Armour in England, from the Earliest Times to the Reign of James the FirstGardner, John Starkie
History
Armour in England, from the Earliest Times to the Reign of James the First
Gardner, John Starkie
Armor -- England
Those intended to receive the hard knocks of active service must
have presented unembossed surfaces, though perhaps richly etched and
gilded like the morions. The specimen (Fig. 30) belonging to Mr.
Currie is rich enough for parade, with its bands of embossing and fine
damascening, while the second illustration (Fig. 31) might have been
the war target of an Italian or Spanish Captain under Philip II. It
is remarkable that the first Greenwich inventory only contains eight
bucklers, "of steele, seven guilte and wroughte." They were probably
somewhat like Fig. 31. Another among the jewels was of silver gilt,
with the arms of England, roses, castles, and pomegranates. This,
like the quaint little roundel belonging to Lord Kenyon (Fig. 32),
was probably English. It appears that London bucklers acquired some
celebrity in the time of Elizabeth, who limited the length of their
steel points to two inches, for the young King of Scots greatly desired
to possess one. George Brownfelde, Roger Morgan, Tothill Street, and
Richard Hamkyn, King Street, Westminster, were buckler-makers to Henry
VIII.; and Peter Lovat, a Frenchman, supplied steel pavices at the sign
of the cock in Fleet Street at eight shillings each. They are seldom
mentioned as playing a part in actual warfare, though when Lord Grey
de Wilton called for forlorn hopes at the siege of Guynes, fifty stept
out "with swordes and roondelles to view and essaye the breatches." The
celebrated Jarnac duel, witnessed by Henri II., was fought with sword
and target.
[Illustration: FIG. 32.--_Roundel with National Badges and Inscription.
Belonging to Lord Kenyon._]
[Illustration: FIG. 33.--_Hilt of Two-handed Sword with the Bear and
Ragged Staff on the Pommel and Quillons in chased steel. Penshurst._]
The chanfron or head-piece to the horse's armour, originally called the
chevron, received as much attention as the helmet or buckler of its
rider. It was the pride of the noble, when Monstrelet wrote, to make
the horse's head-front blaze with jewels. Designs for horse-armour by
Hans Mielich, and that actually executed for Christian II. at Dresden,
are as rich as the suits themselves. The latter illustrates the labours
of Hercules, and is the one for which Colman received 14,000 crowns.
The chanfron bears a spike, an appendage dating back to the time of
Edward III. In the _Anturs of Arthur_ we read--
Opon his chèveronne be-forn
Stode as a unicorn
Als scharpe as a thorn,
An nanlas of stele.
The charger ridden by Lord Scales in his tourney with the Bastard of
Burgundy had a "schaffrõ with a large sharpe pyke of stele," which,
penetrating the nostrils of the Bastard's steed, caused it to rear and
throw him. The oldest chanfron handed down is that in Warwick Castle,
which was there when visited by Sir William Dugdale. The lower part of
one belonging to the suit, Fig. 29, is seen in Plate VII.
[Illustration: FIG. 34.--_Venetian Cinquedea, engraved, with Ivory
Handle. The Duke of Norfolk._]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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