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
"De Stephano de Perone xi. pa͂r. stre͂p et xi. pectoral' deaura͂t
p'͂c. xxij. ƚi.
"De eodem. iiij frēn cū pecto͂r et strepis de corea. p'͂c. vi.
ƚi.
"De eodem. ij. frēn ij. pecto͂r et ij. stre͂p deau͂r. p'͂c.
iiij. ƚi."
The Bridle presents two kinds of bits: one has the cheeks joined by
a bar from their lower end, as in woodcut, No. 80; the other has no
such cross-bar (see fol. 27 of Harl. MS. 3,244). The last quotation
from the Windsor Roll shews us that the bridles were sometimes gilt.
The group from the Painted Chamber on our woodcut, No. 82, offers a
curious arrangement of the brow-band. The rounds in the original are
gold-colour.
The Caparison of the knightly steed appears to have been of five
kinds. 1. The horse has a "couverture" of chain-mail only. 2.
The couverture is of quilted work. 3. The housing is of a light,
fluttery material, probably covering an armour of chain-mail. 4.
A light housing, heraldically decorated, which seems to have no
armour beneath. 5. The horse has no furniture beyond the ordinary
war-saddle, peytrel and bridle.
Of the mailed dextrier we have already had some notice in the
preceding century (see page 169). The example here given is from the
Painted Chamber.
[Illustration: No. 86.]
The trapper of chain-mail occurs on two of the plates of that
work: those numbered 31 and 37. A fragment of a similar defence is
seen on the Shurland monument at Minster (Stothard, Pl. XLI.). But
representations of this kind of armament are of the greatest rarity.
It is, however, often mentioned by the writers of the time; though,
perhaps, not without some exaggeration of the numbers of mail-clad
steeds gathered in the host. At the battle of Nuova Croce in 1237,
between the imperialists and the Milanese, Matthew Paris tells us
that: "A credible Italian asserted that Milan with its dependencies
raised an army of six thousand men-at-arms with iron-clad
horses[401]." The _Chronicon Colmariense_, under the year 1298,
describing the force of "Australes, qui armis ferreis utebantur,"
brought against the duke of Austria, says: "Habebant et multos qui
habebant dextrarios, id est, equos magnos. Hi equi cooperti fuerunt
coopertoriis ferreis, id est, veste ex circulis ferreis contexta."
An ordinance of Philip the Fair in 1303 provides that every holder
of an estate of 500 livres rental, shall furnish for defence of
the realm "un gentilhomme bien armé et monté à cheval de cinquante
livres tournois et couvert de couvertures de fer ou de couverture
pourpointé[402]." The particular use of the barding of steel or
pourpointerie was to defend the horses against the missiles of the
enemy. Sutcliffe's "Practice of Arms," written in the sixteenth
century, when the musquet was rapidly supplanting the long-bow, has:
"Use of late times hath brought in divers sorts of Horsemen, which,
according to their armes and furniture, have divers names. Some
Horse are barded; others without bardes. The French Men-of-armes,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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