The armourer and his craft from the XIth to the XVIth centuryFfoulkes, Charles John
History
The armourer and his craft from the XIth to the XVIth century
Ffoulkes, Charles John
Armor -- History; Armorers; Weapons -- History
The gambeson continued in use up to the seventeenth century
under the name of “arming-doublet,” with but little change
except in shape and form, as the style of armour required. Of
the undergarments of the early fifteenth century we have little
or nothing to guide us, and we are often at a loss to know even
what armour was worn under the tight-fitting, small-waisted jupon
or surcoat which distinguishes the end of the fourteenth and the
beginning of the fifteenth century. We have, however, a valuable
record under this head in the monument at Ash, which shows
“splinted armour” of lames worn instead of a cuirass.
The illustration on Plate IV is from a wood-carving in the church
of S. William, Strasburg. It represents the travelling armourer
riveting what appear to be bands of iron on arms and legs. Whether
these are some contrivance used in arming in the fifteenth century,
or whether they are some instrument of torture used upon the
saint, Duke William of Acquitaine, it is impossible to discover, as
no other instances of the kind can be found.
For full details of the equipment of the latter half of the
fifteenth century we cannot do better than refer to the Hastings
MS. of the fifteenth century, which has been discussed by the late
Albert Way,[123] and more fully by Viscount Dillon.[124] Under the
heading of “The Abilment for the Justes of Pees” we find much that
is of value in this respect. On page 122_b_ of the manuscript we
find the following minute directions for dressing a man for the
joust, which should be compared with those given in Appendix C,
page 173.
How a man schall be armyd at his ese when he schal fighte on
foote:
He schal have noo schirte up on him but a dowbelet of ffustean
lyned with satene cutte full of hoolis. the dowbelet must be
strongeli boude there the pointis muste be sette aboute the greet
[bend] of the arm. and the b ste [_sic_] before and behynde and
the gussetis of mayle muste be sowid un to the dowbelet in the
bought of the arme. and undir the arme the armynge poyntis muste
ba made of fyne twyne suche as men make stryngys for crossebowes
and they muste be trussid small and poyntid as poyntis. Also
they muste be wexid with cordeweneris coode. and than they will
neyther recche nor breke Also a payr hosyn of stamyn sengill
and a payre of shorte bulwerkis of thynne blanket to put aboute
his kneys for chawfynge of his lighernes Also a payre of shone
of thikke Cordwene and they muste be frette with smal whipcorde
thre knottis up on a corde and thre cordis muste be faste swoid
on to the hele of the shoo and fyne cordis in the mydill of the
soole of the same shoo and that ther be betwene the frettis of
the hele and the frettis of the mydill of the shoo the space of
three fvngris.
To arme a man
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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