We find many references to these splinted defences in the Inventories of
the period, which form a valuable source of information on the subject of
details of armour. The Inventory of Humphrey de Bohun,[9] Earl of
Hereford, taken in 1322, gives:--'Une peire de plates coverts de vert
velvet.' Again, in one of the Inventories of the Exchequer, 1331,[10] is
noted:--'Une peire de plates covert de rouge samyt.' The Inventory of
Piers Gaveston, dated 1313, a document full of interesting details,
has[11]:--'Une peire de plates enclouez et garniz d'argent.' The 'pair of
plates' mentioned in these records refers to the front and back defences.
In the accounts of payments by Sir John Howard we find in the year 1465,
11_s._ 8_d._ paid for 20,000 'Bregander nayles'.[12] Brass was employed
for decorative purposes on the edges of the hauberk, or was fashioned into
gauntlets, as may be seen in the gauntlets of the Black Prince, preserved
at Canterbury. Chaucer writes in the 'Rime of Sir Thopas':--
His swerdes shethe of yvory,
His helm of laton bright.
Laton, or latten, was a mixed metal, much resembling brass, used at this
period for decorative purposes.
Whalebone was employed for gauntlets and also for swords used in the
tournament. Froissart uses the words 'gands de baleine' in describing the
equipment of the troops of Philip von Arteveld at the Battle of Rosbecque.
Quilted garments were still worn, either as the sole defence or as a
gambeson under the mail. As late as the year 1460 we find regulations of
Louis XI of France ordering these coats of defence to be made of from 30
to 36 folds of linen.[13]
Leather, either in its natural state or boiled and beaten till it could be
moulded and then allowed to dry hard, was frequently used at this period
for all kinds of defensive armour.
In Chaucer's 'Rime of Sir Thopas', from which we have quoted before, occur
the words, 'His jambeux were of quirboilly.' The jambeaux were coverings
for the legs. This quirboilly, cuirbully, or cuirbouilli, when finished
was an exceedingly hard substance, and was, on account of its lightness as
compared to metal, much used for tournament armour and for the Barding or
defence for the horse. In the Roll of Purchases for the Windsor Park
Tournament, held in 1278, mention is made of cuirasses supplied by Milo
the Currier, who also furnished helms of the same material.[14] In the
Inventory of Sir Simon Burley, beheaded in 1338, we find under 'Armure de
guerre':--'Un palet (a headpiece) de quierboylle.' There is a light
leather helmet of the 'morion' type, dated sixteenth century, in the
Zeughaus at Berlin.
Banded mail still appears in drawings or on monuments up to the end of the
fourteenth century.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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