Huntsville gazette., 1884-09-20
English Reverence for the Mace.

Eng1fSh kovereAce 1Or the MACS
The object called mace and the store
: chat is set by it may be considered
as conspicuous among the curiosities of
public life in England. The Swords Of
Justice and of Mercy, the Scepter. the
Orb, the Crown itself, are all easily
comprehensive symbols of royal JUS
tice or royal authority and prerogative.
But why q mace should be held TO be
and iealously preserved as an emblem
of corporate jurisdiction and sway has
puzzled many of the longest-headed
( students of the past, and may equally
pcrplex those of the present day. What
is mace? It was originally weapon
of war, and one of very formidable
nature, which was used in European
warfare as late as the sixteenth century.
The weapon, however, from which our
parliamentary, municipal and academ-
ical maces sprang was, without doubt,
a staff of wood about five feet long, with
a heavy metal head frequently in the
form of spiked bat. It was a favorite
instrument with medieval priests of
bellicose turn of mind; for, although q
canon of the church specially forbade
to clerlcs the use of the sword, nothing
was said to prevent an ecclesiastical
person, when of militant mood, from
shifting his antagonist over the sconcs
with his iron-headed cudgel. But when
and why the mace of civil and legisla-
tive life lost its offensive spikes and be-
came an ornamented staff of silver or
gilded copper to be borne before mag
istrates and other persons in authority
has never been with precision ascef-
tanned. 1t is sufficiently demonstrated
that the normal use of mace was to
knock somebody down with it. The
Italian for mace is ''mazza," and its
function is significantly pointed out in
the verb ''arnmaZZure," to fell or
mace any one. It was with the mace
which hung at his saddle-bow that Wal
worth, Lord Mayor of London, hit Wat
Tyler over the mazzard in Smithfeld,
after which the cautious Fishmonger,
dismounting, dispatched the PROSTATE
rebel with his dagger. From this historic
fact the deduction has been made that,
as there was not room in the city
essutcheon for mace as well as dag
ger, to tho poniard only was given her.
nldic distinction, while the mace was
ever thereafter carried by one of the
officers of the Lord Mayors household,
not only as an emblem of authority, but
as memorial of Walworth's prowess
ngainst the seditious Tyler. This as
sumption, however, is not borne out by
the circumstance that at least century
before the time of our Richard Ii. Con-
tinental Kings and Princes were not
only preceded but surrounded by mace
bearers, and that the reason given for
their being attended by such special
assassins dispatched from Syria by the
Old Man of the Mountain to murder
conspicuous Franks who had been
marked down for destruction. When
the sect of the assassins died out the
military mace-bearer as guards to
crowned heads were superseded by hal
berdiers, of whom we may see the mod
lern survivals in our quantity clad Beef
eaters and Tower Wardens, and in the
partisan-bearing Royal Body-guard,
formerly known as ''Gentlemen-at-
arms and Gentlemen Pensioners"
while, instead of the mace-bearers who
formerly accompanied the Judges when
riding the circuit, they were escorted by
i.javelln men," officers who still form a
part of a well-ordered judicial cor
ltege on its entrance to an assize town,
and for neglecting to provide a sufficient
contingent of such javelin men High
Sheriff has within our own generation
been heavily fined by Judge. As
for the mace, the last vestige of it as a
militant weapon was observable in the
long slaves at the end of which iron or
leaden balls armed with spikes were
suspended, which were carried until
late in the last century by the pioneer
company of the train bands or city mill
tia. 1t is curious to note that the older
of the two gigantic figures in Guildhall,
erroneously called Cog and Magog, in-
stead of Gomagag and Corinaus. which
were carved in the reign of Queen Anne.
carries a staff with a spiked..ball sus-
pended from a chain, precisely answer
ing to the description of the modified
kind of maces formerly borne by train
band pioneers. Telegraph.