The Defensive Armour and the Weapons and Engines of War of Mediæval Times, and of the "Renaissance."Clephan, R. Coltman (Robert Coltman)
History
The Defensive Armour and the Weapons and Engines of War of Mediæval Times, and of the "Renaissance."
Clephan, R. Coltman (Robert Coltman)
Armor; Weapons
The earliest form after chain-mail was of cuir-bouilli, both plain and
fortified with scale work, and such largely prevailed in the thirteenth
century, and even later. An example occurs on the tomb of Sir Richard
de Burlingthorpe, of about 1310. The earliest form of plate gauntlets
occurs in the middle of the fourteenth century, and shows articulated
fingers--see an example on a brass of Thomas Cheyne, Esq. (1368), at
Drayton Beauchamp, Bucks; after which mitten gauntlets of laminated
plates, with a separate thumb-guard and peaked cuffs, prevailed. Late
in the fourteenth century an attempt is made to copy the finger nails.
An example occurs on the monument of Sir Robert de Grey, at Rotherfield
Greys, Oxfordshire. Late in the fifteenth century, the earlier form,
with articulated fingers, was reverted to. Gadlings, or knuckle and
finger spikes, were in vogue throughout the century--a truly dangerous
weapon of offence for the _mêlée_. Again, later we have the fingers
covered with overlapping plates, very narrow and flexible. Another
common form, though late, is the elbow gauntlet. There is a pair in
the Castle of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and there are others at Naworth
Castle and in the author’s collection. A locking gauntlet was invented
in the latter part of the sixteenth century, the object of which was
to prevent the weapon from being knocked out of the hand, to which it
was fastened by a hook and staple. It is stated that this gauntlet was
often barred in single combats, it certainly was in foot-tournaments.
There is an example of this contrivance in a suit in the Tower of
London. Gauntlets were sometimes made of brass.
TACES, TUILLES, TASSETS, BRAYETTE, AND GARDE-DE-REINE OR RUMP GUARD.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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