G4 MEDIEVAL CIVILIZATION armed with a steel sworcl miu a long lance made of ash- wood; to ward off attack, he carried a long ImckVr made of wood and covered with leather, called a shiekl. In battle he was clothed in a tunic covered with iron ,- rings. At the close of the eleventh century this tunic was replaced by a coat of mail entirely composed of Jron links or rings, and which extended from the chin 'to the knee. This was called the hauberk. The head was protected by a helmet of steel, and the nose by a nose-piece of the same metal. This equipment was heavy and complicated. Long practice was necessary to enable one to make use of it, and a servant was needed for the purpose of carrying the shield, and to lace the helmet and the hauberk. This servant was called a squire or equerry, from ccuyer (shield-bearer). In the eleventh century these men-at-arms succeeded in forming an hereditary class. In a family of knights the sons became knights, the daughters married none but knights, and it was necessary to be the son of a knight in order to have the right to be armed as a knight. To be a knight was no longer a profession, but a dignity. The knights were no longer contented to be freemen, they called themselves gentlemen (men of race) or nobles, and even their domestics, the squires, entered this privileged class; from the thir- teenth century the words knight and squire were synonymous with the word noble. The Lords,—In that thoroughly military society every important person was a man-at-arms, even the counts, the dukes, and the kings. There were then among the knights many large proprietors. They had received as a gift from the king, or as a heritage from