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
Lord Dillon explains the hose of “stamyn sengill” as being a
worsted cloth made in Norfolk. The “bulwerkis” were pads of
blanketing fastened over the hose at the knees to prevent the
chafing of the knee-cop, and the shoes were of Cordova leather
fastened with laces. A complete underdress of this kind, with
quilted doublet and hose with gussets of mail at the knees, is to
be found in the Museum at Munich. The arming of a man began at the
feet, and as far as was possible each piece put on overlapped that
beneath it, to ensure that glancing surface upon the utility of
which such stress has been laid in the first chapter of this book.
The arming of a man, therefore, was carried out in the following
order and his equipment put on in the following order: Sollerets or
sabatons, jambs, knee-cops, cuisses, skirt of mail, gorget, breast
and back plates, brassards with elbow-cops, pauldrons, gauntlets,
sword-belt, and helmet (Fig. 58).
The “tonlet” would appear to be a bell-shaped skirt of plate
or deep taces such as is shown on Plate XXI, and is another
example of the use of the “glancing surface,” especially in
combats with axe and sword at barriers, for in these jousts the
legs were often unarmed and were not attacked. The rerebrace,
elbow-cop, and vambrace are usually joined by rivets in which
there is a certain amount of play. Where this was not the case,
each piece was separately strapped to the arm, as may be seen in
the brasses of Sir John de Creke, 1325 (Fig. 53), and of Sir
Hugh Hastings, 1347. When the three pieces, called collectively
the Brassard, were joined together, they were kept in place on
the arm by arming-points fastened to the “haustement” or doublet
just below the shoulder. The operation of tying on the brassard
is shown on the portrait now labelled the “Duc de Nevers” at
Hampton Court (Fig. 55). In the list of the equipment taken
by the Earl of Northumberland to France in 1513[125] we find
mention of arming-pateletts of white satin quilted, for wearing
under the armour, trussing-bolsters to wear round the waist to
keep the weight of the cuirass from the shoulders, arming-hose,
arming-doublets, arming-shoes, garters to wear under the armour,
and coffers in which to keep the armour.
[Illustration: FIG. 58. Sixteenth-century Suit of Plate.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account