is said to be the weapon called the brown bill by Chaucer. it was in general use in the twelfth century, and was retained as late as the battle of Flodden.
Woman Spinning. From a MS. of the Twelfth Century in the Royal Library of Brussels.
The costume of the women of Normandy consisted of a simple head-dress, with long robes girded about the waist. In paintings of this period the hair is seldom seen,
Noble Ladies of Normandy. Costume of the Twelfth Century.
but the manner in which it was worn appears to have varied. Sometimes it is represented as gathered tightly about the head, and sometimes it descends in long plaits upon the shoulders. Princesses and ladies of rank wore a robe of ermine, or a tunic either with or without sleeves; a veil was also added, which covered the head, and descended in folds over the bosom.
After the death of Charlemagne, literature and the arts in France experienced a gradual decline until the tenth century, when a new and remarkable impetus was given to learning by the Arabs in Spain, whose literature, derived from that of Greece, was disseminated over the Continent. English learning, which had flourished during the reigns of Alfred and his immediate successors, began rapidly to decay during the stormy period of the Danish invasions; and from the time of the accession of Canute to that of the Norman Conquest little or no revival of letters appears to have taken place. During the period which intervened between these two events, the country enjoyed a considerable degree of repose, and it can hardly be doubted that some of the schools and religious houses were re-established; but the long period of peace was marked by the growth of indolence and sensuality among the people, rather than by the spread of education.
William the Conqueror, says a modern writer, "patronised and loved letters. He filled the bishoprics and abbacies of England with the most learned of his countrymen, who had been educated at the University of Paris, at that time the most flourishing school in Europe. Many of the Norman prelates preferred in England by the Conqueror were polite scholars. Godfrey, Prior of St. Swithin's, at Winchester, a native of Cambray, was an elegant Latin epigrammist, and wrote with the smartness and ease of Martial; a circumstance which, by the way, shows that the literature of the monks at this period was of a more liberal cast than that which we commonly annex to their character and profession."
William founded the abbeys of Battle and Selby, with other religious houses, and endowed them with ample revenues. Many of his nobles were incited by his example to the erection of monasteries upon their estates.
Sacramental Wafer Box Twelfth Century.
These institutions, which afforded leisure and protection to men of letters, acted as powerful incentives to the pursuit of learning, and promoted in no small degree the interest of literature.
The art of the sculptor had made little progress in Europe previous to the tenth century. Two centuries later, the Burgundian school was in its zenith, and enriched the churches and monasteries of France with many admirable specimens of sculpture. Hughes, Abbé of Cluny, had a magnificent tomb; Bernard II., Abbé of Montier-Saint-Jean, in rebuilding the door of his church, caused it to be adorned with representations of the Saviour and the twelve apostles; and in other instances the arts were applied to decorate the religious houses, or the graves of the illustrious dead.
In Normandy we find at this period the names of several
