bably a coronal formed of metal by impression, or what is technically called repoussé, and this entry affords an interesting illustration of the peculiar fashion which is exhibited by the effigy of John of Eltham, who died 1334[1]. His basinet is curiously ornamented with a foliated coronal, and pendant lappets around the head. It appears moreover from this inventory, that the basinet was occasionally covered with leather, and these circumstances may serve to explain the term hourson, or houson[2], a portion of the equipment of the headpiece, the precise nature of which has not hitherto been ascertained. Syr Gawayn is described as having worn "a lyzth vrysoun ouer the auentayle" of his headpiece, formed of a broad silken band, embroidered and set with gems[3]. In the detailed account of the judicial conflict between the Sire de Beaumanoir and Pierre Tournemine, in the year 1385, the leathern and other coverings of the basinet are minutely described[4], and they appear to be represented on several monumental effigies of the fourteenth century in England, such as that of Sir John Laverick, at Ash, in Kent. The haubergeon called Bolioun was possibly of Bolognese manufacture[5], and the sword of Sarracenic work might have been of Moorish fabrication. The description of a sword, as being of the arms of Bohun, probably implied that an escutcheon of arms was affixed to the pomel, a fashion of which sepulchral effigies afford numerous examples. The sword of state formerly preserved at Chester, and now in the British Museum, is curiously decorated with armorial bearings on the pomel.
Amongst the minor objects of personal use, which appear to have belonged to Margaret de Bohun, here enumerated, the "poume de aumbre," or scent ball, in the composition of which ambregris probably formed a principal ingredient, may deserve notice. I am not aware that any other evidence of its use at so early a time has been noticed. We here learn also that a nutmeg was occasionally used for the like purpose; it was set in silver, decorated with stones and pearls, and was
- ↑ See Stothard's representation of this beautiful effigy, which is in Westminster Abbey.
- ↑ Probably the diminutive of housse, a cover or case; for instance, the cover of a chair.
- ↑ See Sir Frederick Madden's note on this curious passage. Gawayn, lin. 605, p. 21.
- ↑ Dom Morice, Hist. de Bret. Preuves ii. 498.
- ↑ Milan was particularly celebrated for the manufacture of armour, but the work produced in other Italian states was highly esteemed. In the inventory of Louis X. of France (A. D. 1316) occur "Un haubert et haubergeon de Lombardie."
