Ancient Armour and Weapons in Europe: From the Iron Period of the Northern Nations to the End of the Thirteenth CenturyHewitt, John
History
Ancient Armour and Weapons in Europe: From the Iron Period of the Northern Nations to the End of the Thirteenth Century
Hewitt, John
Armor; Weapons
In the last quarter of the thirteenth century appear those curious
appendages to the knightly suit, the Ailettes. But they do not occur
in any frequency till the beginning of the fourteenth century. We
shall, therefore, in noticing this novelty, refer to some examples
of the later period. From their name, _ailettes_, Fr.; _alette_,
Ital.; and _alettæ_ in the Latin of the period, they appear to have
been a French or Italian invention. An early notice of them is in
the Roll of Purchases for the Windsor Tournament in 1278, where they
are made of leather covered with the kind of cloth called Carda. "De
eodem (Milo the Currier) xxxviij. pa͂r alec͂t co͂r p'̄c pa͂r. viij.
d." "I͂t pro xxxviij. pa͂r alet͂t ͂s. pro q̊ pa͂r dī ul̄n card. ͂s.
XIX. ul̄n." They were fastened with silk laces, supplied by "Richard
Paternoster." "D Ricõ pa͂t n͂r viij. Duodēn laqueorum serīc pro
alet͂t p'̄c duodēn viij. d.[337]" Sir Roger de Trumpington was one
of the thirty-eight knights engaged in this tournament, and it is
remarkable that his monumental brass furnishes one of the earliest
and best pictorial examples of the ailette that has come down to us.
(See our woodcut, No. 73.) There is one instance of it, and only one,
in the pictures of the Painted Chamber, Pl. XXXV. It is ensigned with
a bird. In monumental statues it is very rare. The figure here given
is from a knightly tomb in the Church of Ash-by-Sandwich, seemingly
of the close of this century[338]. The ailettes appear _behind_ the
shoulders, rising from the slab beneath, about the eighth of an inch.
They have been quadrangular, the outer corners having become broken
by accident: there is no trace of any fastening, and no remain of
colour. The other monumental statues in England exhibiting the
ailette are those of a Pembridge in Clehongre Church, Herefordshire
(figured, with details, in Hollis's Effigies, Pt. 5), and the
so-called Crusader at Great Tew, Oxfordshire. The Clehongre figure is
especially curious as shewing the ailette fastened by its "laqueus,"
which appears on the outside. In Switzerland there is the statue of
Rudolf von Thierstein, at Basle: the ailettes here are square, and
fixed on the _side_ of the figure. (Hefner, Pt. 2, Pl. XLI.) Our
English monumental brasses furnish several examples. See those of
Septvans and Buslingthorpe, given by Waller, and the Gorleston brass,
Plate LI. of Stothard. The curious painted windows at Tewkesbury,
figured in full by Carter (Sculpture and Painting), and in part
by Shaw (Dress and Decorations), afford the best illustration
contributed by pictured glass. Good examples are found in the ivory
carvings and seals of the period. The seals of Edward the Third, as
duke and as king, are well-known instances; and the ivory casket
engraved by Carter, Plates CXIII. and CXIV., offers a singular
variety of this accessory. Illuminated manuscripts furnish abundant
examples. See, for instance, Roy. MSS., 14, E. III. and 2, B. VII.,
and Add. MS. 10,292.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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