared for, encouraged by rewards, and kept in fear of punishment. ”

“ Their arms and weapons, helmet and mailshirt, tall spear and javelin, sword and seax, the short broad dagger that hung at each warrior's girdle, gathered to them much of the legend and the art which gave colour and poetry to the life of Englishmen. Each sword had its name like a living thing. ”

“ And takes his fortune, strength, and life.
I give the arms called False and True,
And great Illusion give I too;
The hero's arm called Strong and Bright
That spoils the foeman's strength in fight. ”

“ The science of arms by which, of course, I mean the methodical knowledge of the small sword is subject more than any other to different appreciations, and especially to divers degrees of study and proficiency. ”

“ Each individual has two swords, which he swings about his head in the wildest manner, at the same time throwing his feet and legs about in a most fantastic way, as if they had as much to do in the business as the hands and arms. ”

“ Every man carried the same arms, two spears and one shield, held as if approaching an enemy, and they thus moved in three lines of single rank and file, at fifteen or twenty paces asunder, with the same high action and elongated step, the ground leg only being bent, to give their strides the greater force. ”

“ Our battle is more full of names than yours, Our men more perfect in the use of arms, Our armour all as strong, our cause the best; ”

“ And it was a fact, very characteristic of the period at which these events occurred, that the most accomplished warriors of the time bestowed as much attention on the framing of periapt, and spell, and all the arms of spiritual war, as on their mere earthly weapons, the spear, the buckler, and the steed. ”

“ These people are also in the habit of stripping off the skin of the hands and faces of their slaughtered foes, which afterwards undergo some preparation, and are worn as a mark of triumph. Their arms, a spear or javelin, are of iron, wrought by themselves. ”

“ Evidently the sword was not made for that purpose. The sportsman takes the sword, tests its handle, polishes its blade, tries its resiliency, purchases a manual of arms, secures the best teacher, drills himself in its use. On holidays he wears a flashy uniform, marches through the streets, waves the glittering thing over his head, and so makes it an instrument of personal flourish. This use is not evil, but it does not stand for the weapon’s first intent. A third man, with a more serious mien, secures the sword. ”

“ Defended with the helmet and invincible shield of thy protection, and surrounded with celestial arms, may he obtain the triumph of victory over all his enemies, and bring the terror of his power on all the unfaithful, and shed peace on those joyfully fighting for thee! ”

“ AS in boxing, fencing, saber and bayonet exercises, there are comparatively few postures, guards, thrusts and strokes, so in warfare, whether the numbers be large or small, the arms most modern or ancient, there are just a few principles to whose steady adherence and skilful manipulation all success is due. ”

“ Similarly, in old Japan the father’s sword was a precious heirloom, a sacred charge, and this feeling has been common among all nations where the profession of arms was held to be noble, and the arms themselves consequently revered. ”

“ Therefore it was incumbent for every one to learn the use of arms and to be possessed of certain weapons. In the inventories which we find of house furniture of the fourteenth century, there are always armour and arms. ”

“ The body is always in hand, always in motion, that it may respond instantly to every necessity. Spears are thrown with greatest accuracy and fatality up to 30 feet, and after the spears are discharged the contest, if continued, is at arms’ length with the battle-axes. ”

“ Forthwith all, from the highest to the lowest, testify the most eager desire to measure swords with the infidels, and seem to have completely forgotten their miseries, and to calculate upon victory. All resume their arms, and get ready their horses, their breastplates, their helmets, their shields, and their swords. ”

“ Offensive arms consist of swords, axes, lances, javelins, and arrows. The swords are long, of uniform width nearly to the extremity which comes abruptly to a point, and have heavy, strong hilts. The axes exhibit no remarkable peculiarity. ”

“ Strong arms have descended to our modern race, and should give us the same advantage with the modern weapons. The modern English arm should wield a gun carrying proportionately further and truer than the adversary’s guns, as did the arrows of their ancestors ”

“ Being " above the arms" (Ic haut des armcs; II disopra delle armi) is when your hand and sword are more elevated than those of your opponent. It is necessary to remember this distinction, as some schools assign the victory, when both oppo- nents touch simultaneously, to the "higher line" of thrust.
By thus mastering first principles, the most complicated treatises will readily be understood, and the theory of managing the sword becomes self-evident. My royal road to learning, in fact, is the path of common sense. ”

“ King, in this sword, which shall expose the monsters to thy blows, take the first gift of thy betrothed. Show thyself duly deserving hereof; let hand rival sword, and aspire to add lustre to its weapon. Let the might of steel strengthen the defenceless point of thy wit, and let spirit know how to work with hand. Let the bearer match the burden: and that thy deed may sort with thy blade, let equal weight in each be thine. What avails the javelin when the breast is weak and faint, and the quivering hands have dropped the lance? Let steel join soul, and be both the body's armour! ”

“ The differences of Arms by adding small and minute figures as of Crescents, Mullets, Martlets, etc. is neither antient nor could be so: For 300 years since every man of note and family carried in the wars his shield carved and coloured, and his armour painted suitable, and his coat of arms to cover his armour embroidered of the same ”

“ Guarding a shining helmet, sword, and shield,
Waiting to hear the thrilling battle cry,
Ready then to answer, 'Mas-ter, here am I.'
Only an armor-bearer, yet may I share
Glory immortal, and a bright crown wear:
If in the battle to my trust I'm true,
Mine shall be the honors in the grand review. ”

“ Many swordsmen still contend for the stiffly upright position in Lunge:3 I am disposed to consider it a mere survival of the classical and artificial French school of arms, which aimed at opposing nature as sedulously as the Italian, who always leans to the fore, attempted to follow her dictates. ”

“ They did not fear an attack from anywhere; but arms to fighting men are ornaments, and fighting men prize ornaments as the gold and gilt, the ribbons and polished metals, plumes and shakos, braid, feathers, bright buttons, varnished leather and gaudy little medals have indicated from the beginning of armies. ”

“ The sword forged by supernatural smiths, the terrific helmet, the heavenly shield, are dreams of every warlike nation, either endowing the Deity with the symbols of protection or wrath or of might, or carrying on the tradition of some weapon which, either its own intrinsic superiority or the prowess of its owner, had made an object of enthusiasm or of terror. ”

“ So the one excuse for a complete protection of the body vanished, and from the crowd of ancient armour-cracking weapons, mace, hammer, flail, and such like, the sword rose paramount. More lightly clad, the horseman could ride swifter, move his limbs with greater freedom. ”

“ And his holy arm spread o'er us, his holy arm spread o'er us.
Our sword is the Spirit of God on high, Our helmet is his salvation,
Our banner, the cross of Calvary,
Our watchword, the incarnation, Our watchword incarnation.
We march to victory, With the cross of the Lord before us,
With his loving eye looking down from the sky,
And his holy arm spread o'er us, his holy arm spread o'er us. ”

“ Never before has he given that crown to any man, though many have sought it. He will give you a strong shield also, and the spear that could pierce it is not yet forged; a sword, too, shall be yours, which has never failed to bring death to any enemy it has touched. ”

“ Here, then, shall the wind blow, the voice sound, the spirit move, the bone unite to his bone, the sinew come with the flesh, and light and knowledge, animating the mass into an army, send it forth to conquer the world;—not as an army of flesh, with drum and trump, sword and spear, banner and cannon, to kill and destroy, to ravage and depopulate ”

“ "Some of the pilgrims behind the stretcher carried his arms—two shot-guns, a heavy rifle, and a light revolver-carbine—the thunderbolts of that pitiful Jupiter. ”

“ Oft have I seen the stern kings meet in war, seen shield and helmet bruised, and the fields redden with blood, and the cuirass broken by the spear-point, and the corselets all around giving at the thrust of the steel, and the wild beasts battening on the unburied soldier. Here, as it chanced, one that attempted a mighty thing, a strong-handed warrior, fighting against the press of the foe, smote through the mail that covered my head, pierced my helmet, and plunged his blade into my crest. ”

“ Shall we go throw away our coats of steel,
And wrap our bodies in black mourning gowns,
Numbering our Ave-Maries with our beads?
Or shall we on the helmets of our foes
Tell our devotion with revengeful arms? ”

“ In the assault with its incessant alarms and perilous crises, in encountering the wiles and avoiding the snares of the enemy, those who use the sword find their ‘crowded hour of glorious life,’ the hour crowded with illusions and disenchantments, the rubs of fortune, the ups and downs of victory or defeat. ”

“ Up the road rose a cloud of dust and the sound of determined feet, and presently a martial figure came in sight, clad in bronze and leather helmet and cuirass, and carrying an oblong shield and a short, broad-bladed sword of double edge. Short yet agile, a soldier every inch, he looked neither to the right nor to the left, but marched steadily and purposefully upon his business. ”

“ The military force of every people consisted principally of hoplitæ, as they were called—literally, armed men, whose equipment consisted of body armour, greaves, a helmet, a large shield, a long spear, and sword. ”

“ I can speak only of the movements of corps, without dwelling upon those scenes which stir the blood and fire the soul,—the hardihood, the endurance, the cool, collected, reserved force, abiding the time, the calm facing of death, the swift advance, the rush, the plunge into the thickest of the fight, where hundreds of cannon, where fifty thousand muskets, fill the air with iron hail and leaden rain! ”

“ At one time we descried him through the gloom by the flashing of his sword, engaged in hand-to-hand combat with a host of fiends, rushing upon the foe with true chivalric enthusiasm; at another, hard pressed and well-nigh exhausted, sternly enduring the blows he could not parry or repay—exhibiting, in turn, every mood of courage to do and fortitude to endure the varied fortunes of the field. ”

“ If I choose to make my body a sheath for his sword, I will make his body a sheath for mine, while my hand holds tight against my breast the hilt of his weapon, to keep in my own spirit till I see his fled. ”

“ A display of armor—of helmets, of shields, and of swords—a concourse of chariots, of trumpets, and of slaves, of victims kept for the Tarpeian rock, the spoils and rapine of battle, the self-asserting glory of the big fighting hero, the pride of bloodshed, and the boasting over fallen cities, had been fit for men who had in their hearts conceived nothing greater than military renown. ”

“ Boys in uniform, carrying guns, marched with their eyes ahead of them, marched, their arms stiff, and on their faces an expression like the letters of a legend written round the base of a statue praising duty, gratitude, fidelity, love of England. ”

“ Great strength enabled a single man, by wearing very thick armour, and wielding a longer sword or spear, to be invulnerable to men of lesser force, while he could perform what feats he pleased in defeating them. ”

“ I bow to him loyally,—bow with my heart.
"What brave, buoyant letters you write, sweet!—they ring
Through my soul like the blast of a trumpet, and bring
Such a flame to my eye, such a flush to my cheek,—
That often my hand will unconsciously seek
The hilt of my sword as I read,—and I feel
As the warrior does, when he flashes the steel
In fiery circles, and shouts in his might,
For the heroes behind him, to follow its light! ”