Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 9.djvu/441

ON THE BRONZE BOOKS OF THE CATHEDRAL OF CNESEN. 815 tlic ordinary dress of his own fellow-citizens ; but it is not unlikely that in the twelfth century their dress did not materially differ from that of the neighbouring nations, llelmoldus (writing circa 11 GO), in his "Chronicon Sla- vorum,"^ cap. 1, gives, at some length, an account of their manners, but says nothing as to their dress, except that they were in the habit of bartering marten-skins with the Germans for wool- len cloths, called Faldones (or Paldones). Hartknoch (" 8electa3 Diss. Hist, de variis rebus Prussicis," p. 270) says that they wore short tunics of linen or un- dyed woollen cloth, tight linen breeches reaching to the heels, and shoes of raw hide, or bark. This agrees well with the dress repre- sented in these reliefs. Their arms, he says (pp. 387 — 388), were clubs, shields, swords, arrows, and spears. This last seems to have been their chief wea- pon, and with it they are accordingly represented in these sculptures. Their shields, judging by the standard afforded by the size of the figures, were only about two feet in length ; the form is one not uncommon in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, but so small a size is unusual. Shields in several instances in Lombardy ^ are represented in sculptures of the same form. ' Helmoldus classes the Prussians among the Slavonians ; but it is clear, from the remains of their language, that this is an error, and that they were a branch of the Lithuanian stem. - St. Zeno, Verona, sculpture about the west door ; Cathedral, Verona, do. ; St. Michele, Pavia ; remains of the ancient VOL. IX. Porta Romana, Milan, (Agincourt, Sculp- ture, plate '26), &c. All the examples cited are probalily of the twelfth century, some are well ascertained to be so. Some remarkable armed figures of the twelfth century, in the choir of the Cathedral of Magdeburg, have also, 1 believe, shields of this form. Z Z