The Studded and Splinted Armour Period was essentially an era of transition, intermediate between a mode of defence which had proved inadequate by reason of its sheer cumbersomeness and multiplicity of details, and the light and easy effectiveness of the succeeding style, the Camail and Jupon, which was ushered in about 1360. During the studded mail period the prolonged struggle of King Edward III. for supremacy in France occurred, and the fierce old English blood found many channels for venting its superfluous ardour. The defensive and also offensive equipment of knight and soldier underwent many and sudden changes as exigencies suggested, and keen was the contest between the three styles then prevailing, viz. chain mail, cuir-bouilli, and plate. From accredited sources of information we glean that the partisans of chain mail passed through this stirring period relying almost entirely if not wholly upon its efficacy; the believers in cuir-bouilli clothed themselves in fanciful garments of that material reinforced by a substratum of banded or other mail; while the advocates of plate essayed various departures of a more or less cumbrous character, which must have proved abortive by reason of their weight and crudity, although containing, as many did, the germs of improvements which, when elaborated, made the armour of later periods so effective. There were other experimenters who believed in a judicious mixture of all three kinds of defence, and as they far outnumbered the remainder the period has gained the name which heads this chapter. In an age which saw so many varieties, and when each man did that which was pleasant in his own eyes, it is difficult to distinguish essential characteristics by which the amateur may readily recognise armour of this period, but a few salient features may be mentioned which were fairly persistent throughout. 1. _The Surcoat_ or skirted jupon was sleeveless and fitted the upper part of the body tightly, but below the waist was made full so as to hang in folds to the knees; as a rule it opened up the side, but sometimes was slit only a short distance up the front and then laced at the neck. It displayed the armorial bearings of the wearer above the sword-belt, then worn round the waist or a little below it, and in some few cases the skirt was dispensed with and terminated at the belt. The lower part of the skirt was either plain or escalloped, the latter feature sometimes partaking of the nature of gadroons and extending upwards to the belt. The skirt also at times was of a different colour to the upper part, a feature which is well shown in one of the windows at Ely Cathedral, dating from 1335, where six figures are shown in contemporary armour, and the skirts of three surcoats are darker in colour than the upper part, one being ornamented with a band of a still darker colour. All the skirts shown reach below the knees and have no sleeves.