Weaponry: Norman Arms and Armour

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As additional protection for his head the Norman soldier wore a steel helm, usually of conical form. Most had wide nasals to protect the nose. These helms were apparently made either in one piece or in several segments riveted together and sometimes, it seems, attached to a supporting framework of steel bands. The Chanson de Roland tells us that the helms of kings and princes were frequently set with jewels, normally above the nasal, and there is other evidence to support this. The helm preserved in Prague Cathedral as that of St. Wenceslas has a one-piece skull with an applied nasal decorated with a scene of the crucifixion, and a stone capital in the Musee Granet at Aix-en-Provence appears to show helms with jeweled brow bands. These helms were held firmly on the head by means of laces tied beneath the chin.

Apart from the helm and mail shirt, the third piece of armour carried by the Norman knight was a shield that was worn to cover the left side of the body and protect the bridle hand. Most popular was the kite-shaped shield, a type introduced in the late 10th century, which offered greater protection to the soldiers than the older round shield. However, the round shield never went completely out of favour and is often shown being used by cavalry in 11th and 12th century illustrations. Whatever the shape of the shield, most were made of wood covered with leather and often painted with decorative patterns and devices.

The basic weapon of the Norman cavalry and infantry was a spear with a leaf-shaped head of iron and a wooden haft, usually of ash. The only difference visible in contemporary illustrations between infantry and cavalry spears is that infantry spears sometimes appear thicker in the haft. Both are often shown with a horizontal crossbar beneath the head, intended to prevent excessive penetration. This feature is also found on earlier Saxon and Carolingian weapons. Massed infantry could probably form a hedge of spears as protection against cavalry as they did later in the 12th century, the spear points angled forward, the haft ends resting on the ground. But this is not the usual way in which spears were used. In contemporary illustrations they are more frequently shown held above the head and wielded in a downward stabbing movement, the same technique being used against both cavalry and infantry. Using this technique the spear could be thrown when required and this would explain why in most manuscript illustrations of the 11th and 12th centuries spears would appear to be of lightweight construction.

The cavalry spear, known to use as the lance, was used in much the same way, either at arm’s length, usually overarm, or couched under the arm to give greater rigidity to the weapon and force to the attack. When couched the spear would be crossed over the horse’s neck right to left where it could be balanced, a technique that had the added advantage that opponents approached each other left side to left side and it was on the left side that they had the added protection of their shield. But even this added protection was not always sufficient. The effect of the charge of an armoured horseman couching his lance is described in graphic and bloody detail in the Chanson de Roland:

He turns his horse and urges him forward
He aims a great blow with all his might
He breaks the shield and tears through the hauberk
He pierces the chest and shatters the breastbone
He drives the broken backbone through the man’s back
And on his spear’s point brings out soul and all
Pushed right through he pushes him off his saddle
And flings him dead a spear’s length from his war-horse.

Allowing for some poetic exaggeration the real effect of a well-trained lance blow must have been as deadly , if not as spectacular, as this, even against a fully armoured man. Cavalry as well as infantry could throw the spear when required, and the Bayeux Tapestry shows not only some of the Norman cavalry throwing spears at the Saxon forces, but also an ammunition wagon arriving with replacement spears.

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