In March 1542, George Ferrar, a member of parliament, while in attendance on the house was taken in execution by a sheriff's officer for debt, and committed to the Compter prison. The house despatched their sergeant to require his release, which was resisted, and an affray taking place, his mace was broken. The house in a body repaired to the lords to complain, when the contempt was adjudged to be very great, and the punishment of the offenders was referred to the lower house. On another messenger being sent to the sheriff's by the commons, they delivered up the senator, and the civil magistrates and the creditor were committed to the Tower, the inferior officers to Newgate, and an act was passed releasing Ferrar from liability for the debt. The king, Henry VIII, approved of these proceedings and the transaction became the basis of the rule of parliament which exempts members from arrest. Research Ferrar's Arrest
Aril or aririus, in some plants, as in the nutmeg, is an extra covering of the seed, outside of the true seed-coats, proceeding from the placenta, partially investing the seed, and falling off spontaneously. It is either succulent or cartilaginous, coloured, elastic, rough, or knotted. In the nutmeg it is known as mace. Research Aril
Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans) is an evergreen tree with dark glossy leaves, native to the Molucca Islands. It is cultivated in the tropics for its seeds which is used in cooking as a spice, and for the large, branched crimson arils which constitute the spicemace. Research Nutmeg
In Hindu mythology, Yama is the god of the dead, who judges and punishes souls. He is represented as of a green colour, four-armed, clad in garments of fire, crowned and seated on a buffalo. He holds a mace and noose, and drags the souls of the condemned out of the bodies to the judgement-seat. Research Yama
Arms is a military term referring to weapons. Weapons of offence are divisible into two distinct sections: firearms, and arms used without gunpowder or other explosive substance.
The first arms of offence would probably be wooden clubs, then would follow wooden weapons made more deadly by means of stone or bone, stone axes, slings, bows and arrows with heads of flint or bone, and afterwards various weapons of bronze. Subsequently a variety of arms of iron and steel were introduced, which comprised the sword, javelin, pike, spear or lance, dagger, axe, mace, chariot scythe, etc. with a rude artillery consisting of catapults, ballistae, and battering-rams. Among ancient nations the Egyptians seem to have been most accustomed to the use of the bow, which was the principal weapon of the Egyptian infantry. Peculiar to the Egyptians was a defensive weapon intended to catch and break the sword of the enemy. With the Assyrians the bow was a favourite weapon; but with them lances, spears, and javelins were in more common use than with the Egyptians. Most of the large engines of war, chariots with scythes projecting at each side from the axle, catapults, and ballistae, seem to have been of Assyrian origin. During the historical age of Greece the characteristic weapon was a heavy spear from 21 to 24 feet in length. The sword used by the Greeks was short, and was worn on the right side. The Roman sword was from 22 to 24 inches in length, straight, two-edged, and obtusely pointed, and as by the Greeks was worn on the right side. It was used principally as a stabbing weapon. It was originally of bronze. The most characteristic weapon of the Roman legionary soldier, however, was the pilum, which was a kind of pike or javelin, some 6 feet or more in length. The pilum was sometimes used at close-quarters, but more commonly it was thrown.
The favourite weapons of the ancient Germanic races were the battle-axe, the lance or dart, and the sword. The weapons of the Anglo-Saxons were spears, axes, swords, knives, and maces or clubs. The Normans had similar weapons, and were well furnished with archers and cavalry. The cross-bow was a comparatively late invention introduced by the Normans. Gunpowder was not used in Europe to discharge projectiles until the beginning of the fourteenth century. Cannon are first mentioned in England in 1338, and there seems to be no doubt that they were used by the English at the siege of Cambrai in 1339. The projectiles first used for cannon were of stone. Hand firearms date from the fifteenth century. At first they required two men to serve them, and it was necessary to rest the muzzle on a stand in aiming and firing. The first improvement was the invention of the match-lock, about 1476; this was followed by the wheel-lock, and about the middle of the seventeenth century by the flint-lock, which was in universal use until it was superseded by the percussion-lock, the invention of a Scotch clergyman early in the nineteenth century. The needle-gun dates from 1827. The only important weapon not a fire-arm that has been invented since the introduction of gunpowder is the bayonet, which is believed to have been invented about 1650.
The bow (long-bow) of the English archers was from 5 to 6 feet in length, and the arrow discharged from it was itself a yard long. The long-bow continued in general use in England until the end of the reign of Elizabeth, and even as late as 1627 there was a body of English archers in the pay of Richelieu at the siege of La Rochelle.
The mace was a type of club used as a combat weapon, chiefly by horsemen. The weapon consisted of a globular head with spikes or flanges fixed, attached to a short handle. Research Mace
The Mace R-1 was an American single-seater midget racer developed in the mid-1960's. The Mace R-1 was designed so that it could be flown within fifteen minutes of arrival at an airfield. The Mace R-1 was a shoulder-wing cantilever monoplane of mixed construction, the wings and tail made of wood the fuselage of fabric covered steel-tubes. The Mace R-1 was powered by a Continental C85-8 four-cylinder horizontally-opposed air-cooled engine providing a top speed of 338 kmh and a range of 1060 km. Research Mace R-1
The tael was a Chinese weight unit of account. A tael of silver was made the standard monetary unit, nominally equivalent to 10 mace of ten candareens each, or 1000 copper cash. The tael was never used as an actual coin, but rather to weigh silver ingots. Research Tael
Bagatelle is a game played on a long flat board covered with cloth like a billiard-table, with spherical balls and a cue or mace. At the end of the board are nine cups or sockets of just sufficient size to receive the balls. These sockets are arranged in the form of a regular octagon, with the ninth in the middle, and are numbered consecutively from one upwards. Nine balls are used, generally one black, four white, and four red, the distinction between white and red being made only for the sake of variety. In the ordinary game, at starting, the black ball is placed on a point in the longitudinal middle line of the board, a few inches in front of the nearest of the sockets, and the player places one of his eight balls on a corresponding point at the other end of the board, and tries to strike the black ball into one of the sockets with his own. After this his object is to place as many of his balls as possible in the sockets. Each ball so placed counts as many as the socket is numbered for, and the black ball always counts double. He who first makes the number of points agreed on wins. The name bagatelle is also applied to similar variations of the game with a smaller board in which small balls about the size of a marble are propelled along a channel at the side with the object of having them catch in cups or sockets, each of which is numbered with a value of points, arranged over the surface of the board. Research Bagatelle
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Ferrar's Arrest
