it may not be without interest that we say something regarding the
equipment of those galleys which are so prominent in the mediæval
history of the Mediterranean.[1]
Eschewing that “Serbonian Bog, where armies whole have sunk” of Books
and Commentators, the theory of the classification of the Biremes and
Triremes of the Ancients, we can at least assert on secure grounds
that in _mediæval_ armament, up to the middle of the 16th century or
thereabouts, the characteristic distinction of galleys of different
calibres, so far as such differences existed, was based _on the number
of rowers that sat on one bench pulling each his separate oar, but
through one_ portella _or rowlock-port_.[2] And to the classes of
galleys so distinguished the Italians, of the later Middle Age at
least, did certainly apply, rightly or wrongly, the classical terms of
_Bireme_, _Trireme_, and _Quinquereme_, in the sense of galleys having
two men and two oars to a bench, three men and three oars to a bench,
and five men and five oars to a bench.[3]
That this was the mediæval arrangement is very certain from the details
afforded by Marino Sanudo the Elder, confirmed by later writers and by
works of art. Previous to 1290, Sanudo tells us, almost all the galleys
that went to the Levant had but two oars and men to a bench; but as it
had been found that three oars and men to a bench could be employed
with great advantage, after that date nearly all galleys adopted this
arrangement, which was called _ai Terzaruoli_.[4]
Moreover experiments made by the Venetians in 1316 had shown that four
rowers to a bench could be employed still more advantageously. And
where the galleys could be used on inland waters, and could be made
more bulky, Sanudo would even recommend five to a bench, or have gangs
of rowers on two decks with either three or four men to the bench on
each deck.
[Sidenote: Change of System in the 16th century.]