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 this example, from Cottonian MS., Nero, C. iv. fol. 13, written
in France, about 1125, we have a curious instance of the hauberk
with lateral openings at the skirt. It is remarkable also for the
manner in which the sword is carried partially beneath the hauberk;
a contrivance seen also in the Bayeux tapestry, (Plate VI.,) and of
which analogous examples will be found throughout the middle-ages.
In the figure before us, it will be observed that the defence is
continued over the head as a coif or hood, and is surmounted by the
usual conical nasal helmet, or "Casque Normand." The subject of which
this forms part, is the Massacre of the Innocents. The stigma of a
moustache is therefore added, in the same spirit as the beard was
given to Goliath in the preceding example.
[Illustration: No. 34.]
The continuous Coif to the hauberk is seen constantly in the Bayeux
tapestry, (Stothard, Plates X. to XIII.). It occurs also on many of
the seals of the twelfth century, (see our cuts, No. 27, 43 and 44;)
and in vellum-paintings of this time, (see cuts 32, 34, 37 and 38).
The hood of mail made separately from the hauberk does not appear
till the thirteenth century. The short sleeves of this garment are
seen in our woodcuts 25, 32 and 38. Examples of the long-sleeved
hauberk occur in cuts 28, 37, 42 and 43.
The Haubergeon, as the name indicates, was a smaller hauberk; though
it does not appear by the pictorial monuments of the middle ages
in what it especially differed from the latter defence. While Duke
William, preparing for the battle of Hastings,--
"Sun boen _haubert_ fist demander;"
Bishop Odo--
"Un _haubergeon_ aveit vestu."
The Duke was armed with lance and sword; the Prelate--
"Un _baston_ teneit en son poing."
All which seems to shew that Odo was equipped as a light-armed
fighter. And perhaps we may gather from the prominent notice accorded
to his "white tunic," that it was the _shortness_ of the haubergeon
which caused that garment to be so particularly remarked. In
documents of the thirteenth century, the haubergeon is distinguished
from the hauberk and gambeson, taking its place between them. Thus
the Statute of Arms of 1252 directs every man, according to the rate
of his lands and chattels, to provide himself with the _lorica_, or
with the _habergetum_, or with the _perpunctum_. And the Statute
of Winchester, in 1285, makes the same distinction. From Guillaume
Guiart we learn that this garment was of mail:--
"Armez de cotes a leurs tailles,
Et de bons hauberjons a mailles."--_Sub an._ 1304.
And the Teloneum S. Audomari has: "Lorica, IV. denar.; Lorica minor,
quæ vulgo _Halsbergol_ dicitur, II. den."
Body-armour of Leather is found throughout the middle ages. According
to Wace, some of the Norman soldiers in the Conqueror's train had
defences of this material fastened to their breasts:--
"Alquanz unt bones coiriés,
K'il unt à lor ventre liés."--_Line_ 12,809.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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