Page 234 - Canadian Dominion Directory 1871 - Partie 1-fusionné

Cnisse - An extra protection the horse was trained to lead with
designed to covcr the thigh of the tus right leg, thus ensurhg that if
mounted man which was his weak- he swerved he would do so to the
right, thus avoiding a collision with
est point.
the adversary.
Cutlass - A comparatively short but
very stout sword which was particu- Developmeat of Armour - Armour
larly popular in naval establish- in some form has been in existence
ments. FUst introduced in die 16th since the early Egyptians about
century.
1500 B.C. but it was of simple con-
struction and consisted, for the
archers, of a corselet of glued fiax
with a padded felt helmet and for
the spearmen, a fabric coat to which
bronze scales were laced.
The early Greeks during the 6th
century B.C. wore plates, again of
Dagasse - A broad knife with a bronze beaten to the shape of the
double edged blade similar to the body, to cover the chest and back.
On their otherwise bare legs they
braquemart.
had plated greaves, again beaten to
the contour of the legs, and worn on
Dagger - A weapon introduced to
the head was the Corinthian helmet
the Knightly classes during the 13th
century where it was exceptionally
The Greek warrior also carried a
popular. There have been many
large round shieId.
types some similar to a short
A hundred years later the solid
sword, tapering and double edged
breast and back plates were ex-
and the other with a single edge.
changed for a leather jacket with
more or less similar to the modern
bronze scales, somewhat similar to
carving knife. Some types reached
the early Egyptian spearmen but to
as much as two feet in length and
this he added comparatively solid
were frequentiy mistaken for small
metal shoulder guards which were
swords.
attached to the breast and back
plates. He also changed to the Attic
Demi Greaves - Light metal plates
helmet, which though somewhat
which protected the front of the legs
sirnilar to the Corinthian helmet,
on1 y. with its solid cheek and nose pieces.
provided more comfort to the
wearer.
Demi Lancer - A lancer of the The Roman soldier of the 4th
period circa 1550 who carried a century B.C. really showed Iittle
lance only eight feet in length. improvement on the Greeks of 100
years earlier as his arrnour was vir-
Destrier - A very powerful type of tually copied from the Grecian
horse used exclusively by Knights style. However. by the 1st century
in the Middle Ages. They were A.D., though he had discarded the
carefully bred and trained and bronze scaled jacket in favour of a
reserved for use in rotirnarnents. slightly longer leather jacket rein-
The name is said to have been forced by circular plates. laced to
derived rrom the Latin dextra. right fit the body and shoulders. he had
hand from which it is believed that introduced a form of tough leather
a8