heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

THE BEND.
8 I
shoulder. Planche also gives two illustrations of baldricks used for supporting
the horn. A i. group of huntsmen from the Livre de Chasse of
Gaston Phoebus, MS. fifteenth century at Paris ;
and the effigy of Sir John
Corpe, from his brass in Stoke Heming Church, Devon, 1361 A.D.; where
the baldrick bears a short dagger in a sheath. A 2. figure of a German
noble in hunting costume, from a painting by Albert Durer. The yeoman
in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is described as having his horn slung from
a green baldrick, and the ploughman upbraids the clergy for wearing
baldricks with keen basilards or daggers.
I cannot find, however, that in ancient days the military sword was
ever carried by a baldrick. Certainly on all the mediaeval tombs of men
of war the recumbent figures carry their swords from a belt round the
loins, and I notice the same in all mediaeval illustrations. This seems,
however, gradually to have become the practice in later times. Meyrick,
in his Ancient Armour, gives an illustration of a harquebusier, 1556 A.D.,
who carries his weapon over his right shoulder, and his powder-horn round
his neck, suspended by a band ;
a broad baldrick of leather hangs across
his breast from his right shoulder, with cartridges or cases containing
charges for his gun dependant therefrom, called a bandilier. An order of
Council of War, Charles I., contains this entry
" For a new bandelier, with
" twelve charges, a primer, a priming wire, a bullet bag, and a strap or belt
" of two inches in breadth, 2s. bd." Turner, in his Pallas Armata, says
"To a musketeer belongs also a bandelier of leather, at which he shall
"have hanging eleven or twelve shot of powder, a bag for his ball, a
" primer, and a cleanser."
Another, of a later date, viz. 1579, wears a vest of silk, covering
probably armour, which appears on his shoulders and arms, trunk hose,
and a scarf or baldrick across his breast from his right shoulder, under
which appears his sword-belt. In the time of the Stuarts, however, the
sword is represented as attached to the baldrick, and an illustration is
given of this, viz. a cuirassier, date 1650, who has his sword suspended by
a large fringed baldrick.
Planche (vol.2, p. 285) represents the French infantry, temp. Louis XIII.,
as so accoutred; but there are two illustrations (287, 288) where the baldrick
is worn over the left
shoulder, evidently only as an ornament or badge of
authority. In Queen Anne's time the cartouch-box supplied the place of
the bandelier, and a second baldrick or band from the other shoulder,
crossing it on the breast, sustained the sword. I think that I am right
in saying that now the sword is universally carried from the belt ;
that
in the infantry the officers wear a baldrick of silk interwoven with gold,
according to their rank, from the shoulder; in the cavalry a baldrick of
leather, carrying a cartouch-box behind the back. I may also add that