ARMOUR

IN

ENGLAND

lAHKlL GAUD I! HI

*Z

'

Presented to the

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
LIBRARY
by the

ONTARIO LEGISLATIVE
LIBRARY
1980

Tills Bi

<3

Plate

I.

Full

Windsor

suit

of armour of Henry, Prince of Wales, in the guard-chamber at

Attributed to William Pickering, master armourer.

Castle.

w
rv

VI

ARMOUR

ENGL

IN

FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES

TO THE REIGN OF JAMES THE FIRST

By

J.

STARKIE GARDNER

'JA

if*

LONDON
SEELEY AND

CO. LIMITED,

GREAT RUSSELL STREET

NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

l8 97

/vK
(ft

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
COLOURED PLATES
PAGE
I.

Windsor
II.

Second

Guard-chamber

at

of Sir Henry Lee, Master of the Armoury, reduced facsimile of

in the

Armourers'

First suit of Sir Christopher

Album

South Kensington

in the

South Kensington

Museum

28

Hatton, Captain of the Guard, and subsequently

Reduced

Lord Chancellor.
in the

in the

Attributed to William Pickering, master-armourer Frontispiece

Castle.

suit

No. 19
III.

armour of Henry, Prince of Wales,

Full suit of

facsimile of

Museum

No.

in the

Armourers'
.

Album

.40

IV. Grand-guard of the suit of George, Earl of Cumberland, in the possession of

Lord Hothfield.
in the

This

is

South Kensington

V. Grand-guard, used

20th

a part of the

Museum

for tilting,

suit in the

belonging to the

Leicester, with the gilding restored.

Armourers'

In the

VII.

Ornament on

Tower

of

London

58

.76

the tapul of the breastplate belonging to the half-suit of the

Guard-chamber of Windsor Castle

The sword

In the Guard-

In the

Earl of Essex (Fig. 35), with the original gilding slightly restored.

VIII.

.46

of Robert Dudley, Earl of

suit

VI. Profile of the helmet belonging to the French suit (Fig. 32).

chamber of Windsor Castle

Album

of Charles

I.

when Prince

of Wales, 161 6.

The

.90

hilt entirely

covered with raised gold damascened work on blue steel matrix, except the
grip of silver wire work.

Preserved in Windsor Castle

.96

ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT

1.

Hauberk, or byrnie, of chain-mail, of the fourth or

2.

Norman

3.

4.

Mail

coif, flat-topped,

5.

Mail

coif,

round-topped, with jewelled

6.

Mail

coif,

conical top, with coronet and mantelet

7.

Helmet of bronze and

fifth

century, found at Vimose

knights in mail hauberks and conical helmets

complete

suit

of mail, with coif and mufflers

with reinforcing plates

thirteenth-century

11
.

13

suit,

17

with leather thong

iron,

fillet

from County

Down

*9
l

21

OF ILLUSTRATIONS

LIST

PAGE
8.

Illustration of the

9.

The

10.
1

1.

development of plate-armour

13.

Melee.

From MS. of

The helm and

14.
15.

The helm

the fourteenth century

crest of the Black Prince,

tomb of

Gauntlet from the

Helm

Sir

effigy
;

.29

monument

in

31

32

John de Melsa, Aldborough Church, Holderness

32

Combed and

-33

jewelled bassinet
.

35

37

of Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmoreland, in Staindrop

Gauntlet from the

effigy

of Sir

Thomas Cawne, Ightham

Westminster Abbey

from the tomb of Henry V. in

19. Effigy of

Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, on

Church, Warwick

21.

his

of the Black Prince on his tomb in Canterbury Cathedral

Church, Durham

20.

from

25

ridged bassinet with banded camail

Church, Kent
18.

with

bassinet transformed into a sallad in the fifteenth century

16. Effigy
17.

his shield,

of Richard Pembridge, K.G., from Hereford Cathedral

Bassinet from the

A
A

23

sleeping guards, from the Easter Sepulchre in Lincoln Cathedral

Canterbury Cathedral
12.

his

tomb

in

St.

.41
.48
Mary's

-53

The Earl of Warwick slays a "mighty Duke." From the Beauchamp MS.
55
The Duke of Gloucester and Earls of Warwick and Stafford chase the Duke
From the Beauchamp MS.
of Burgundy from the walls of Calais.
57
Helm of Sir Giles Capel
Sallad in St. Mary's Hall, Coventry
59
English tournament helm over the tomb of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset,
in Wimborne Minster
Helm of Sir John Gostwick, in Willington Church
.61
The entry of Oueen Isabel into Paris in 1390. From MS. of Froissart
63
Armet of Sir George Brooke, K.G., 8th Lord Cobham
.

22.

23.

24.

25.
26.

.60

27. English armet from the collection of

28.

Complete

29. Suit

made

suit for fighting

for

30. Part of a suit

foot,

made

Henry VIII.

for

Armour of Robert Dudley,

32.

Earl of Leicester,

566-1 588

of French armour, early seventeenth century

33.

Italian suit of blued

34.

part of the

.65
.65
.67

Henry VIII. by Conrad Seusenhofer of Innsbruck, 1511-1514

made for Sir Christopher Hatton

31.

suit

on

Seymour Lucas, A.R.A.

and gilded

ornament of the

steel

...

covered with appliques of gold

Italian suit (Fig. 33),

drawn

real size

89
qj

35. Demi-suit of the Earl of Essex, with closed helmet, magnificently engraved

71

.79
-83
.87

and

g ik

93

36.

Sword, probably of James

37.

The sword

gold damascening

of John

with basket

I.,

Hampden, with

hilt

hilt,
.

entirely covered with raised

.

of carved steel

-95
-97

ARMOUR

The Britons

It

and

is

ENGLAND

IN

An Early Age of

the nature of islands to exhibit

flora,

and

this insularity

is

no

less

some

Plate -Armour

peculiarities in their fauna

pronounced

customs of the human beings inhabiting them.

in the

manners and

Thus even

the stone

implements of Britain of remote prehistoric days can readily be distinguished by the expert

and we have the authority of

Sir

John Evans

for

regarding our types of bronze celts and weapons as both peculiar and
indigenous.

On

first

taking a place in history several strange and extra-

European customs were noticed

in

these isles

by

Cassar,

use of chariots in war, and dyeing the skin blue with

nations were, moreover, frequently ruled by queens, and

such as the

woad
some

British

practised

the rare and difficult, and very far from barbaric, art of enamelling on

bronze.

Modern
and

opinion

civilisation

is

at present

opposed to the theory that the culture

of Western Europe originated exclusively in the East,

inclined to regard our primitive arts and crafts as indigenous.

and

is

this

must

in a large

measure be true appears

sufficiently established

That
;

but

the large and excellently-made bronze bucklers with concentric rings of

bosses or studs, called the clypeus, the singular art of enamelling, the

use of studs of coral for embellishing weapons and trinkets, the chariots

of war and the government by women,

all

so remote

from savagery, and

so intimately connected with Eastern civilisation, compel the belief that

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

6
these

did actually at some distant time possess a privileged and

isles

The

intimate communication with the East.

a direct traffic in tin
safely

old and rooted tradition of

between Britain and Phoenicia cannot yet in

be

abandoned.

These

and

arts

however, only

practices,

subject so far as they were applied to

fall

within the scope of our

One of

arms and weapons.

very rarely used for the embellishment of arms in later times,

of enamelling, a process

wrote

fact

unknown

They

say that the Barbarians

who

live in the

and preserve the designs which are made

but

opaque.

Some

it,

Ocean pour these

as stone,

The bronze

them."

in

enamelled was cast with the pattern upon

bright,

that

who

become hard

colours on to heated bronze, and that they adhere,

varied and

is

Philostratus,

some coloured horse-trappings,

in the third century, referring to

observed, "

Romans.

to the

these,

to be

and the colours used were

with

horse-trappings

brilliant

purelv Celtic decorations and a few sword-hilts are known, but the bulk

of cast bronze enamelled ware consisted of brooches, seal-boxes, cups,

and

Romano-British

vases, all

on beaten or repousse bronze armour.

remarks that the Gauls were

and helmets with

shields,

India,

had

it

in

the habit

We

Museum

is

enamel.

found

The

in the

is

found

of adorning their swords,

demand springing up

find accordingly that

the effect

resort

in

was

of the coral studs.

an oblong shield of Celtic design, found in the

Witham, embellished with

it,

enamel

rarer

Pliny, in the Natural History,

England to enamel to reproduce

in

much

but an immense

coral,

became unprocurable.

In the British

beside

in design.

coral,

but a smaller and handsomer shield

Thames, has gold cloisonne studs of blood-red

curious Celtic reproduction of the

and the horned helmet found

in

the

Roman

peaked helmet,

Thames, both from the Meyrick

collection, are also decorated with small raised bosses cross-hatched to retain

red enamel,

some of which

still

adheres.

The horned

should, according to Diodorus Siculus, be a relic

the

Belgic Gauls,

The gem-like
the

who

effect

inhabited

so

much of

of the enamelled studs,

of,

or borrowed from,

this

part of England.

like single

golden bronze, must have been most refined

restrained to have originated with the enameller,

surfaces.

The

identity of

brazen helmet

it

who

drops of red on

is

altogether too

usually covers his

workmanship of these arms with the

bronze and enamel work suggests that some of those

Irish

who produced them

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

passed over and found with their traditions and arts a peaceful refuge in
the sister

isle.

Tacitus, however, states most explicitly that the Britons wore neither

helmets nor armour, and were not able, therefore, under Caractacus, to
maintain their resistance.

Herodianus

relating the expedition of

also,

Severus 250 years after Caesar's invasion, presents an extraordinary picture

He

of savagery.

observes that the Britons were a most warlike and

sanguinary race, carrying only a small shield and a spear, and a sword
"

girded to their naked bodies.

the

not

They

use,

Of

esteeming them an

a breastplate or helmet they

knew

impediment through the marshes."

encircled their necks and loins with iron rings as an evidence of

wealth, instead of gold, and went naked rather than conceal the tattoos of
different animals

which covered and gave a blue

cast to their bodies.

number of

In striking contrast to this picture are the large

employed

in

war and the extraordinary

Caesar states that Cassivelaunus,

when

accompanied by 4000 charioteers

still

displayed in handling them.

skill

totally defeated
;

chariots

and

a fugitive,

the basis probably of

was

Pomponius

Mela's later statement that 4000 two-horsed chariots armed with scythes

formed part of that

Roman
little

chieftain's

discipline, this

army.

Having proved

ineffectual against

arm was perhaps soon abandoned,

since

we

find

further mention of war-chariots, though cavalry did not cease to

form part of a British army.

In process of time the subjugated Britons

must have become completely Romanised

wear the helmet, greaves, and
smaller and

more

as to arms,

corselet, either

flexible plates or scales.

and accustomed to

of one piece or formed of

Though

the

manhood of

country enrolled in disciplined cohorts and legions had deserted

it,

the

Roman

weapons must have been the arms of those who remained when the

Romans

finally retired

from Britain

in 410.

In the two succeeding centuries, which were to elapse

before

the

country definitely inclined to become English, an intensely Celtic feeling,

embodied
ideas,

in the legends

of King Arthur and wholly opposed to

had time to spring up.

Judged by

their ornament,

it

is

Roman
to this

period that most of the bronze enamelled arms and trappings in the

Museum belong. The golden corselet found in a barrow in Flint,

together with many traditions of the finding of golden armour, such as
British

the helmet of pure gold set with

gems found

in a

bronze vase and pre-

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

sented to Katharine of Arragon, suggest the idea that serviceable qualities

became

sacrificed to a love

in obsolete

and

At

of display.

fantastic panoply, bore

and fruitful in menaces, but slow and

this

an

little

it is

said the Britons,

reputation, as being vain

evil

to be feared in action.

frightfully demoralised state, if not greatly

for a day of reckoning

time

The

agents destined to execute the vengeance of

Providence were the Frisian pirates, the scourge of the Channel,

and described

left to

with the multitude of

cities

by the

built

tempting and easy prey to these professors of

They were Teutons, who

rapine.

fleets.

the divided rule of clergy, nobles, and municipalities,

as "glittering

Romans," presented

who had

Roman

with difficulty been kept in awe by the most powerful

country,

called

and the condign, almost exterminating, punishment

which overtook them.

The

Their

overdrawn by Gildas,

relied

mainly on the Fram or spear-

like javelin, as when Tacitus described them, and

carried the

round

gaudily-painted buckler, though then strengthened with an iron

umbo

Their weapons had been perfected

and rim.

still

in a

long

of grim

series

experiences in actual war, and they had added to their equipment a sword

and dagger, and some kind of simple headpiece.

adopted any complete defence of plate-armour in the

That they had

Roman

fashion

is

improbable, but they were apparently entirely unacquainted with chainmail.

In the history of armour in Britain this period, taken as a whole,

can only be

regarded

protection

efficient

weight, at least to

We

as

a very primitive age

plate -armour

men on

foot,

To

be

an

must, however, be of an intolerable

making

celerity

of movement impossible.

cannot close the chapter better than by instancing the dreadful fate

of the iEduan Crupellarians, related by Tacitus,

in

of plate.

unwieldy iron

the main

plate, impenetrable

army was overthrown,

the ground, until, fallen

men were

who

clothed themselves

to sword and javelin.

Though

these kept their ranks as if rooted to

upon with hatchets and pickaxes, armour and

crushed together and

left

on the ground an inanimate mass.

This lesson was not forgotten by the nations of Europe who fought on
foot with

recorded.

Rome, and no such

use of body-armour

among them

is

again

II

The Mailed Warrior

The

appearance of the mail-clad warrior opens up an entirely

The

the history of European armour.

new

era in

worn by the

light plate defences

Mediterranean nations, whether Greeks, Etruscans, or Romans, were never

immunity from wounds

calculated to secure

they went
iron.

down

and

as a fighting

equipment

before mail, as stone before bronze, or bronze before

Chain-mail body-armour

is

on the Trajan

distinctly represented

column, and wherever worn, whether by the Scythian, the Parthian who

was armoured down to

his horse's hoofs, or the

dreaded Sassanian horse,

seems to have flashed like a beacon of victory, and

in history as

The

Rome's most dreaded and formidable

Scandinavian

also,

isolated so long and

denly burst upon Europe as a

warrior.

How

it

wearers ever appear

foes.

unknown

in history, sud-

new and even more redoubtable

so remote a people

only be surmised, but

its

it

mail-clad

became acquainted with chain-mail can

was perhaps through some Scythian channel not

That the ravaging Viking landed on our

open to Western Europe.

shores equipped in mail, the " war nets " of Beowulf, " woven by the
smiths, hand-locked, and riveted " ; " shining over the waters " or in " the

ranks of battle,"

is

sufficiently

called "byrnies," attributed

found

in

recorded by the Chroniclers.

to even the fourth

and

fifth

centuries,

Danish peat-bogs fashioned of rings welded and riveted

nate rows as neatly and skilfully as can possibly be, and

hammer,

Shirts of mail,

if it

all

be a fact that wire-drawing was not invented

thousand years

later.

The

almost perfect specimen

we

are

in alter-

made by
till

the

nearly a

figure, one-tenth

the natural size, was found at Vimose, with portions of others.

Some

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

io

have also been found

Roman

Thorsberg, and in a burial-place of

at

age

in Jutland.

Besides the mail defence, the Danes were armed with a shield, an iron
cap, lance, axe,

almost

less attacks

for a long time

and ventured on the most dangerous and desperate

irresistible,

When we

undertakings.

Thus equipped they proved

and sword.

reflect

on their adventurous voyages, the reck-

on powerful nations made by mere handfuls of men, and the

gallant pertinacity they at

all

admire their exalted courage.

times displayed,
It

it

impossible not to

is

easy to detect

is

rugged poetry,

almost chivalry of a kind, underlying the Viking nature, in spite of

ruthless cruelty, while the exaltation of deceit

into a virtue
at

every

is

when

practised on an

but a germ of modern statecraft.

moment on

Their

lives

the quality of their weapons caused

invested, particularly the sword, with a mystic glamour,

died out with chivalry

itself,

The

functions of state.

and lingers even yet

chieftain's

depending

these to be

which scarcely

more important

in the

sword was

enemy

in fact

his inseparable

companion, known and endeared to his followers by a name symbolic of

the havoc they had seen

was

undying

as

sword of Odin,

as its

a smith,

excellence, into a

made

it

wreak upon the enemy, and

we must

demigod

Mimung

a blade called

believe,

who

as he

so keenly tempered that

fell

it

uncommon
story of how he

sliced

when challenged

him

so cleanly in

to

two

The name of this prince

Wayland Smith of English folk-

dead in two halves.

of craftsmen yet lives in the mysterious

Another vaunting smith Mimer was

wielded by Sigurd

Museum

is

slain

and the sword Hrunting

owner Beowulf, the father of English

British

in sagas

armour, that the cut only became apparent when, as he rose

to shake himself, he

lore.

fame

forged swords of

and has handed down the

try conclusions with one Amilias, a rival,

sat in his

its

Tradition elevated the maker of the

owner's.

inscribed

in

lyrics.

runes

by the sword Grauer

is

made famous by

Danish sword

iEgenkoera, the

in

its

the

awe-inspirer.

From the Danes the exaltation of the sword passed to the English, and
we find Ethelwulf, Alfred, and Athelstan bequeathing their swords by
will

as

portion.

most precious possessions, equivalent to a brother's or

Thence

it

passed, in

legend at

least,

to the

sister's

Britons,

King

Arthur's sword Calibon, or Excalibur, presented ultimately by Richard

to Tancred

when

in

Sicily,

I.

being almost as famous as Arthur himself.

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND
Even

Cassar

is

provided by history with a sword named " Crocea mors,"

captured from him in combat by our valiant countryman Nennius.

of the Danish swords are described in the Edda as of gold, and

hilts

Beowulf speaks of

Fig.

The

i.

Hauberk,

tenth

of

hilts that

The

of the fourth or fifth century, found at Vimose, oneFrom " Danish

and part of another, full size, from Thorsberg.
Science and Art Department.

and Earl Godwin's crew had swords

metals, and

Canute's

or byrnie, of chain-mail,

the real size ;

Arts," published for the

huiscarles

were treasures of gold and jewels.

some English swords were valued

inlaid with the precious

at eighty

mancuses of gold.

origin of the remarkable veneration for arms and armour, so

apparent in the history of chivalry,

is

thus traced to wearers of mail,

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

i2
the

figures

first

also

knightly equipment.

to

appear in something like what we regard as

The

dress of

differed probably but little

Magnus

from that of

of helmet, a red shield with a golden

Barefoot, described in 1093,

his predecessors,

lion, his

sword

a battle-axe, and a coat-of-mail, over which he

with a yellow

wore

and consisted

called

Leg-biter,

a red silk tunic

lion.

The wearing of armour,

particularly mail,

on

land, necessitated riding,

and the northern rovers, finding the weight intolerable on their inland
forays,

took to horse whenever possible, harrying by

centuries landed in

and

sea,

England from France

as a

in the ninth

mounted

The

descendants after them did at Hastings.

means an

They even

extent of country otherwise almost inaccessible.

time to transport their horses over the

this

learnt in

and tenth

force, as their

English, on the other

hand, rarely wore mail, though the spoils of the Danes might have
furnished a fair supply, and they only used cavalry as a small force

An

for scouting.

English

king of the eighth century

is,

however,

represented in mail by Strutt, and Harold and his immediate companions

may have worn

and

as

mail at Hastings, as represented in the Bayeux tapestry,

he certainly did when assisting William in his war against Conan

Handsome presents of Norman arms and armour were

then made to him by Duke William.
A little later we have the
curious testimony of Anna Comnena, 1083-1146, that this mail, made
entirely of steel rings riveted together, was wholly unknown in Byzantium,

of Brittany.

and only worn by the inhabitants of Northern Europe.

The

definite conversion of the

men-at-arms when they settled

in

Northmen from

Normandy

sea-rovers to

enabled them to lengthen

their coats-of-mail, as well as their shields, lances,

adopt

wedge

many
at

French manners and customs.

mounted

But

and swords, and to

in facing the infantry

Hastings, the time-honoured fighting formation of Teutonic

stocks from the days of Tacitus, they did not disdain to

fall

back on

the old Viking tactics of a pretended flight and rally, practised already

by them during two centuries of warfare

in

England.

That the English

should have allowed their impenetrable ranks to be broken by so threadbare a stratagem

is

indeed extraordinary.

The Norman Conquest

introduced into England a permanent mail-

clad cavalry as the chief strength of the battle, as in France, and infantry


ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

was discredited until the disputes of the sons of the Conqueror led
once more to an English infantry force taking the

The

field.

mail coat

of the cavalry had in the meantime been further lengthened, and changed
into a complete sheathing of steel by the addition of long sleeves and

mufflers

and

feet

over the hands

falling
;

and

leggings covering the thighs, shins,

capuchin -like hood only leaving the eyes and nose

Thus

exposed, but which could be thrown back.

NAFTSPP

.NfrDTCB:

Fig. 2.

Norman

enveloped, with a

knights in mail hauberks

and

conical helmets.

From

the

Bayeux

Tapestry.

thickly-padded garment under the mail, a conical or flat-topped

steel

helmet, a large kite-shaped shield, and long-reaching weapons, he had

little

to fear

when opposed

mail and helmets were

Comnena adds

The
we know, but Anna

to light-armed cavalry or infantry.

always kept

bright,

that even the shields of steel

polished as to dazzle beholders.

as

and brass were so brightly

Combined with the pennons and banners

of various forms, with their glittering emblazonry, the massed menat-arms of that day must have presented a magnificent spectacle, as the
Chroniclers so frequently remind us.

but

trifling variations the

The

coat-of-mail remained with

chief knightly defence until the close of the

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

thirteenth century, and the protection

900 combatants who once entered

At Joppa

slain.

battle in steel

armour but three were

1192, during a battle lasting from the rising to the

in

setting sun, only three were killed

of Lincoln only three,

at

afforded was so complete that of

it

on the

of the Crusaders

side

at the battle

Evesham (1260) one knight and two

at

esquires,

Falkirk (1295) but one knight and thirty foot on the winning

These somewhat random examples seem

side.

fairly to represent the loss

protection was such that Saladin's bravest warriors reported our

impenetrable

blows, they said,

fell as if

on rocks of

were of iron and would yield to no blows.

and thus directed

this,

all

their

it

as the

Norman

their efforts to
at

oppressors.

Henry

I.

dismount the enemy.

At

its

use,

and we soon
shower on

In a skirmish at Bourgtheroude in 11 24,

down

fell

prisoners into the victors'

the battle of the Standard, the cloud of arrows pierced the

unarmoured

Scots,

at

and

chiefly

The

11,000.

the mailed period

contributed to the dreadful

effects

slaughter,

of missile weapons were such that

of which we are speaking saw three English kings

victims to the bow, while a fourth,

by a miracle.

Edward

I.,

escaped a like fate

The accounts handed down of the extraordinary range

and precision attained soon afterwards by

incredible in the light of

modern

this

weapon appear wholly

toxophilite displays.

The cross-bow was an even more powerful weapon, whose

use had

been forbidden in war, but allowed by the Pope to the Crusaders in

Richard

They

Hastings, and they came to

encouraged

was struck, and eighty men-at-arms soon

fall

little

discharge brought forty horses to the ground before a stroke

first

set

on

one weapon likely to render them really formidable to

the grass or as falling snow.

hands.

terrible

Anna Comnena, was

find the English arrov/s described as falling in battle like a

the

to be

Neither had the English failed to observe

had been severely galled by the bow

recognise

men

for our people

But though so

horseback, the mailed knight, as observed by

dangerous when dismounted.

flint,

on

The

the side of the victors, though terrible massacres overtook the losers.

I.

appears to have introduced

became so expert

in its use that in

it

139.

into the English army, which

some of the

sieges

conducted during the

twelfth and thirteenth centuries the enemies' walls could not be manned.
It is

related of Richard, both at the sieges of

he himself slew

men

with this weapon.

Acre and Nottingham, that

The numbers of cross-bowmen

AR MO UR IN ENGLAND
our armies appear,

in

however, to

have been always relatively small.

250 cross-bowmen, used as

The splendid army of
of the army.

King John, with 400 knights, had but

skirmishers, keeping a mile in front

Edward
20,000

assembled at Poitou (1242), numbering 1600 knights and

I.

foot,

The battle of Lincoln, however, was

their shot mowing down the horses of the
The cross-bow
helpless when dismounted.

comprised but 700.

gained by them owing to

who were

barons,

was
it

rendered

bent by the hand and foot, but was afterwards of

at first

required mechanical aids to charge

it.

The

on the head

or

by one was fortunate

breast

when

short and heavy bolts,

called quarrels, struck with greater force than arrows,

full

steel,

and the knight

if

only

hit

stunned.

Instances are recorded of twofold mail and the quilted coat being pene-

by them.

trated

weight

the

of

Cross-bowmen
the

formed corps

for a long time

weapon and the armour

King John

frequently mounted, and so early as

causing

the

d'elite,

them

mounted "

be

to

"
balistarii

were provided with one, two, or even three horses each, with carts to

Notwithstanding

carry the quarrels and even the cross-bows as well.

accuracy in

superior

England soon
weight and

aim and penetrating power,

after the close

liability to

it

fell

into disuse in

of the thirteenth century, owing to

damage by

wet, and above

all,

its

heavy

on account of the

greater rapidity with which arrows could be discharged from the long-

bow,

in a ratio of

Nothing

is

something like ten to one.

more constantly met with

in chronicles than accounts

the destructive effects of missiles, whether from

the horses of

mounted combatants

yet, apart

Wace, who mounts Fitz-Osbert on an

mention of horse -armour

first

at

all

bow

iron-clad steed at Hastings, the

connected with English history

of Gisors
is at the battle
1198, when Richard
capture of 140 sets in terms which plainly show
it

for the first time.

It

or cross-bow, upon

from the poetic fancy of

in

with

of

speaks

I.

that

he

has, however, been concluded,

of the

then met

from the

absence of any mention of horse-armour in English statutes until 1298,

that

it

was unknown here

till

the close of the thirteenth century.

time a man-at-arms in France received half

his horse
livres

was armoured, and

in

as

much

1303 every man with an

was bound to provide horse-armour.

At

this

again in pay if
estate of

500

mailed horse appears in

the effigy of Sir Robert de Shirland in Sheppey, and a fine figure of a

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

mail

completely clad in

steed

among

is

the figures of

The Painted

Chamber, published by the Society of Antiquaries.

The English custom of

on

fighting

foot,

it is

had been adopted by the Danish and even the

during the

on both

civil

wars of Henry

Stephen,

I.,

Norman settlers here, and

and Henry II., the leaders

including the kings in person, fought their battles dis-

sides,

mounted, rendering horse-armour of

almost needless to add,

relatively small importance.

permanent force was raised by a law of Henry

II.

in

1 1

compelling every burgess or freeman to possess an iron headpiece, a

and

lance,

means

this

hauberk or a gambeson, according

mail

was supplemented by the addition,

under

to

his

Henry

1253, of swords and knives to the infantry equipment, and the

up of

calling

with

and

in

III.

either

a reserve of those possessed of less than 40s.

long-handled

scythes,

Soon afterwards a

axes,

and

knives,

wild Welsh and Cornish

other

of land, armed
rustic

infantry was enrolled, and

hear of lagers and intrenchments, and in 1302 one of the

crushing defeats

men of

Bruges,

is

inflicted

who

on chivalry

weapons.

first

we

really

hands of burghers by the

at the

slew forty counts and barons at Cambray.

This extensive arming of the population led to the formation of bands

of outlaws,

who

devastated the country, something in the manner of the

free-companies of France at a later time.

declining

to

acknowledge Lewis of France

young man named William,

in

12 16, drew together a

bowmen and conducted a guerilla warfare in the forests of

Sussex.
The still more renowned Adam Gordon infested the woody
country between Wilts and Hants until Prince Edward at last, about
The ancient Ballads abound with
1267, overcame him in single combat.
thousand

instances of such exploits,

which are embodied

in the

romance of Robin

Hood.

contemporary of Richard

I.

describes the

equipment of an English

foot-soldier as consisting of an iron headpiece, a coif

and " a

tissue

worked with

of

many

and coat-of-mail,

folds of linen, difficult of penetration

the needle, vulgarly called a pourpoint."

and

He

artificially

was taught

to receive cavalry with the right knee on the ground, the left leg bent,
the shield in the left hand and the butt of the lance in the
the point to the enemy.

Between every two lances was

with a rear rank to load while the front shot.

ground with

cross-bowman

Against this formation

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND
the

Moslem

cavalry's " surging charges

our heavy -armed horse.

employed against

forces

On

the other hand, the same tactics,

composed of English

largely

Fig.

complete
in

2.

foamed themselves away," and

as

Waterloo, the retreating squadrons were charged again and again by

at

1.

suit of mail,

with coif and mufflers,

late

archers,

when
were

3.

twelfth century, said to have been found in a coffin

Goring Church.

thirteenth-century suit, with reinforcing plates, said to have been found with the other.

unsuccessful; thus the

with

Welsh

in

1295

set their

long spears on the ground

points towards the cavalry, but the Earl of

archer between every

two horsemen and routed them.

pikemen, three years

later,

engines, and routed

Warwick

placed an

Wallace's massed

were broken by Edward's archers and military

by the men-at-arms, who dashed into the openings.

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

It

does not appear that any special study of mail has been undertaken,

many

or that any good collection of mail has been formed, nor have the

been

varieties

order

the

in

which they

in

Materials for such a study exist, though not very abundantly,

appeared.
in the

chronologically

arranged

Tower, the

Castle, the
collections,

Museum,

British

Woolwich and Dover

the collection at

Armourers' Hall, Warwick Castle, Parham, and in other private

and from these and the

effigies

of mailed knights

it

can be

seen that an almost endless variety exists, not only in the sizes of the

which vary from ^ to \ of an inch in diameter, but in the sections

of the wire used, which may be round, flat, triangular, trapeziform,
links,

Nor

quadrate, polygonal, etc.

closing the rings,

is

method of

there less diversity in the

which was accomplished either by welding, single or

double riveting, with a flattening and more or

soldering or merely butting.

less

Again, there are

overlapping of the links,

many ways of

arranging

the links, producing mail of very different weights, either double or single,
as well as

mail in which certain parts are stronger than the

European mail four

though

links are usually

not an invariable rule.

this is

In

rest.

made to pass through a centre one,

The statement in Beckman's History

of Inventions, that wire-drawing was invented in the fourteenth century,

was held for

a long time to furnish a safe date, but

two Corporations of

wire-drawers occur in Etienne Boileau's Paris Livres des Mestiers, in the

middle of the thirteenth century, and the

The

antiquity.

mail,

we

read,

not appear to have presented

art is actually

was kept bright by

much

of

unknown

barreling, but does

scope for decoration.

The Edda

speaks of a byrnie of gold, and there are other allusions to gilded mail,

and we

find

hauberks scalloped

at the extremities,

and finished

off"

with

rings of brass.

Two

suits

of mail

(see

Fig.

3),

illustrated

the loan collection of Ironmongers' Hall in

of Mr.

J.

now

the

catalogue

in the possession

The

description of

Their authenticity has therefore been

them printed

in

1861 was to the

that they had been found in a chest or in a vault of a church in

shire.

of

E. Gardner, F.S.A., are formed of unriveted links, the ends

of the rings being merely butted.

questioned.

1861,

in

In the manuscript catalogue of the collection at

Parham

effect

Oxfordis

a note

to the effect that they were found in stone coffins built in the wall of

the church at Goring, Berks, supposed to be coffins of the Beche or


ARMOUR IN ENGLAND
De Beche

family, and contained skeletons, a third

destroyed except the hood, which

may

is

now

However

Parham.

at

having been

suit

good representation of the mailed

be, the larger suit affords a

this

figure

of the end of the twelfth, and the small one of that of the thirteenth

The

century, with reinforcing pieces of plate.

possibility of their

having

been made for lying in state or funerals deserves perhaps a passing note,
especially in

view of their respective dimensions

very questionable whether the prices paid

munerated the labour of producing

size

was found

in

Mail

Fig. 4.

Fig.

Mail

Fig. 6.

earlier

Mail

5.

showed

it

Henry

it

the effigy of

any case
re-

John

to have been buried not

with leather thong.

by Fair Rosamond,

II.

coif, round-topped,

coif, conical top,

who

Hatfield Broad-Oak Church.

with coronet and mantelet.

Westminster Abbey.

of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall, died 1334.

than the middle

of the

Salisbury Cathedral.

died 1227.

with jewelled fillet.

the effigy of Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, died 1221.

From

in

Another hauberk of large

forgeries.

coif, flat-topped,

the effigy of William Longespee, son of

From

is

it

them would have

Phoenix Park, Dublin, thirty years ago, but a silver

badge of an O'Neil found with

From

and

for

fifteenth

century.

In

the

century the curious and well-known banded mail appears on

other representations, which

Mr.

J.

thirteenth
effigies

G. Waller, F.S.A., regards as caused

by the passing of a leather thong through each alternate row of

for the sake of extra strength.

and

This variety

may have

rings,

originated with

the single thong passed through the links of the coif over the forehead

and below the knee, seen

in early effigies like that

of William Longespee

(Fig. 4) at Salisbury.

The
the

defence of the body was for a time wholly

underlying gambeson, and

the

shield,

but

left

the

to the mail with

head had

always

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

20

received the additional protection of a cap of steel, called the chapelle-

worn

de-fer,
first

under or over the coif of mail.

indifferently

show

half of the thirteenth century

The

(Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7).

Effigies of the

both round and

it

flat at

the top

nasal piece associated, with the conical

helm

(Fig. 2) of the eleventh century tended to disappear in the twelfth.

The
abandon
rely

English

that

fact

arbalisters

moment of

is

sisted

battle.

It

to

which he brought into the

by Richard himself, of the great

led to the introduction, probably

steel

made

were

weapons, and the presence

as their chief

of the large bodies of archers and

heaume worn over the

I.

and to engage on horseback, and to

their ancient formation

on the battle-axe and mace

field,

under Richard

armies

cap and padding, and only put on at the

first

seen on Richard's second seal, and con-

of a cylinder, usually flat-topped, with two horizontal

clefts for

vision,

and strengthened by bands crossing each other over the

top.

Breathing-holes were added towards the middle of the century,

and the grated front was introduced soon

is

seen in the

vantail,

first

hinged

Henry

at the side, in his

Tower weighs

in the

of

seal

13

lb.

second
but

An

seal.

till

it

regarded by Lord Dillon, the

is

with a round top, though the

About 1270 we some-

it off,

by a chain.
giving

flat

and more

fixing

air,

Hastings,

his death.

already were on the shield

fell

with

being secured

less

Recognition,

and of

first

and so

stunning

effect.

to raise his helmet to

now become

impossible,

painted on the helm, as they

crests, first in

on the second

seal

distinctive crests

and badges.

The Crusading

brilliant

securely,

face, intensified a difficulty already

feather shape, as

were

more

it

when Duke William was obliged

rumour of

led to the use of heraldic badges, at

crests

to seize

top to a cone, on which blows

contradict a

its

made

from the head to the shoulders, and changing

These heaumes, by concealing the

felt at

attempts

further changes seen were improvements in the visor,

vision

transferring the weight

the

The

so often noticed by Chroniclers, led to

The

better

top did not go quite out

flat

the beginning of the fourteenth century.

and drag

This

air.

oft-described specimen

present Curator of the Armouries, as a forgery.

times find

and

and another advance, the movable

III.,

oz.,

admit more

after, to

face

of Richard

I.,

the fan or peacock's

and afterwards to more

Chroniclers relate that the

with jewels, and they are represented as circled by

coronets in the seals of

Henry

III.

and

his

son Edward.

The heaume of


ARMOUR IN ENGLAND
St.

Louis, 1249, was gilded.

after his marriage

inlaid

Richard himself, in gala

with Berengaria,

Damascus sword with gold

21

hilt

is

dress,

on the day

described by Vinsauf as wearing a

and silver-scaled scabbard,

with precious stones, his horse

bitted with gold,

his

saddle

and in place

of the high defensive plates before and behind in general use two

little

golden lions with raised paws.

Fig. 7.

Next

to

Helmet of bronze and

the

iron,

from County Down.

Twelfth century.

headpiece the most urgent necessity was to protect

the breast against the direct shock of the lance, and for this a rigid

defence was of the utmost importance.

Thus

a beginning

was made

even during the mail period towards the introduction of plate-armour.

Jazerant and scale armour of small plates had been adopted to this end by

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

22

the Franks, and Charlemagne had

introduced

the

breastplate.

classic

Something of the kind was perhaps even known to the Viking, and

by the twelfth century Scandinavians

certainly used a defence called a

briostbiorg

beneath the mail, extending from the neck to the waist.

Chroniclers

allude

shining

to

slightest appearance of

in illustrations,

worn over the armour

surcoats were
is

them

Allusion

beneath.

made

often

is

long

breastplates

before

the

is

though from the time that

becomes

it

there

to see

difficult

to a plastron-de-fer

and

what

in the

combat between Richard, when Earl of Poitou, and William des Barres

we

worn over the

read that an iron defence was

effigies

Temple Church

in the

of single plates united by

Henry

III.,

breastplates

400

in 1277,

the

equipped with a back and breast plate

is

straps.

It

300 cavalry

bodyguard of

stated that the

is

strong, which fled at the battle of

and

One of

breast.

Lewes

armed were

so

1244, wore

in

sent to Wales.

Following the head and breast, the limbs received protection from
plate-armour, the knees and shins of mounted men-at-arms being peculiarly

exposed to injury in melees with infantry, from blows of the two-handed

battle-axe

and mace.

Additional security was absolutely essential against

these weapons, which were introduced both for horse and foot by Richard
I.,

and had grown

Irish

favour ever

in

mail, the

axe in particular being reputed to cut off limbs in spite of

The

protection.

Scandinavians,

had provided themselves

with

however, show no special defence

Salisbury, attributed

keen military

Our

mail.

the

for

its

instincts,

with knee-caps of iron

mailed

earlier

knee, though

effigies,

one

the

at

by Stothard to William Longespee, already noticed,

has a stout thong passing between

effigy

their

in the twelfth century

worn over the

attached to overalls

The

These even penetrated

since.

the

links of mail just

of Robert of Normandy, of which there

is

under

it.

a cast in the

National Portrait Gallery, shows a thick overall under the chausses of

mail, and

drawn over the mail chaussons

and a similar appearance

is

seen in the

at the

knee (Fig.

8,

seal

of Richard

I.

first

sleeping guards of the Easter Sepulchre at Lincoln (Fig. 9)

monuments of

the same date.

of Pembroke,

in the

in Stothard's

thick cap

is

1),

in the

and other

In the effigy attributed to William, Earl

Temple, who died

drawing of the

No.

effigy at

in

1289 (Fig.

8,

No.

2),

and

Whitworth, an appearance of a

also to be seen, perhaps the extremity

of a padded overall


ARMOUR IN ENGLAND
overlapping the knee
leg-defence

is

clearly seen

De

the case of

and

The

No.

called

effigy,

No.

it

has the interesting addition

3), apparently

the second

Longespee,

of iron, over the kneeat

Salisbury

(Fig.

8,

Illustration

of the development of plate-armour.

The gambeson appearing below the chausses, but covering the chaussons of mail, forming an extra protection
From the effigy of Robert of Normandy.
to the knee.

The

same, but apparently with an extra applied cap.

the

3.

8,

1221,

by the overlapping of the chausses and chaussons, with

Fig. 8.

2.

died

in

4), about 1260, exhibits an apparently double thickness of mail at

this point, caused

1.

examples the thick quilted gambeson

below the mail, covering the knee, and

who

Vere,

of an octagonal plate (Fig.

cap.

in other

23

The

quilted

The

5.

From

the effigy of Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford.

chausses and chaussons overlapping, forming a double thickness of mail, with the addition of a quatrefoil plate

over the knee-cap.

From

the effigy attributed to the second Longespee at Salisbury.

ridged knee-defence of cuir-bouilli or plate enveloping the knee, over the mail.

Robert Ros

in the

Aymer

de Valence.

the effigy of

Westminster Abbey.

Globose knee-cap of

7.

Decorated knee-defence from an effigy

8.

Cross-ridged knee-defence from an effigy of Robert de Bois.

addition

From

Temple.

6.

the

the effigy ascribed to one of the Pembrokes in

gambeson appearing below the chausses and drawn over the chaussons, with the additional pro-

tection for the knee-cap of an octagonal plate.

4.

From

Temple Church.

of a

in

circular

temporary Chroniclers

also

Whatton Church.

plate

with

quatrefoil

upon

it.

Con-

mention that greaves were worn by knights

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

24
in

the time of Richard

though the

I.,

earliest

manuscript illustration

of them occurs in Matthew of Paris's Lives of the Offas.

The

feet

were cased in mail, and the spurs were simple straight spikes

perhaps worn on one heel only and called the prick-spur.

or goads,

Under

the early Plantagenets the point was fixed on a ball, while the rowel

spur

seen in the

is

Under
definitely

monument

to

heroic Richard

the

Le

Botiler of the reign of

triumphed over those of attack.

Henry

III.

of defence seem to have

powers

the

Knights sheathed

in mail over

quilted work, and wearing the great battle-helm, appeared invulnerable

and able to encounter the most fearful odds, and even to rescue each other

when dismounted amidst swarming enemies.

The

further changes during

the mailed period were in the direction of military display, which has

always offered an attractive

armament was

relieved through the

satisfying the wearer,

defensive equipment for the time

soldier,

warrior's personal embellishments, partly to

gratify the wearer's vanity, partly to captivate

The

and awe the enemy.

affright

the pressure for improved

whether a naked savage or well-equipped

was turned to the

attention

Whenever

field.

fact

and dazzle, but

that the

wore the same armour and equipment, and the

chiefly to

French and English

common

occurrence of

internecine wars at this time, rendered distinguishing costumes particularly

By. simply throwing away their cognisance at the battle of

necessary.

Noyon, Peter de Maule and others escaped recognition and mingled

with the pursuers, while Ralph de Courci mistook the French for his

own

side

crosses

and was taken prisoner.

sewn to the garments of the French, English, and Flemish Crusaders

served to distinguish them,

party

Nothing but the different-coloured

of Simon

de

and white crosses alone distinguished the

Montfort,

approaching to any uniform

is

of Gloucester traversed France

equipped

all

alike,

with

new

1264,

from

their

enemies.

Nothing

heard of in this age, unless when Richard

in

1250, with a retinue of forty knights

harness glittering with gold, on his visit to

the Pope.

The

beautifully -sculptured guards of the

early fourteenth century

Easter Sepulchre in Lincoln Cathedral (Fig.

9) present fine examples
of the costume of the knight armed with the mace, sword, and shield

towards the end of the mailed period.

the right

is

particularly noteworthy.

The

bassinet on the figure

to

"

<3

Ill

From about

The Transition Period

Richard

The

warrior sheathed in mail,

alone or in troops over

The

hill

gray burnished

that of

I. to

1272-1399

mounted on

his charger,

whether pricking

and dale, was a picturesque and portentous

and when massed for

figure,

II.

Reign of Edward

the

presented an awe-inspiring sight.

battle

steel, glittering

relieved by the fluttering pennons

in the sun or

under lowering

and banners and emblazoned

skies,

shields,

formed a picture that the old Crusading Chroniclers loved to dwell on,
filling

the imagination with those great

Europe.

In the days of the

last

gatherings of the chivalry of

of the Paladins, of Godfrey de Bouillon

and Richard Coeur de Lion, the dress of burnished mail was the knight's
especial pride,

and no garment concealed

change are universal, and the mail

John and

his son

Henry, concealing

But

as progress

and love of

could not well be embellished, an

itself

embroidered surcoat was worn over

it.

in the

it

all

more degenerate days of

but the limbs and head.

garment became the vehicle for distinguishing marks and colours,

modern
it

racing-jacket.

little

later,

when emblazoned with

The

served to distinguish the individual.

under to over the mail gave

rise to

This

like the

heraldry,

transfer of the surcoat

from

the custom of concealing the steel

panoply under rich materials, which distinguished the Transition Period

in armour.

While

it

lasted

we

literally

" iron hand under the velvet glove."

one coat of defence upon another,

immunity
are

now

for

life

to treat.

and constantly meet with the

This and the continual piling of

in

and limb, are the chief

the fruitless attempt to secure

characteristics

of the period we

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

28

Until the Transition, the mounted knight, cap-a-pied in mail over

the quilted gambeson, with the steel cap, and the great helm for the

supreme moment of combat, seemed completely invulnerable unless to

missile
battle

Few men-at-arms

weapons mechanically projected.

on the winning

fell

in actual

and great slaughters were only consequent on

side,

Under

the complete rout of one of the parties.

Edward

the warlike

I.

the powers of attack must have gathered renewed force, for a long period

of tentative changes

set in

which

finally

ended

completely hidden beneath an outer shell of

of

weapons must

steel for offensive

in the suit

The

steel plates.

also at this

of mail being
qualities

same time have undergone

marked improvements, and we now begin to hear of

manufacture attaining world-wide celebrity.

definite seats

of

Cologne, Lorraine, Poitou

produced weapons which are said to have pierced mail and quilted armour

The heavy blows

with ease.

by horse and

given by the battle-axe and mace, used

must, however, have been chiefly instrumental

foot,

These were by no means

introducing extra means of defence.

in

at first

universally of steel, for cuir-bouilli or boiled leather, a very impervious

when properly

substance

for general use

and

trial

prepared, seemed at one time likely to rival

it

was made of every other kind of material that

could be used for defence, such as horn, whalebone, ivory, padded wool,
leather, either alone or strengthened

and small plates of iron fixed to

with metal studs or

textiles.

It is

almost certain that for a

time the moulded surface of cuir-bouilli, with

coloured surfaces, was preferred to

steel.

gilded and perhaps

its

During

this tentative period

every combination of these materials with chain-mail

and the triumph of

possible substitute,

steel-plate

combined

armour only became

in

home

that any

armour pictured with enriched designs

or abroad and found wanting.

would be impossible within the

interest, to

even long after the Transition,

in precisely the
it

tion in the

to be

met with,

definite after every

It

is

at least

at this

limits of this

improbable

date was of

steel.

work, and of

little

endeavour to describe the constant changes, often due to

individual caprice, that occur

piece as

is

every practicable way, had been tried

either at

It

splints, brass,

same manner.

successively appears

for

when groups of soldiery

it is

We

rare to find

may

are represented,

two individuals accoutred

rest assured,

however, that each

was introduced to meet some new perfec-

weapons of attack, or to cope with some new

tactics, in short,

^fe?-*W

Pi ate

II.

Second

suit

of No. 19 in the

of Sir Henry Lee, master of the armoury, reduced fac -simile

Armourers Album, in the South Kensington Museum.


ARMOUR IN ENGLAND
to protect

armed

some part

strife to

that had been proved

by the

29

practical experience of

These additions were naturally subject to

be vulnerable.

modification, according to the passing dictates of military display, or the

changing fashions of
Fig. 10

is

civilian dress.

taken from one of the English MSS. most valuable for the

The armour

knightly costume of the Transition.

mail, of the

entirely

banded

hardly ever emblazoned.

variety,

worn beneath

Plate-armour

caps, with an occasional roundel

is

in this

MS. almost

a surcoat,

which

is

only represented by the knee-

is

The

and shoulder-plate.

great helm,

always with a fan-crest, the chapelle-de-fer worn beneath or above the

Melee.

Fie. 10.

From the early fourteenth - century English MS. known

Museum. The combatants are in banded mail and
fan-crests.

Ailettes and

as

Queen Mary's

Psalter, 2

B.

vii.,

in the

British

long surcoats, and some wear the great helms with

knee-caps are the only plate-armour

visible.

Some

of the horses have

long

housings and also bear the fan-crest.

mail

coifTe,

bassinet, often visored,

the

and the broad-brimmed round

helmet are worn, except in jousts, quite indifferently.

The

head, being the most vulnerable part of the body and the most

difficult to protect, received the greatest

amount of

attention.

The

great

helm, with bands and cross-cuts for the sight, continued in use throughout the Transition, but with a sugar
insupportable

in

the reign of

from the head to the shoulders.

Edward
It

loaf crown,
I.

and rendered

less

by transferring the weight

was occasionally of brass

Chaucer

mentions the knight's " helm of latoun bright," a metal used so far back as

Henry

I.

and

much more

frequently of cuir-bouilli, as in the tourna-

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

30

ment

at

Windsor

in 1278,

when twelve of

There can be no doubt, how-

gilded helms, and were called digniores.

ever, that a

To

helm of Poitou

steel

the thirty-eight knights had

was even then the

surest defence.

we

the custom of hanging arms in churches

the preservation of

all

are indebted

The

the most valuable historic pieces.

first

for

record

of this poetic usage occurs early in the thirteenth century, when William

of Toulouse hung his helm and splendid shield over

bow and

Brives, and his lance and sword,

at

middle of the century

died, to

hang

it

had become the

By

The helm of

his

tomb

helm (Fig.

12), in

above the tomb of

who

Sir

more

we

is

are enabled to present an even

visible,

is

inside.

to

cut

the

is

surcoat.

is

a real

war helm,

lance that

polished surface.

its

practical detail,

The
which

is

Armour

fitted to resist

might unhorse

the visorless bassinet

its

the

is

head.

thus

efficiently

details

given

by Baron

and to

wearer.

strike fire

The

conical

When worn
that

least

under the shock of a

helm was worn over

next described, as the previous helms had been

rarely represented

impossible, so

thickened

exhibited at the Royal Archaeo-

worn over the chapel le-de-fer, and being only donned

danger,

down

is

metal

1880, show conclusively that this specimen at

logical Institute in

steely

rolled inwards over a thick wire, so as

These and other

de Cosson in the Catalogue of

its fine

and these are joined by

Every

outwards round the eye-piece,

guarded, and the bottom edge

Its admirable

the cone, the cylinder, and the top-piece,

on the

nails clinched

would scratch

to the minutest, has received careful attention.

not

which formerly hung

by Baron de Cosson,

fully described

welded so beautifully that no seam

turned

all.

Richard Pembridge, K.G., in Hereford Cathedral,

formed of three pieces

round-headed

and

it

after the

an illustration familiar to

perfect preservation,

quality being such that no penknife

is

and

suspended

still

died one year before the Prince of Wales, in 1375.

workmanship has been

It

the Black Prince,

Canterbury (Fig. 11),

at

the kindness of Sir Noel Paton

finer

his grave,

of Cassel in 1328, that the victor in some cases presented his arms

to the nearest church.

above

a brave knight

King of France

appears in addition, from the instance of the

battle

when

practice,

and helm on the walls above

his shield

tomb
By the

Julien's

St.

quiver, outside.

in

the

moulded

monuments, except
face
crest

was

invisible

in the

as a

and

hour of

pillow under
recognition

of linen, leather, or some light

Fig.

I.

The helm and

crest

of the Black Prince, with

Canterbury Cathedral

his shield,

from

his

monument

in


ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

32

surmounted

material

became

and

it

mantling was also introduced, at

its

first in

most important

seen in the effigy of the Black Prince (Fig. 16), but later of

shredded

dimensions, fantastically

When

battle.

for

the taste

to

and

mantles

military display increased, these

worn over or

in place

wide-rimmed helm

is

of the bassinet, and jewelled

This form reappears continually,

crested.

more ample

represent the supposed rents of

were usually of scarlet lined with ermine.

often represented as

feature.

the simple form of a puggaree, as

its

introduction

first

dating so far back as the Bayeux tapestry.

The

bassinet, used with or

Edward

period of favour from

Fig.

12.

The

bridge,

helm

K.G.,

Cathedra/.

I.

of Richard Pern-

from

to

it,

worn with

outset merely a skull-cap,

from

the

from the

tomb of Sir John

by

Baron de Cosson.

the hood of mail, in having the mail

was laced to a

fell
it

differed

de Melsa, Aldborough Church, Holderness.

instead of passing over or under

edges of the bassinet and

like a curtain

series

it.

This mail, now

of staples along the

on to the shoulders.

was gradually prolonged

so as to leave only the face exposed.

Early

at the

At

the

back and sides

in the fourteenth

century

appearance was profoundly modified by the addition of a movable

visor, at first

hinged

at the side,

from above the forehead.

worn

No

Bassinet

It

From a photograph

called the camail or gorget,

its

Henry VI.

Fig. 13.

Hereford

Sir Noel Paton.

older chapelle-de-fer

hung round

without the helm, enjoyed a prolonged

in action,

and

helm was worn

battle

is

but subsequently raised and lowered

Being readily removed, the visor was only

thus rarely represented in

over the

visored

bassinet,

effigies

and

which

became

brasses.

the

head-piece of the fourteenth century and part of the fifteenth,


ARMOUR IN ENGLAND
the

helm being reserved

for jousts

and tournaments.

by the kindness of Baron de Cosson, to give an

of a
in

real

of large

bassinet

size,

It is

are

Sir

able,

13)

John de Melsa

described in the Catalogue of

bassinet transformed into a sallad in the fifteenth century.

From Sir Noel Paton's

Arms

We

illustration (Fig.

from the tomb of

Aldborough Church, Holderness.

Fig. 14.

33

collection.

already referred to as of the second half of the fourteenth century,

and was worn with a large

visor.

second bassinet

is

illustrated (Fig.

14) from Sir Noel Paton's collection, described by Baron de Cosson as

transformed into a sallad about the middle

Fine bassinets are in the

Tower and

Christy, and Wallace collections,

all

at

of the fifteenth century.

Woolwich, and

in the Burgess,

happily belonging to the nation, and

c

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

34
in

Warwick

with

Castle and at Parham,

English

none are directly connected

but

The beaked

wearers.

represented

visor,

manuscripts of about the close of the fourteenth century,

There

and not unpicturesque form.

Musee

d'Artillerie in Paris,

The

surface of plain

of the knight's armour, did not necessarily

burnished

1322, and of Dover Castle, 1344

It

steel.

was frequently covered

Simon Burley's inventory, 1388,

one

a bequest of

William Langford,

41

made

in the

Effigies

made

is

in

was

In

a headpiece covered with red

is

King of France

for the

It

by his father-in-law in 1334.

I.

of the decorations bestowed on these helmets

account of one

cuir-bouilli,

as prizes for tourneys, or like

and actual specimens so covered are not unknown.

velvet,

de Bohun,

coloured white and green.

is

Edward

One of

leather.

and even of pure gold,

with gems, sent to

set

Humphrey

while the King of France at one time

his bassinet covered with white

also tinned or gilded,

many

are regarded as English.

with leather, as mentioned in the inventories of

wore

so

in

a fine defensive

examples in the

are several real

two of which

bassinet, like the rest

exhibit

is

shown
in

The

richness

in the goldsmith's

1352, and of another

same year for the Dauphin with a band of forty large

and brasses show that coronets and jewelled

fillets

pearls.

commonly

adorned them, even in the case of simple knights, and that these are not
imaginary decorations

King of

that the

bassinet enriched with

Warwick,

in the

may

Castille

be gathered from Froissart,

actually entered

20,000

Romance,

is

francs'

battle

in

worth of gems.

who mentions
1385 with
Sir

given a helmet adorned with a

his

Guy of
circle

of

gold set with most precious stones.

Some

John Chandos and the Earl of

notable champions, like Sir

Warwick, prided themselves on

a disregard

of danger and habitually

fought without a visor, yet the tendency to close every crevice with plate
defences developed continuously, and the frequent accidents at tourneys,

when

the lance-point glanced

camail, led to
scales,

upward and entered the throat under the

the introduction, about

1330, of a gorget of plate or

which with the visor converted the bassinet into a closed helmet.

The

defence of the breast was always considered next in importance

to the head, and fourteenth-century inventories constantly refer to " pairs

of plates large," perhaps like those

fer,

till

recently

cors d'acier, brust plate pour justes,

worn

in Persia, corsets

and other defences of

de

plate.

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND
Chaucer

writes,

breastplate

"

Some would be armed

The

and a gypoun."

35

an haubergeon, a bright

in

globose form given to the chests of

such as that of the Black Prince, seems to imply the presence

effigies,

of a rigid defence under the emblazoned surcoat.

The
second

limbs began to be definitely protected over the mail in the

of

half

illustrations

the

century.

thirteenth

manuscript

and

Effigies

of that date commonly represent globose knee-caps, some-

down

times ridged

the

front,

and usually

In

gilt.

the

fourteenth

century they are always present and frequently treated very decoratively,

with shields, roundels, scalloped edges,

these appendages

is

The

etc.

technical

" Genouilliere," or " knee-cap."

name

for

Subsidiary plates

Fig. 15.
a ridged bassinet with banded camail,

1.

Example of

2.

Combed and

jewelled bassinet from the effigy in

from the

brass of Sir

Ash Church,

John d'Abernon,
same date.

died 1327.

of about the

often appear below the knee, and sometimes above

and are continued

it,

under the mail.

The

greave was a rigid gaiter fitting at

first

only over the front of

the leg below the knee, but afterwards enveloping

of metal or cuir-bouilli.

monuments

it

When

it

and

it

was either

seen on English fourteenth -century

usually seems to be of steel fitting closely over the mail,

and laced or buckled

at the back,

to suggest cuir-bouilli.

but at times

it is

so richly decorated as

Greaves are usually omitted on early monuments,

and are only commonly seen when they had become an integral part of
the suit of armour.
battle,

As

yet they were not habitually

and knights were not

at

this

worn except

time represented in their

accoutred for war, but in ordinary military costume.

Thus

in

effigies

the effigy

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

36
of

Aymer de

Valence shows no plate armour, except the genouilliere

but the two mounted figures of the canopy present the visored bassinet,

arm and elbow

the high gorget, the

steel sollerets for

representations, and

appearance in the
It

The

the feet.

introduction

its

field

tubular greaves and

the

plates,

tubular leg defence

may

not seen in earlier

is

coincide with the

first

recorded

of large bodies of Welsh armed with long knives.

was usually hinged and buckled, and becomes more general

century advances.

who

This appears

in the inventory

of Piers Gaveston,

3,

Monstrelet relates that the

possessed three pairs of such greaves.

bailiff"

as the

of Evreux, sallying out without his greaves, had his leg badly

broken by the kick of a horse.

Defences of plate armour for the feet are called
first,

if

somewhat

the canopy of the

sollerets,

and are

the small equestrian figure on

indistinctly, visible in

tomb of Edmund Crouchback, Earl of

Lancaster, in

Westminster Abbey, the mail not being continued over the front of the
feet as in the older effigies.

One of

the small equestrian figures of the

tomb of Aymer de Valence has

adjoining

the feet, though mutilated,

distinctly covered with small rectangular plates, arranged longitudinally

in continuation of the greaves.

of the second quarter of the

fastened

across

D'Abernon and other

fourteenth century laminar

Other

the upper part of the foot.

scaled sollerets of the

sollerets

In the

of laminar

De Cheney
plates,

brass,

375

the

De

for the

with the whole foot visible incased in plate, as

are

made each of one

are

varieties are

the

and one large plate over the instep;

John of Eltham, 1334, we seem

the rest of the century.

plates

Sulney brass, with

Littlebury effigy, with longitudinal plates like those of

the effigy of

brasses

In the

piece like

it

De

first

Valence.

the

In

time to meet

continued to be during

Warwick collection a pair of sollerets

sabots.
The long curved sollerets with

pointed toes of the second half of the fourteenth century are called
Polaine, and differ slightly

pouleynes or poulaines, from the souliers a

la

from those known

by Richard

There
five

are

two

fine

as Cracowes, introduced

pointed sollerets

at

II.

Warwick, one measuring twenty-

inches from toe to heel, or with the spur thirty

inches.

from Bohemia.

-two and

half

Another beautifully-made one attached to leg armour has the

plates scalloped along

Henry VI.

the edges, and

is

attributed to

Edward, son of

Si

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND
The

gilt

39

spur was the honorific and distinguishing badge of the

knight, and was put on in the ceremony of investiture, and hacked off

by the king's cook

of

spoil

gilt

if the

spurs

An immense

knight was formally degraded.

to the victors after the battle of Courtrai.

fell

Both

the goad and rowel forms were in use throughout the century, and

knights habitually dismounted to

they were taken

fight,

off.

when

Froissart

mentions instances where they were fixed in the ground like caltrops.

The

Henry VI. 's time must have

extravagantly long, rowelled spurs of

been peculiarly inconvenient.

No

great time could well have elapsed before similar defences of plate

were found necessary to protect the shoulders and elbows, which were

The

scarcely less vulnerable than the legs.

rarely visible in illustrations

The

surcoat.

and

effigies,

arm-defence

earliest

is

shoulder-pieces, however, are

being

in the

much

concealed by the

form of an elbow-guard, and

appears in the effigy at Salisbury, date about 1260, consisting of one

Elbow-guards are more commonly seen

cupped rosette over another.

the second quarter of the fourteenth century,

and

discs, or

both combined, the

De

trian figures of the

one case

gilt

when they

consist of cups

latter occasionally spiked.

The

eques-

Valence monument, already mentioned, show in

on the shoulders and elbows, and

rosettes

in

forearms sheathed in plate.

John of Eltham, 1334, has

elbow, with articulated plates beneath.

in the other the

a roundel

on the

In the Ifield effigy the arms are

shown by Stothard completely sheathed, and with shoulder and elbow

roundels bearing embossed lions' heads.
Plain roundels, rosettes, shells,
or lion masks were

worn on the

The

between 1320 and 1350.

as

ailettes,

epaulettes,

present day.

picturesque

objects

of

many

singular and exaggerated plates

known

which rose above the shoulders

like

were as useless apparently as the shoulder -knots of the

They

first

appear on the scene in the Windsor tournament,

1278, and disappear in the

are

shoulders, and articulated plates are seen

first

quarter of the fourteenth century.

They

shapes and sizes, and are well seen in our illustration (Fig. 10)

from Queen Mary's

Monuments, as well

Psalter, in

as in

many

an elegant brass in Weaver's Funeral

others,

and

in several stained-glass

windows.

Usually they bear the armorial bearings of the owner, though those of
Piers Gaveston, 131

1,

were " frettez de perles."

Mail gloves continued to be worn, though with divided

fingers,

during

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

4o
the

is

Edward

The

part of the fourteenth century.

first

change

that

first

effigy to

Gloves of leather were sometimes worn between

II.

show any

of a Whatton, engraved by Stothard, of the time of

1

1 1

and

1360, as well as others of whalebone, metal studs and splintwork, iron scales

and

brass.

Plate-armour gauntlets

appear towards the middle of the

first

century with articulated fingers and a broad plate for the back of the

hand and wrist

whilst a steel cuff, sometimes articulated, was shortly

They

afterwards added.

are at times spiked, or with gads like knuckle-

and frequently richly jewelled.

dusters, as in the case of the Black Prince,

Thomas Cawne, of
The
the time of Edward III., is reproduced from Stothard's drawing.
of
monument
the
Earl
of
Westmoreland,
of
the
first
other is from the
Gauntlets are constantly represented as gilt in
years of Henry VI.
The

jewelled example given from the effigy of Sir

MSS. of these

The

periods.

knight's dress for war

civilian underclothing,

quilted

Thopas

material,

now

consisted, in addition to

of a more or

less

complete

sometimes called the haketon,

Next

his shert

over that an habergeon,

And

over that a

Was

all

is

fin

hauberk

y wrought of Jeweswork,

Ful strong

The habergeon

it

was of

plate

over that his cote-armoure.

the mail in this case, and the hauberk

or splint armour, while the cote-armoure

padded, as in the

still

-existing surcoat of the Black

knee and wrist underlying the mail, while the

overlies

it,

and the surcoat

is

worn over

is

of plate

the surcoat, possibly thickly

is

Prince.

mutilated effigy at Sandwich the thick quilted gambeson

at the

Chaucer's Sir

in

an haketon

And

And

of gambeson or

suit
as

any ordinary

The

all.

is

fine

In the

distinctly seen

hauberk of plate

effigy at

Ash shows

the

plate armour, under the surcoat, fashioned in the curious armadillo-like

Jazerant or brigandine form, with an upper gambeson under

as the usual second

defences were
the

worn

D'Abernon

gambeson under the

at this

time

brass, 1327,

is

mail.

That two

supported by the

and the

Ifield

De

it,

as well

separate quilted

Crell brass, 1325,

and John of Eltham

brasses,

E *
>

Plate

III.

fr*i~

Christopher Hatton, Captain of the Guard, and subsequently

fac-simile of No. 15 in the Armourer's Album
in the South Kensington Museum.

First suit of Sir

Lord Chancellor.

'Zv^ftafir*

Reduced


ARMOUR IN ENGLAND
The

1334.

4i

colours of these various garments, the edges of which were

allowed to show one above the other, were no doubt effectively contrasted,
while the edges of the mail, as

we have

seen,

were pinked, vandyked,

or scalloped and gilt or finished with brass rings, while the plate-armour
finishes

most commonly

in

fringe-like arrangement of small vertical

plates.

The

splendid glitter of polished

so associated in our

steel,

with the knight in armour, appealed scarcely

Transition age.

In

fact,

minds

at all to its wearers in this

no decided preference can be discovered even

for the defensive qualities of steel,

and

this constitutes

perhaps the most

Fig. 17.
1,

Gauntlet from the effigy of Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmoreland,

of

2.

Thomas Cawne, Ightham Church, Kent.

Gauntlet from the effigy of Sir

marked
was

peculiarity of the age.

kept

bright

and

nothing to conceal

bare,

Durham.

Time

no mention of

steel

Time

of

Edward

III.

In the halcyon days of mail, the steel

the

helm

and

brilliancy but a coronet

its

which merely enhanced the

is

Staindrop Church,

in

Henry VI.

effect.

But

forming part of the

in

shield

burnished,

with

and the rich sword-belts

Chaucer's Sir Thopas there

visible

equipment

His jambeux were of cuirbouly,

His swerdes sheth of ivory,
His helme of latoun bright.

Over

the

body armour was

armoure, as white as

is

the

a garment, called

lily floure."

by Chaucer " the cote-

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

42

His sheld was

And

A
The

all

of gold so red,

thereon was a bores hed

charbouncle beside.

helmets were almost hidden by the large crests and the scarlet

mantling, and the metal exposed was generally

The trunk armour

pourpoint
and when

gilt.

was concealed under the emblazoned surcoat or

the thighs and legs are visible below this they are seen to be clothed

over the mail by splinted or brigandine armour, showing velvet or satin

externally attached
are

often

gilt

or silver nails

the knee-caps and greaves

moulded and probably

cuir-bouilli,

on the front of Exeter Cathedral, and

statues
St.

richly

by

Stephen's Chapel they are also shown as

the hands are similarly clothed.

gilt.

in

seen

as

the paintings from

The arms and

The horse-armour was

at times

almost entirely

concealed by rich caparisons, as in Chaucer's Knightes Tale

Upon

the

in

a stede bay, trapped in stele,

Covered with cloth of gold diapered wele.

The

figures

from the tomb of

Valence, engraved by Stothard,

Edward

time of

II.

The

Edmund Crouchback

show

Aymer

the emblazoned housings

equestrian figures in

that the fully-equipped knight of this period,

was a gorgeous object, blazing

and

in colours

Queen Mary's

when

in full

de

of the

Psalter

show

war panoply,

and gold, and exhibiting

little

to recall the stern realities of campaigns and sieges.

few examples from inventories

will best illustrate the colours

Humfrey

the magnificence of the materials used to conceal the steel.

de Bohun had breastplates covered with " vert velvet "

March

and

the Earl of

used " rouge samyt " and " drap d'or," and others had " cendal

vermeil,

samit vermeil, zatony,

broderie," etc.

veluyau asure, veluyau vert ouvre de

Piers Gaveston's pair of breastplates were " enclouez et

garnie d'argent od 4 cheynes d'argent covery d'un drap de velvet vermail

besaunte d'or."

3000

crescentic

pieces of

the

Two

and 3000 round

armour were

favourite gems.

scabbard furnished a
in

pairs of plates for the

gilt, if

The

gilt

King of France required

nails to fix the velvet.

Exposed

not jewelled, pearls and carbuncles being

baldric, knightly belt, sword-belt, hilt,

field for

the goldsmith.

was often destructive to the wearers,

and

The magnificence indulged

who might have otherwise

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND
They were " hunted

escaped in battle.

43

for their hides," or slain for the

sake of their spoils.

in

The weight and fashion of the armour largely determined the tactics
war.
The English appear at this time to have reverted to their

ancient practice, once

the

more dismounting

were sent

horses

the

to

battalions of archers supported

ground and waited the

rear,

while

the

have

The

attack.

By good

army, forming

into
its

weight of armour carried by the

on

their part impossible

fortune the 15,000 Genoese cross-bowmen,

inflicted severe loss

Cressy

by dismounted men-at-arms, took up

men-at-arms made any forward movement on

foot.

At

to engage in battle.

who might

on the English, were unable to use their bows,

and the French coming up quite out of hand, charged and retreated

moved them, without deploying

the spirit
so

fell

into any battle formation, and

utmost confusion, with the well-known

into the

it

Our

results.

archers " shot their arrows with such force and quickness that
as if

as

seemed

it

snowed," piercing the Genoese and dismounting the horsemen

upon which

body of 1000 Welsh

with long knives advanced

foot

through the men-at-arms, who made way for them, and slew numbers
of the French chivalry, so that the battle was " murderous and cruel."

At

1356, the English similarly selected a strong position

Poitiers,

The

and awaited the attack dismounted.

meet the enemy,

commenced by

was routed by the

effect

French, uncertain

attacking with a

mounted

how

division,

of the English arrows on the horses before getting

Their retreat threw the second battalion, which

to close quarters.

to

which

also

appears to have been mounted, into a confusion, which quickly developed

into a panic.

Deeming an advance

necessary at this critical

moment, the

English men-at-arms sent to the rear for their horses and charged,
pleting the destruction and dispersal of

was dismounted
and

battle-axe

person,

in

fight

presented a most

numerous

mounting

order to

parties

to join in

its

all

on

but the rear battalion.

foot,

stubborn

from the broken

advance.

The

comThis

and armed with sword

front,

under the king

battalions rallying

and

in

dis-

English resumed the defensive

and remained immovable, the archers plying their arrows with the usual
effect.

The

only English

skirmish in the

field

force

capable

of movement

and able to

was the archery, while the men-at-arms kept

ground or advanced very slowly

in

compact order,

until, seeing the

their

day

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

44

won, they again mounted to complete the discomfiture and engage

in

pursuit.

At
on

the battle of Auray, 1364, the French dismounted and fought

foot,

when

the arrows did

little

execution

among them, and

the fight

developed into a hand-to-hand engagement with battle-axes, in which

the leaders, Sir Oliver de Clisson and Sir

guished themselves.

In

all

John Chandos,

greatly distin-

subsequent battles and skirmishes between

French and English, until the close of the century, we find that both
sides

invariably fought on foot, riding

distance,

and then dismounting

any distance on foot

almost impossible.

after

The

as if

shortened to about five

weapon of

itself felt.

till

almost within striking

by common consent.

dismounting

in

To

advance

order to engage was, in fact,

old knightly weapon, the lance, was in con-

sequence almost discarded, and could

as a

up

feet,

now only

be used effectively

and thus with the shield

battle, while the presence

of

artillery also

fell

if

into disuse

began to make

IV

The Age of Plate -Armour

Any

what has here been termed a Transition Age from

line dividing

the age of fully-developed plate-armour must of necessity be a purely

Roughly speaking, the age of

arbitrary one.

plate

commenced when

mail no longer formed the outer defence of any part of the body.
last

chink, leaving the mail exposed under the armpit, was a vulnerable

opening

in the

cuirasse "
called

and even

called the " vif de l'harnois," or the " defaut de la

armour

this

The

gussets.

tournaments

it

is

now became

necessity for

protected by small plates of steel

such defences was often proved in

related that the lance pierced " au vif de l'harnois

When

for lack of the crescent or " gouchet."

the knights

appeared

fair

the most

and that no

actually proof against downright blows from a

marked

rider.

characteristics of this age of plate-armour

growing appreciation of the

desire to invest steel

find at

"
blow delivered " au pas de charge

two-handed battle-axe wielded by a powerful and expert

One of

We

Achilles.

with a well-steeled lance might penetrate every defence

armour could be made

"

these last plates were added

more invulnerable than

almost every period, however, that a

was

The

intrinsic

armour with graceful

beauty of

lines.

steel,

and a new

The tendency

is

best

exemplified in the fine Gothic armour of the second half of the fifteenth
century, of which

much

is

fortunately preserved.

This combines most

splendidly picturesque outlines with graceful fan or shell-like ridgings,

which please the more when examined

fluting serves

The

some

definite

and

critically, since

every curve and

practical end.

casing of plate -armour, which had been so long elaborating,

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

46
having

become complete, the work of the armourer was directed

at last

to further perfecting

its parts,

and to disencumbering the wearer, with

the least risk, of his weighty underlying chain-mail, quilted gambesons,

and padded

This process had not proceeded

surcoats.

was fought,

we may

if

credit the testimony of a

far

when Agincourt

French knight, who was

present and describes the armour as consisting of the long hauberk of

chain-mail reaching below the knee, and very heavy, with the leg-armour
beneath, and over this the plate or white armour with the bassinet and

One

camail.

Allbright, noted particularly as " mail-maker," and twelve

other armourers, were in the suite of the king on this expedition.

The

weight of armour would, therefore, have rendered a repetition advisable,

on the part of the English, of the

battle,

of Cressy or Poitiers in this

tactics

had not the French disconcerted us by dismounting and seating

and

themselves,

refusing

They had

advance.

to

copying the

also,

English, brought a large force of archers and cross-bowmen into the

field,

and, in addition, kept bodies of men-at-arms in the saddle on

make

either wing, to

flank attacks

when

The

opportunities occurred.

English having in vain endeavoured to provoke the enemy to advance

by sending out archers to

fire

a house

and moved forward, the archers

behind.

The

archers thus gave

and barn, posted an ambuscade

in front as usual

and the men-at-arms

shelter of their pointed stakes,

up the

and the men-at-arms suffered the fatigue of an advance in armour

of an almost
however,

with

insupportable weight to

repeated

huzzas,

but,

"often stopping to take breath."

under the amazing

a few paces,

hail

men on
as

The

the

Chroniclers

inform

us,

French, stooping their visors

of arrows that began to

and the English, coming

They advanced,

foot.

fall

upon them, gave way

close up, pressed

them soon

after-

wards so hardly, " that only the front ranks with shortened lances could
raise their

Our

hands."

archers, flinging

away

their bows, fought lustily

with swords, hatchets, mallets, or bill-hooks, supported manfully by King

Henry and

his

men-at-arms.

Pressing on and slaying

all

before them,

they routed the van and reached the main body, which was also quickly
destroyed.

The

mounted, then

fled

desultory charges

which were

rear

battalion

of the

French, which

had remained

panic-struck, and the battle terminated

made by

easily repulsed

in

some

a few parties of nobles and their men-at-arms,

;

10,000 French perished,

all

but 1600 being

Plate IV. Grand-guard of the suit of George, Earl of Cumberland, in the possession
Lord Hothfield. This is a part of the 20th suit in the Armourer's Album
From a photograph
in the South Kensington Museum.
communicated by Baron de Cosson.

of

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND
gentlemen

The

alarm.

who

many

the

in

47

massacre of prisoners consequent on a false

battle of Verneuil, so fatal nine years later to the Scots,

lost the Earls

of Douglas, Murray, and Buchan, with the flower of

army, was fought on precisely the same lines; the main French

their

with their Scottish

battalion

on foot being

allies

storm of arrows, and then destroyed

shaken by the

first

by the advance of

at close quarters

"loud shouts," supported by the Duke of

the archers with the usual

Bedford and the men-at-arms.

These defeats caused the French to

again waver in their plan for meeting the enemy, for at

of Herrings, and the skirmish

at

mounted, the English archers receiving the

palisade of pointed

stakes,

the

battle

Beauvais in 1430, they made their attack

first

charge behind

their

and defeating the enemy by the clouds of

arrows taking their usual deadly

effect

on the

These

horses.

stakes, six feet

long and sharpened at both ends, formed an important item of the archers'

equipment, and were planted in the ground by the front rank, sloping
towards the enemy, the next rank fixing theirs intermediately to affright

Throughout the Anglo -Burgundian

enemy's horse.

the

Burgundians of

all

the

perhaps equalling the

1465,

the

arms were often compelled "under pain of death"

to fight dismounted,

Montlhery,

alliance,

Picards

English.

adopting the tactics and

especially

little

later,

as

at

the

both Burgundian and English archers

with the formidable

battle

are

of

armed

long-handled leaden mauls or mallets, which the

armour of the men-at-arms was incapable of

resisting.

In the account

of one of these battles we learn incidentally that the duty of the varlets

who

invariably formed part of the retinue of each man-at-arms was

to succour

and refresh

their masters during the heat of the

and to carry the prisoners they took to the

As

engagement,

rear.

the various hauberks of mail, brigandines, gambesons, and other

defences became more or less obsolete and discarded by men-at-arms

armed cap-a-pied, they were relegated to

infantry

a lighter-armed cavalry and the

worn by

but so long as a suit of mail continued to be

at-arms as a defence underlying the armour of plate,

latter

the

man-

flexibility in the

was of paramount importance.

Regarding the armour of Henry V.

plate-armour,

we

find

it

as the earliest

thus composed.

each of one piece, the gorget

is

usually in

The

breast

complete cap-a-pied

and back

one, though

plates are

a standard of mail


ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

4
sometimes replaces

it

the limb -defences are of few pieces and rigid,

except at the joints, which are guarded by caps or roundels

armour of the

toes,

fingers,

articulated or protected

more

the gussets, and

while the

and upper surfaces of the shoulders

by narrow laminar

The

plates.

is

introduction of

particularly of the horizontal bands of plate forming

a short petticoat below the

waist, materially altered the appearance of

The

the armour of the fifteenth century from that of the fourteenth.

plates of the petticoat, called the tassets, are first seen in the brass of

Nicholas Hawberk, at Cobham,

increase

in

number

who

At

1420.

about

till

1406, and they gradually

died in

fighting
sinet

and

where

Agincourt,

foot, the visored bas-

was on

would have been worn by the king

his

men-at-arms, and not the great

helm.

The example

pended

in the chantry of

in

of the latter sus-

Henry V.

Westminster Abbey, though

helm, was only purchased from

Daunt,

for

33s.

Rymer, with the

The
Helmfrotn

Fig. 18.
in

the

1420.

From a photograph

1400lent

Thomas

according

to

crest, for the funeral.

was

bassinet

4d.,

a real

probably

plumed

with ostrich feathers, which were taking

tomb of Henry V.

Westminster Abbey, date

the

the place of crests, and was encircled

by

by a coronet, damaged

Baron de Cosson.

in

the melee

by a blow from the Duke of Alencon,

which among
the regalia.

its

The diamond-hilted sword was

fortunately, as

king

is

jewels comprised the ruby of the Black Prince,

it

happened, and

fell

now

in

not taken into the fray, un-

The

a prey to the baggage-looters.

generally represented wearing a tabard of arms on this occasion, a

garment differing from the surcoat

herald's tabard,

do duty

in being loose

like the

emblazoned before and behind and on the broad

for sleeves.

The

horses,

Warwick

Castle,

modern

flaps

which

borrowing the custom of Lombardy,

wore a heavy chamfron or headpiece of

exists in

and cut

plate,

of which a specimen

still

and an articulated crinet or neck-defence of over-

lapping plates, put together on the same plan as the tassets, and probably

some mail defences concealed by the emblazoned

tatious magnificence

caparisons.

The

osten-

which had hitherto covered the body armour of the

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND
knight with

and

silks

satins, velvet

the Burgundian French, was

The

horse.

now

49

and bullion and gems, especially among

of being transferred to the

in process

housings are described as of silks and satins of every colour,

or velvet crimson and blue, or cloth of gold, and sweeping the ground,

besprinkled with escutcheons of arms, and loaded with silversmith's work,

work of

or raised

We

solid gold.

of trappings of white silver

read

fringed with cloth of gold, and of cloth of gold interwrought with solid
silver

and

it

appears that no materials were too rich to deck out the

favourite destrier or war-horse.

unlikely that the English were at

It is

time behind the French in display, for so early as 1409, of the six

this

pages of Sir John de Cornewall, two rode horses covered with ermine,

and four horses with cloth of gold

and

1414 the English embassy

in

carried themselves so magnificently that the French,

were astonished.

Parisians,

Splendid, however, as were the housings, the

The

headpieces of the horses eclipsed them.

at the entry into

Bayonne had

work and precious

de

worth 30,000

horse of the Count de Foix

a headpiece of steel enriched with gold

headpiece on leaving

Rouen was estimated

still

As

That

more magnificent.

of the king, however, was on this occasion merely of

plumes of various colours.

to be

Dukes of Burgundy and Cleves

francs, while those of the

on the entry of Louis XI. into Paris were

ostrich

The Count

stones to the value of 15,000 crowns.

Pol's horse's

St.

and especially the

gold with

fine

with the armour in the fourteenth

century, the rich trappings of the horse naturally led at times to the
pursuit and capture of the owner.

It

such magnificence, that the pay of the

was only
4s., a

13s. 4d. per day,

knight

an

an esquire

2s.,

is

Duke

earl received
is.,

Though Henry V. wore

difficult to

but

of

believe, in days

of York under
6s. 8d., a

Henry V.

baron or banneret

and an archer 6d.

royal armour at Agincourt

appear that he followed the prudent custom,

first

it

does not

noticed in the battle

of Viterbo, 1243, of dressing several knights in an identical manner with

himself.
result

At

was

Viterbo, on a knight dressed like the emperor being

a panic,

and the emperor himself had

into the thickest of the fight to restore confidence.

nineteen knights were dressed like the king,

from capture.
field

by

it

At

Poitiers,

the

though

did not preserve

In England, however, the king was saved on

this precaution, as at the battle

slain,

to press with his trumpets

him

many

of Shrewsbury, when the

earl,


ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

50
Sir

Walter Blount and two others

Another king
I

am

That

fatal to all

those colours on them.

The

at

I slain

appreciation of

armour, for

Henry

its

own

at

for

art thou,

field

to-day instead of him.

steel, called

sake,

by the Chroniclers plain or white

had not progressed very

gala

Bosworth

V.'s invasion of France, but the

reserved

least

Who

think there be six Richmonds in the

Five have

all

The

slain.

those

counterfeit'st the person of a king

and again, when Richard exclaims

I

mind of

they grow like hydras' heads

the Douglas

That wear

armour were

in royal

passages in Shakespeare will be present to the

of

more

The

occasions.

far

by the time

lavish splendours

next

modifications

were
were

evidently devised to increase the flexibility of the armour, and can be

traced with greater precision in

England than elsewhere, owing

to the

fortunate preservation in our churches of a matchless series of military

monumental
the

first

brasses.

These

half of the fifteenth

clearly indicate that the tendency during

century was to increase the number of

joints or articulations in every part of the armour.

reign of
in

some

Henry V.
cases

By

the close of the

things had proceeded so far in this direction that

the greater part of the limb - defences are

made up of

laminated plates.

The

next important change in the appearance of the man-at-arms

occurs in the early years of

Henry

VI., and

ment of the fan-shaped elbow-guards,

in

first

is

due to

a striking develop-

seen in a rudimentary form

1425, as well as to an addition of short hinged plates called tuilles

to the

bottom of the hoop-like

body.

By 1435

skirt

of

tassets

which lay closer to the

these tuilles are ridged or fluted perpendicularly and

scalloped along the lower edge, and shortly after they take the

developed, elongate and elegant forms familiar in Gothic armour.

1440 we have the addition of great shoulder and elbow

more

By

plates attached

by nuts and screws, and concealing the articulated shoulder -pieces or

epaulettes.

much

These extra

plates usually differ in size, being often very

larger on the left side, which received the blows,

a quite peculiar

and thus conferring

character on the plate-armour of the middle of the

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND
A

century.
is

51

scarcely less important modification, introduced about 1445,

the articulation of the breastplate in

and sliding over the upper, and made

The Daundelyon

two

pieces, the

by

flexible

brass of this

date,

lower overlapping

straps.

Margate, exhibits a

at

left

elbow-piece of immense size, and pointed and ridged tuilles below the

which are almost repeated again

tassets,

John Gaynesford's

the knee-caps.

form by the

in

plates

below

brass at Crowhurst, 1450,- presents

strong reinforcing shoulder -guards over articulated plates, and repeats

the same

long peaked

and ridged

We

below the knee-cap.

plates

continue for the next few years to find the limb-defences constantly

varying in the number and form of the pieces composing them, according

namely

to the dictates of conflicting requirements,

penetrability.

The

frequent absence of tuilles at this time

imply that they were not used

It is

flexibility

in

combats on

foot, then

and im-

is

held to

very popular.

obvious that when the immensely long and pointed solleret came in

with the equally preposterous spur, the fashion of fighting on foot was

on the wane, and the men-at-arms generally fought mounted during the

Wars of the

We

see

and we
suit

of

Roses.

by manuscript

find
gilt

Jack Cade

illustrations that a

after his victory in

armour, the spoils of

growing appreciation of the

its fine

military qualities

more and more

to invest his

entirely dictated

by

and war

distinctly felt,

were

still

gilded,

flourishing about in a

But the ever-

Stafford.

panoply and

steel

and the armourer sought

work with beauty of form.

fitness to its

more to

suits

beauty of the

All

is

still

purpose, and the requirements of jousts

and the decorative and subtle

are really present

1450

Humphrey

intrinsic

now

is

Sir

few

deflect the

shell -like ridgings

and flutings

weapon's point than as ornament,

while the engrailing, dentelling, scalloping and punching of the margins

of the plates unmistakably indicate that the decorative

to embellishing and not to

concealing the

steel.

spirit

The

is

applied

superb gilded

metal effigy (Fig. 19) of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, presents

a faithful

Every
fidelity,

model of the most beautiful type of Gothic armour known.

fastening, strap,

not

only

on

buckle or hinge
the

front,

but

on

de Cosson, who has minutely described

it

is

represented with scrupulous

is

it,

the

unseen

expresses

a faithful reproduction of a suit actually

back.
the

worn by the

Baron

belief that

Earl, and

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

52

although the effigy itself was only

1439
produced in 1454, and the armour agrees with that worn in England

therefore

at

the

than

earlier

He

date.

latter

regards

of the celebrated contemporary

Italian

many

armour

shown by

the

represented

suit

Milanese

armourers,

the

as

the

work

Missaglias.

sculptures, medals

and paintings to have been

years in advance of English, and the

two known contemporary

is

by Tomaso di Missaglia greatly resemble it.

The Earl of
Warwick knew Milan in his youth, when he had tilted successfully at
Verona and it was a practice among the great to obtain armour there,
dating from so far back as 1398, when the Earl of Derby had his armour
suits

brought over by Milanese armourers

Wherever made,

no improbabilities.

the Baron's view presents therefore

the Earl of

Warwick's

suit appears

to have solved the armourer's problem, being at once light, flexible, yet

Indeed, in

impenetrable.

adaptation to

of

The

art.

all

its

beautiful proportions and admirably perfect

requirements,

appears more like a

it

work of nature than

contours of the pieces and their graceful fan-like flutings, to

The

give strength and deflect opponents' blows, are artistically splendid.

great shoulder-guards and elbow-pieces, the cuissarts and

and back

caps, the tuilles, the jointed breast

not hitherto seen, are

suit the

against

adversaries

British

new

presenting

war-chargers, feasting

from

illustrating scenes

illustrations to the

The

Museum.

whom

it

some magic

his

discomfited

whole company, and

the

The two

cuts (Figs.

20

taken from the exquisitely

in the

so

stalwart

1446 to
armour of the Duke of Milan's

the

was impossible

liquid, as

vain during a tournament in

light

otherwise withstood the heavy blows

No word

tournament

fifteenth century are abundant.

tried in

of another knight in the service of the

in

his

incidental testimonies to the excellence of Italian

penetrate or find a crevice in

chamberlain,

In such a

contemporary Beauchamp manuscript, now

armour of the middle of the

Burgundian champion

his life, are

of

each

" returning to Calais with great worship."

and 21),

drawn

with

comers,

all

neck-guard,

skill.

preux and gallant knight for three days held

victoriously

finally

fashioned with consummate

all

winged knee-

plates, the upright

wound and
same Duke was

to

in

1449 the

suit

said to be steeped

harness could not possibly have

it

received.

ever escapes the chronicler in praise of English armour

but the splendid model of the Earl of Warwick's suit

is

by William Austin,

>i

CJ

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND
and Thomas Stevyns,

founder,
the

gilding,

and

chasing,

Dutchman

and

effigy shall

be

goldsmith

of

made according

by

of London,

both

coppersmith,

polishing

SS

Bartholomew

The

London.

Lambespring,

directs

will

to patterns, directions

with

that

the

obviously most

scrupulously carried out.

In

contemplating the

lithe

figure

we may

and workmanship of such a

steely quality

'

suit

well

believe

that

the

would confer immunity

->;
.

t-r'"

Fig. 20.

The

"mighty Duke " who has challenged him to combat for his lady's sake, and wins
The costume is
the favour of the Empress, to whom he makes a present of pearls and precious stones.
about fifteen or twenty years later than the death of Earl Richard, and shows the extra pieces worn in
Earl of

Warwick

slays a

the tilt-yard, 1450-60.

on the wearer
fitting suit

and that the

relative elasticity

engaging with

men swathed

like

mummies

thick gambeson or mail, as to enable

arms

as

and lightness of a perfectly-

might confer such superiority on an active and sinewy champion

him

beneath their armour

from

to emerge

triumphantly as the heroes of romance.

his

in

deeds of

Nothing was worn

beneath but the fustian doublet, well padded and lined with satin, with
the small lozenge-shaped gussets of mail under the limb-joints and the
short petticoat of mail tied round the waist.

It is also

unlikely that such

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

56

armour was concealed under any garment, and we may observe that
while some princes and nobles are

wearing brigandines of velvet

still

and cloth of gold in pageants, many more are in " plain armour,"

when standing

presenting, except
surface of

The

smooth polished

of mail were worn, a uniform

collars

steel.

Missaglia suit remained the type with

several years, almost to the close of the

mayne

Thame

brass in

example of

it

modification for

little

The Quatre-

Gothic period.

Church, of the year 1460, presents a magnificent

During the next

with singularly exaggerated elbow-guards.

few years the limb-pieces and gorget become more articulated and

and the breast and back plates are formed of

overlapping

articulated

indented

an

in

interesting

examples
the

Isle

Museum

in the

The

manner.

workmanship.

also of excellent

cut

plates,

many

as

There

as three or four

and

chevron -wise,

number of

are a

of Artillery in the Rotunda

and

notched

and

gauntlets

flexible,

are

sollerets

peculiarly fine

Woolwich, from

at

of Rhodes, which exhibit the graceful outlines and ornament

of later fifteenth-century Gothic armour in perfection, and also present

early

Lord Zouche

and interesting examples of engraving on armour.

has also

some remarkable

Constantinople,

collection

his

in

suits, said

at

Parham.

collection also comprises several Gothic suits,

None, however,

Tower.

Sir

been unusually complete.

and there are some

The

in this

illustrations

from the Life of

and the scene (Fig. 25) from the

Museum,

give

the

in

excellent ideas of the

Earl of

the

fifteenth century (Figs.

late fifteenth-century

of Froissart, which belonged to Philip de Commines, both

British

fine

country appears to have

Warwick, an English MS. of the second half of the

;

Noel Paton's

at

are connected historically with English wearers,

and the destruction of Gothic armour

20 and 21)

Church of Irene

to be from the

armour of

now

MS.

in

the

this period in

actual use, while the brasses supply exact figures of the details.

Turning now

to head -defences, the great crested helm,

sented as pillowing the head in

the joust

and

tilt,

while

the

effigies,

wrenched off

in

The

visor,

bassinet

with

visor,
till

already

seen

in

about the middle

however, was not unfrequently struck or

tourneys, and the neck pierced by the lance.

hardy warriors, indeed,

repre-

had long since been relegated to

the Transition period, remained the fighting helmet

of the century.

still

like Sir

Some

John Chandos and the Earl of Warwick,

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND
dispensed with

it

si

and went into the fray with faces bare, but this was
:

r~ "of

*!-.

\
y

mJ&

Fig. 21.

Warwick and Stafford chase the Duke of Burgundy from the walls of
They wear loose sleeves and skirts of mail, and the round broad-brimmed helmet very fashionable
for a time among the higher French nobility.
The balls and tufts are probably Venice gold, with which
This and Fig. 20 are from the Beauchamp
the helmet was perhaps also laced, over some rich material.
MS. in the British Museum, an exquisite production by an English hand.

The Duke

of Gloucester and Earls of

Calais.

exceptional, and the

all

pig -faced

delineations of combats of the

and beaked visored bassinets occur

first

half of the century.

in

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

The

began to be superseded towards the middle of the

bassinet

by the

fifteenth century

sallad,

which remained

close.

readiness with which

in fashion almost to its

supply of

Its merits were, the free

air

could be concealed and protected.

the face

was the headpiece of the Gothic armour, such

effigy,

though monuments of

bare.

The

this

but the term occurs

as that

It

Warwick

of the

date almost always leave the head

origin of the sallad, whether

Chaucer.

in

and the

afforded,

it

German

In

or Italian,

simplest form

its

is

unknown,

it

was low-

crowned, projecting behind, and strapped under the chin, something

like a " sou'wester "

or the heraldic chapeau, and in this form

worn by archers and billmen.

two
till

this

came

was

also

sometimes present, to be

also

made more completely

with

level

a higher crown, with

the eyes

(Fig. 22).

let

down

hinged nose-piece

time of danger.

in

a lighter bavier was in

two

pieces,

The
much as

down.

that sallads measure as

was

while

of which the upper was hinged at

the side and could be raised for speaking.

let

It

protective by a chin-piece called the bavier,

strapped round the neck or fastened to the breastplate for tilting

with a visor to

was

an ocularium, and could be pulled over the brows

in front as

slits

Another kind had

it

tail-piece

was frequently furnished

It

was occasionally so prolonged

eighteen inches from back to front.

It

occurs both smooth-topped and combed, and with a slot for plumes

approaches nearer to

classic

models than any other form of mediaeval

This picturesque headpiece

helmet.

is

by Albert Diirer, and was favoured for

the one so frequently represented

a longer time in

many of the Germans in the

Maximilian and Henry VIII. appearing in
The form
the later close helmet or armet.
elsewhere,

of articulated pieces behind and

sides,

which make

The

sallad

the Roses, and

But one

it

solitary

in

St.

in use

moving on pivots

at the

throughout the Wars of

constantly represented in manuscripts of that period.

example has been preserved

its first

in

wearer

England from the time of

may have taken

Mary's Hall, Coventry, and owes

in all the

the English wear

represented has the addition

use as a stage property in the Godiva processions.

however,

all

meeting of

a near approach to a closed helmet.

those destructive wars, in which

hangs

while

a double visor

was the principal helmet

is

of the

picture
it,

Germany than

its

part.

preservation to

There

It
its

are specimens,

important collections in England and abroad.

Plate

V. Grand-guard,

used for

tilting,

belonging to the suit of Robert Dudley,

In the Tower of London.

Earl of Leicester, with the gilding restored.

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND
The

was sometimes richly decorated, covered with

bassinet

plumed, crested, and of considerable value,

his

helmet

59

Sir

velvet,

John de Cornwall wagering

1423, which he offered to prove to be worth 500 nobles.

in

pretty custom of garlanding

specially favoured

The

them with may, marguerites, or other flowers

by a queen or prin-

or with chaplets of pearls and

cess,

other gems, seen in the early part of the

century, lasted until after the introduction of the sallad, which provided a
better field for such display.

Duke

belonging to the

sallad

of Burgundy,

decorated with rubies and diamonds to

the estimated value of 100,000 crowns,
figured in the entry of Louis XI. into
Paris in

Henry
are

In the expenses of

1443.

VII. precious stones and pearls

bought from the Lombards to the

value of ^3 800 for embellishing sallads

and other helmets, and in France even

mounted

the sallads of the

continually

with

mentioned

archers are

as

garnished

silver.

The

was

sallad

a relatively danger-

ous headpiece in tourneys on foot, and

a large-visored bassinet

is

often

men-

tioned as being retained in use for this

purpose

down

The Baron
this

to the sixteenth century.

de Cosson

form, seen to have been fixed to

the breast by

two

staples

and a double

buckle behind, and himself possesses

a magnificent

Sir Giles

VIII. challenged

all

The

1.

Sallad in St. Mary's Hall, Coventry.

2.

Helm

of Sir

Formerly

in

Giles

Capel, date

Rayne Church,

1510-1525.

Essex.

Now

in

the possession of Baron de Cosson.

example, which once hung over the tombs of the Capels in

Rayne Church.
Gold.

Fig. 22.

has identified

Capel was one of the knights

who with Henry

comers for thirty days on the Field of the Cloth of

visor in this

example

is

very massive, the holes so small that no

point could possibly enter, and the helm being fixed the head

moved

freely


ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

6o

inside.

second and possibly

example has the visor thrown into

earlier

The

horizontal ridges and a small bavier.

and the sight and breathing holes are short

by the

ridges.

date

made

Minster,

who

and another belonging to the

for

on

fighting

hinged

is

slots, parallel

foot,

is

Henry

of

schal fighte

How

man

is

it

of later

VIII. in the Tower,

Baron de Cosson

not dissimilar.

miniature of the manuscript entitled, "

when he

to and protected

1444, but

died in

suit

attention to the fact that this form, called a bassinet,

ese

at the sides,

hangs over the tomb of John Beaufort, Duke of

It

Wimborne

Somerset, in

visor

shown

is

calls

in the

armyd

at his

interesting

and

shalle be

on foote."

Another

very

form of helm,

English

thoroughly

De

intended, according to
the
a

with lances,

tilt

specimen

another
Sir

Cosson, for

preserved in

is

Broadwater

in

Church,

Wellington Church over

in

John Gostwick's tomb, and a third

Cobham Church, the helm of Sir

Thomas Brooke, who died 1522.
in

Fig. 23.

English tournament helm over

the

tomb of John Beaufort, Duke

of Somerset,
Weight \\\

in
lbs.

all

present considerable differ-

ences

of

detail.

slightly

later

helm of

Wimborne Minster.

From a photograph

These

Date 1480- 1520.

lent by Baron de

not dissimilar

with a

date

barred visor, or the bars riveted

to

the helm, affording plenty of breath-

Cosson.

ing space, was used for the tourney

the Royal and

with sword or battle-axe, and has become

the nobles'

helmet of heraldry.

form of helm used

picted in heraldry,
VIII., of

is

the great helm of the time of

immense weight and

strength, resting

securely fixed to the back and breast.

produced

in front into a

with no distinct neck.

It

was

being raised before the

also frequently de-

Henry

VII. and

Henry

on the shoulders, and

relatively flat

on the crown,

kind of blunt beak, giving a bird-like aspect

The

ocularium, or

slit

for vision,

the crown, and can only be used by bending the

lance penetrating.

and

for tilting with the lance

moment of impact

This helm

is

is

large

body forward

and

in

the head

to avoid the danger of the

well represented in the

tournament

roll

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND
of

Henry

VIII. in Heralds' College, and from

its

61

massive strength and

the fact that by no possibility could a combatant be accidentally unhelmed,

afforded

absolute

protection

to

the

head.

Le Heaulme du Roy

is

represented in this roll as silvered, with a crown-like border round the neck

of pearls and gems set in gold.

There

is

in the

a magnificent specimen

Museum

of Artillery at

Woolwich, one

in

Abbey, two in

George's Chapel,

St.

Westminster

one in Petworth Church, and one

at

This form of helm

Parham.

was the most massive and secure,

and the

last that

very

remained

of a

early delineation

helmet of this type

late

in use.

is

seen in the

French

fourteenth - century

MS. (Burney, 257) in the British

Museum. Some exceedingly interesting delineations of the

kind of

tilting

helm

in

same

actual

use are to be seen in Philip de

Commines'

Froissart, Harl.

4379-80 (Fig. 25).

represented plain and

It is

MS.,
there

fluted,

and

with various crests and mantling,

one of the most singular, and a

favourite, being a close

Fig. 24.

Helm of

copy of
Believed to have been

the lady's head-dress of the period,

with the lady's long

gauze

reaching below the waist.

manuscript

is

of

Sir John Gostzvick, died

1541.
Gold, 1520, and

worn

at the Field of the

now hanging

over

Willington Church, Bedfordshire.

veil

his

From

Cloth of

tomb
a

in

photo-

graph by the Rev. Augustus Orlebau, Vicar.

This

late fifteenth-century date,

and very remarkable for the

apparently faithful representations of the armour worn by the English and

French

at that

time.

In one group of soldiery alone, in the second

volume, page 84, the helm of the early fourteenth century, the beaked
bassinet of the early fifteenth,

and various forms of visored and un-

visored sallads are assembled together.

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

62

All these forms of helm were more or

sallad,

which gave place

in

contemporary with the

less

turn to the armet or closed helmet,

Like, perhaps, the sallad, the armet was invented

heard of in 1443.

and did not reach England or even Germany

in Italy,

first

till

about 1500.

In France, however, a page of the Count de St. Pol bore a richly-worked

armet on the entry into Rouen of Charles VII.

Louis XI., crowned and richly adorned with

fleurs-de-lis,

before

him on

his entry into Paris in

1472, in an edict of the

The fundamental
that

had preceded

146 1.

It

is

also

was carried

mentioned

in

Duke of Burgundy.

difference

it is,

and the royal armet of

between

that while others

it

and

all

had either

head, as a cap does, or were put right over

helms and helmets

fitted the

top of the

the armet closed round

it,

the head by means of hinges, following the contour of the chin and
neck.

and
Its

it

Its

advantages were neatness, lightness, and general handiness,

conveyed the weight by the gorget directly on to the shoulders.

use was exclusively for

mounted combatants, though the

continued in use for jousts and

It
all

tilts

does not appear in English costume

much

Henry

Court, the English men-at-arms invariably wear

abundantly represented in works of

Tudor

helm

before this reign, but in

the pictures of the triumphs and battle-pieces of

Hampton

great

during the time of Henry VIII.

art

it,

VIII. at

and

it

is

during the remainder of the

period.

An

early armet,

identified

by Baron de Cosson

as

Italian,

with

a double bavier riveted together, but without a visor, hangs over the

tomb of

Sir

George Brooke, eighth Lord Cobham, K.G. (Fig. 26),

and dates from 1480 to 1500.

Baron de Cosson describes

it

a reinforcing piece on the forehead, hinged cheek-pieces joined

as

having

down

the

middle of the chin, and of peculiarly delicate and beautiful outline.

originally

The wooden Saracen's

Lord Cobham in 1558, "but

had a camail hanging to a leather

head may date from the funeral of

this

strap.

was certainly never worn on any helmet."

Norfolk

in Ireland, in

It

Its

owner served under

1520, and was subsequently Governor of Calais.

English armets dating from about 1500 are not uncommon, but, as
frequently observed, " they want that perfection and delicacy to be found
in fine Italian or

the later at the

German work." The earlier open down the front, and

side.
They are generally combed, the ridge or comb

>

I i

-2 *

pL|

-C

_o

CU

5 ^

.5

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

65

running from the forehead to the back of the neck, and being beaten
or raised out of the metal in the most

There

able way.

generally, but not

is

always, a reinforcing piece over the

The

forehead.

visor

of one piece,

is

and works on a pivot, but

few of

in a

the early specimens the pin and hinge

arrangement
examples

of

The

removable.

visor,

made

but

older

Italian

preserved, rendering

is

generally

the

in

it

slit

for vision

the

body of the

is

sometimes obtained by

is

cutting out a piece of

its

thrown

upper edge.
into

few or

several ridges, with the

slits

or holes

for breathing principally

on the right

It

beaked,

is

The English armet was

side.

rarely

furnished with a bavier or movable

chin-piece,

and the

Fig. 26.

Artnet of Sir George Brooke,

K.G.,

fixed one, called a

tomb

mentoniere,

was

Baron

small.

Cosson

obtained

one

Church

in Essex,

when

from
it

de

8 th
in

Lord Cob ham. From Ins

Cobham Church, Kent.

1480-1500.

Rayne

was pulled down, and Meyrick procured a

similar one

from Fulham Church, and

Mr. Seymour Lucas, A.R.A., has two

very

specimens,

fine

now

exhibited at

South Kensington, while specimens are

to be

met with

in

most great

collec-

tions.

The

not

inelegant

fluted

Maximilian armets of the same date

are,

tion

English armet from the

collec-

Date

about

500.

From a photograph

by

far

more

frequent.

English
armets,
"
u*,M thev/
&
have no baviers.
Between 15 10 and

Like the

of Seymour Lucas, A.R.A.

Fig. 27.

however,
later

1525, a hollow rim was introduced

Baron de Cosson.

round the base of the helmet,

closely into a corresponding ridge

fitting

round the upper edge of the gorget.

This manifest improvement was considered by Meyrick to constitute the

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

66

Between 1520 and 1540 the visor was formed of two

Burgonet.

parts,

the upper of which closed inside the lower, and was capable of being raised

without unfixing the

helmet

remained in

It

latter.

this

into disuse in the seventeenth century.

fell

form

until

the closed

The armet

frequently

comprised, especially in the later examples, a fixed gorget, generally of two

or more articulated plates.

number of

these are included in the six-

teenth and seventeenth century suits illustrated in the succeeding pages,

one of the most singular being the helmet of the mounted

VIII.,

made

for the king

of six pieces

It consists

suit

by Conrad Seusenhofer of Innsbruck

of Henry

in 151 1- 14.

one within another without hinge or

fitting

and seems originally to have had one of the curious discs

rivet,

back

at the

seen in Italian fifteenth-century armets and contemporary illustrations.

Towards

the beginning

century knightly armour

of the sixteenth

underwent some profound modifications.

The

and shoulder -pieces were reduced, the

tuilles,

exaggerated elbow-guards
the laminated

corselets

with their handsome flutings and indented margins, and the pointed
sollerets

were either modified or seen no more

much of

and with them disappear

the angulated, defensive mannerism, and the grace peculiar to

the armour of the third quarter of the fifteenth century.

followed
less

appears

smoother,

The

apt for real campaigning.

may have been

great

in a large degree

bias

classic

personal

pomp and
of Francis

breastplate,

the

due to the personal

banished

stolid

all

The

extended.

influence

That which
mobile, and

less

modifications tending to this result

pageantry to the
I.

heavier,

of the three

tastes

Maximilian and Henry VIII. preferred

monarchs of Europe.

at heart the

and

rounder,

limb -pieces,

realities

of war

short-waisted,

rounded

while the

Gothic feeling so

far

podgy,

knee-caps

as

his

globular

and

strik-

ingly splay-footed sollerets, appear as if invented to altogether banish

the very idea of agility,

if

not

of movement

and contrast in the

manner with the lithe and supple -looking armour of the

Beauchamp effigy. The Tower collection, so relatively poor in Gothic
strongest

armour,
VIII.,
use.

shown
tion

is

fortunately extremely rich in that of the period of

containing

One of
in

or

four

or

the finest

it

suits

actually

made

and an admirably

for

his

perfect

personal
suit,

is

Though without any decorawas undoubtedly made expressly for the king,

our illustration
marks,

five

of these,

Henry

(Fig.

28).

Fig. 28.

Complete

suit for fighting on foot,

In

the

made for Henry VIII.

Tower of London.

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND
and

is

ing

to

a chef-d'oeuvre of the armourer's

Lord

one

about

no

of

Dillon,

craft,

than

less

235

and

below

69

being formed, accordseparate

which

pieces,

are

used

The

principal pieces are fitted with a hollow groove along the inferior

half

the

above

rest

the

waist.

margin, and overlap others provided with a corresponding ridge

so

that the whole suit thus interlocks, and the plates cannot be separated

or the armour taken apart except by removing the helmet and begin-

To

ning at the neck-pieces.

of the upright neck -guards

is

globose, and

has

the
is

central

left

shoulder-piece or pauldron one

by

fixed

still

rivets.

ridge called the tapul.

The breastplate
The arms are

sheathed in rigid plates, separated by a series of narrow laminar plates, by

which power of movement

The elbows

obtained.

is

are guarded

by not

inelegant caps, and the gauntlets are miton-fashioned, of eleven small

and very

plates,

down

The

flexible.

leg -armour

is

large

in

ridged

pieces

the centre, similarly to the breastplate, except above and below

the knee-cap, and at the ankle, where laminar plates give the necessary

The

play.

made,

being

sollerets

the

like

gauntlets,

each

of

thirteen pieces, are also extremely flexible, and reproduce in an exagger-

ated

way

the

broad toes of the

great

already noticed, the suit

lists,

no

for there were

his

armour was

intended for combats on foot and in the

is

which were greatly

No

fashion.

in

crevices between

as

Like the helm,

dress.

civil

well defended

security, as with all armour-plate,

the

mail gussets were

plates,

as a

lobster

needed,

and the wearer inside

in

shell

its

but

this

was purchased, notwithstanding the

perfection of manufacture, at the expense of unwieldiness and fatigue,

for the

weighs over 92

suit

There

lbs.

are three other suits

which

belonged to Henry VIII., besides the magnificent equestrian one next

figured.

on

foot,

The
and

is

second dismounted one was also intended for combats

known

as a

tonlet suit

from the long, laminated

skirt

of horizontal

plates

other.

decorated with some engraved bands or borders, while

It

is

the fine headpiece to

Missaglias of Milan.

reaching

it

is

We

new mode of attachment

to

Italian,

meet

knee,

the

bearing the marks of the celebrated

at this

time with the sliding

for the plates,

over each

tassets

of most of the close-fitting skirts are

parting

rivets, a

which enabled them to play

freely

other without

and sliding over each

company.

made

The overlapping
in

this

fashion, to

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

70

which the term Almayne

met with

rivets, so frequently

Some of

in inventories, is

believed to

apply.

gauntlet, to

prevent the sword from being struck out of the wearer's

the

provided with a locking

are

suits

hand, the so-called forbidden gauntlet, though

negatives the idea that

prevalence in collections

its

use was disallowed.

its

mounted

In one

suit

the insteps are protected by the great ungainly stirrups necessitated by

the broad-toed sollerets, and therefore only covered with mail.

with a picturesque banded ornament, partly

suit is enriched

The superbly-mounted
of

finest

its

our illustration (Fig. 29), one of the

suit in

Henry

VIII.

by Conrad Seusenhofer, one of the most

celebrated armourers of Innsbruck, whose

was

mark

it

engraved in every part with the legend

Henry

the badges of

bears on the helmet.

15 14, and was originally silvered

sent as a gift in

finely

gilt.

date in existence, was constructed to the order of Maximilian

expressly for

It

This

of

all

George

St.

and red dragon

This ornament seems to be engraved and not etched,

The most remarkable

times.

made

great rarity, and

much
foot,

vogue

in

and there

in imitation

is

work

as in later

the steel skirt called base, of

is

of the folds of the cloth bases so

These

at this time.

skirts

were used for fighting on

provision for fixing an additional piece to complete

of which alone permitted the wearer to

in front, the absence

it

feature

and

and Katharine's

the pomegranate and sheaf of arrows, with finely-scrolled arabesque

between.

and

The Tudor

VIII. and Katharine of Arragon.

cognisances are the rose, portcullis

over,

sit

on

horseback, though the difficulty of getting into the saddle must have been
considerable.
in

high

The

relief,

suit

is

The

skirt

with the
complete

is

edged with a finely-modelled border of brass

initials

in

H. and K.

every

respect

united by true-lover's knots.

except the gauntlets, and

mentioned in the Greenwich inventory of 1547, published in the

first volume of Archaologia by Lord Dillon.
It is there described
harnesse given unto the King's Maiestie by

a Base of stele

Th Empero
e

The

and goldesmythes worke."

is

fifty-

as " a

Maximilian

brass border to the

base thus appears to have been regarded as silver and gilt goldsmiths'

The

work.

on
and

foot,

the

repousse

as

horse armour matching the suit, which was to be used

Lord Dillon points

figure
steel

was

of the

seated

on

time of

out,

did

the

Burgundian

Henry

not

VII.,

exist

which

at

horse
still

this

period,

armour
stands

of

next

ft

ft;

ft:

CO

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND
to
is

designed

by

an

same

the

in

or

St.

and

armour or bard

the horse

of the armour
treated

are

represent

the

in

incidents

in

style

the

is

of

lives

and the rose and pomegranate impaled

castle

appear, with the motto diev et

mon droyt many

times repeated round

All these badges and engravings were illustrated, almost real

the edge.

by Meyrick,

and was made,

over and

it is

the

gilt, like

body armour,

German armourers brought

Greenwich by Henry VIII. It is stiff and

supposed, by some of the

established

in

unwieldy, and does not very efficiently protect the horse, though
dignified

The

twenty-second volume of Arch<eologia.

in the

horse armour was silvered and probably parcel

is

but

itself,

Barbara, and besides the badges on the armour

which are reproduced, the

size,

that

subjects

Burgkmair,

George and

St.

as

spirit

The

hand.

inferior

Albert Diirer

of

The engraving on

the Tower.

in

it

73

and even magnificent.

helmet has already been alluded

Contemporary with these

The

its effect

singular construction

of the

to.

German

suits is the fine

late

Gothic fluted

armour, known as Maximilian, nearly perfect examples of which are to

be seen in every collection of importance.

This was used for

tilts,

with

the immensely massive outwork of plates to fend off the blows of the
lance and other weapons,

against the

reproduce

innumerable

cloth

of the

skirts

and

puffings

visors,

slashings,

hg

tilting harness,

and

still

is

Rammes home

exists

Maximilian

rarer

costume

civil

which were

of the same kind

All

ment of

is

the Tower.

in

silver pcell guilte."

jester,

more grotesque by paint and

iron, but

in

the
suits

suits

not only

steel,

but also

fashion

of the

have the mask-

This formed part of a

described in the 1547 inventory as

Will Sommers, the king's

Italian

from being crushed

a specimen of which, also a present to Henry VIII.

from Maximilian,

rarer

the

left

Sometimes the helmets belonging to these

day.

shaped

w* a

Some of

barrier.

the

and to prevent the

In 1660

pece

was attributed to

and has subsequently been rendered

a pair of spectacles.

preserved at

it

"a hedde

Warwick

complete helmet

Castle, as well as

one of the

helmets, with curling woolly hair represented in embossed

without the visor.

this

armour was made

jousts,

tilts,

for

the shocks and pleasurable excite-

and tourneys, which

deprived of nearly every element of danger.

its

perfection and strength

Its

weight and closeness

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

74

would indeed have made

it

insupportable on active service.

revolution in the equipments for war,

and nearly unarmoured pikeman and

estradiot,

down

great

artillery train

was now being completed by

The massed man-at-arms, armed

the reiter, pistolier and arquebusier.

cap-a-pied, had borne

commenced by the

The

for the last time

him with the

before

all

lance, and was ceasing to play a decisive or even an important part in

Armour

warfare.

in

campaigning was becoming of

little

consequence, and

even for the tourney a reaction was setting in against the extravagant

and ponderous precautions devised by Maximilian and

The

decision of battles

infantry and light troops,

as best they could,

admirer Henry.

now belonged to pike, bill, and musket. The

who had hitherto been left to arm themselves

began to be dressed in some sort of uniform, with

weapons and armour

proportions.

his

selected with

some

care,

and used

strange to read that the archers

It is certainly

splendid service at Agincourt were

left

to pick

in

definite

who

did such

up any kind of helmet,

bassinet, or cap, whether of leather or wicker bound with iron, and any

description of side-arms, and were mostly without armour, save the pourpoint, with stockings

hanging down or bare

and stakes were obligatory.

Only

feet.

the bows, arrows,

In pictures, archers and the foot generally

are represented in every kind of old brigandine, mail, bits of plate, or

"jakkes" of
mail.

It

linen,

which inventories

tell

us were stuffed with horn or

was only when the kings and nobles thought

it

worth

their

while to clothe and equip the foot-soldier that his costume became distinctive,

and even sumptuous

VII., Louis XI., or

became mounted
France with no

Henry

VII. and VIII.

as the fifteenth

less

bodyguards to Charles

in the case of the

larger proportion of archers

century wore on, Edward IV. invading

Picked men, and those

than 14,000, besides the foot.

Duke

of Burgundy,

The uniform of

the archers of

of the bodyguards of kings and princes, like the

were sometimes magnificently dressed.

the

and

Duke of
gilt

Berri in 1465 was a brigandine covered with black velvet

nails,

and a hood ornamented with

silver

the entry into Rouen, 1460, the archers of the

King of

Sicily

gilt

tassels.

At

King of France, the

and the Duke of Maine wore plate-armour under jackets

of various colours, with greaves, swords, daggers and helms rich with
silversmiths'

work.

The

leaders of other corps were in jackets striped

red, white and green, covered with embroidery.

English archers are

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND
sometimes spoken of

bodyguard

as

Under Henry

gallantly accoutred.

" retinewe

the

called

75

of speres " comprised two mounted

archers in uniform to each man-at-arms, as in France.

^1000 and upwards had

with an estate of

thirty sheaves of arrows,

VIII. the

and thirty

Every layman

to furnish thirty long-bows,

In 1548 the uniform

caps.

steel

of the English archer was a coat of blue cloth guarded with red, right
hose red, the

left

special cap to be

don

for

plates,

blue,

or both blue with

worn over the

steel

and a

stripes,

cap or sallad, to be bought in Lon-

They were provided with

8d.

mawles of lead

broad red

brigandines or coats of

little

The

with two stakes, and a dagger.

five feet long,

mark of the various bands was embroidered on the left

In 15 10 Henry ordered 10,000 bows from the bowyers of Lon-

distinguishing
sleeve.

don, and applied for leave to import 40,000 from Venice.

took 12,000 archers to France, and

archers to

the emperor.

French

In

15 18 agreed to furnish

good

reign they did

In this

repelling the descent of the

in

at Brighton, 15 15,

service,

and

at

3 he

6000
as

in

Flodden,

where the King of Scots was found among the dead pierced by an arrow.

Some bow-staves of yew were recovered from the wreck of the Mary
Rose, and are now in the Tower.
At Dover Castle there are a long-bow
and a cross-bow, stated to be part of the original armament.

The

cross-bow

was

rarely

favoured

by Englishmen, though

an

imposing force of 4000 appeared in the united forces of England and

Burgundy

in

141

1,

each attended by two varlets to load, so that the

weapons were always ready to shoot.

In 141

took ninety-eight from England

his

eighteen of

whom

in

were mounted.

archers were very variously

armed

In

5,

however,

Henry V. only

whole force of 10,500 men,

1465

so-called

the

mounted

in France, with cross-bows, veuglaires,

and hand culverins.

If so formidable a

own

body

as the English archers could be left to their

devices as to accoutrements in the

first

half of the century, the rest

of the foot, armed with long weapons called staves,

must have presented the appearance of

mere

rabble.

foot, armed with partisans, halbards, or javelins,

name of "

brigans," and were

much

bills,

despised, but at

and halbards,

The French

bore the suggestive

Montlhery

in

1465

the greater part of the slaughter was by the " rascally Burgundian foot,"

with their pikes and other weapons tipped with iron.

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

76

The
and

Swiss victory at

Morat

1476 undoubtedly led the French,

in

English, to introduce a disciplined infantry armed with

later the

the pike as a serious element into the army.

course of disbanding

extreme

the

stituting Swiss

pikemen, and causing a prodigious number of pikes,

army of Picardy

may

8000

The

pikes.

proportions

England, ten

in

and page, twelve demi-lances, twenty

mounted, forty -six on

foot,

remained an important force with us

is

1482 the

in

be gauged by the Earl of Surrey's contingent of five

men-at-arms, each with cushet

archers

Thus

cutlers.

composed of no more than 1400 men-at-arms,

is

and

Swiss,

years later,

In 1480 the French took

whole body of archers, sub-

and daggers to be made by the

halbards,

6000

the

bills.

The

Henry

VIII.

and thirteen

till

long after

archers
,

but

it

only in his reign that the billmen and halbardiers occupy a definite

position in

country's armed forces.

the

These were armed with

The costume of the

1000 strong under Henry

sword, shield, sallad, and corselet.

yeomen of the guard,

the

with the

civil

dress,

Henry proceeded
with
the

fifty

1598

was

it

Boulogne

VIII.

changed

in the midst of his

archers on the right and fifty

Their costumes are seen

left.

foot and even

but always included the royal badge and crown.

to the siege of

mounted

bill,

in the

scarlet profusely spangled.

Hampton Court
Under

pikemen

mounted gunners on
pictures.

In

Mary

they

Philip and

were an even more important force, and under Elizabeth the backbone
of the army was
as in France,

its

pikemen, billmen, and harquebusiers, now armed,

with Milanese corselets and morions.

The

bill

was

six feet

long, of native production, the head at least twelve inches long, and

bound

with iron like the halbard, which was shorter, to at least the middle of the

The

staff.

black

bills

were also shorter and from Germany, but the

The

best halbards were Milanese.

more

weapon of parade, various

partisan with us seems to have been

in form, with or

richly decorated with engraving, painting,

without wings, and

The

and gilding.

pike was

eighteen to twenty -two feet long, with a tassel to prevent the water

running down.

The "Staves"

in the

Tower under Henry

20,100 morris pikes, some highly decorated, and 2000

richly

mounted,

in 15 13

diers

as if for the

Court guards.

The army

VIII. included

javelins,

mostly

taken to France

comprised, according to the Venetian ambassador, 6000 halbar-

and 12,000 men with holy-water sprinklers, a weapon never seen

Plate VI. Profile

of the helmet belonging to the French suit

In the guard-chamber of Windsor Castle.

(fig 32).

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND
before, six feet long,

name was

surmounted by

a ball with six steel spikes.

a quaint joke, like the Flemish

das and Morgenstern.

77

Godendag

The

or the Swiss Wasist-

Besides these there were tridents, pole-axes, collen

cleves, boar-spears, rawcons, partisans,

and other forms of

staff

weapons

in smaller quantities.

An
earliest

English army sometimes comprised light cavalry even in the

times,

force of

perhaps none more singular than a miserably-accoutred

mounted

Irish

armed with

landish knives, but without

The army of Henry

and great out-

target, short javelin,

using saddles, in the reign of

VIII. in 15 13 comprised 9000 to

Henry V.

10,000 heavy

barbed cavalry and 8000 light horse, and 2000 mounted archers.

His

" Retinewe of speres " comprised a page, a cushet with javelin or demilance,

and two archers,

force of about

all

mounted, to each man-at-arms.

400 demi-lances serving Henri

II.

pleasure," were in short petticoats, red bonnets,

plate,

English

"for their

1552

body with

brassarts of

and high leather boots above the knee, mounted on swift

horses and

The

armed with

infantry,

though not yet a permanent standing

now

enlisted as a professional career for the

To

disabled.
training,

handle the pike

a recognised

term of

force, except in

arm

into which

their lives or until

or arquebus efficiently required

and veterans were always accepted before

steadiness

little

a lance like a demi-pike.

the case of the Royal bodyguards, was

men

in

An

and power of manoeuvring

recruits.

It

was

long
their

in action that lessened the value of

heavy cavalry, and consequently contributed, more than any other

cir-

cumstance, to the rapid disuse of the cap-a-pied suit of armour in the

field,

so noticeable in the next chapter.

V
The Age of Enriched Armour

Armour

began from about the accession of Edward VI. to cease to

be a military necessity, and those engaged in practical warfare were more

ready to dispense with

its

doubtful protection than to encumber them-

Excuses were found for appearing

selves with its certain disadvantages.

in

the

without

field

punishments were

armour, or with an

inflicted

in

Those who served on

change.

to bearing

its

any practical

weight, since
utility.

equipment,

imperfect

stem the tide of

the vain attempt to

foot had naturally the strongest objection

when opposed

battle-scene at

to firearms

Hampton

men-at-arms.

who

It

represents a

Court, the battle of

The

wheel-lock

wore black armour, mail

in

5 12.

in

disuse

number of mounted men

every case dead or

From

pistol, the

in

among

complete

sleeves,

and

this time, therefore,

than the magnificence of

wounded from

arm of the German

a visored morion,

Reiters,

was

who

in the field

armour was worn rather for display

than service, and the purchaser came to value

far less

its

discharge horse-pistols point blank at each other's breast-

plates, the individual struck falling in

his horse.

ceased to have

it

Forty by Snayers, furnishes the strongest justification for

armour,

and

its

decoration.

arms confined to the noble or knight alone.

its

defensive qualities

Nor was

ostentation

Brantome

says that

among the pikemen and musketeers of Strozzi, De Brissac, and the

Due de Guise, thousands of gilt and engraved morions and corselets
were to be seen on parade days, and the armour worn by the picked
force of Spaniards and Italians sent

Netherlands was a splendid sight.

by Philip of Spain to occupy the

The

great and wealthy have seldom

Part of a

Fig. 30.

From

the Spitzer collection, and

Album

now

in the

suit

made for Sir Christopher Hatton.

in the possession of

Mr. Charles Davis.

South Kensington Museum, reproduced

in

This

is

No. 15

our Plate III.

in the

Armourers'

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

81

when

cared to stint in matters of personal adornment, and in days

were fewer ways

combined with

in

which a

a high appreciation of art, fortunes

Nothing more sumptuous

coverings of the body.

there

taste for extravagant expenditure could be

regard either to design or execution, than the

work

were spent upon the

in applied art exists, in

produced for the French, Spanish, and other monarchs

is

second half

in the

of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries.

the most exquisitely beautiful

armour

lavished on the

Among

this

the damascened work, scattered over

Europe, persistently though erroneously attributed to

perhaps, one of the finest examples

Cellini,

of which,

the target at Windsor.

is

no

It is

exaggeration to say that neither chiselling, embossing, nor damascening

on metal has ever

rivalled or

even approached that bestowed

upon royal arms and armour.

Germany and Italy,

Nuremberg and in
;

The

time

chief seats of production were in

Milan above

at

at this

then

all,

Innsbruck, Augsburg,

a less degree Florence, Brescia and Venice.

It

singular that few fine suits can be attributed to France, and fewer
either to Spain, the

Netherlands, or England.

The youth

is

still

of Edward,

the fact that female sovereigns succeeded, and finally, the timidity and

horror of war
suits

cent

being

felt

made

armour

by James, account for none of the known chef-d'oeuvre

was

meet

princes of Europe,

for

none

but

the

high-spirited

and

rival

and no king distinguished for valour occupied the

throne of England during the

its

Such extraordinary and magnifi-

for English wearers.

period

when enriched armour reached

culminating point of grandeur.

There

are,

however, a certain number of richly engraved and

which have been

gilt suits

the possession of English families from time im-

in

memorial, and the fortunate acquisition for the South Kensington

Museum

Art Library of an Armourers' Album of the time of Elizabeth, has

enabled
as

many of the

Lord Dillon

original wearers of

relates,

was

them

to be identified.

in the possession, in 1790,

Portland, daughter of Harley, Earl of Oxford,

engrave from
account

it

a suit

of London

who

This MS.,

of the Duchess of

permitted Pennant to

of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, for his

while Strutt was allowed to reproduce that

of

George, Earl of Cumberland, for his work on dresses and costumes.

The book undoubtedly

once formed part of the great Harleian Library,

but was lost until seen in Paris some years ago by Baron de Cosson.

It

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

82

was sold

at the Spitzer sale,

whom

Kensington Museum, by

The drawings
twenty - nine

by

at

was wisely purchased.

pen and ink and water-colours and represent

suits,

besides

the

extra

Made by me

pieces

Jacobe," the

for

Some

tilting.

name of the master

and mentioned

reign,

Lee, the Master of the Armoury, in a letter to the Lord

12th October 1590, published by Lord Dillon in the

Treasurer, dated
fifty-first

and offered to the

Stein,

Greenwich during part of Elizabeth's

Henry

Sir

it

M.

are in

full

of them are inscribed "

armourer

acquired by

volume of Archteologia.

Wendelin Boheim, the curator of the

Imperial collections of armour at Vienna, has recently identified this

Jacobe with Jacob Topf, one of three brothers, natives of Innsbruck or

its vicinity,

and who suddenly appears

post he seems to have retained and

death in 1597.

Suits

armourer

as court

worked

made by him during

in

This

1575.

Ambras till his

Archduke

at Schloss

this period for the

Ferdinand of Tyrol and Archduke Charles of Styria certainly bear some

resemblance to those in the Album.

Boheim

from the

infers

influence seen in his woric, especially in the ornament, that

have proceeded from the

atelier

Italian

Topf must

of Jorg Seusenhofer to Milan or Brescia,

about the year 1558, and taken up his abode in England between 1562

and 1575.

To

support the identification of the Jacobe of the

Topf of

Innsbruck,

it

necessary either that

is

been produced before 1575, or that those made

all

regarded as by some other hand.

who
M.R.

The

first

Album

the suits should have

two, for Rutland and Bedford,

over them, and the rest E.R., which can only,

have reference to the

initials

time should be

at a later

1563 and 1564, are relatively

died respectively in

with Jacob

plain,

it

and have

would appear,
All the figures

of the reigning queens.

drawn from one model, though sometimes reversed, and

Two of the richest, namely the second
an easy and graceful pose.

are practically
are in

suit for Sir

Henry

Lee, the Master Armourer, No.

and the

19,

first suit

of Sir Christopher Hatton, No. 15 of the Album, are here reproduced

facsimile,

though reduced

in scale (Plates II.

and the other a truncheon

while the other

They wear

arm

is

in

and

III.).

One

in

holds a mace

one hand, with the butt resting upon the hip,

bent and the extended palm rests upon the thigh.

the close helmet or armet of Italian fashion, with a high

and a large sharply-pointed

visor.

The

gorgets

are

comb

laminated,

the

Fig. 31.

Armour of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester,

566-1 588.

In the lower.

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

85

known

pauldrons large and massive, the breastplates long-waisted,

down

peascod shape, ending in a point, with a ridge

the

called the tapul

of the thigh

by

leg

is

and worn

fashion

foot.

Both the

scabbards.

in

bands of

vertical

Sir Christopher

The sollerets are complete

The swords appear to be simply cross-

and greaves.

close-fitting knee-caps

engraved with

gilt

Hatton's being on a russet ground with a gold

Henry

Sir

reproduced by Lord Dillon, and two by Bbheim

The complete

referred to.

in the publications already

comprises the names of

list

details

two of which have been

the other suits,

in

Lee's on a white

The minor

with a knotted reticulated pattern between.

considerably varied

are

reproduced are richly

suits

arabesqued ornament in the Italian

corded pattern connecting the bands; and

ground

front

protected by laminated cuissarts, and the rest of the

and take the shape of the

hilted

Only the

the tassets are short and laminated.

as

the centre

many of

leading nobles and captains of Elizabeth's reign, only two in

the

it

being

suits

being

foreigners.

The ornament
identified
still

at

is

where they

Wilton,

Cumberland,

still

Thus

exist.

perfect

in

distinct

sufficiently

The grand-guard of

the Earl of Pembroke's suit

preservation

in the possession of

is

admit of the

to

at

Appleby

the bands

an interlacing

is

is

somewhat

strap

upon

arabesque ground, with a figure of Mercury near the top,

E's

at intervals

Sir

Henry

restored.
foliated

and two

addorsed and crowned, coupled by a true-lover's knot.

Between are large roses and

of

Castle.

with volant attached, forms the subject of

this suit,

Plate IV., in which the original russet and gilding

The ornament on

Earl of

the suit of George,

Lord Hothfield

is

Lee's second

fleurs-de-lis united

Plate

suit,

by knots.

now

II., is

in the

The helmet
Tower, having

been identified by Lord Dillon, while a locking gauntlet belonging to

it

is

the

in the

Hall of the Armourers' Company.

was

"forbidden gauntlet,"

fingers fastened

by a hook and

of the weapon which,

suit,

Tower

right

called

hand,

the

an aperture for the passage

are

also

pommel,

the vamplate of Sir

and the complete armour of the Earl of

Worcester, with both the headpieces.

in the

This gauntlet,
closed

or sword with cross-guard and

In the

Christopher Hatton's second

form of a

staple, leaving

if a lance,

could not be dislodged.

in

helmet of Lord Sussex's suit

Tower, and two gauntlets belonging to

it

were

is

in the Spitzer sale.

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

86

Lord

Bucarte's suit

another fine suit

The

first

is

Sir

Wallace collection

in the

is

Hertford House, and

at

Armourers' Hall.

in

Christopher Hatton

Plate

suit,

III.,

has also recently

reached this country, fortunately in almost perfect condition.

disposed of in the Spitzer

New Bond

and was purchased by Mr. Davies of

sale,

It will be a misfortune if this historic piece is not

Street.

added to the

national

of this

taken

suit,

was

It

30 represents the upper part

photograph, with the high neck -guards
Fig.

collection.

from

attached to the pauldrons.

The

original front-plate seems to be lost,

but the extra breastplate for tilting and some other extra pieces are
preserved.
If

and

Boheim

is

correct in his identification of Jacobe with Jacob

armour

in his dates, the

Thus Topf,

in the

arriving in 1562, could hardly have

marked M.R., the owners of which

and 1564 respectively.

The

broad toes are features of an

as that

was

died, as

still

made

the

in

we have mentioned,

two

suits

in

1563

mail defence for the instep and the relatively

earlier time,

which the

M.R. identify
of Henry VIII.

letters

Henry Lee, as Master of

Thomas Bromley, as Lord Chancellor,

1575, have made the suits for Sir

Armoury

nor that for Sir

may have been for

The chief difficulty

latter suit

Lord Chancellor.

Nicholas Bacon, the previous

Sir
is

Journal for June 1895, gives

of Jacobe in

as

Henry

the date of Sir

appointment, which Lord Dillon in his able

mention

first

Neither could he, being settled in Innsbruck or at

in use.

though the

is

be by different hands.

of Mary, and show that the very broad stirrup

Ambras
the

Album must

Topf,

treatise, in the

Lee's

Archaeological

1580, and the fact that the solitary

any document

is

by

Sir

Henry Lee

dated October 1590, in which he speaks of him as " the

himself, and

workman

of Grenewhyche," and in a way that could not well have reference to

one

who had

quitted the post fifteen

may, however,

Among the

it is

years before.

These

possible, yet be reconciled.

fine suits in the

Tower

is

the equestrian armour of Robert

Dudley, Earl of Leicester (Fig. 31), not however one of the

Album.

It is, like

suits in the

the Jacobe suits, banded in the Italian fashion, with a

similar kind of design

upon the bands, and between them a broad impressed

diaper of crossed ragged staves and leaves

Among

difficulties

the enrichments can also be seen

filled

with

fine arabesques.

the George of the Garter,

Fig. 32.

A superb

suit

of French armour in perfect preservation. Early seventeenth century.

In the Guard-chamber of Windsor Castle.


ARMOUR IN ENGLAND
the bear and ragged

of

St.

Fig. 33.

Michael and

staff,

St.

Italian suit of blued

89

the initials R.D., and the collar of the Order

George, conferred upon this favourite of Queen

and gilded

steel covered with appliques

of gold.

In

the

Guard-

chamber of Windsor Castle.

Elizabeth in 1566.

and ragged

In the illustration of this suit, Fig.

staff is plainly visible

31, the bear

on the horse's chamfron, from which

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

9o

The armet

issues a twisted spike.

the Jacobe type, and the visor

is

combed, but

In other respects the fashion of the armour

enemy,

Sir

Christopher Hatton.

elbow-guard are preserved with

with

its

which

it

form from

differs in

pierced on one side with round holes.

is

very similar to that of his

is

The grand-guard and pass-guard or

it.
The former is illustrated, Plate V.,
and scouring to

original gilding restored, the military cleaning

has been subjected for so

many

years, not wisely but too well,

having obliterated every trace of the original splendour of colour.

show what

portrait of the Earl in this very suit exists, however, to

He

died,

known,

well

it is

in 1588.

Guard-room

Several splendid and historic suits are preserved in the

at

Windsor

Among

Castle.

Wales, son of James

of Prince

these, one, the suit

But

Plate IV.

Henry of

(frontispiece), bears a remarkable resemblance

I.

Cumberland

to the Jacobe suits, recalling especially the design of the

suit,

was.

it

for the alternation of thistles

among

the fleurs-de-lis

and roses between the bands of gilded ornament, the body armour
both would be nearly identical.
gilt

The

bands of strap and arabesque work.

tion,

and except that the

fashion,

it

is

as

still

gilding

was formerly a deep

Marquis of Lothian.

blue, in the Milanese

Company

1608-9, on tne feith of some payments made to

St.

John Hope has noted

"In March 16 13,

under sign manual, for the payment to

^300 due

armour value ^450

for

Sir

Edward

in

London
him, which Mr.

in

as follows:

Henry

been attributed

has

It

to William Pickering, Master of the Armourers'

of

in fine preserva-

is

represented in the portrait of Prince

possession of the

the

steel

in

The monogram H.P. appears on the

of

a warrant issued

Cecil of a balance

for the late Prince

Henry

and

in July 1 6 14 a warrant issued to pay William Pickering, Master of the

Armoury at Greenwich, 200 balance of ^340 for armour gilt and

graven for the

the

late

Prince."

Leicester suit, but

The

helmet somewhat resembles that of

has a singularly

with scalloped edge, and heavier gauntlets.

do not

differ appreciably

extra pieces and

preserved with
Jacobe.

with

An

stiff,

The

leg-defences and sollerets

from those already noticed.

number of

some of the horse armour belonging to the

it.

If really

by Pickering he was

close

apparently companion suit of Prince Charles

suspicion

by Lord Dillon.

gorget

vertically -ridged

is

the

suit are

copyist of

looked on

Another of Prince Henry's

suits,

Plate VII. Ornament on

the Earl of Essex,

(fig

the tapul of the breastplate belonging to the half-suit of

35) with the original gilding slightly restored.
In the

guard-chamber of Windsor Castle.


ARMOUR IN ENGLAND
presented by the Prince de Joinville, and

of blued

ally

There

some
to

steel

are also in the

silvered pieces,

him by

now

ornamented with

richly

Tower

a fine suit

and the richly

gilt

made

in the

9*

Tower, was origin-

classical

designs

for Charles

I.

when

a boy,

and engraved armour presented

the City of London.

Fig. 34.

Another

A part of the ornament of the

suit

at

Italian suit {Fig. 33),

drawn

real size.

Windsor of extraordinary magnificence

represented in Fig. 32.

It

is,

date than the Jacobe

suits.

The

banded

that

is

of later

tassets are replaced by laminar cuissarts

extending to the knee, below which the suit

is

is

unfortunately, not well set up, and differs

considerably in construction from those hitherto noticed, and

ornament

gold.

in

vertically, like that

is

not continued.

The

of the suits previously figured,

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

92
but

of a richer character.

is

on a larger

and colouring are reproduced

Its details

which

scale in the helmet, Plate VI.,

singularly graceful outline, with

all

its

is

combed,

fluted,

and of

plume -holders, and

fastenings,

The whole appears

French armour, but nothing is known of its

the stiffly-ribbed gorget in most perfect condition.

to be a specimen of rare

Even more sumptuous,

history.

which
in

The

Italian suit, Fig. 33,

characters, such as the single plates

and the construction of the arm-defences and

place of the tassets

The

setting

up

in this suit

also unfortunately defective.

is

extraordinary richness of the damascening and applique

reproduced
all

some peculiar

also exhibits

gauntlets.

if possible, is the

in Fig. 34, in

which

a portion is

sketched real

the escutcheon-like appliques have been picked off at

either for mischief or for the gold.

also

unknown, but

it

The

may, with the one

last

is

Nearly

some

owner of

original

work

size.

period,

this suit

is

described, have possibly

been a present to Prince Henry, whose passion for military exercises

The

of our illustrations (Fig. 35)

taken from suits in the Windsor Guard-chamber is a demi-suit of the

and display

is

matter of history.

Earl of Essex, and

is

war

the closed helmet was not

suit,

last

something like a pikeman's, except that

worn by dismounted men.

and introduces a shade or peak over the

two

bavier in
as a

pieces protects the face.

sight.

It

It

This

is

present, that for use

on

belong to the missing equipment for a rider, or

The

have been as an open burgonet.

combed,

should perhaps be described

Probably only

burgonet with gorget and movable mentonieres.

a part of the suit

is

has no visor, but a

Jacobe

foot,
if

and the helmet may

worn on

Album

foot

it

would

introduces us to

the burgonet and cabasset, a lighter morion, and shows that these were

used when fighting on foot by even the greatest captains.

This

suit

is

also decorated in bands, a fashion almost universal during the reign of

The

Elizabeth.

breastplate

cuissarts " a ecrivisse "

more

ornament

is

noticed.

The

filled

figures

with

finely

is

the peascod with tapul form, and the

form the only protection

foliage

is

medallions

enclosing

on

it.

foliage

The

suit yet

an interlacing and knotted strap,

and flowers encircled by mottoes,

ground etched down, but with

seed, left

the legs.

and delicately chased than that of any

design on the bands

arabesqued

for

as

Futura

with emblematic
prasteritis,

on a

and bright points like grains of

part of this ornament

is

drawn

full size in

Plate VII.

Fig. 35.

Demi-suit of the Earl of Essex, with closed helmet, magnificently engraved

and gilt.

From

the

Guard-chamber at Windsor Castle.


ARMOUR IN ENGLAND
There

a suit in the

is

Earl of Essex,

Fig. 36.

The

who was

Tower

attributed to the

95

same Robert Devereux,

executed in 1601, also richly engraved

and

gilt.

Sword, probably of James I., with basket hilt, entirely covered with raised
gold damascening.
Preserved in Windsor Castle.

suits

now

formed part of

Tower evidently
Windsor are placed on

divided between Windsor and the

a single collection.

Those

at

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

96

brackets at such a height that they can only be inspected from a ladder,

and they sadly require setting up,

mounted those

Tower.

the

in

of armour

national collection

It

way

the

in

perhaps

is

unfortunate

so scattered, parts being,

is

Tower and Windsor,

great collections at the

Lord Dillon has

that

in the

the

that

besides the

British

and South

Kensington Museums, Hertford House, Woolwich Rotunda, and Dover

Castle, while

most of the

churches and cathedrals.

added to

manner by the purchase of such

the Spitzer sale, a

in

connected with our national history,

and rank

in

still

If brought together, properly displayed

in a reasonable

recently sold

English and historic pieces are

earlier

suit

in

and

suits as that

of fine quality and directly

might become worthy the country,

it

time with the great armouries of Vienna, Paris, Madrid,

Turin, or Dresden.
Besides the half-dozen really magnificent suits in the Guard-chamber
at

Windsor, there

is

arms and weapons

a vast collection of

Her

Corridor, formed in a great measure by

Of

three swords intimately connected with our history.

Charles

has a

I.

pommel and guard of

steel overlaid

North

in the

Among

Majesty.

these are

these, that

of

with raised gold

damascening, and a grip covered with silver wire woven like basket-

work

The

(Plate VIII.).

Roman

intervals.

blade

damascened so minutely that the work

scrolls,

The

almost invisible until magnified.

shows the character of the work.

I.

when Prince of Wales.

cently-worked basket

The

royal

similar

blade,

the lion of

The

griffins,

It

England under

hilt is

Roman

common

being
a royal
is

to both.

John Hampden.

of superb workmanship and of carved

dress.

(Fig. 36), has

steel

The

quillons

The

crown points to James

that of

small, and, like the pear-shaped

in

was made for

it

second sword, with the magnifi-

otherwise nearly identical with the

is

etc.,

third sword (Fig. 37)

but the

arms, Prince of

marvellously fine arabesques taking the place of the

marginal inscriptions.
spread eagles,

The

of chased gold inlay on

hilt

is

small portion of the blade in our

Wales' feathers, and date 1616 on the blade show that

Charles

in circles at

Between these are panels, alternately of emblems and ornament,

and of arabesqued

figure

decorated with Latin inscriptions in

is

both margins, back and front, and

capitals along

I.

Its
steel.

slightly

curved,

the

presence of
as its owner.

blade

is

The

pommel, covered with warriors

are

last,

plain,

in

grip

is

relief

and carved with

The sword of Charles I. when Prince of Wales, *6i6. The hilt entirely
covered with raised gold damascened work on blue steel matrix except
the grip of silver wire work.
Preserved in Windsor Castle.

Plate VIII.

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND
pomegranates and
extremities.

Fig. 37.

The

foliage,

97

with figures reclining horizontally to form the

smaller front guard over the blade,

The sword of

'John

Hampden, with

hilt

of carved

steel.

known

as

the

Preserved at

Windsor Castle.

" pas-d'ane," and most elaborately worked with figures and medallions,
a

prominent feature of the

hilt.

is

All three swords bear the unicorn's

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

98

head mark of Nuremberg, but the two enriched blades can be

identified,

thanks to the assistance of Baron de Cosson, as the work of Clemens

Horn of Solingen, 158 0-1625. There

Armoury at Madrid, belonging to the
for Philip
as the

II.,

and another

is

is

a similar sword in the Royal

emblem of knightly honour and

a vehicle for the richest decoration

made by Desiderius Kolman

own collection. The sword,

suits

in the Baron's
faith,

but

was from the remotest times

it

is

doubtful whether any

specimens were ever produced, even by the combined

efforts

of the

swordsmith and jeweller, to equal the work of those here represented,

which are not only connected with the history of our country, but happily
also the property of the nation.

INDEX
d'Abernon

brass, 36,

Acre, Siege of, 14

Agincourt, Battle

of,

40

Cabasset, The, 92

Essex, Earl of, 92, 95

46, 48, 49

Cade, Jack, 5
Camail, The, 32, 46, 62

Ethelwulf, 10
Evans, Sir John, 5
Evesham, Battle of, 14
Exeter Cathedral, 42

Cambray, Battle
Canterbury, 30

Aldborough Church, 33
Alencjon, Duke of, 48
Alfred, King, 10
Allbright (armourer), 46
Almayne rivets, 70
Appleby Castle, 85

of,

Canute, 1
Capel family, 59

Archaeological Institute, 30
Archers, 17, 20, 43, 46, 47, 58,

Falkirk, Battle

Caractacus, 7
Cassel, Battle of, 30
Cassivelaunus, 7

Cawne,

Sir

Thomas

Cellini,

Athelstan, 10
Augsburg, 81
Auray, Battle of, 44
Austin, William (armourer), 52

Charlemagne, 22
Charles VII., 62

30,

Cobham,

32-34,

36,

Bavier, The, 58, 62, 65, 92

Bayeux Tapestry, 12, 32
See

5,

War-

47

Beowulf, 9-1

Crell, de, brass,

46, 76
Black Prince, The, 30, 32, 35, 40,

Cressy, Battle

Bills,

48

at),

Genouilliere.

Gilded armour,

Knee-cap

7,

30, 40-42, 51,

73, 9 1
Gisors, Battle of, 15
Gloucester, Richard of,

24

Earl, 11

Gostwick, Sir John, 60

Grand-guard, The, 85, 90

40

43, 46
Crests, 20, 21, 29, 30
Crinet, The, 48

Greaves, 23, 35, 36, 42, 74, 85

Gussets, 45, 48, 55, 69

16, 46
Cuir-bouilli, 28, 29, 34,
Cuissarts, 52, 85, 91, 92

Cumberland, Earl

See

Gildas, 8

of,

Crossbow-men,

Habergeon, The, 40
Haketon, The, 40
Halbards, 75, 76

42

of, 81,

Hampton

Court, 62, 76, 78

in churches, 30
Harold, 12
Hastings, Battle of, 12, 14, 15, 20
Hatton, Sir Christopher, 82, 85,

85

Hanging arms

Damascened armour, 81

Breastplates, 7, 22, 34, 35, 42, 47,

51, 52, 66, 69, 85, 86
Brescia, 81, 82

Danes, The, 12
Danish armour, 10

Daundelyon brass, The,

Daunt, Thomas, 48

86, 90
Hauberk, The, 16,

Brigandine, The, 42, 47, 56, 74, 75

British Museum, 6, 7, 10, 18, 52,
56, 61, 96

Dillon, Lord, 20, 69, 70,

85, 86, 90, 96
Diodorus Siculus, 6

81, 82,

Brives, 30

Dover Castle Collection,

18,

Burgess Collection, 33
Burgonet, The, 65, 92
Burley, Simon, 34
" Byrnies," 9, 18

J.

16, 19, 23, 28, 40,

E., 18

Adam (outlaw), 16
Gorget, The, 32, 34, 36, 56, 62,
65, 82, 90, 92

Crossbows, 14, 15, 43, 75

Broadwater Church (helmet

Bromley, Sir Thomas, 86
Brooke, Sir George, 62
Brooke, Sir Thomas, 60
Bucarte, Lord, 86

61

Locking

58

Bbheim, Wendelin, 82, 85, 86

Bohun, Sir Humphrey de, 34, 42
Boulogne, Siege of, 76
Bourgtheroude, Battle of, 14
Bows and arrows, 14, 43, 74
Brantome, 78

Froissart, 34, 39, 56,

Godwin,
Gordon,

Blount, Sir Walter, 50

Boileau, Etienne, 18

66

Frisian Pirates, 8

Gauntlets, Locking, 70, 85

Cosson, Baron de, 30, 33, 51, 59,

Coventry (sallad
Cracowes, 36

19

18

I.,

49

Gaveston, Piers, 36, 39, 42

Gaynesford, John (his brass),

60, 62, 65, 81, 98

Courci, Ralph de, 24

De (monument),

Francis

de,

Gauntlets, 39, 40, 56, 69, 70, 85,

90, 92
Gauntlets, Forbidden. See Gauntlets,

48, 62

Courtrai, Battle of, 39

Beckman,

Comte

46, 47, 55
Gardner, Mr.

Cognizances, 24

Beauvais, Battle

Beche,

Foix,

Fram, The,

Gambeson, The,

Corselets, 66, 78

wick, Earl of

Flodden, Battle of, 75

Florence, 81
Fluted armour, 73

Beauchamp MS., 52
of,

40

Commines, Philip de, 56, 61

Comnena, Anna, 12-14
Come wall, Sir John de, 49, 58

46, 48, 56-61

Battle-axes, 45

Beauchamp, Richard.

(effigy of),

Charles Stuart, Prince, 90, 91

Chausse and Chausson, 22, 23
Cheney, De, brass, 36
Christy Collection, 33
Clisson, Sir Oliver de, 44
Clypeus, The, 5

Bacon, Sir Nicholas, 86

Badges, Heraldic, 20
Barres, William de, 22
Base, The, 70
24, 29,

Chariots,

14

of,

Flint, 7

Benvenuto, 8 1
Chain-mail.
See Mail armour
Chamfron, The, 48, 89
Chandos, Sir John, 34, 44, 56
Chapelle-de-fer, The, 20, 29, 30, 32

74-76
Armet, The, 58, 62, 65, 66, 82, 90
Armourers' Album, 81, 82, 86, 92
Armourers' Hall, 18, 86
Arthur, King, 7, 10
Ash, Effigy at, 40

Bassinets,

16

in),

60

34,

Easter Sepulchre, Lincoln, 22, 24

Edda, The, 11, 18
Edward I., 15-17, 32, 34
Elbow-guards, 39, 50, 52, 56, 66
Enamelling on bronze, 5-7
Epaulettes, 50

18, 19, 40, 46,

Sir Nicholas, 48

47

Helmets,

7S.96

Enriched armour, 78-81

Hawberk,

7, 12, 20, 28, 29, 32, 33,

34, 42, 56-66, 90, 92
Helm or Heaume, The Great, 20,
24, 28, 29, 48, 56, 60, 61, 62

Henry
Henry
Henry
Henry
Henry
Henry
Henry

I.,

II.,

14, 16

16

III., 16, 20, 22,

24

V., 46-50, 75
VI., 32, 50
VII., 59, 60
VIII., 58-62, 66, 69, 70,

73-77

INDEX

IOO
Henry

Stuart, Prince, 90, 92

Hereford Cathedral, 30

Herrings, Battle of, 47

" Holy-water sprinklers," 76, jy
Hood, Robin, 16
Horn, Clemens (armourer), 98
Horse-armour, 15, 42, 49, 73, 90

Morat, Battle of, 76

Morions, 78, 92

Musee
i

'

Housings, 49
I

d'Artillerie,

National

Humphrey, 51
Standard, Battle of the, 14
Standard of mail, The, 47
Stephen, King, 16
Stevyns, Thomas (armourer),
Stafford, Sir

34

Portrait Gallery, 22

Neck-guard, The, 52

Stothard, C. A., 22, 39, 40

Nottingham, Siege of, 14

Noyon, Battle of, 24
Nuremberg, 81, 98

Strutt, 12, 81

Sulney,

Parham

Collection,

18,

19,

34,

56,61
Jacobs (armourer), 82, 86, 90-92
John of Eltham (his effigy), 36, 39,

40
John, King, 15
Joinville, Prince de,

Joppa, Battle

91

14

of,

Julius Caesar, 5, 7, 11

Partisan,

The, 75, 76

Paton, Sir Noel, 30, 33, 56

Pauldron, The, 69, 85, 86
Peascod, The, 92
Pembridge, Sir R., 30
Pembroke, Earl of, 22, 85
Pennant, 81

of Arragon,

8,

70

Knee-caps, 22, 29, 35, 36, 42, 52,

66, 85
Kolman, Desiderius (armourer), 98

Lambespring, Bartholomew (goldsmith), 55

Lancaster, Earl of

(Edmund Crouch-

back), 36, 42

Le

Botiler,

Quatremayne
Queen Mary's

St. Stephen's

9, 12, 13, 16, 18, 22,

24, 27, 29, 45-47

Mantling, 32

42

Matthew

of Paris, 24
Maule, Peter de, 24
7, 73.

Tower, The,

Valence, Aymer

Scale-armour, 21
Scandinavians, The, 9, 22
Schloss Ambras, 82, 86
Seusenhofer, Conrad (armourer), 66,

Warwick,

3 6 , 48,

(armourers),

56,69
Montfort, Simon de, 24
Montlhery, Battle of, 47, 75
Monstrelet, 36

Seusenhofer, Jorg (armourer), 82

66

49

Sollerets, 36, 51, 56, 66, 69, 70,

Somerset,

Duke

of,

90

60

Sommers, Will, 73
52,

South Kensington Museum, 65, 81,

82, 96
Spitzer Sale, 82, 85, 96

Printed by K.

&

66, 75,

de, 36, 39, 42

Castle Collection, 18, 34,

73

Earl of, 17, 51-55, 56, 66

Weaver, 39
Westminster Abbey, 36, 48, 61
Westmoreland, Earl of, 40
Whatton effigy, The, 40
William the Conqueror, 12, 20
William Longespee, 19, 22, 23
William the Outlaw, 16
William of Toulouse, 30
Wilton House, 85
Windsor Collection, 81, 90, 91, 92,

95, 9 6

Windsor Tournament, The, 29, 39

Woolwich

Collection,

61, 96

Worcester, Earl

of,

Spurs, 24, 39, 51

StafF-weapons, 75-77

33,

15

Warwick

of,

20,

Waller, J. G., 19

Chapel, 42

Shrewsbury, Battle

18,

76, 85, 86, 95, 96

Tuilles, 50, 51, 52, 66

Sallads, 33, 57-59, 61, 62, 75

Sandwich, effigy at, 40

Shields, 6, 19, 44
Shirland, Sir Robert de, 15
Shoulder-pieces, 39, 50, 52,

74

The

Temple Church, The, 22

Topf, Jacob (armourer), 82, 86

Wallace Collection, 33, 86, 96

Wallace, William, 17

70
58, 66,

Melsa, Sir John de, 33

Men-at-arms, 43, 46, 47
Mentoniere, The, 65, 92
Meyrick, 6, 65, 73
Milan, 82
Milanese armour, 52, 81
Missaglias,

Tassets, 48, 50, 69, 85, 91, 92

Wace,
St. George's Chapel, 61
St. Pol, Comte de, 49, 62

Madrid armoury, 98
Magnus Barefoot, 12

The Emperor,

The, 56
42

Psalter, 39,

65
Richard I., 10, 14-16, 20-22, 24
Robert of Normandy, 22

Lothian, Lord, 90
Louis XL, 49, 59, 62
Lucas, Mr. Seymour, 65

of,

brass,

Tancred, 10
Tapul, The, 69, 85, 92

Vantail, The, 20
Vence, 81
Vere, De, 23
Verneuil, Battle of, 47
Vimose, 9
Vinsauf, 21
Viterbo, Battle of, 49
Visor, The, 32-34, 46, 56-60, 65,
66, 82

Rayne Church,

Long-bows, 75

Maximilian,

49

81

of,

Pourpoint, The, 16

24

March, Earl

Plastron-de-fer.
See Breastplate
Plate armour, 21, 22, 28, 29, 45,
47, 5, 74
Pliny, 6

Portland, Duchess
Pouleynes, 36

Lee, Sir Henry, 82, 85, 86

Leicester, Earl of, 81, 86
Lewes, Battle of, 22
Lincoln, Battle of, 14, 15
Littlebury effigy, 36

Mail armour,

II.,

Poitiers, Battle of, 43, 46,

Lances, 44-46, 74
Langford, William, 34

Sword, Charles I.'s, 96

Sword, James I.'s, 96
Sword, John Hampden's, 96
Swords, 10, 85, 96-98
Swords, Legendary, 10, 11

Tabard, The, 48

The, 50, 69
78, 98
Pickering, William (armourer), 90
Pikes, 75, 76
Pistols, 78
Philip

36

Tacitus, 7, 8, 12

Petticoat,

Katharine

(brass),

Surcoats, 27, 35, 39, 40, 42, 46, 48

Sussex, Earl of, 85

Ifield

effigy, 39, 40
Innsbriick, 81, 82, 86

De

55

Zouche, Lord, 56

R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh.

85

18,

33,

56,

Plate

I.

Painted

Wooden

Shield of the Fifteenth Century.

JJurges Collection, British

Museum.

FOREIGN ARMOUR
IN

ENGLAND
C5>
r-

By
J.

STARKIE GARDNER

LONDON
SEELEY AND

CO.,

LIMITED,

GREAT RUSSELL STREET

NEW YORK THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

:

1898

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
COLOURED PLATES
PAGE
I.

II.

III.

Painted

Wooden

Shield of the fifteenth century.

Marauder of the " Bandes de Picardie."

Half

Suit,

IV. Gold Damascening on russet ground.

V. Breast-plate, embossed and

Lower

VIII.

Two

of

part of enriched Chanfron.

London

Wheel-locks.

Cosmo

suit.

de' Medici.

14

24

London

30

38

Mr. David Currie

44

Tower

of

I.

when

Tower

prince.
.

.72

the seventeenth century.

.

Of

German and French.

Major Farquharson

Mr. David Currie

French.

Sullivan

J. F.

Suit of Charles

Frontispiece

of Westminster

Late Italian

parcel-gilt.

VI. Casque of an Officer of the Guard of

VII.

Mr.

Duke

engraved and parcel-gilt.

Museum

British

.84

ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT

1.

Mail Hauberk from Sinigaglia.

2.

Standard Collar of Mail.

3.

Gothic Armour.

Said to be from the

Church of Irene

at

Constantinople.

Said to be from an old mansion in the Tyrol.

and Back views.

Sir

7.

St.

8.

The

9.

Carved Relief from the Visconti

By

Michael.

Probably Italian.
Perugino.

Battle of Sant' Egidio.

Kensington

German

11. Suit of

late

Museum

Gothic

Suit.

Sir

27

Noel Paton's Collection

By Uccello.

29
3i

National Gallery

......
......
Tomb

in

Collection of Mr.

Maximilian Fluted Armour.

13.

Engraved Maximilian Breast-plate.

14.

Portrait.

Piero di Cosimo.

the

Certosa

33

at

Pavia.

South
35

Morgan Williams

Belonging

Maximilian Armour from Eaton Hall.

By

26
Front

National Gallery

12.

Westminster, K.G.

At

Noel Paton's Collection

Gothic Armour.

21

Gothic Armour.

6.

10.

Noel Paton's Collection

........

Parham
4. 5.

Sir

Royal Artillery Institution

to

Mr. Percy Macquoid

In the possession of the

Burges Collection in the British

National Gallery

42

Duke

43
of

Museum

45

46
47

OF ILLUSTRATIONS

LIST

Tower

Henry VII [.

Presented by Maximilian to

London

of

48

15.

Helmet.

16.

Cap-a-pie Suit of Henry VIII., on a Horse barded with Embossed Burgundian

Armour of
17. Tilting

18. Tilting

the time of

Henry VII.

Tower

Time

Henry VII.

Westminster Abbey

Helm.

of

Helmet of an Ancestor of

Tilting

20.

The Sword

21.

22.

German Armour.

Date about

24. Fine Italian Breast-plate,

c.

The Duke

570.

Embossed Gorget.

French,

Armour of Charles

when

II.

rare form,

Made

Armour.

David Currie's Collection

Target of Etched

Italian or

Steel.

Two-handed Sword with

and Quillons

61

65

the Bear and

Penshurst

in chased steel.

Ragged

36.

Main-Gauche with

Silver

37.

Rapier with Silver Guard.

38. Inlaid Ivory Cross-bow.

Windsor Castle

Tower

by Lazarino Cominazzo.

German Wheel-lock

Farquharson

Decorated

London

Probably
.

42. Snap-hance of Italian make, about 1640.

43. 44. Highland Pistols.

to

of Norfolk
.

Spanish.
.

77

78

.79
.79
.81
.

87

.87

of

Major

Collection of Major Farquharson

Collection of Major Farquharson

74

Collection of Major

Collection
.

73

-75

71

Pommel

69

Mr.

Lord Kenyon

on the

Staff"

68

of

The Duke

used by the Reiters.

67

P. Davidson's

Collection of Major Farquharson

Pistol,

Flint-lock.

Farquharson

of

Tower

Mr.

Mr. Percy Macquoid

to

Windsor Castle

Guard.

prince.

Belonging

35.

Belonging

Mr. E. Cozens

visor.

Steel Hilt.

41. Richly

.64

London

when

Main-Gauche with

40. Early

of

German, about 1550.

Venetian Cinquedea, engraved, with Ivory Handle.

Pistol

57

Italian, sixteenth century.

34.

39.

54

Suit as the

for Charles I.

32. Roundel, with National Badges and Inscription.

33. Hilt of

Tower of London

with double

30. Richly Embossed and Damascened Target.

Collection

54

Windsor

worn by Philip of Spain.

.

Tower

prince.

52

.........
.........
.........

29. Suit of parcel-gilt

31.

52

Collection of Mr. David Currie

1550.

c.

Sixteenth century Armet of

London

Collection of Mr. David Currie

Breast-plate.

Smith

51

Possibly belonging to the same

25. Pair of fine Italian Gauntlets.

28.

of Westminster, K.G.

Said to have been

1550.

Collection of Mr. David Currie

27. Silver

for the Forefinger.

Embossed and damascened.

Armour.

23. Suit of late Italian

26.

Collection of Sir Noel

Fifteenth century.

Sword of the Fourteenth Century with Guard

Castle

Penshurst

Sir Philip Sidney.

-49

.........
.........

of Battle Abbey.

Paton

At Penshurst

Early sixteenth century.

Helmet.

19.

of London

.91
.

91

.92

FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

INTRODUCTORY
A

former monograph, Armour

armour made

The more

wearers.

in

England, treated of weapons and

either in this country or connected historically with English

extensive field of foreign

land by wealthy and enthusiastic collectors

is

armour brought into Eng-

now embraced.

The enthusiasm felt for armour is not surprising its interest is so

many-sided.
Not only are collectors fascinated by it, but students
artists,
and antiquaries.
As mere decoration it appeals to
of history,
but it is among artistic people
some, and finds a place in their abodes
Hence it is far from rare to
that its more ardent admirers are found.
;

find the glint of

From

arms and weapons lighting up the

artist's walls.

the artistic standpoint nothing can be

more picturesque than

the varied forms assumed by armour and weapons

in obedience to the all-

powerful dictates of self-preservation, or to the more arbitrary changes of

fashion.

scenes

To

realise

what these changes mean, to appropriate them to the

and episodes of

artist.

history, belongs to the painter, sculptor,

If anything in art should be accurately portrayed,

and the events which make up history.

which might

live

long in

art,

may

it

and scenic
is

the

men

Historic painting and sculpture,

be disregarded by posterity owing to

the anachronisms due to neglect of this important study.

Most of

the

changes were perhaps efforts to avert the recurrence of some accident in

the

lists

or field of battle.

To

definitely track

them

to their actual

FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

and

origin, to seek out the causes for the singular

arms and armour have undergone,

antiquary.

The

It is his

is,

ceaseless modifications

however, work only possible to the

province to open the door to the

artist.

quality of the art lavished as decoration on the gala suits of

princes and nobles

is

superb.

In mediaeval days

of the male sex, the fighting sex, to deck

gorgeous plumage

it

was the prerogative

itself like

game

To

women's raiment was more subdued.

bird

in

the male,

no richness of dress that ingenuity could invent or wealth procure was

In preparation for those stately festivals

denied.
to

when

the courtier was

shine in the presence of the fair sex, his sovereign, and his peers,

nothing was spared.

The armour of

and tournaments

sumptuous

time and

money

as

is

unstinted.

parade intended for royal jousts

as the wit

of

man

could devise, with

Chasing, embossing, engraving, damascening,

and gilding of the most exquisite quality were lavished upon

and possibly the actual work, being by the best
later suits,
little
its

when

cap-a-pie

artists

it,

the designs,

festivals

regarded in battle, were especially loaded with decoration.

excellence of design and richness of ornament, the

of the armour

modern

itself is

The

of the day.

armour was mainly consecrated to

and

Besides

mere craftsmanship

of a quality that never can be excelled, and the

counterfeiter, with all his skill

and appliances,

is

baffled in the

reproduction of tours-de-force, such as the high-combed morions of Italy

and Spain.

To

study the evolution of armour

is

known,

is

nature.

Necessity,

it

is

well

like observing

inventive faculty of man, and no necessity

In the long

self-preservation.
after generation the

trials

of

the works of

the great stimulator of the

is

more cogent than

skill, in,

that of

which for generation

armourer was pitted against the guilds concerned

the production of lethal weapons, the

in

means of defence seemed once or

twice so entirely perfected as to defy the weapons of the assailants.

But

ere long, the attacking forces, gathering energy, calling on the ingenuity

of bowyers,

fletchers,

sword- and gun -smiths, seem

again to emerge

triumphant, armed with yet more deadly and powerful weapons.

The

struggle on the one hand to encase the man, like Achilles, in invulnerable armour, and
like that

for

on the other to break down

his

armour of proof, was

between the gunners and naval architects to-day, but

centuries.

It

ended, as

all

it

lasted

such struggles must, in the complete

INTRODUCTORY
discomfiture of the armourer

arms

finally

all

the increasing use and accuracy of

to will

that

Viewed

to persistent attack.

the stages, and

the very

is

animate

things,

all

It

inanimate,

should

armour

reveals

in its true light,

embodiment

of,

perhaps, the most prolonged

and determined struggle that the development of

civilisation has witnessed.

of the extent and limitation of man's inventive

presents a gauge

of his brain capacity,

in other words,

faculties,

or

fire-

Nature,

reducing defensive armour to a costly incumbrance.

indeed, seems

succumb

in

the ages so-called

mediaeval.

Concerning the history of the vast bulk of the armour that

the possession of the collector,

perhaps matter of conjecture.

and

speculation,

all is

The

place

whence

its

it

falls

into

very nationality

has

come

is

often

purposely concealed by the dealer, and a legend concocted to invest

it

The weapon may have played its part in

realities of war
the armour may have saved its owner, or,
the hour of need, contributed to the deaths of those who trusted

with a higher market value.

the stern
failing in

to

Little

it.

the harvest of arms was the most

remained ungleaned on the

as

Next to gold and

armour perished with the wearer.

coveted spoil

What

battle-field.

harvests such holocausts

Flodden Field must have presented, affording opportunities of

to the man-at-arms, archer, hobiler,

Though

follower.

from donning the

etiquette

full

bill man,

may have

cap-a-pie

weapons present
battles,

to the rapacious

camp-

hindered the squire of low degree

sacrificed life to

dangerous vanity of dressing beyond his

historic

down

refitting

armour of the knight he overcame, no

doubt many a captor of rich armour

The

silver,

of victory, and none

indulgence in the

station.

and personal associations connected with the arms and

at,

and by whose agency were enacted, the decisive

the most stirring incidents

of history humanity can witness,

are not the least of the many-sided interests of armour.

Though

but a small proportion of the vast number of

suits,

and weapons that have come down to us can be assigned to

helmets,
definite

wearers, and most of even these were but the parade suits of royalty

the court, the few pieces of real actual fighting

particular

owe

owners are invested with extraordinary

their preservation to the ancient

arms of knightly personages over

armour
interest.

and

identified with

Most of these

and poetic custom of hanging the

their tombs, a

custom linked with the

FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

armour

older dedication of arms and

still

at the obsequies

of the dead,

either by placing them in the grave or hanging them in the temples of

The

the gods.

customs

reality

of the connection between the pagan and Christian

apparent by such incidents as that of William of Toulouse,

is

weapons to

dedicated

hanging them over

St. Julian,

of France, who,

who

century,

early in the thirteenth

after the battle

helm, shield, and

his

his shrine

or that of the King

of Cassel in 1327, presented his victorious

The

arms to the neighbouring church.

churches in fact ought to have

been the great treasure-houses for actual armour, as they are of representations of

armour on monuments and

Unfortunately, however,

brasses.

the old veneration for the person of the dead which led to the consecration

of the armour and weapons he had actually used, hardly survived the
close

them

as

perquisite

Westminster received

John of Eltham
finely

the

Cupidity induced the prelate to claim

of the thirteenth century.

function,

as

when

the

Prior of

IO as ransom for the horse and accoutrements of

while the temptation natural to the survivor to retain the

tempered weapons and armour, whose quality had been tested in

is

This reluctance to

had always to be reckoned with.

field,

them

of the burial

beautifully expressed in such ancient ballads as

sacrifice

those on

the

death of King Arthur.

Armour was moreover

looms.

specially devised

Grose in the Antiquities

Warwick

in the

time of

sword and coat of mail

Henry

states that

said to belong to the celebrated

let

kept as heir-

It

by

Earl of
will the

Guy, Earl of

an heir-loom from his father.

also

in safe

Sir

helmet and armour

became penal to make away

Enactments, such as that of 1270, commanded that

armour was to be viewed and kept

not to be

as

in 1369, devised to his heir the

which his father devised to him.

with armour.

will to be

IV., left to his son Richard

Warwick, he having received them

Thomas Poynings,

by

Thomas Beauchamp,

all

keeping under good security

go, for the king's use at reasonable valuation.

The

custom,

which prevailed extensively, of leaving the undertaker to provide property

helmets and arms in place of those the departed had himself used, also

tended to lessen the interest of even the arms which yet remain.

helmet of Henry V. was provided by the undertaker

that he continued to provide arms

by accounts of funerals such

as

down

is

well

That the

known, and

to Elizabeth's time,

is

shown

of Lord Grey de Wilton in 1562, when

INTRODUCTORY
among

bill

are a " cote of arms," banner

stele gylt

with fyne golde," with a crest

the items of the undertaker's

and bannerolles, a " helmett of

and coloured, a " swerde with the hyltes, pomell, chape, buckle, and

gilt

This

pendant, likewise gylte, with a gurdle and sheathe of velvet."

custom of substituting spurious insignia

dead was

no

set

solemn interment of the

at the

by the Church, who consigned mock croziers and

intrinsic value to the graves

chalices of

But

of even the most exalted prelates.

of the true and the spurious armour

alike, time,

and above

rust,

all,

changes of religious sentiment in regard to the churches, have spared

besides an occasional helmet.

little

to the custody of

and lack of

sell,

The

what they regard

interest,

claims of neighbouring magnates,

as family relics, the temptation to

have further sadly reduced this residue within

the present century.

Yet neglect and depredations notwithstanding, the preservation of

nearly

all

the English fighting helms known, from the time of the Black

Prince to that of

Henry

to their having been

VIII.,

and of many swords of early

owe

is

due

Other magnificent four-

deposited in churches.

teenth and even thirteenth century swords

date,

their preservation to their

inclusion in the insignia of Municipal Corporations.

Lincoln, Bristol,

Kingston on Hull, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Southampton, Gloucester, Here-

among

Exeter, Chester, Coventry, are

ford,

the cities

possessing

still

these interesting relics.

If our

national collections are less imposing

Austria, Italy, France, and

has

made

Of

Armoury.
the

still

Its

fifty-first

commenced and handed down from

in

to

Henry

use,

history can

private

by

far

the

most important

the time that

is

the

Tower

be gathered from Lord Dillon's paper in

volume of Arch<eologia, " Arms and Armour

minster, the Tower,

in

its

European arms and armour.

collections

armour was

Germany, the enthusiasm of wealthy amateurs

country second to none in the richness of

this

collections of

than those of Spain,

and Greenwich."

The

collection

had

at

West-

its

origin

VIII. 's passion for arms and armour, which was ministered

by Continental sovereigns, especially Maximilian, who shared

taste,

array

and with
of

whom

tilting

he maintained a close friendship.

and jousting

suits

was kept

inventory taken of them upon his death.

at

this

His extensive

Greenwich, and an

They were

not removed to

FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

io
the

Tower

until perhaps

1644, though the armoury there was already,

during the reign of Henry, one of the sights of London.

removed

stored at Westminster were probably

the beginning of the reign of

Edward

Tower

to the

The arms
as early as

The armoury was no doubt

VI.

regarded more as an arsenal for use, than in the light of a collection, and
perhaps was drawn upon constantly until the Civil Wars, when

Five of the Greenwich complete

extensively depleted.

VIII.

exist,

still

however, three mounted upon barded horses,

The

other pieces.

suits

becoming on

collection

armour of the

attempts to render

Stuarts,

as well as

removal a national one,

its

several suits of distinguished nobles of Elizabeth's reign,

royal

and some of the

During the present century

were added.

more complete have been made, by purchasing

it

examples of enriched foreign armour, and more especially of pieces

trating the
are

armour of more ancient

now pronounced
It

Many

days.

Tower

of the

them

to be spurious, and none of

appears that the

latter,

are remarkable.

drawn upon,

collection has been

half-dozen of the richest suits are

in cases in the north corridor

many

is

now

in the

at

collection

some

Some

Arrayed

of magnificent

intimately connected with the history of the country, as

well as a matchless collection of oriental

large extent

Guard Chamber.

most extensive

illus-

however,

comparatively recent period, for the decoration of Windsor Castle.

weapons,

was

it

Henry

of

from the

arms and armour, formed to a

collection at Carlton

House and added

to

by Her

Majesty.

The Museum of
valuable

Tower

collection

collection,

of armour and weapons,

is

very remarkable.

Royal Artillery Institution not

collection has been placed in

The

British

Rotunda

Museum

Dover

its

Woolwich

contains a

formed partly from the

The

There

far distant,

series

of Gothic

are also a

few pieces

and

a small part

of the

Castle.

contains a limited but choice collection, chiefly

bequeathed by Mr. Burges, of Mediaeval and

well as

at

and by judicious purchases.

armour from Rhodes

in the

Artillery in the

Renaissance armour, as

unrivalled series of antique arms and weapons.

The South Kensington Museum

also possesses a

few interesting arms

and weapons, besides collections deposited on loan.

The

munificent bequest of the Wallace Collection has put the nation

in possession

of a superb series of armour only rivalled by that in the

INTRO D UCTORT
Tower Armoury.

must unfortunately remain

It

inaccessible,

being

packed away in cases until the rearrangement of Manchester House

completed

consequently none of

all

of them choice and some unsurpassed.

It is rich in

and highly decorated armour, and comprises a matchless

Of

and other weapons.

of

it

private collections in this

Earl of Warwick's

historic, the

It

1200 specimens, without counting the Oriental

contains perhaps over

arms,

is

contents could be illustrated.

its

Gothic, fluted,

series

of swords

country that are

undoubtedly the most interesting, part

is

having been in the Castle from the days when armour was in
Besides the few almost

constant use.

contain armour of

Lord Brooke,

target of the Pretender,

Among

legendary pieces,

and Cromwell's helmet.

House

are the superb suits of the

Dukes of Montmorency and Bourbon, captured by

of

St.

the Earl of

Pembroke

Quentin, together with the suit worn by the Earl, and

pictured in the Jacobe

demi-suits

claims to

killed at Lichfield, of Montrose, the

the armour at Wilton

at the battle

it

Album.

With

marked with the family

Cumberland, also figured

The armour of

initial.

in the Jacobe

preservation in the possession of

good number of

these are a

Album,

lancers'

the Earl of

yet remains in perfect

The

Lord Hothfield.

collection at

Penshurst Castle comprises some good armour, including helmets and

weapons of the Sidneys,

its

former owners.

possesses the barded suit of fluted

Talbot of Shrewsbury
ancient seats

still

at Littlecote

said to have been

and Farleigh

The Armourers and

Castle,

or even well, as at Arundel.

Company

possess one of the Jacobe suits

the Benchers of the Middle

Mr. Leonard Brassey

the hereditary challengers, the

Museums,

other

removed from the neighbouring

attic, vault,

Braziers
;

or

Temple own some

and there are a few pieces in the United Service

Whitehall.

worn by

Many

contain family armour, either relics of the Civil Wars, as

in their small collection

;

Wheatman Pearson

Field of the Cloth of Gold.

at the

church, or discovered in some

armour

armour

Sir

especially at

Museum

in

possesses a fine historic cap-a-pie suit of

Dymoke

family.

Some of

the Corporation

Edinburgh, comprise examples of armour and

weapons.
It is

unfortunate that nearly

all

the notable private collections

made

within the present century have been dispersed, either on the death of
their owners, or before.

The Walpole,

Bernal, Meyrick, Londesborough,


FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

12

De

Shrewsbury, Coutts-Lindsay, Brett,

have been scattered far and wide under the

others have suffered severely by

fire

many other collections

hammer. The Warwick and

Cosson, and

and of collections made by the past

generation probably only that of Lord Zouche at

great

of armour

deal

is

absorbed

Parham remains

only

decoration, not

as

intact.

in

such stately homes of the nobility as Arundel, Eaton Hall, Hatfield,

Knebworth, but

in private

unknown

small and

would well repay

treasures

are

Armour

houses.

two

collections, like

careful

hidden away

the collections of wealthy amateurs, like

in

Kernoozer's Club.

It

is

in

all

those of

in

which

in the writer's family,

But undoubtedly the

examination.

Noel Paton, and above

Currie, Sir

also

is

richest

Mr. David

members of

the

impossible to convey, in a slight sketch, any

adequate idea of the wealth of armour in the country, the real extent of

which

as yet

is

only to be surmised

but in spite of sales

it

is

doubtless

increasing yearly.

The
little

fact

cannot be ignored that, of

has been

certainly

made

made
in

first

By

England.

Germany,

the earliest periods of

The

in

all

far

mass of armour, very

this

the larger part was indeed

dawning of anything

like

European reputation

duction of arms and armour, since the collapse of the

Owing

was achieved by Germany.

perhaps

extent

from

a country devoted to metal-working

its history.

and population,

its

to

its

political

for the pro-

Roman Empire,
and

constitution,

towns were more enterprising

mediaeval ages than ours, and acquired a

factures at a relatively early period.

The

name

in

manu-

for particular

necessity the trading towns

were under of arming their citizens to defend their freedom and privileges,

who
induced many to

amidst the semi -independent princelings and nobles

retainers

and combined to levy blackmail,

kept armed
take

up the

manufacture of arms in self-defence, for which they afterwards sought a

market among neighbours and abroad.

St.

In the thirteenth century,

when

Louis bore a German sword to the Crusades, the names of Cologne,

Passau, Heilbronn appear almost simultaneously as seats famous for the

production of lethal weapons.

least in

English eyes, for

an early ballad.

Thus

its

Cologne soon assumed the ascendency,

weapons are spoken of with respect in

the battle of Otterbourne

of fyne Collayne," and King Arthur's sword

hails

is

at

many

fought " with swords

from Cologne

INTRODUCTORT
For

of Coleyne was the blayde

all

And

the hike of precious stone.

all

The Duke of Norfolk having

that

its

races

of Europe

camaraderie

of superior excellence

in the

time

largely in

an earlier period, but for want of sympathy, perhaps

at

from the Crusades.

inherited

as

German armour might have been used more

II.

England and

armour out of Germany proves

sent for

armour was already regarded

of Richard

13

into

close

undertaken independently, or were

the

happened not to promote any

contact,

Germany and

between

many of

These, which knitted so

Their Crusades were

ourselves.

ill-timed relatively to

ours.

The

unfortunate differences between Richard and the Archduke of Austria,

which drained our country of so much gold and

chalices

were melted, rendered Germany unpopular, and the feeling was

not improved by the further great

election of Richard of Cornwall as

were unable to

come out

effect a

Princely intermarriages

Nor was

well in contemporary poetry.

calculated to

on the abortive

of treasure

loss

Emperor.

union of hearts, for the Kings of Almayne never

of enterprising Hansa merchants

yard,

that even the

silver

such as the

in factories,

promote good

feeling,

bulk of German goods into the country.

the perpetual presence

London

though introducing
Steel, itself a

was certainly amongst the imports, probably not only

Stele-

large

German word,

as a

raw product,

but manufactured into articles such as the " Colleyne clowystes " and

" Cullen cleavers," and possibly sometimes defensive armour

as

well.

Until late in the fifteenth century, however, the differences between the
military equipment

of Germany and England

is

more marked than

between that of England and France, which country with the Netherlands

formed a natural

barrier

effectively bridge.

When

that

only

strong

with

would

divided the market of the

VIII. opened the English

dismember France,

his alliance

Maximilian and relationship to Charles V. leading to distinct

rapprochements.
biassed
left

his ambition to again

it,

interests

bonds of trade began to knit peoples together,

German armour, from its excellent quality,

world with Italy.
The accession of Henry
market wide to

common

him

him

Natural

in favour

inclination

and

political

of his wife's kinsmen, until

necessity

his

strongly

unhappy divorce

isolated.

Italy vied with

Germany

in the

production of armour, Milan taking

FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

Matthew of

the lead.

Paris heard, in 1237, ^rom a credible Italian that

men on iron-clad horses.

An item in the inventory of Louis Hutin, 13 16, is "2 haubergeons de
Lombardi"; and that of Humphrey de Bohun, in 1322, mentions
Milan and

its

dependencies could turn out 6000

Bologna " un

haubergeon qu'est

were established in Paris as early

abound

Bolioun."

apele
as

Ancient British ballads

1332.

Myllan and Myllen

in references to

armourers

Italian

The

steel.

Henry IV., sent to procure armour from

Milan, and when he had selected all he wished for

afterwards

Earl of Derby,

Sir Galeas,

Duke of

in plated

and mail

armour, the Lord of Milan ordered four of the best armourers in Milan
to

accompany the knight

of Macado

able, after the battle

suits

in 1427, to furnish within a

their

dominions.

cuirasses, sal lads,

etc.,

as a

before

way

battle

to the

armour

in the

purchase 5000 suits of " almain rivets."

to the excellence of Milanese arms

Brantome, a very keen observer on

finest

"tant de
legere

engraved and most

M.

is,

les corselets

armoriers parvinssent a la
Strozzi, insisting that his

quasy contraignit tous

to the Swiss, with the finest

Henry

The most

corselets

"

la

Milan " de bonne

for

hommes

perfection,

de

Ce genre de

pieds

cuirasse

and " on y
ne trouvoit point que nos
;

non plus qu'aux morions."

armaments should be Milanese, "

pria voire

de n'avoir plus autres armes, tant

harquebuses, fourniments, que corselets de Milan "

his infantry to be

Milan furnished

cour de France "

graves de Milan et

ses capitaines

1000

eloquent testimony

matters military.

elegant

mesme

VIII. kept

Tower, and sent to Milan to

however, to be found in the pages of

all

eut la plus grande vogue a

giving them

Monstrelet mentions that

que de Brissac."

de Strozzi

approuvoit fort

heavy convoy of

Duke of Brittany,

of Marignano.

Myllen swords for the tourney

the

148

in

packed in cotton to prevent them rattling and

reward for their discovery.

the

a great Spanish

of Burgundy settled Italian armourers

the Milanese gave corselets and other

promises,

few days 4000

armour and weapons were per-

This king seized

imitating bales of silk, on the

John Doyac

Italian

Duke

Louis XI. and the

mitted.

to

At

of armour for cavalry and 2000 for infantry.

tournament held in 1434, only

in

In the fifteenth century Milan was

to England.

while Guise wished

armed not with muskets, but good harquebuzes de

trampe pour ne crever."

the Gambertis, were enticed to Paris

Pompee

Milanese armourers, like

a Milanese

was

selected to

Plate II. A Marauder of

the " Bandes de Picardie.

In the possession of Mr.

J.

F.

Sullivan.

INTRO DUCTORT
teach the

King

pronounced "

is

le

Brantome further describes the troops

to relieve Malta, " portant sa belle harquebuze et son beau

way

their

Milan

fencing, and Maistre Gaspar de

meilleur forgeur qui jamais eut."

on

15

fourniment de Milan," and adds, " car nous avions passe par Milan, ou

nous nous estions accommodez d'habillements

et

qu'on ne scavait pour quelz

ou pour gentilshommes,

soldats,

ou pour

nous prendre,

d'armes

si

superbement

princes, tant nous foisoit beau veoir."

Florence became later a great rival of Milan, and

we

find

negotiating with a Florentine for " 2000 complete harness of

rivettes at

Brescia was

16s. per set."

famed for

its steel,

Wolsey

Almayne

and probably

supplied the vast requirements of Venice, whose arsenals contained,

the seventeenth century, arms for 800,000 combatants.

requested permission from the

Doge of Venice,

in

Henry

in

VIII.

1544, to purchase 1500

Brescian harquebuses, and over 1000 suits of horse and foot-armour.

Pisa, Lucca,

Mantua, Verona, Pistoja

produced armour and weapons

also

of high quality.
Spain, with the

most abundant and

iron ores in the world, celebrated for

accessible supplies of the finest

weapons from the time of the

its

Punic wars, and with the immeasurable advantage of commanding the

services of the
craft,

It

Moorish steel-workers who were masters of the armourer's

ought to have maintained the

first

probably did for centuries supply

rank

its

as

own

armourers of the world.

requirements.

We

find

James of Arragon, 1230, sheathed horse and

quilted perpunto or pourpoint beneath, and the

the Spanish warrior under

man

in mail, with his

iron gonio or breast-plate above

the iron greaves and shoes, helmet and

down the Moslem by superior

weight of man, horse, and arms, the Moors dispensing with pourpoint
and breast-plate, and riding unarmoured horses. The helmets were of
Zaragossa steel, and James's " very good sword, lucky to those who
handled it," was from Monzon and called Tizo, as the more celebrated
sword of the Cid was called Tizona. The most dreaded weapon, howThus equipped,

shield.

ever,

at

this

mounted and

time,

was the windlass cross-bow, whose bearers were

carried large shields.

Little of the

worked

the Christian rode

Moorish armourer's work has come down, though they

steel extensively in

swords exist of

earlier date

Toledo and

Seville.

No

Hispano-moresque

than the fifteenth century, and these have

FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

richly -worked

hilts

Arab

the

in

preserved, also of the

taste.

Madrid armoury, and

Boabdil, are in the

few Moorish helmets are

two of which, attributed

century,

fifteenth

to

are also richly decorated in the

The fame of Moorish armour is preserved in the words

Morion and Morris pike. The famed swords of Toledo did not obtain

Arab manner.
renown

until the Renaissance,

teenth century.
any, was

little, if

made much

the latest suits in the

tilting

and were not produced

after the seven-

Real Spanish armour appears very clumsy, and probably

armoury

helm of Henry

Madrid

at

is

Gothic

late

One of

of Charles V.

after the accession

in feeling,

and marked with the poincon of the

VII.,

with a
of

city

Valencia.

France

very

is

much

armour, for no city in

it

same position

inventory comprises mail from Chambly.

mentioned

by

the

Brantome

as

producing

time when Bordeaux was English.

But Paris must

armourers.

The

in regard to

after

Louis Hutin's

Metz, Pignerol, Abbeville

armour

Froissart speaks repeatedly of the excellence of

steel.

England

as

Louis X. had a Toulouse sword

of manufacture.

seat

in the

ever established any permanent reputation as a

to

inferior

are

Italian.

Bordeaux weapons, but

The same

is

true of the

at

Limoges

have been the metropolis of French

all

description by Froissart of the battle of Rosebecque,

fought in 1382, where the hammering on the helmets of the combatants

made

a noise that could not

have been exceeded

Paris and Brussels had been there

cities

working

the armourers of

if all

at their trade,

were great centres for the production of armour.

shows that these

The names

very few French armourers have escaped oblivion, however

and

of

Italian

workmen were employed in France from at least, the time of Louis XI.
Some beautifully decorated French armour exists, chiefly early seventeenth century, but in France, as in England, most of the armour was

probably obtained from Italy and Germany, when once the superiority of
their

work was

definitely established.

Netherlandish armour was always in high repute, and some of the

Brussels armourers achieved
as

we

European fame.

It

even

set the fashion,

read that Sir Gilbert Talbot, 1353, provided himself with

complete of Flanderis

makyng of

the

new turn

for

specimens that can be identified as Belgian or Flemish

collections.

^20."
exist,

"a

curas

Very few
however,

in

II

CHAIN MAIL
The immense
are the

two

antiquity of chain mail, and that

facts

beyond dispute

maximum

exposes, however, the

spheric decay,

The two

originated in the East,

it

Its fine-linked structure

in its history.

surface of the perishable iron to atmo-

and hence few specimens of great antiquity are known.

shapeless masses of iron rust in the British

Nineveh by Layard, only reveal on

Museum, brought from

close examination that they

Whether

supple and glittering coats of mail.

were once

these are to be assigned to

the Nineveh of Sennacherib or to the Sassanian period, they equally claim

to be the oldest actual relics

sculptured on

the

The

of chain mail in existence.

Trajan column are unusually

faithful

and

jackets
realistic

renderings of chain-mail armour, for the labour and difficulty of an exact

reproduction of the minute and complicated repetitions of form into

which the links of mail group themselves are generally evaded by a

variety of conventional

The

ways of expressing

wearers of mail were

its

texture.

nomadic horse

Persian, Parthian,

Scythian, and inhabited a belt stretching obliquely

the

direction

of Scandinavia, the

mysterious

amber trade perhaps keeping these peoples

descendants wore

circle

when

it

from the Caspian

in touch.
it

The Viking became

to

Western Europe

in their expeditions to the East,

the mail-clad Crusaders under Cceur de Lion

clad horse in alliance with the Saracens

on the

in

and imperfectly known

acquainted with mail and brought a knowledge of

his

and

completing the

met the mail-

plains of Ascalon.

Coats

of Eastern mail called gasigans, as told by Geoffrey de Vinsauf, formed

part of the spoils of victory taken

of the great caravan near Galatin in

by Richard,
1

192.

especially

on the capture

FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

Although an immense quantity of mail

and abroad,

it

can as yet neither be dated nor located upon

The
of Denmark are

structure.

intrinsic

morasses

Viking

suits discovered in the peat

as carefully

formed

as those

The

whether the mail

is

from Persia or India of the

of the garment

fashion

home

its

links of the

present century.

is

the

only guide, but

of the period of the garment, or older material made

up, cannot be determined.

It

seventeenth century, and to a

continued to be used in the

much

West

until the

time in Eastern Europe

later

and

probable that no scrap of such a costly material was ever discarded.

it is

It

exists in collections at

was not passed on and absorbed by foot

have cared to use

soldiers,

who seem

rarely to

it.

The Norman hauberk

did not open

down

drawn

the front, but was

over the head by the attendants just before the engagement commenced.

Wace

relates that

in sight

Duke

William's mail was drawn on wrong side in front

The Norman Duke

of the English.

is

the only person repre-

sented with leggings of mail in the Bayeux tapestry, and to the absence

of these Harold's death and the

wound was

first

fate

of the day were directly due.

the turning-point of the battle, twenty

breaking in and securing

the

An

standard.

Norman

armed man,

His

knights

Wace,

says

struck him on the ventaille of the helmet and beat him to the ground,

and

as

he sought to recover himself a knight beat him

him on the thick of

The manner
must have made a deep

again, cutting

Girth and Leofwine

the thigh to the bone.

this onset.

down

fell

in

of a death which sealed the fate of England

impression

on

the

victors,

and thenceforth

That

mail chausses became an essential part of the knight's equipment.

any genuine specimens of either the

sleeveless

or

the

long-sleeved

hauberks of the eleventh or twelfth or even the thirteenth century have

been handed down,

is

Many

improbable.

mail

suits,

however, have been

acquired in the belief that they were European, and of great antiquity, to
the disappointment of their owners, like those adorning the Hall of the

Middle Temple, which are modern Persian.

is

that said to have been

1876, and alluded to in

that

it

found

Armour

in

was found associated with a

ascertained by

in

making

One of

a road in Phoenix

England.
silver

the oldest, perhaps,

The

Park

in

oft-repeated statement

badge of the O'Neills has been

Mr. T. H. Longfield, F.S.A.,

to be baseless, the

badge

having been purloined from the ancient harp in Trinity College, Dublin,


CHAIN MAIL
on which
is

it is

now

replaced.

The

hauberk,

19

now

in the writer's possession,

of large size and reaches to the middle of the thighs, with short sleeves,

and

is

exquisitely made.

Fig.

1.

Mail

Mail hauberk from

fourteenth century are far from

collection.

By

shirts, sleeves, etc.,

Sinigaglia.

is

illustrated.

Noel

uncommon, and

the kindness of Sir

century specimen

Sir

It

Noel Paton
is

of later date than the

P atari's

Collection.

are represented in every

most perfect fourteenth

close fitting,

and was exhibited

in

1880, and described by Burgess as "one of the few coats of mail which

FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

20

that "

had been purchased by

it

Bologna,

near

records."

Jew from an ancient family

forty guineas."

it

are told

at Sinigaglia,

had been beyond any of

it

note further informs us that " the

ounce and paid for

it

whose possession

in

we

In Meyrick's Critical Enquiry

have any decided history."

Sir

Jew bought

their

by the

it

Samuel Meyrick observes that

corresponds to the coat of mail on the statue of Bernabo Visconti at

Milan.

It

may

reinforcement.

be described as a single coat of mail with no

measures 2 feet 9 inches from the top of the

It

and has sleeves which are 10 inches long from the armpit.
bottom than

at the

The

and no

slits

two gussets being inserted

at the waist,

rings average a

good

"

It

is

collar,

wider

for this purpose.

half-inch in their interior diameter

half are

riveted and half are continuous, the latter have a pear-like section, the

rounded parts being on the

made of

appear to have been

probably by wear.

flattened,

circular

The

row of

brass rings

by Vandykes,

This

finest coat

probably the

much

riveted rings

but have become rather

of the pyramid shape,

like

There

bolder and larger.

is

round the neck, and the bottom of the edge and

sleeves are finished

is

wire,

rivets are

those of the Dublin coat of mail, but

a

The

circumference.

inside

also in brass rings, riveted with iron.

of mail that has come down to us."

One

of the figures guarding the Maximilian cenotaph wears a precisely similar

hauberk.

Italian pictures in the National Gallery

finishing off mail defences with several

sort of scolloped edging,

sixteenth

prove

scripts

that

scolloped edge

was universal

French

centuries.

this

and

custom

show

rows of brass
in Italy

that the

links, to

extended to Western

commonly showing over

form some

during the fifteenth and

monuments

English

custom of

and

manu-

Europe,

the

the tassets from beneath the

pourpoint.
Vestiges of the camail are found on fourteenth century bassinets just
as they are seen in the conical helmets

column.
a

perfect

The

or doubled.

many
less in

still

standing collar or gorget superseded

specimen belonging to

Woolwich, of

from Nineveh and on the Trajan

the

Royal

exquisite work, with the links

Though

it.

Fig. 2 reproduces

Artillery

Institution

at

round the throat reinforced

gorgets of plate were introduced as early as 1330,

preferred to wear the mail, so that they continued

use for two centuries longer.

more or

Mail was generally worn bright.

In the fourteenth century Anturs of Arthur

we read


CHAIN MAIL

21

His mayles were mylke quyte, enclawet

His stede trappet with that

An

illce,

as true

clene

full

men me

early fourteenth century stanza, the 39th of the "

told.

Armynge of King

Arthur," suggests that the surcoat over mail was to keep off rain and

The

not sun.

colour green was almost universally used from the reign

of King John.

With scharfe weppun and schene

Gay gownes of grene

To

hold theyr armour clene

And
For

from the wette.

it

brief period in the sixteenth century, mail

Fig. 2.

rife,

and

Royal Artillery

Standard Collar of Mail.

The custom was

without plate armour.

ation was

werre

is

was again worn

Institution.

revived in Italy

when

assassin-

seen in portraits of Italian noblemen in the National

Gallery.

Wyatt on his rebellion is described

of Jane and Queen Mary as " a shert of mayll with

The costume of
in

the chronicles

sieves,

the

the unfortunate

very fayre and thereon a velvet cassoke and an yellowe lace with

windelesse of his dag hanging thereon, and a paire of botes and

spurres on his legges

broade bonne-work
shertes of mayll "

on

lace

hedd he had

his

about

was brought

it."

in

Soon

a faire hat of velvet with

after

" shippe laden with

by Strangwyshe the Rover, " who came

from the French king and submitted

to

the

Queen's mercy."

The

FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

22

La

celebrated duel between Jarnac and

Chateigneraye was fought in shirts

of mail.
In the Scottish wars of

Edward

I.

was

it

" arrows can penetrate the hardest mail "

common

and more

Simon de Montfort, standing

had to be devised.

saying that

armour

efficient

like

tower and

wielding his sword with both hands, was pierced in the back by
soldier

who

lips

not the

change in the

foot

The hero died with " Dieu merci " on his

only victim who met his death in this manner.
The
fashion of armour was hastened by such events.
The

lifted

up

his mail.

process has already been traced

it

began

Three

covered by plates called poleyns.

knee-caps, which were

at the

actual

and perfectly unique

specimens of these, belonging to Sir Noel Paton, show that they were
not laid upon or over the mail, but replaced

mental

One

effigies.

with parallel

pair

it,

sides

as represented in
is

finely

monu-

embossed and

vandyked, closely resembling those of some early fourteenth century

effigies.

more

globose example formed of three articulated plates

interesting, having

worked

in thin brass lines, the field being delicately

hatched with
surface

incised

is

still

been richly damascened with an arabesque design

lines.

The

really

remarkable

and

closely cross-

and unexpected

decoration this discloses explains the nature, and confirms the

armour

accuracy, of certain fourteenth century representations of black

The

covered with fine gold arabesques.

cross-hatching served to retain

the black pigment, and gave a dark cast to the steel surface, enhancing
the value of the delicate brass inlay.

The

process of reinforcing the mail defence was continued, as

seen, until

coat was
plate

was

armour.

difficult

of

it

entirely cased with an outer shell of plate.

worn beneath the

mail, if not a second

and most fatiguing, and were discarded so soon

and without

crevices,

quilted

one between the mail and

These multiplied defences must have made

fine steely quality,

we have

active fighting

as a light

was procurable.

armour

III

GOTHIC ARMOUR
Plate armour reached

the perfection of

the fifteenth century.

At no

workmanship

period was

it

in the

second half of

so light, yet impervious, with

curves and angles so admirably directed to deflect the impact of sword

or lance, and articulations so skilfully devised to mitigate the restraint

on freedom of movement

Never was armour

so

so

elegant,

necessarily

of

a sheathing

so closely fitted to the contour of the body,

easily

and

therefore

" Gothic Armour,"

so-called

imposed by

is

the

so

constantly

worn.

and thus

This,

cynosure of collectors, and

rarely to be obtained that a fairly perfect cap-a-pie suit

steel.

is

the
so

may command

some ^2000.
This Gothic armour

is

the

armour of the Van Eycks and Memling,

of Perugino and Leonardo, and of the

The sumptuously

it

in use in every vicissitude of war or combat,

by sea and land, on horse and

foot,

freedom of action of the wearer.

in

campaigning by any

prince or noble,
fantastically.

burnished

it

Thus

steel

textile

and

sheeny surface of

The
Jrmour

how

that

little

it

it

impeded the

was rarely concealed

garment, and also that when worn by

might be gilded, entirely or

the upper half

may

or these gilt and the

and knee

testify

They show

alternate plates of the articulated breast

the elbow

Diirer.

French and English manuscripts of the

illuminated

fifteenth century depict

works of Albert

earlier

be

gilt,

body

partially,

even almost

and the nether limbs

steel

left

but more often the

and back defences, the arms, or

pieces, are gilt, while the rest presents the

normal

steel.

general characteristics of Gothic armour have been described in

in

England, illustrated in Fig. 19, by the

fine

and accurately

FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

24
modelled
suits

suit

of the Beauchamp effigy

have been brought to

this

at

Warwick.

Though many

fine

country from abroad, none are in any way

connected with English wearers, and none could therefore be illustrated

in the

former monograph.

It

seems incredible that nothing should have

been preserved either of the weapons or armour with which the long
struggle for supremacy in France was maintained during the minority

and rule of a king, too studious and placable for days when

his turbulent

Of the armour and weapons of the thousands

victims to the Wars of the Roses, the direct

subjects cared only for war.

of men-at-arms

who

fell

outcome of the disappointing

ing to English

The

issue

of the French Wars, and so annihilat-

perhaps but a helmet and a few weapons remain.

art,

extermination of the old nobility

in habit

and thought introduced

affecting alike art, literature,

the completeness of the change

into this country

and costume

by the Renaissance,

the change in religion, the

revolution in the science of warfare, and the absolute centralisation of

the ambitious

and luxurious

nobility in the court or

camp of Henry

VIII.,

together with that vainglorious and wealthy despot's passion for extrava-

gant dress, novelty and pomp, combined to break most effectually with
the past and to render

all

Gothic armour mere obsolete lumber.

temporary pictures of Henry VIII. 's proceedings, especially of

his

with Maximilian, in which the English retinue

in the

closed armet while

Germans wear

is

equipped

Con-

meeting

new

the old visored sallad, as well as the

accounts of his forces and his purchases of arms, convince us that out-of-

armour and weapons, even

date

if still

serviceable,

on to the lower ranks of

were no longer,

retainers.

Hall

the muster of the city bands in the thirty-first year of

Henry

heretofore, passed

"

all

were put aside who had Jackes, coates of

plate, coates

relates

as

of

VIII. that

of mail, and

bryganders, and appointed none but such as had whyte harness, except

such as should bear the morish pykes, which had no harness but skulles."

The

destruction of obsolete

armour

in this reign

must have been very

down to this date

of Henry have been

complete, for no suits of the Gothic armour worn

by the fathers and grandfathers of the courtiers

preserved.

France and the

Low

Countries have been swept nearly as bare, any-

thing that might have been spared by former ages having been finally

destroyed

when

the

houses

of the

nobility

were gutted during the

Plate

III.

Half

Suit,

Collection of the

engraved and

parcel-gilt.

Duke of Westminster.

GOTHIC ARMOUR

25

In more conservative Italy and Spain a few Gothic suits

Revolution.

have escaped destruction, and though the Art Renaissance of the one,

and wealth and pride of the other, were inimical to the preservation of

some few specimens have passed from the

obsolete arms, yet probably

hands of private possessors into those of wealthy amateurs of France and

England.

Germany, however, has ever been the inexhaustible

treasure-

house whence Gothic arms and armour have leaked from the hands of
private possessors into those of collectors.

towns had clung to

many of

the old

civic guards,

preserved.

In

Germany even

their ancient buildings, walls,

Town

and

the trading

and

traditions,

in

Halls the furniture, arms, and weapons of the

and the old implements of punishment and torture, are

The innumerable

still

feudal castles of the lesser nobility have to

a yet greater extent preserved the belongings of their ancient occupants,

who

clung to their

heraldry, arms,

titles,

and weapons

as

symbols of

vanishing rights and power, and of ancient pretensions and privileges, so

The

out of harmony with the world beyond.

dealer has long

found

them

in

ubiquitous and assiduous

happy hunting-ground for arms and

weapons, whence to obtain the bulk of those he disposed

of.

In addition, some important stores of Gothic armour have been dis-

gorged from the Levant, trophies of the incessant wars maintained by the

Turks

and the story goes that a

to

against Christendom.

Genoa with

New Bond
made up

ship,

Street

into suits in the best

at

at

The

way he

The

indefatigable dealer Pratt of

it

it

is

illustrated,

is

of

Other

from the same source.

in

suits in

this

consignment.

later date, while the remainder,

Lord Zouche's

Another much smaller

Isle

lutely trustworthy condition, the

number of

pieces,

Lord

catalogued as from the Church

homo-

extensive collection

series

of Gothic armour

of Rhodes and most fortunately

did not pass through the hands of any dealer, and

consists of a

3, is

in form, does not appear to be either entirely

was brought to England from the

It

Fig.

no doubt formed part of

head-piece, an Italian sallad,

geneous or complete.

armour, which he

this

could, restoring but too liberally

suit

Parham, where

Constantinople

though so beautiful

are

years ago, was actually freighted

fifty

became possessed of some of

Zouche's collection

The

some

old armour as ballast.

the parts that were missing.

of Irene

large quantity existed at Constantinople,

is

thus in an abso-

very rust not having been removed.

approximately of one date,

many of


FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

26

particular elegance

and

interest,

both on account of the armourer's marks,

and the examples of engraving they present.

Fig. 3.

Gothic Armour, said

to

at Constantinople.

By

the kindness of Sir

be from the

Church of Irene

At Parham.

Noel Paton two of

his four fine

Gothic cap-a-


GOTHIC ARMOUR
pie suits are illustrated.

The

first,

Figs. 4 and 5,

27
is

German work of

the second half of the fourteenth century.

Figs.

4 and

Gothic Armour.

5.

Said

Front and Back views.

Sir

to be

from an

old mansion in the Tyrol.

Sir Noel Paton's Collection.

Noel observes that " the upper part of the

remarkable for

its

suit

especially

is

perfect condition, the original straps being intact, and

FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

28

the inner and outer surface of the metal having been scarcely touched

The

rust."

graceful and doubly articulated and engrailed breast

back-plates are beautifully designed, and finished in the

great master armourer Lorenz
collar

is

Colman of Augsburg.

by
and

manner of the

The

curiously plain

attached to the pectoral by a bolt and staple, and there

is

a fixed

lance-rest, these appliances adapting the suit for tilting rather than war.

There are no

one of the most persistent features of Gothic

tuilles,

The

and no pauldrons or shoulder-guards.

formed of an unusual number

lieres,

gauntlets, are of great beauty,

These and the

suits.

brassards, coudieres, genouil-

of

solerets a la

spur silvered and thickly patinated,

and

left,

with

The

and bears on either

fine preservation

of the metal "

the suit had remained for

in the northern Tyrol,

Street

after

The second of

Sir

long-necked

head-piece

articulated

due no doubt to the

late as

1872 or 1873

whom

from

mark."

fact that

it

was obtained

hands."

Noel's suits (Fig. 6), of about the same date,

and channelled breast-plate

tuilles are exceptionally fine in

The

form.

head-piece

is

is

remarkably bold and graceful

especially the coudieres. "The

much picturesque character, and the
The sollerets are of the kind called

a close helmet of

In general effect the armour

parently contemporary.

good design and apis

light but dignified

though the breast-plate bears a Gothic R, no history attaches to

The

great interest and beauty of the

particularly elegant
plates.

staple

Like
for

and

German

suit,

Parham

suit, Fig.

it

perhaps some other pieces are restorations.

work

it.

3, lies in

the

has no tuilles and retains the

fastening the collar and the lance- rest.

marks, but resembles Nuremberg

and engrailed breast and back-

finely laminated

Sir Noel's

suits.

more

spiked rondelles and the gauntlets have

tiers point.

New

passed to Pratt of

it

my

came into

it

in its lines, as are the entire brassards,

arc

Due, and possibly

le

side the armourer's

resembles more the armour of Italian pictures and actual Italian

The

is

an old mansion

dealer,

whose death

The

the

generations in one place-

whence so

by a well-known Parisian

Bond

many

is

its fine,

"

genuine."

is

Of

artistic in design.

strong bassinet of the type styled barbute by Viollet

earlier date,

the

especially

poulaine retrousse, to quote Sir Noel's

however, unfortunately only the

of somewhat

and

plates,

and resemble those of Lorenz Colman's

description, " are exceptionally beautiful

sollerets,

suits,

It

in general

is

The

sollerets

and

without armourer's

form and

detail.


GOTHIC
Two

magnificent

ARMOUR

Nuremberg Gothic

Collection, at present inaccessible.

Fig. 6.

One

Gothic Armour.

29

cap-a-pie suits are in the Wallace

is

on

foot, partly fluted, consisting

Probably Italian.

Sir Noel Paton's Collection.

of sallad with movable

visor,

mentonniere, jointed breast and back-plate,

and quite complete body armour with pointed-toed

sollerettes,

and

skirt

FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

30

The

of riveted mail.

other, for

man and

ornamented with brass bands, the

horse,

is

equally complete and

with visor

sallad

and mentonniere

being of fine form and contemporary.

For

suits

down

have been handed

with unbroken pedigree,

were commenced while armour was

ations of Gothic

no

wearers, and

we must go

to the great

Europe, and especially to those which,

collections of

known

of Gothic armour which have belonged to

still

Of

worn.

sculptured represent-

armour none surpass the Beauchamp

less accurate

figure

is

that

like the Viennese,

by Peter Vischer,

effigy at

Warwick.

also in gilt bronze,

of Count Otto IV. of Henneburg, 1490, from the Church of Romhild in

Thuringia.

There

is

a cast of this in the

Count Weinsberg

well as one of the gilt bronze effigy of

armour which

remarkable

is

South Kensington Museum,

in several respects.

(Fig. 7) of about the close of the century

ments of the famous

St.

altar-piece

Michael in

full

The

deep edging of brass rings.

elbow -guards seem

sollerets are well

The

curved towards the

sword, on the

left

the head

forearms.
throat,

is

though

in two,

blade.

The

shield

The hands
St.

fitting.

The

hilt
is

is

at

in a velvet scabbard

and cross quillons

fine in
classic

form and

slightly

typically

ornaments, boldly

are bare, the right holding a slender staff or wand.

William by Ercole

di Giulio Cesare

Grandi of Ferrara,

bare and there are no plate defences to the neck, shoulders, or

The

top of the mail shirt shows as a narrow band round the

and covers the shoulders with short and very wide-open

lower edge appearing between the

tuilles

sleeves, its

over a second skirt of mail.

Mail appears again below the knees and forms the covering of the
all

is

The shoulder-guards

and loosely

hip,

bearing a Medusa's head and other

In the figure of

mail shows,

French and English armour,

large, angular,

with a beautifully and simply worked steel

embossed.

represents

made, unpointed, and leave the red stocking exposed

the toe and heel.

Italian,

suit

and below the knees,

breast-plate,

are less exaggerated than in contemporary

the

It

The underlying

armour, except the head.

arranged so that the body could not easily be bent.

but

from one of the compart-

is

as usual in Italian pictures, at the elbows, the skirt,

and has

in

by Perugino, removed from the Certosa at

1786, and painted according to Vasari about 1490.

in

as

Gothic armour of

Italian

periods can best be studied in the National Gallery.

different

Pavia

Munich,

at

edges being finished with rings of brass as usual.

The

feet,

breast-plate

is

Plate IV.

Gold damascening on russet ground.

Tower of London.

Late Italian

suit.


GOTHIC ARMOUR
large, plain,

and of one piece

formed, and ridged

tuilles.

3i

there are but three taces, with bold, finely

The

brassards, including the large butterfly-

shaped coudiere, appear from beneath the widely open sleeves of mail.

Fig. 7.

The

leg

armour

tionally large.

or brass

is

Michael.

By

Perugino.

also plain, but with the

The

pommel and

figure of St.

St.

sword, unsheathed,

National Gallery.

wings of the genouillieres excep-

is

a magnificent

weapon with

grip and horizontally curved quillons.

George by Pisano,

in the

The

broad-brimmed Tuscan

gilt

striking
hat,

is

FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

32
of

earlier date,

as the artist died in

145

beneath a thick quilted surcoat over which the great

The

and other body defences are fixed.

The

or 1452.

fit

so loosely that the

whole has a shambling appearance and seems ready to

square-toed with

are

long

rowelled

represented in Boccacino's Procession to Calvary

that the mail sleeves are less
St.

William

in

Garofalo's

baggy and shoulder

Madonna and

shoulder

ill-fitting

limbs are almost completely

sheathed in plate over the mail, but the pieces

sollerets

mail shows

fall

The armour

spurs.
is

The

off.

almost identical, save

The

pieces are worn.

Child from Ferrara, though

probably painted in the 16th century, preserves the exaggerated butterfly

wings to the coudieres and genouillieres, and the Gothic

fluted sollerets

and shows no

painted in the

first

pieces

mail.

The

St.

tuilles,

but has

Demetrius of L'Ortolano, who

quarter of the sixteenth century, shows fluted shoulder

and coudieres, and half

sollerets, leaving the front

of the foot to a

defence of mail.

The most

interesting picture in the National Gallery (Fig. 8) to the

student of armour, however,

is

that representing the battle of Sant' Egidio

by Uccello, fought in 141 6, when Carlo Malatesta, Lord of Rimini, and

his

nephew Galeazzo, were taken prisoners by Braccio

Uccello was born in 1397 and died in 1475, but there

the year in which the picture

was painted.

is

Montone.

di

no evidence

as to

appears to represent an

It

attempt to rescue the Lord of Rimini, by a knight clothed cap-a-pie in very

The

advanced plate armour and wielding a horseman's hammer.

and back plates are articulated

tuilles,

where worn, are very short

large pauldrons are of very varied construction,

coudieres with butterfly expansions are

worn

indifferently

observes that

Italy to strip those taken to their shirts

it

the

in all cases

some wear mail

gorgets, except that Malatesta has been partly disarmed and

De Commines

and either roundels or

the figures are completely cased in plate armour, though

by mail alone.

breast

is

protected

was the law of arms

and dismiss them.

interest lies in the head-pieces, which, except in the cases

The

in

chief

of the prisoners

and some trumpeters, are closed armets with baviers and visors hinged
at the side,
at

of varied form, the occularia being

in

all

cases notched out

the upper margin of the visor and forming either round or half-

round holes or

slits.

These armets are provided with most

and plumes, the crown of the helmet being

fantastic crests

in several cases covered with

^
73


GOTHIC ARMOUR
velvet, overlaid with goldsmith's

have the roundels

at the

work and merging

mounted combatants

Fig. 9.

into the crest,

All

back of the neck.

Another notable representation of an

the

35

Italian- battle (Fig. 9), in

which

are clothed in complete typical Gothic armour,

Carved Relieffor

the Visconti

Tomb

in the Certosa at

is

Pavia.

South Kensington Museum.

to be seen in the cast

the South Kensington

from the Visconti

Museum.

Tomb

The armour

of the Certosa, Pavia, in

is

of the most beautiful

type, and the figures are singularly supple and full of action.
is

more

fully

developed and almost uniform

in type.

The

The armet

visor

works on

FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

36

pivots, the occularium

is

above

slit

The

fastened by straps at the back.

As a

Brescia in 1402.

it,

and the bavier

event represented

a separate piece

is

the battle before

is

full-sized representation of the latest Italian

armour nothing can perhaps be

finer

Gothic

than the fifteenth century effigy of

Guidarello Guidarelli surnamed Braccioforte from Ravenna, of which there

is

also a cast in the

South Kensington Museum.

and pointed, formed of narrow horizontal

bossed into lions' heads

plates

and the armet has

The
;

tuilles are flexible

the shoulder-plates are

double visor without bavier.

The statue of St. George, made by Donatello for the Florentine corporation of armourers in 141 6, is almost Roman in costume and of little
interest.

The

account of the almost contemporary battle of Fornovo, 1495, by

Philip de

Commines

bears testimony to the excellence

The

armour, especially of the close armets.

consisted of

Italy

Count
nobles,

di
all

of

Italian

this

flower of the allied forces o\

2500 men-at-arms under the Marquis of Mantua,

Cajazzo, and Signor John Bentivoglio of Bologna, with other

well barded, with fine plumes of feathers

or hollow lances, brightly painted, and used

The French van

bodies of men-at-arms were in reserve.

men-at-arms, 200 mounted

fought on foot, however

archers and

3000 Swiss

highest nobility dismounting to fight amongst them.

pensioners,

100

Scottish

Great

contained 350

crossbow-men of the king's guard

300

were the king's guards,

and bourdonasses,

in tournaments.

who

foot, several

of the

In the main body

archers,

about

900

men-at-arms, and 2500 Swiss, the whole army not exceeding 9000 men.

The

Italian

men-at-arms delivered a charge, with lances couched,

gentle gallop

the Estradiots,

who

should have supported them with

plunder the sumpter-horses

their scimitars, retired to

men-at-arms who had charged and broken

infantry gave ground.
their lances

With

and

fled,

in

the French were " a great

flocked about

the

Italian

their hatchets

whereupon the

also

and

their

threw away

hand, and were pursued and cut up.

number of grooms and

men-at-arms, when

and knocked most of them on the head.

had

their lances fled,

Those who had not charged

sword

at a

The

they were

servants,

who

dismounted,

greatest part of

them

(which they cut their wood with) in their hands, and

with them they broke up their head-pieces, and then knocked out their
brains, otherwise they could not easily

have killed them, they were so

ARMOUR

GOTHIC
very well armed

37

and to be sure there were three or four of our men

The

to attack one man-at-arms.

long swords also which our archers

The

and servants wore did very good execution."

losses

on the French

side were but three gentlemen, nine Scottish archers, twenty horse of the

The

vanguard, and some servants.

of

whom 350

3500 men on the field,

or eight of the Marquis

Italians lost

were men-at-arms, including

six

The

of Mantua's relatives and other persons of quality.

very thick upon the

were good

more than

a javelin, yet they

Battles in

on

and

especially the bourdonasses

were hollow and

were

light,

but they

and weighed no

finely painted."

England were much more

serious affairs

and were stubbornly

Those of the Wars of the Roses opened with

contested.
after

field,

for nothing, for they

" lay

.lances

a cannonade,

which the archers engaged and the billmen followed, nobles fighting

foot

in

ranks to

their

encourage

" twice by fine force passed through the

Banbury, " polle axe in hand "

taken because they

Earl of
strokes "

Warwick
;

left

their horses

many were
on foot. The

of Towcester

and decided to

among

the

and not being properly supported, he was

fight

enemy

the archers formed the forward

syde they paied theim

home manfully

to encourage his

men,

slain.

archers " with a sodein clamour lette arrowes

on both

flee at

sides.

On

theim.

again with the same.

Richard's
the other

But when

The

they came nere together, they laied on valeauntly with swordes."

Earl of Oxford, however, kept his

men

in close order,

way, wholesale desertion sealing the fate of the

engaged, but kept afar

off"

and the enemy gave

battle.

Henry was not

" with a fewe companye of armed menne."

Richard on horseback made a desperate attempt to get

unsupported and

at

dismounted at Barnet to " try the extremity of hand

but penetrating too far

At Bosworth

of his adversaries,"

battaill

at the battle

Lord Richard Herbert

them.

at

him, but was

slain.

The English costume is described in the Plumpton Correspondence,

when the Archbishop of York, having dues to collect in 1441, quartered
200 men-at-arms

in

Ripon and held

it

"like a towne of warre."

These

borderers wore breast-plate, vambrace, rerebrace, greves and guischers,

gorgett and

salett,

long spears and lancegayes."

not always so well armed.

English levies were

The 5000 men who came down from

north in the reign of Richard

III.

were "

evell

the

apparelled and worsse

FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

38

Under Henry

harneysed in rustic harneys."

took out " 3000

The

were for the most parte lether."

plates

VII. the

mene which were harneysed but

Duke

of Bedford

barely, for theyr breste

array taken to Calais by

Edward IV. in 1475 s m striking contrast to this. Hall relates that

" the men were so well armed and so surely in all things appoynted and
*

provided that the Frenche nacio were not onely amased to behold them,

much more praysed them and

but

men of armes

one

in

In this

army were 1500

well horsed, of the which the moste parte were barded

most galiard

the

rychely trapped, after

decked

there order.

There were

suyte.

fashion,

farther

and

havyng many horses

15,000

archers

beryng

bowes and arrowes, of the which a greate parte were on horsebacke.

number

There were

also

well

up Tentes and

to

set

De Commines

great

men and

of fighting

Pavillions,

serve their

to

as

others,

Artilarie."

adds that the men-at-arms, comprising the flower of

the English nobility, were richly accoutred after the French

well

as

fashion,

mounted, most of them barded, and each one with several persons

in his retinue.

This Gothic armour, the

was

long as

ideal so

it

first

day with sharp

with poll-axes.

Duke

was customary for men-at-arms

The mixed

on foot or mounted.

The Lord

Scales

Duke of

having the misfortune to

there was always a large

in vogue, fought the

day with swords, the third on foot

Orleans fought such tourneys, the latter

to fight

by

a spear-thrust.

was,

It

on foot among the archers, and

number of gentlemen volunteering among them

to " encourage the infantrv " and

Burgundians had learnt

still

to fight indifferently

and the Bastard of Burgundy, and the

his antagonist

kill

most honourable

this

make them

fight the better.

"

The

custom from the English when Duke Philip

made war upon France during

without any truce."

tourney was

spears, the second

of Albany and

in battle too,

and most graceful ever produced,

lightest

his

youth for two-and-thirty years together

De Commines

adds that

Montlhery the order

at

was given to the Burgundians that every man should alight without any
Knights equipped by the most renowned of the armourers

exception.

of Italy and

Germany were almost

invulnerable until overthrown

but

English and Burgundian armour was not an equal protection, as the rash

Duke of Burgundy, who seems

to have

had

all

Dijon or Hesdin, discovered to his cost on the

his

armour home-made

field

at

of Nancy, when his

Plate V.

Breastplate, embossed and

parcel-gilt.

Collection of Mr. David Currie.

French.

GOTHIC
skull

was cloven by

ARMOUR

39

and two pike-thrusts penetrated the lower

a halberd,

part of his body.

This fashion of armour appears to have been devised

of the Missaglias of Milan.

the ateliers

in

work by Wendelin Boheim, custodian

of the Imperial collections of armour in Vienna, published

in Berlin (Meister

der Waffenschmiedekunst vom xiv

year

last

im xviii Jahr-

bis

hundert), gives a short biographical sketch of this renowned family of

.

armourers,

who migrated

to

Milan towards the middle of the fourteenth

century, from Ello, a village not distant from Asti

and Lake Lecco.

Petrajolo da Missaglia, the founder of the family, settled in Milan as an

armourer towards the middle of the fourteenth century, and

built the

house in the Via degli Spadari where his sculptured poingon or armourer's

mark

still

is

The work of

to be seen.

his son

Tomaso da

Missaglia

augmented the already world-wide reputation of the armour of

greatly

Milan, and deserved in 1435 the recognition of Filipo Maria Visconti,

him

freed

in

1450 from taxes

The armour by him

is

until

plain, the

his

best

death somewhere about 1469.

known being

the Palsgrave Frederick the Victorious about

that at

The

suit is less graceful

equally renowned son of

than

as that in 1466,

age of twenty.

Don

Duke

1469, their great patron the

Duke

assisting

lire,

for

100

Francesco, the

Alfonso of Arragon, afterwards King of Naples,

father's death in

The

Large commissions

of the value of 20,000

harness for the ducal mercenaries, and others from

Pope,

13 inches in

German Gothic armour.

Tomaso, Antonio, was born about 1430,

in his father's extensive business at the

were received, such

Vienna of

1450, with closed helm,

roundels, unfingered gauntlets, and pointed sollerets over

length.

who

On

etc.

presented

his

him with

an estate and mill, and in 1470 he added the iron mines near Canzo to
his

patrimony.

Soon

after,

in

1492, a Venetian envoy sent

home an

account of Missaglia's works, finding finished harness to the value of

many thousand
century

successor.

ducats.

the exact date being

There

that

name of

unknown,

like the

name of

in

1466 for Louis XI.

Missaglia, succeeding

of Negroli, a name

first

his

immediate

whom

little is

Antonio was the

last to

are mentions of several Missaglias about

known, one working

bear the

His death took place near the end of the

members of

the family assuming

met with about 15 15, when a Giovanni

Negroli appears as master of the works.

The tomb

in St. Satyro,

Milan,

FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

4o
preserves

the

inscription

Few examples of
made

suit

lated, the

Ello qualunque detto Missaglia.

One of

Antonio's work are known.

for the

Vienna Imperial

Negroli da

Neapolitan Count Cajazzo

collections.

pauldrons and

The

breast

tuilles are large

about

these, a plain

1480,

the

in

is

and back plates are not articu-

and massive, coudieres elegant,

only the right gauntlet fingered, the leg-pieces with few articulations,
the suit, as so often seen in illustrations,

head-piece

is

is

minus the

George published by the Arundel

prior to 1450.

Society,

jousting suit by

and partly gilded, apparently made

to the

armour of Pisano's

ness

is

German

German pursues
result

which must have been executed

him of much
in

later date is

engraved

1498 for an envoy of Ludovico

is

very

characteristic,

much

rarer than

Thorough-

German.

and once embarked on a given course the

it until, as is so

apparent in their general iron-work, the

becomes exaggeration verging on the grotesque.

The

Missaglias

introduced a certain grace of line into Milanese armour, and the

armourers pursued

this vein,

making

much the same

lines, for

The

realities

Italians

probably

most representations of armour towards

the third quarter of the fifteenth century display the

acteristics,

German

the figures erect and slender and im-

buing the waist and bust with womanly elegance.

kept to

St.

Emperor Maximilian.

Gothic armour

Italian

and

The

a sallad singularly painted in oils with the Count's armorial

bearings, reminding us of the beautifully painted

Moro

sollerets.

brought to a pitch, however, but

little

same graceful char-

consonant with the stern

of war, and brusquely set aside before the close of this century.

One of the most formidable of Missaglia's competitors north of the

Alps was Hans Griinewalt, born about 1440 and died 1503, regarded by
Boheim as one of the foremost armourers of his day. The founder of the
bells

of

St.

Sebaldus in 1396, Heinrich Griinewalt, appears to have been

the grandfather of a family which became considerable in

building the

still

standing Pilatus House, properly the "

Nuremberg,

Zum geharnischten

Hans was employed by Maximilian when King of the Romans,

in Germany was more sought after.
While he flourished
Nuremberg was the most renowned of any city of Germany for the
Mann."

and no armourer

production of armour, but on his death Augsburg was allowed to entirely

supplant

it.

The Colman family migrated from Bale

to

Augsburg about 1377,

GOTHIC ARMOUR
to again quote

from Boheim.

established as an armourer

4r

Georg, the father of Lorenz, was well

when he was joined

1467 by

in

famous

his

In 1477 they were honoured with a commission from Maximilian,

son.

then King of the Romans, for a complete harness for horse and man, which

was executed to

Georg died two years

his entire satisfaction.

later.

1490 Lorenz was appointed Court Armourer, and he had prospered so

In
far

as to be able to afford pecuniary assistance to the ever-needy Maximilian.

Towards 1506 he worked for the Court of Mantua, receiving through

the house of Fugger a payment of no less than 4000 florins for a harness
which gave such

satisfaction that a further

sum was

sent

him

as a present.

In 1507 Maximilian again employed him, and in 1508 begged

repair personally to Court,

when probably

him to

the important change in the

fashion of armour, resulting in the Maximilian fluted armour, was devised

personally between

Lorenz and

The

himself.

first

Burgkmair's woodcut engraving of the Emperor

armour
1

Imperial

made

for horse

The

5 16.

and man appeared

in this

only authentic suits by him

collections

of Vienna.

One

same

in a full suit

is

to

of this

Lorenz died

year.

known

Hans

of

edition

Boheim

in

are in the

the magnificent Gothic suit

1493 for Maximilian, a far more complete and defensive suit

than those we have figured, but with similar fleur-de-lis pattern engrailing
in

to the margins of the plates, while

pieces are rolled over

some of

the upper edges on the limb

The

and finished with a cable border.

suit

is

graceful and of exquisite workmanship, slightly fluted in the arms, with

Three other

fingered gauntlets and moderately long and pointed sollerets.

tilting suits bear the

cross,

Colman mark,

the close-helmet surmounted by a

with the Augsburg badge and guild mark.

The Germans,

however, as a race were not

all

lithe

and supple men,

and the burly high-living barons could not follow, and hence must have
detested the elegancies of Gothic armour.

extreme, the clumsy sturdiness seen in so

the

They soon affected an opposite

many of the portrait statues of

contemporaries of Maximilian round his cenotaph

in

Innsbruck.

Fig. 10 represents a complete and characteristic suit of this kind belonging

to

Mr. Morgan Williams.

It greatly

resembles one figured by Boheim,

made for Count Andreas von Sonnenberg about 1 508, by Koloman Colman,
and now in Vienna. Our suit, preserved in a Rhenish Castle, bears evidence, however, of being considerably earlier, and

is

regarded by

its

owner


FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

42
as

of about 1495.

ls

the mittened gauntlets,

Fig. 10.

toed sollerets.

Some German

German

The

perfectly plain except for

made

late Gothic Suit.

tuilles are still

suits

of

this

some

slight fluting

on

to look as if fingered, and on the square-

Collection

of Mr. Morgan Williams

an important feature, but wide and plain.

date look affectedly ungainly

such as a

GOTHIC ARMOUR
mounted

Duke John

suit attributed to

and bears the great

tilting

Fig. ii.

of Saxony, which

is

slightly fluted

helm.

Suit of Maximilian Fluted Armour.

Belonging

The Maximilian

43

fluted

to

Mr. Percy Macquoid.

armour

is

development of

however, rather to Renaissance than Gothic times.

With

this,
its

belonging,

introduction

FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

44

the elegance so distinctive of late Gothic armour passed definitely out of

fashion and gave place to

The

were sought.

much

armour

flutings

in

which the opposite

which invest the Maximilian

must have been suggested more or

character

characteristics

The

ridgings and flutes of Gothic armour.

suits

by the

less

with so

shell-like

leading idea was the substi-

tution of a stiff unyielding defence for one that was supple and pliable.

The

and back plates

articulations of the breast

except

in rare instances,

such as the magnificent Nuremberg suit formerly worn by Lord Stafford, in

which the breast-plate was formed of two pieces and decorated with graceful

open-work tracery

were wholly

more adapted to

rigid pectoral

by a stout and

receive the shock of the lance in the

The form of tourney had

yard.

abolished, and replaced

changed, and was

now

chiefly tilting with

a light and hollow lance, calculated to shiver at the impact, as

seen in specimens
suits

still

preserved

in

The

the Tower.

tilt-

pliable

may

be

Gothic

adapted for mixed tourneys and for actual warfare were out of

place in the

tilt

as

now

practised

and the heavy man-at-arms

in full

cap-a-pie armour had ceased to play the preponderating part in war and

was shortly destined to disappear from the

No

field.

longer was his

function, as hitherto, to engage in the melee, and bear the brunt of the
battle

artillery

this
;

was sustained by the pike, arquebus, light-armed cavalry and

the heavy-armed cavalry being reserved for charges in which

man and

the weight of

horse sheathed in steel might ride

down

the

opposing force.

armour resemble each

All the cap-a-pie suits of fluted Maximilian

other in their

more

salient characteristics.

and well made, with every piece more or

which are usually perfectly

plain.

edges worked into cable patterns.

Many
The

They

are extremely defensive

less fluted,

except the greaves,

of the pieces have turned-over

pauldrons and coudieres are well

developed, the gauntlets mittened, sollerets with very broad and square
toes, breast-plate

generally globose, but sometimes brought to a blunt

The armet

point, often with a roundel guarding the left arm-pit.

usually a low central cabled

comb with

occasionally there are three or five combs.

parallel

The

flutes

visor

is

on

either

look believed to have been introduced in compliment to the

An

almost equally

common form

is

side,

usually thrown

into three or four horizontal peaks or ridges, often with the

Hapsburgh.

has

underhung

House

of

the puffed visor, but

Plate VI. Casque of an

Officer of the

Guard of Cosmo

Collection of Mr. David Currie.

de' Medici.


GOTHIC ARMOUR
the form of the head-piece

of the

suit.

The

fine

Fig. 12.

In

is

generally

Nuremberg

45

more varied than

suit,

Fig.

11,

that of the rest

owned by Mr. Percy

Maximilian Armour from Eaton Hall.

the possession

of the Duke of Westminster,

Macquoid, shows the bellows visor and the rope

K.G.

crest,

and

in

it

all

the

leading characteristics of Maximilian armour are well displayed, especially

the duck-bill sollerets, the flutings of which boldly finish in ram's horns.


FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

46

The

suit

formerly belonged to the King of Prussia, and seems to be

perfect, except the collar, an apparent restoration.

Maximilian armour

is

greatly favoured

cap-a-pie and barded suits in the

Warwick, and

Fig. 13.

in

the

Tower and

collections

of Mr.

Engraved Maximilian Breast-plate.

Wheatman

Pearson.

The

well

criniere,

away from the

sented in the

Tower and

There

are

the Wallace collections, at

Panmure Gordon and

in tie British

Sir

Museum.

horse armour, which nearly entirely sheathes

worked

flanks.

collectors.

Surges Collection

the head, neck, and fore- and hind-quarters,

and except the

by

is

fluted, gracefully curved,

in large pieces, the lower

margins curving

Three-quarter and half suits are well repre-

the Wallace collections, the one figured, Fig. 12,

being a finely typical example brought from Strawberry Hill, and

now


GOTHIC ARMOUR
the property of the

been

at

Duke of

47

This armour seems to have

Westminster.

times partly gilded, and instances exist where small badges are

repeated to form bands of raised

times engraved

Portrait.

more boldly

the British

the

It

flutes.

is

some-

with borders of floral design, either edging the different

Fig. 14.

pieces, or

work between

Museum.

became everywhere the

By

Piero di Cosimo.

treated as in Fig.

from the Burges Collection

Though mainly worn

fashion, the portrait

National Gallery.

in

Germany,

by Piero

di

fluted

in

armour

Cosimo, Fig. 14, in

the National Gallery affording an admirable representation of a breast-plate

with delicate flutes on the lower

half.

An

actual specimen resembling this >


FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

48
but engraved,

is

corselets furnished to the Swiss

have been of

Woolwich.

The

pike-men by the Milanese appear

also to

the collection from

in

at

Besides the bellows visor, and one puffed

this pattern.

out to give breathing space and

into the

Rhodes

form of a grotesque

fluted, the visor

face

was

at

with mustachios.

times embossed

Sometimes the

helmets in which this occurs had a pair of fan-like appendages in pierced

and

fluted steel,

forming a dignified and wing-like

Tower, Fig.

able example in the

crest.

The remark-

15, once silvered, and presented by

Maximilian himself to Henry VIII., has a pair of ram's horns instead

Fig. 15.

of wings.
spectacles,

Helmet.

It

Presented by Maximilian

has since been

painted

to

Henry VIII.

Tower of London.

and rendered more absurd by

and assigned without any reason to the King's

jester,

Will

Somers.

These grotesque helmets were sometimes worn with armour puffed

and slashed to imitate

civilian dress.

few pieces of this kind are in

the Tower, but the Wallace Collection possesses a three-quarter suit,

slashed, puffed, engraved,

and five-roped comb.

armourers were carried

figured by

and

The
is

gilt,

the armet having the bellows

visor

extreme of exaggeration to which German

Ambras

Collection,

which the cloth bases

as well as

seen in the suit in the

Hefner and by Hewett,

in

the puffed sleeves of the civilian are carefully imitated in

steel.

The

as

*5
Si

at

-<3

a:

St

"-1

GOTHIC ARMOUR
visor

51

singularly grotesque, and the whole presents

is

ludicrous and

ungainly appearance, as well as being quite unserviceable.

The

Henry

cap-a-pie suit of

though not

made

fluted, is

VIII., Fig. 16, belongs to this group, and

like the

Maximilian armour, the high erect

shoulder-piece and large coudieres giving

armet

shape.

armour, and known to collectors as the bellows

wears the mainfere (main-de-fer), while the

hand grasping the spear

so boldly embossed,

Fig. 17.

foliated scrolls

so that

it

The

form, with the visor thrown into the series of peaks and

fine

common to fluted
The bridle-hand

ridges

right

of

is

a striking character.

it

is

Tilting

is

The

gauntleted.

horse armour, though

of earlier date, not later than

Time of Henry VII.

Helm.

surround the cross ragule and

Henry VII.

The

Westminster Abbey.

steel brickets

and

fire-stones,

probably presents a rare specimen of the Burgundian armourer's

craft.

The
reign of

Henry

VII. and

first

years

earlier, is represented, Fig. 17,

the few others

siderably over

was

by the remarkably perfect specimen found

of Westminster Abbey

in the triforium

as there

Germany and England during the

of Henry VIII., and known a century

head-piece for tilting used in

known
20

lbs.

in

in

1869.

It

weighs 17J

lbs.,

England weighing, with one exception, con-

When

fixed, the

helm

itself

was immovable, but

were quite three inches of space round the head, movement inside

possible.

The

occularium

is

placed so that the head must be lowered

FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

52

to see out, the combatants sighting each other like bulls before
their rush,

and throwing up the head to escape splinters of the

making

lance.

The abandonment of this heavy helm for a much lighter form may
have been due to Henry VIII. himself.
Hall narrates that tilting on one
1524, with his great

occasion

in

Duke of

Suffolk, he

self,

and brother-in-law Brandon,

friend

had on a helmet of a new fashion, devised by him-

the like of which had not before been seen.

It

had

a visor,

which

was up and unfastened, leaving the king's face exposed, when by some
mischance the word was given to Brandon to
helm, and remarking that he could not
the king on the

Fig. 18.

brow of the

Appalled

at the

At

doubt

main portion of

Fig. 19.

Tilting

narrow escape, he vowed he would never

sovereign more.

One of

his helmet.

Heimet of an Ancestor

of Sir Philip Sidney.

Penshurst.

in the old

he couched his lance, striking

see,

skull-piece or

Tilting Helmet.

Early sixteenth century.

No

start.

Penshurst.

tilt

with his

the lighter forms of tilting helmet, Fig. 18,

from Penshurst, shows the small trap-door for speaking or breathing, but

now

riveted down.

second helmet, Fig. 19, of rather later date,

surmounted by the porcupine

and

is

The

Both these helmets perhaps hung

sallad, the head-piece

Germany,

in use, especially in

for

wood, removed

in the illustration,

interesting as having belonged to the grandfather of Sir Philip

Sidney.

its

crest in

is

simplest form
vision, pulled

defence or bavier,

it

was the

par

in

excellence

until

Penshurst Church.

of Gothic armour, continued

far into the sixteenth century.

In

but provided with

slits

archer's head-piece

over the brow in time of danger to meet the chin

it

became almost

a closed helmet

and with the further

GOTHIC ARMOUR

$3

addition of a visor and other reinforcing pieces,

tilting

by the mounted knight.

Commines

how

relating

on the neck

at

was used for

was never a very

battle or

safe head-piece,

De

the Count of Charolois received a sword-wound

Montlhery, 1465, for want of his bavier, "which, being

the morning, dropped from his head in the battle

slightly fastened in

It

it

myself saw

fall."

it

The Venetian form

survived

during the

seventeenth century, though for pageantry rather than use, being covered

with red velvet richly ornamented with beaten iron foliage and

The

gilded and sometimes surmounted by a swan-like crest.

scrolls,

richness of

decoration of the sallad has been alluded to in the former monograph.

The

battle picture

by Paolo Uccello, Fig.

velvet and studded with nails.

Henry

the sallad of

received

^462 14:2

mending

a shape we."

shows one covered with red

Elizabeth with her

own hands

garnished

VII. with jewels, and in 15 13 Erasmus Kirkener

and

for "garnishing a salet "

Pope Pius V.

brave fights for the Church.

embossed

8,

sent

Alva a

Wooden shields

"and

a head-piece,

sallad

and sword

for his

covered with painted canvas,

Germany down

leather, or gesso, continued in use in

to about

The magnificent specimen, Plate I.,

now in the British Museum. Of late fifteenth century date, it is of
wood lined with leather, faced with canvas, over which a layer of gesso has
the end of the reign of Maximilian.

is

been

laid to receive

been painted, a knight

in

The

the gold ground the design has

Gothic armour, with armet and poll-axe on the

ground before him, kneeling to a

ou la mort.

Upon

the gilding.

lady, with the appropriate legend

surfaces are finely curved.

quoted by Lord Dillon, among the jewels

is

In the

Tower

Vous

inventory,

a target of the Passion with

Our Lady and St. George.

The splendid decoration of the sword-hilts used with Gothic armour
has already been noticed. By the kindness of Sir Noel Paton an exquisite
specimen in the finest preservation is illustrated in Fig. 20.
The
pommel and cross-hilt are plated with silver gilt, and the former bears
a shield with the arms of Battle Abbey and the initials T. L. of Abbot
Thomas de Lodelowe, 141 7-1434. It came into the possession of Sir
John Gage, K.G., on the suppression of the monasteries,
presenting

it

to the

Meyrick

Collection.

Few

his descendant

existing swords, except

those used as municipal insignia, are in equal preservation, but richly

worked

hilts

are

represented

in

brasses

and monuments.

Swords


FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

54

abounded

in

churches,

but few are

besides the

left

Westminster, Canterbury, and Windsor.

swords

royal

Part of the glamour surround-

ing Joan of Arc was due to the consecrated sword taken by her from
Catherine's
specially

Church

Tours.

at

mentioned

in a will

The sword

Fig. 20.

The Sword of
Collection

of the time of Henry IV., and

Battle Abbey.

Guard for

to note that in 13 19 the wearing of swords in

those confiscated were

The

interesting

Henry

Fig. 21.

of Sir Noel Paton-

VIII.

its

custody

It is

curious

Sword of \\th
Forefinger.

London was

century, with

Windsor Castle.

forbidden, and

hung up beneath Ludgate, within and without.

sword, Fig. 21, from

Her

Majesty's collection at

Windsor, dates from about the end of the fourteenth or early

fifteenth century.

finger

St.

of Guy, Earl of Warwick, was

confirmed to the family after the accession of

Fifteenth century.

at

Its peculiarity is

in the

the semicircular guard for the fore-

growing out of one of the quillons, the

first

step, as

Baron de

Cosson remarks, " towards the evolution of the beautiful and complicated

GOTHIC

"

rapier of the sixteenth century."

fully gilt, the grip

inches where

name of

it

shows dark

The

The pommel and guard

blade

is gilt

in the illustration,

in the

are of iron

and engraved for

and

is

few

inscribed with the

Baron's opinion, in the sixteenth or seventeenth

Only four swords with

pas d'ane " were

known when he

the

little

semicircular guard or " half

described them, being introduced owing

to the Italian custom of bending the forefinger

slashing.

55

the Cid Marchio Rodericus Bivar and a shield of arms, these

having been added,

century.

of wood."

ARMOUR

round the quillon when

IV

ENRICHED ARMOUR
Armour

was enriched

in

almost

all

at other times left affectedly plain.

it

in battle ceased to be a

became

little

armed and

more than

easily

sometimes ostentatiously

ages,
It

was, however, only

paramount

necessity, that

mere vehicle

manoeuvred troops and

lavish

for

artillery

increasingly important factors in deciding the

at last

men

so,

and

when wearing

armour

definitely

display.

Lightly

were steadily becoming

fortunes of battle, and

could with difficulty be brought to undergo the fatigue of

carrying weighty armour which they regarded as no efficient protection.

Sir

James Smith's complaint

which

is

more

in

1530 puts the matter

strange, these our

new

fantasied

clearly

"But

men of warre doo

that

despise

and scorne our auncient arming of ourselves, both on horseback and on

foot, saying that

wee armed ourselves

peeces of yron (as they terme

And

it).

braces, gauntlets,

or

and

of the Spurs perhaps did

much armour,

their burgonets, their

This arming

is

armed cap-a-pie, came on

in three

targets as usual for the English archers,

apace and galled the French horse."

mounted
St.

archers

The

II.).

Battle

to break thcprestige of men-at-arms,

were routed by one-tenth their number of English horse.

chivalry,

vam-

even lighter than Mr.

Marauder of Picardie (Plate

much

who had gone forward

George," whereupon the French

who

The French

ranks thirty-six deep, and were

who lined a hedge, " and

The English horse, and

with spears, "

fled,

or

therefore their footmen piqueurs

their backs, without either pouldrons,

tasses."

J. F. Sullivan's picturesque

with too

when they weare

they do allow for very well armed

collars, their cuirasses,

in times past

set

shotte
a few

on freshly crying

throwing away " speres, swordes,

and mases," and cutting the bards of their horses.

The

Estradiots

Fig. 22.

German Armour.

Date about 1570.

The Duke of Westminster, K.G.

ENRICHED ARMOUR
coming down
horse,

and

in front of the

French host caught sight of the English

and mistaking the king's

fled,

59

of foot for horse

battaille

chased by the Burgundians and Walloons

the

also,

turned

main body

of English, on foot with the king, having no opportunity of engaging.

The

large proportion of mercenaries retained on either side contributed

more perhaps than anything

relates that in

in

Henry

else to the disuse

of armour.

VII. 's expedition to Scotland there were " Italians

no small number, and of Spaniards, and

from

Nicander Nucius

Peloponnesus."

In

1546

also

moreover of Argives

Lord Grey de Wilton brought

" Bullenoyes and Italian harquebuziers " from Boulogne.

Scotland two years later he divided " his

and

light

menne of amies, demilaunces,

horsemenne into troops, appointing the Spanish and

on horsebacke to keepe on

hagbutters

Spaniard, and others held

his

In invading

wing."

Italian

Captain Gambo, a

command, and, " being backed by the Almayne

footmen, entered againe into Scotland."

In proceeding to quell the insurrection in Devonshire,
forces included,

among

Lord Grey's

other strangers, a band of horsemen " most part

Albanoyses and Italians," and a band of Italian footmen under Captain

These mercenaries armed themselves

Paule Baptist Spinola of Genoa.

own fashion and were not to be controlled. Nor does it appear

that the Tudor kings were anxious to put even their body-guards in
anything like complete armour.
Henry VII. 's guard consisted " of fifty
in their

yeomen,
later,

tall

personable men, good archers, and divers others."

little

on the marriage of Prince Arthur, the guard consisted of 300 carry-

ing halberts, in white and green damask, with garlands of vine embroidered

back and front, richly spangled

in

bullion

in front

and goldsmith's work.

consisted of halberdmen

and enclosing a red rose worked

Nicander Nucius says that " they

and swordsmen who used bucklers and

Italian

swords, so that resting the bucklers on the ground, they could discharge

arrows."

Perkin

Warbeck, posing

England," had a guard of thirty

appointed a guard of
to be attended

They

fifty

in "

"

Whyte Rose Prince of

Murray and blewe." Henry VIII.
as

the

" speeres " in the

first

by an archer, demilaunce, and a

year of his reign, each

custrell,

on great

horses.

were so extravagantly dressed, " trapped in cloth of golde, silver, and

goidsmithes woorke, and their servants richly appareled also," that " they

endured not long the apparell and charges were so greate."

They were

FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

60

Edward

not reinstated until the thirty-first year of his reign.

guard was 400 strong,

very

all

on

way

his

Winchester

to

and dressed

tall,

doublets embroidered with golden

Lord Arundel took 100

yellow cloth striped with red velvet with

The

tion jousts,

Henry

Brandon " turneyed

the magnificence of

Maximilian and

fixed

on the

relates that, at the

Corona-

definitely

in harneyes all over gylte

from the heade-

Hall devotes scores of pages to descriptions of

Henry,

ambassadors.

their

Harding

VIII. in 1509.

peece to the Sabattons."

bows ready, Mary's

their

sumptuous armour became

for

taste

archers in

and green.

colours, however, being white

accession of

crimson velvet

in

In meeting Philip of Spain

roses.

in 1554,

VI. 's

Before

his retinue

especially in presence of rival potentates or

Terouenne, the weather being very

came

foul,

to the rendezvous in black cloth, but

Henry was attended by a large retinue extravagantly dressed, comprising

his usual " nine henxmen " in white and crimson cloth of gold richly
embroidered with goldsmith's work, on

great

coursers

as

richly

ca-

and " tassels of fyne gold

parisoned, with the addition of many gold bells,

"
in bullion
these bore his helm ; " the two grangardes," his spears, axe,

He entered Terouenne as

etc.

and Maximilian
and

set

a conqueror in " armure gilt

French ambassador's
tilte in

been seen."

visit to

newe harnesse

No

less

and rich cotes."

On

the occasion of the

Greenwich, the king disported himself

all

gilte

and

Charles V.

is

however, until the reigns of

allusions to

made

were not wholly imaginary.

culminating point of richness in armour

in

often

by the Colmans of Augsburg, show that these sculptured

pictorial representations
It is not,

at

of a strange fashion that had not

than 286 spears were broken.

represented in very richly embossed armour, and some of the suits

for him, such as

out on his return " toward Almaine in gilte harness,

his nobles in white harness

the "

and graven "

it.

is

In Spenser's Faerie

with gold, and in Camoens'

Mary and
attained,

Elizabeth that the

when poems abound

Queen armour always

Lusiad there

are

glitters

" breast-plates flaming

with a thousand dyes."

Little

sumptuously decorated armour was made

that can claim to have been

made

the twenty-nine in the Jacobe album.

nation,

in

England, the

finest

here being five existing suits out of

One only of

Lord Bucarte's bequeathed with

these belongs to the

the Wallace

Collection

the

Fig. 23.

Suit of

Embossed and damascened.

Armour.
Tower of London.

late Italian


ENRICHED ARMOUR

63

opportunity of acquiring Sir Christopher Hatton's, notwithstanding

its

historic interest, being hitherto neglected.

Fine Italian Breast-plate,

Fig. 24.

c.

1550.

Collection of

Of

foreign

morency
at

at

armour the

Wilton

Windsor were

suits

Said to have been worn by Philip of Spain.

Mr. David

of the Dukes of Bourbon and Mont-

are spoils of victory,

royal presents.

Currie.

The

and others

in the

vast bulk of foreign

Tower and
armour

in


FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

64

the country, however, has been acquired by purchase, and of late years.

known is that made by the grandfather of the Duke of Westminster, who purchased it from Sir Horace
Walpole. The light peascod breast-plate and tassets (Fig. 22), richly

Of small

Fig. 25.

collections

one of the

Pair offine Italian Gauntlets.

Collection

engraved and

gilt in

least

Possibly belonging to the same Suit as tie Breast-plate.

of Mr. David Currie.

bands, are probably

German of about 1570, and

gauntlets of approximately the same date, while the close helmet

twenty years

earlier.

tassets (Plate

III.)

The

is

about

finely engraved and parcel-gilt breast-plate

are probably Italian, dating

deep peascod breast-plate and

tassets richly

from about

the

1540.

and

arabesqued with dolphins on a

Fig. 26.

Embossed Gorget.

French,

c.

1550.

Collection of

Mr. David

Currie.


ENRICHED ARMOUR

67

blue ground, bears an engraved escutcheon with the figure of a porcupine,

motto and

date.

One of

the most sumptuously decorated suits in the Tower, for long

described as that of the Black Prince,

is

reproduced in Fig. 23.

It

is

-*&'
.

Silver

Fig. 27.

late Italian,

Armour of Pritice

much of

it

embossed with

lions' heads, etc.,

surfaces are entirely covered with very delicate gold

ground.

Detail of the damascening

Several

of our

Tower of London.

Charles, afterwards Charles II.

illustrations

is

are

magnificent collection, part of which

is

while the plainer

ornament on

russet

shown

in Plate IV.

taken

from Mr. David Currie's

deposited in the South Kensington


FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

68

Museum.

Very

little

armour

finer in its

is

(Fig. 24) formerly in the Bernal and

way than

Londesborough

the breast-plate

The

collections.

repousse work, designed in the best Italian taste of the sixteenth century,
is

enhanced by gold damascening on backgrounds

silver.

It

is

to

said

have been worn by Philip

gilt

and inlaid with

of Spain, the

steel

gauntlets (Fig. 25), of similar work, having perhaps formed part of the

same

It recalls

suit.

one in Madrid presented to the Infant Philip

by the Duke of Terranova.

The

III.

embossed breast-plate (Plate V.),

finely

and gorget (Fig. 26), are French, but unfortunately no history attaches
to them.

This extremely costly armour, with no defensive quality, was intended

for

parade

than use, and an

rather

Fig. 28.

Armet of rare for tn, with

Mr. E. Cozens Smith.

Sixteenth century

classic

models, which

left

the

double visor.

entirely uncovered.

face

also

This was the casque, based

especially devised for triumphal display.

on

head-piece was

appropriate

Artists of

high renown, like Verrocchio and Pollajuolo, designed and worked upon
these casques cThonneur, and the Negrolis, Colmans, and other

armourers vied with each other in their production.

exist in the great national collections

into private hands.

in

in

comb and plume-holder, and

of the armour of an

The

of Europe, but rarely find their way

Plate VI., not one of the finest examples, was formerly

Lord Londesborough's, and now

a triple

famous

Superb examples

officer

Mr.
is

of the guard to

Currie's collection.

believed

Cosmo

It

has

to have formed part

de' Medici.

casque passes almost insensibly into the more serviceable bur-

gonet, a classic-looking helmet with ear-pieces and neck-covering, dear to

Salvator Rosa and his contemporaries.

This developed into the spider

Fig. 29.

Suit of parcel-gilt Armour.

Made for

Prince Charles, afterwards Charles

Tower of London.

I.


ENRICHED ARMOUR
helmet with bars to protect the
Charles

I.

face,

and the Commonwealth.

example of the

Fig. 30.

latter,

made with

Richly Embossed

Charles

II.

when

Fig. 27 represents an extremely rich

and gorget

and Damascened Target.

The

prince.

and the open and barred helmets of

cuirass

Mr. David

7i

in repousse silver for

Italian, sixteenth century.

Carrie's Collection.

defensive quality of the armet, not being

so purely consecrated to parade, was rarely impaired by embossing, and

even when made for monarchs, the decoration was mainly confined to
etching and gilding.

rare

form with double

visor,

five

rope-like

FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

72

combs, and bands of engraving,

illustrated (Fig. 28)

is

The armet

of Mr. Cozens Smith of Benyeo.

mounted

Tower,

continued to be used by

staff in visored helmets.

the latest cap-a-pie suits, probably never worn,

richly

collection

middle of the seventeenth century, a picture of

officers until the

Rocroy, 1643, showing Conde in a hat, but his

One of

from the

worked and gilded

is

that in the

over, presented to Charles

all

by the

I.

City of London.

The high -combed morions and

musketeers are generally richly etched

vertical

in

pikemen

of the

cabassets

bands,

and

covered

or

with interlacing arabesques, which we gather, from numerous passages in

Brantome's works, were usually

morions gravez

The
us,

et

dorez en

Thus 4000 harquebuziers stepped

gilt.

out of the ranks as enfans perdus,

of Mons. d'Andelet " tous

at the call

teste."

buckler or target appears an archaic defence, but survived with

sometimes

in

until the reign

high favour like the sword,

of James

I.,

and

in Scotland

others nearly obsolete,

at
till

recent times.

It

was

banished while the Spanish rapier and left-handed dagger were in use.

The most

magnificent targets were

made

solely for parade,

borne in front of princely personages by their esquires.

and were

The broad

surfaces they presented for decoration, and the esteem they were held in,

induced even very great

Giulio

artists, like

them, but actually to work upon them.

collections-

It

Romano, not only

is

far

to design

from rare to

find in

of drawings by old masters, designs for shields, like those

signed Polydore and B. Franco hanging in the corridors at Chatsworth.

Under
of

the

steel,

Tudor and

kings they were usually round and

later Valois

but sometimes

elliptical,

obovate, vesica- shaped, rectangular,

and even heater -shaped, with painted arms.

produced
in

is

England

exquisite

the Milanese

since the time of Francis

finish

One of

the finest ever

buckler at Windsor, believed to have been

The

work is of most
and the gold damascening of extraordinary delicacy.

Others not inferior to

it

by Colman of Augsburg.

I.

repousse

are at Dresden, Turin,

The

and Madrid, the

shield of Charles IX. in the

latter

Louvre

is

also superbly damascened.

Magnificent specimens are known from the

hands of the Negrolis and Picinino of Milan, Gasparo Mola of Florence,
Giorgio Ghisi of Mantua.
A description of one, now lost, by Hierony-

mus

Spacini of Milan, states that

it

comprised forty-eight engravings

in

Plate VII.

Lower part of enriched Chanfron.

by the City of London.

Suit presented to Charles

Tower of London.

I.

ENRICHED ARMOUR

13

Hans Mielich has left several designs, some of which

were carried out by Colman. The finely-embossed target in the Kensington Museum is signed by Georgius Sigman of Augsburg.
The
Bernal, Meyrick, Soltykoff, and other collections now dispersed, included
gold upon

niello.

Fig. 31.

Target of Etched
Mr. P.

Steel.

Italian or

German, about 1550.

Davidson's Collection.

examples illustrating the story of Coriolanus, Siege of Troy, Judgment

of Paris, etc.

Those intended to

receive the hard knocks of active service

must have

presented unembossed surfaces, though perhaps richly etched and gilded

like the morions.

rich

enough

The specimen

for parade, with

its

(Fig. 30) belonging to

bands of embossing and

fine

Mr. Currie

is

damascening,

FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

74

while the second illustration (Fig. 31) might have been the war target of

an Italian or Spanish Captain under Philip

first

II.

It is

remarkable that the

Greenwich inventory only contains eight bucklers, " of

guilte

They were probably somewhat

and wroughte."

Another among the jewels was of

roses, castles,

and pomegranates.

silver gilt,

like

seven

Fig.

This, like the quaint

little

It

roundel beappears that

bucklers acquired some celebrity in the time of Elizabeth,

limited the length of their steel points to

of Scots greatly desired

Morgan, Tothill

Street,

Fig. 32.

to

two

Roundel with National Badges and

to

young King

inches, for the

and Richard Hamkyn, King

Belonging

who

George Brownfelde, Roger

one.

possess

31.

with the arms of England,

longing to Lord Kenyon (Fig. 32), was probably English.

London

Steele,

Westminster,

Street,

Inscription.

Lord Kenyon.

were buckler-makers to Henry VIII.

and Peter Lovat,

Frenchman,

supplied steel pavices at the sign of the cock in Fleet Street at eight
shillings each.

warfare,

They

are

seldom mentioned

though when Lord Grey de Wilton

as playing a part in

actual

called for forlorn hopes at

the siege of Guynes, fifty stept out " with swordes and roondelles to view

and essaye the breatches."

Henri

II.,

The chanfron
It

celebrated Jarnac duel, witnessed by

was fought with sword and

target.

or head-piece to the horse's armour, originally called

the chevron, received as

rider.

The

much

attention as the helmet or buckler of

the horse's head-front blaze with jewels.

Hans

its

was the pride of the noble, when Monstrelet wrote, to make

Designs for horse-armour by

Mielich, and that actually executed for Christian

are as rich as the suits themselves.

The

II.

at

Dresden,

latter illustrates the labours ot

Fi G

33.

Hilt of Two-handed

Sword with

and Ouillons

the

Bear and Ragged Staff on

in chased steel.

Penshurst.

the

Pommel

ENRICHED ARMOUR
Hercules, and

is

Colman

the one for which

77

In the Anturs of Arthur

III.

Opon

we

The
Edward

received 14,000 crowns.

chanfron bears a spike, an appendage dating back to the time of

read

cheveronne be-forn

his

Stode as a unicorn
Als scharpe as a thorn,

An

The

nanlas of stele.

charger ridden by Lord Scales in his tourney with the Bastard

of Burgundy had a " schaffro with a large sharpe pyke of

penetrating the nostrils of the Bastard's steed, caused

The

him.

oldest

chanfron handed

which was there when visited by

of one belonging to the

Fig. 34.

suit, Fig. 29, is

Swords varied considerably

sabre,

in the

cinquedea,

seen in Plate VII.

in the sixteenth

and

malchus,

simultaneously by the mercenary bands

handed sword represents the

weapon, perhaps originating
in

Westminster Abbey.

to rear and throw

it

that in

The Duke of Norfolk.

century, the extremes

same army, the two-handed sword,

falchion,

largest

in the

It

borne

being

comprised

in

scimitar,

perhaps

The two-

it.

dimensions ever attained by

sword of

was used

which,

Warwick Castle,
William Dugdale. The lower part
is

Venetian Cinquedea, engraved, with Ivory Handle.

sometimes meeting
rapier,

Sir

down

stele,"

state, like that

Edward

of

in Scotland at an early period

this
III.
;

if

not wielded by whole clans, certainly by champions of exceptional vigour.

Thus

Froissart relates that Sir Archibald

Douglas fought on foot and

wielded an immense sword, the blade of which was two

heavy that scarcely any other man could have

This great sword

is

lifted

the real claymore, though the

it

ells

from the ground.

name

has been mis-

appropriated to the Scottish basket-hilted broadsword of the

The

Swiss and Germans were the only people

long, and so

who made

it

last

century.

an offensive


FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

78

weapon
century

for
it

large

disciplined

had become an

bodies of troops, and in the

great personal strength and agility enabled

The

man, and to withstand all-comers.

Main-Gauche with Steel

Fig. 35.

Henry

Teutonic weapon.

essentially

Hilt.

him

to wield

it,

fine hilt illustrated

Belonging

to

sixteenth

as a

VIII. 's

young

(Fig. 23)

Mr. Percy Macquoid.

from Penshurst, with the pommel and quillons carved and chased out of
the solid steel into the bears and ragged staff of the Leicesters,

doubtedly the
shortened,

guards

most beautiful

perhaps

at the

in

the

country.

The

is

un-

blade has been

under the edict of Queen Elizabeth, who posted

City Gates to break

In striking contrast to this

is

all

swords that were too long.

the well-known Cinquedea, the Italian


ENRICHED ARMOUR
translation of the

has been improperly applied to

bceuf,

The

French Sang de dez.

The name of
it

81
a spear, langue-de-

since the eighteenth

century.

handles were frequently ivory with pierced brass insertions, like the

illustration (Fig. 34),

Fig. 38.

belonging to the

Duke

Inlaid Ivory Cross-bow.

examples are of chased

steel,

Cinquedea was highly esteemed

exquisitely

of Norfolk

but the finest

Tower of London.

worked and

silvered.

The

in Venice.

Until the introduction of the Spanish rapier the sword used with the
buckler was short and heavy in the blade, though with handles sometimes
richly

to

worked and

inlaid with silver.

The

rapier appeared about

1570

1580, the slender tapering blade being relatively of great length,

FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

82
rendering

it

difficult to sheathe.

The guards

to the hilts were generally

of open work, the variety of form, though endless,

falling

into three

leading groups, the swept-hilted, shell-guard, and cup-hilted, the finest

workmanship being

as a rule

found on the

The quillons,
With the rapier,

dagger held in the

hand and

left

called

Two

hilts

hilted

varieties are figured,

(Fig. 37), reproduced

companion to the

latter

dagger and

with representations of combats.

and the blade

is

on a

The

and

Milanese

hilts

the

and chased

The

and

blades and hilts

Many

workshops.

in different

of

have

blades, others

Italian

Toledo blades were, however,

Solingen

blades

preferred,

and

The

ship of the ill-fated Spanish

first

cup-

is

quillons are engraved with flowers,

signed Heinrich Coell, Solingen.

Vienna have German

in

The

slightly smaller scale,

also partly silver-hilted

is

were frequently, perhaps usually, made

those

(Fig. 2S)-> an<^

guard (Fig. 36), belonging to Her Majesty.

silver

rapier

and break the

both with superbly chased

Mr. Percy Macquoid

the one of steel belonging to

one with

a long

the main-gauche was used to

parry, the blade being notched near the base to entangle

opponent's weapon.

gener-

latter.

ally very long, are either straight or curved.

hilts.

marks were frequently imitated by German makers.

their

Armada

to

Drake

a prey to

fall

and Howard was the Capitana of the Andalusian squadron, which among
its

treasures carried a chest of swords, richly

presentation to the English Catholic peers.

in

mounted, and intended

Frequent reference

for

made

is

Elizabethan plays to Bilbao and Toledo blades, but more especially to

" Foxes," so called from the

Nuremberg mark.

Certain passages show

that these were used with the buckler, in this country at least

and

in the

engraving of the funeral of Sir Philip Sidney, targets both round and
oval are carried.

The

staves,

bills,

pikes,

morris-pikes, holy-water

played a very important part in war at this period.

partisans carried

were

the

by

vehicles

officers

for

an

sprinklers,

The

halberds and

of the harquebusiers, royal guards, and

immense amount of decoration,

throughout the seventeenth century.

etc.,

officials

especially

Albert Diirer, writing from Venice

to Pirkheimer, mentions that the Italian lansquenets " have roncoins with
2

points,

as they are

and
all

if

they pink a

poisoned."

sheet of drawings by

man with any of

these, the

This could hardly have been

man

is

dead,

serious, but a

Leonardo da Vinci shows some very extraordinary

ENRICHED ARMOUR
forms.

Most of

83

the varieties of staves were no doubt originally develop-

ments of the peasant scythes, bill-hooks, pitch-forks, and the poll-axe

each country preserving some peculiar form.
ceased to be a

The

military weapon, but was, owing to

was usually

inlaid

sometimes stained and heightened with

pearl.

great

the

repute for sport.

Tower

is

It

illustrated (Fig. 38).

cross-bow had long

its

silent fire, still

in

with ivory, engraved,

fine

specimen

in

V
FIREARMS AND GUNLOCKS
By Major V. A.

The

actual date of the

but representations of

MSS. of

first

FARQUHARSON

employment of portable

them

are frequently

firearms

met with

the early part of the fifteenth century, their

is

uncertain,

in the illustrated

form

at first

being

simply a tube fastened to a wooden stock, and, according to the coloured

drawings, the tube was either of brass or iron.

was to apply
of the

barrel.

on the

The

first

improvement was to

when

it

in a

was pushed back by hand.

the

first

after their introduction,

drill

the touch-hole in the

pan formed

till

the

For some time

hand firearms were viewed with disfavour, and

less

unfair to

employ them, seeing

resist

That they were

in use in

1453

is

fighting the Earle

that the

the ordinary

evident, as the

great Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, buried at Whitchurch,

this cause.

fire-

but took no account of the effects of missiles from

the clumsy "gonner."

end from

firing,

This was the general kind of

Gothic armour worn by the knights had power to

field,

moment of

half of the fifteenth century.

was considered more or

weapons of the

in a projection

which had a cover, moving on a pivot, thus

powder from the wet or wind

arm used during

it

priming held

side of the barrel,

protecting the

firing

match by hand to a touch-hole situated on the upper part

side of the barrel, with the

also

The manner of

"

Though

at first

wanne the entre of

came to

his

with manfull courage and sore

their

camp, yet

at

length they

compassed him about, and, shooting him through the thigh with an
hand-gonne, slew his horse and finally killed

him lying on

the ground,

"

FIREARMS AND G UNLOCKS

whom

they never durst look in the

This was

(HoJJinshed's Chronicle).

The

first

face,

85

while he stood on his feet

at Chatillon,

20th July 1453.

lock was apparently a curved piece of metal in the shape

of an S and pivoted in the centre, the upper point holding the match,
the lower part, which was prolonged like the lever in the cross-bow, by

weight keeping the match from the pan

its

compressed to the stock on

The

next stage was the matchlock proper.

where the mechanism

by

was a

The pan

sear or trigger.

the barrel, a principle seen in

This

is

the

The cock

plate.

on the long arm of a

a spring acting

short end

complete on a

is

lower part was

this

till

firing.

lever,
still

is

kept back

while fastened to the

projects on the side of

The

modern Eastern matchlocks.

matchlocks had the pan fixed to and forming part of the plate
matchlocks only vary in the shape of the
the plates are of the

III.

when

could be changed

200

use for nearly

There

is

is

next
later

In the reign of William

plate.

size as the flint-lock, so that the locks

The matchlock was

required.

years,

a variation of the

match

the

same

lock

first

owing

to

its

altogether

matchlock in which, by elaborate mechanism,

caused to descend on the priming with a snap-action.

the advantage to be obtained from

difficult to see

it

would appear must have broken by contact with the pan, unless

this, as

probability to this theory, but there

The

wheel-lock

is

is

is

a short tube,

which gives some

no record to prove

supposed to have been invented

1569

is

not meant.

Nuremberg

is

it.

in 15 17,

a lock belonging to the writer has the date of 1509, yet

if

it

The head

have taken the form of a stick of hard composition.

of the match-holders in these locks

It

the match

is

may

in

great simplicity and cheapness.

it

is

although

not certain

reported to be the place of

its

invention, where indeed, at the time, most things were claimed to have

been invented
It

and the

city

mark

is

met with on

constantly

early locks.

was an important invention, and, except for the delicacy of

mechanism and great expense of production,

it

was an

efficient

its

lock.

It consisted briefly of a steel wheel, having from two to four grooves

affixed to an axle

which passed through the lock-plate, the edge of the

wheel appearing through the bottom of the pan.

axle

was square

for a

key to

fit

The

outer part of the

on, and the inner had a shoulder or

crank, which was connected by a shackle chain of three links to an

FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

86

The

extremely strong spring.

fire

stone (pyrites) was fixed in a holder,

The pan had

screwed to the farther end of the lock-plate.

To

cover.

a sliding

put the lock in action a key or " spanner " was placed on

the outer end of the axle, and given a

J turn

by

tension by the nose of a

compressed, and kept at

this the spring

was

connected with

sear,

the trigger, entering a small hole on the inner surface of the wheel.

The pan was

then primed, the sliding cover brought over

down on

pyrites holder depressed, bringing the pyrites

pulling the trigger the wheel revolved,

and the

knocked back

the pan cover and allowed the grooves to grate sparks from the
stone, thus firing the priming.

wheel-lock of

all

dates and of

There

many

numerous

fire-

variations in the

By

nationalities.

number of grooves, and by

feeds, the

are

On

the cover.

axle shoulder

its

it,

the shape of the

the internal mechanism, and of

course by the ornamentation, a tolerable idea can be got of the date

or origin of a piece.

It is

remarkable that the

complete and had appliances that we

earliest locks

were more

Thus

to find in the later.

fail

in

Fig. 40, a type of the earliest pistol, the lock possesses a safety catch

premature discharge, also a spring -catch to keep the pan

to prevent

Those, which would be thought advantages, are not to

cover back.

be found in the two examples in Plate VIII. of later date and finer

In some cases the wheel winds

workmanship.
holder

is

drawn back, thus dispensing with

such an obvious improvement that

itself,

it

the pyrites

This principle

a key.

seems strange

it

when

is

was not universally

adopted.

result of the introduction of the wheel-lock

pistols,

name of

the

coin

pistole,

in Italian pistokse, but

of an early
cavalry,
at

this

The name may have

which never carry match -locks.

derived from Pistoia in Tuscany, or, as

the

pistol.
first

It

it

referring

the bore.

to

of the class

is

troops

Fig.

used

40

There
is

it

The

barrels

to the dread of bursting,

ball

also to facilitate

butt.

This

drawing the

when used

as a

very frequently was, according to pictures of the time.

In

piece from the holster.

club, as

and

word

good example

pistols.

and the stocks sloped abruptly, being terminated by a

act as a counterpoise,

is

by the Reiters, German

armed with

time are of great thickness, owing

was probably to

been

has been suggested, from the

it

signifies a knife.

body of

was the invention of

It

would be more

efficient, too,

^r

FIREARMS AND GUNLOCKS

early engravings of the Reiter he

is

89

armed not only with

a pair, but

on

occasion with four of these pistols, two in the holsters and two fastened
to his belt

by hasps (Fig. 40

The

reverse side).

furnished with a hook or hasp on the

is

The

Reiter also had a sword.

of war

pistol altered the tactics

introduction of the

the bodies of horse no longer charged

home, but galloped up by ranks, within

few paces of the enemy,

discharged their pistols, and then wheeled outward by half troops towards

each flank, leaving the front clear for the succeeding rank to take their
place.

They

Many

of the

had a

then reloaded and re-formed ready for another advance.

earlier pistols

butt, cut slanting,

flat

were wholly of

and were

called

The

steel.

Dags.

barrels were

made longer and

and the

butt elongated, and finally disappeared.

ball

used for pistols up to 1650.

1632, gives

some

fifteen

smaller pistols

In course of time the

became more

thinner, the stocks

The

straight,

wheel-lock was

Crusoe, in the Instructions for the Cavallerie,

motions for the "firing Exercise" of the wheel

pistol.

The Queen
barrel

possesses a double-barrelled wheel

was placed

vertically over the other, dated

means of two wheel-locks on one

wood, and the

double barrel, date of the

all

make

cypher

remarkable.

it

HF

rifling,

employed by

The

rarely

It

is

the plate, the stock

fact

of

The Dresden arms

on the stock, and the

The wheel -lock was

necessity

and the

which one

1588.

of the locks are of chased and

fittings

in

by

fired

one of which the works are

plate, in

them hidden by

and the other has

outside,

rifle,

its

gilt

having a

of dark

is

metal.

Its

ramrod,

steel

on the heel

plate,

barrel has a bear as armourer's

mark.

used

for

are

infantry arms,

but

was of

where the match was inconvenient.

cavalry,

next form of lock was the Snap-hance, evolved from the wheel-

lock by converting the pyrites holder into a

fire-steel,

and replacing the

wheel by a hammer, acted on by a spring and affixed to the opposite side

of the pan.
slid

back

sparks to

The

The pan and cover remained the same, and the latter
hammer fell on the steel, leaving the powder bare for the

as the
fall

on.

earliest actual

lock of this sort

Dresden Armoury, dated 1598.

are probably of Spanish

largely

from Spain.

make,

The

as the

is

on a

pistols are

pair of pistols in the

of the Scotch form, but

Highlanders obtained their firearms

FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

90

The example
(about 1640).

of which

Fig. 42

was selected on account of the beautiful chiselled

It

composed.

it is

a snap-hance of Italian make, but of later type

is

This

richly fashioned,

in three degrees

is

two dragons entwined on

has

it,

of

having the armourer's signature on

The hammer

relief.

and the plate and

it,

steel

are very

fire-steel

giovanni

vate

borgognone in brescia. Part of the fire-steel is missing.

The most famous makers of firearms of the middle of the seventeenth

century lived in Brescia, such as Lazarino Cominazzo, father and son,

Lazaro Lazarino, Francino, and others.

Their weapons were famed for

extreme lightness and beauty of decoration.

Fig. 39

is

beautiful fluted twist on

and the lock-plate and hammer,

it,

each class of lock.

Evelyn

and bring

Diary

in his

tells

us

He

more than once

The
classes

Civil

of lock.

heavy musket
had carbines

he paid a

a carbine for

visit

War

in

The

fitted

to " old Lazarino

his acquisition, as

he

it.

England showed firearms

in use

infantry on both sides were chiefly

from

fired

grand

which he paid a good deal

seems to have been rather proud of

alludes to

their

back one of these famed weapons.

how

Cominazzo," and got from him

of money.

as well as the

was quite the thing for any one on

It

Brescia,

visit

barrel has a

These armourers made weapons with

butt, are chiselled in high relief.

tour to

The

a late example of Cominazzo's work.

a rest,

with

four

all

armed with the

The

cavalry

flint,

or were

having the match-lock.

with snap-hances or the early complete

provided with wheel-locks.

The wheel -lock

continued in use in

The

disappears

Germany

Flint-lock proper

The mainspring

the lock-plate, and the

The

1670,

but

much

later date.

earliest

specimens

for sporting rifles, until a

came into use about 1630.

appear to be Spanish.

a catch

from military arms about

in these

was on the outside of

mechanism of the simplest

character, consisting of

forming a ledge, protruding to the outside of the lock-plate, for

the foot of the

hammer

to rest on

drawn back on pressing the

when cocked, and on

trigger the

hammer

falls,

this ledge

being

striking the steel,

which also covers the pan.

The example Fig. 43 is one of a class where the ornamentation is very

elaborate.
The design is formed mostly by the chisel and hammer, and
even

in

the internal

mechanism the

file

appears scarcely to have been

Fig. 41.

Richly Decorated Flint-lock.

Collection of

Fig. 42.

Snap-hance of
Collection of

Probably Spanish.

Major Farquharson.

Italian make, about 1640.

Major Farquharson.


FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

92

Many

used.

of these

mark on them

Works

fine

locks exist, but never have any armourer's

the mechanism, however, points to their Spanish origin.

of this description were found in Spanish locks to the

of the

In both English and

eighteenth century.

the mechanism was on the

connected

the

inside

hammer with

improvement was to add

latter

end

French flint-locks

of the lock-plate, and a tumbler

the action of the

a bridle to give

mainspring.

two bearings

later

for the tumbler

and a small swivel connecting the tumbler with the mainspring,

axle,

both of these improvements ensuring greater smoothness in the action.

This form of improved mechanism was continued

Figs. 43, 44.

after the use

the

of a

flint

Highland

Pistols.

Collection

of Major Farquharson.

was discontinued, and, indeed, the hammer used in

military breechloader generally

first

in the percussion lock,

employed

was acted on by mechanism of much the same

in

our army, the Snider,

sort.

43 and 44 show specimens of the Highland pistol, a class which

stands quite by itself.
These weapons no doubt were evolved from the
Figs.

early steel wheel dags in

were to be found

common

in the armies

use in Germany.

Many

of other European nations, whence they

probably took the fashion and also procured their firearms.

weapons of the

The

Highlanders

sort, as well as the latest,

were

all

of

The

earliest

steel (or rarely brass).

stocks had a heart-shaped butt, and were furnished with snap-hance

locks.

There

is

one of this description, undoubtedly a Scotch weapon,

FIREARMS AND GUNLOCKS

in the

armoury

of Niirnberg, where the arms have always

in the old castle

been stored, belonging

employed

many

probably to one of the

Germany during

in

93

of the

wars

the

Scotch

seventeenth

officers

century.

Later on the butt of the pistol assumed a claw form and the ordinary

was employed, the mechanism, however, being of

flint-lock

is

latest

of these pistols have a rounded

The ornament found on

butt as in Fig. 44.

Fig. 43

The

of Dutch origin.

sort, possibly

a distinctive

the back of the

hammer

not to be seen in any other class of lock.

The Highlanders looking

equipment of

at

length on their weapons as part of the

of armourers sprang up

their national garb, a colony

the village of

Doune

in Stirlingshire, a place where " trysts " or

were held, and where the Highlanders resorted to exchange their

for other goods.

The

following account
"

Memorials, of this trade of Doune.

ancient branches of trade

Doune

reputation of

This

art

This famous tradesman possessed

means of instruction

in the

The
German

in

his

at

craft at

Doune.

most profound genius, and an inquisi-

of no education and remote from every

mechanical

arts,

study and persevering

his

exertions brought his art to so high a degree of perfection that

pistols

made

either for

children

in Britain excelled or

sureness, strength, or

carried

dress of Caledonia was worn, that

and dirk, the

pistols

made

in

city

He

beauty.

whom

on the
is,

the

Doune

taught the trade to his

was one John Campbell,

philabeg

Germany

fabricated by a tradesman taught

of Glasgow given

in

While the ancient

business.
'

excelled

superior reputation over France and

mented were

all
;

'

belted-plaid, pistols,
others,

and acquired

a pair superbly ornain

Doune, and by the

compliment to the Marquis de

Bouille.

above Mr. Campbell's grandson, who has now given over business,
pistols for the first nobility in

Europe,

as Prince

the Hereditary Prince of Brunswick,

others.

The

trade

is

no

perhaps equalled those of his making

and several apprentices, of

whose son and grandson

the

was introduced to Doune about the year

1646 by Thomas Caddell, who having been instructed

man

cattle

pistols.

Muthil, a village in Strathearn in Perthshire, came and settled

mind, and though a

fairs

The only remains of any of

making of Highland

the

is

is

in

given in Scottish National

for this manufacture, about the time of the

war, was very great.

tive

in

now (1798)

the

carried

The
made

Ferdinand of Brunswick,

Duke of Cumberland, and

on by John Murdoch (the

FOREIGN ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

94

maker of

Fig. 44).

These

pistols

were sold (1798)

at

from four to

twenty-four guineas a pair."

The names of some of these armourers were the Caddells, James

Sutherland, Thomas Murdoch, John Murdoch, S. Michie, John CampThe trade died out at the
bell, J. Stuart, David M'Kenzie, and others.
commencement of

this century.

These weapons were remarkable for grace of outline and great

ness.

The

butt has a small

knob, which, when

little

room

unscrewed, forms a

The mainsprings

picker to clear the touch-hole with.

appear to be weak, having

to

work

light-

in

many

in the slender stocks.

cases

INDEX
Almayne rivets, 14, 15
Ambras Collection, 48

Charles I., 71, 72

Charles V., 16, 60

Archers, 36-38, 52, 56, 60

Armet, 32, 36, 44, 48, 51,

7h

Charolois,
53,

72

Count

Frederick the Victorious, 39

French Revolution (Destruction of

of,

Armour), 24, 25

53

Chatsworth, 72

Froissart, 16, 17

Chausses, 18
Christian II., 74
Cinquedea, The, 81
Civil War in England, 90
Cceur-de-Lion, 17

Arthur, King, 8, 12, 21

Arundel, Lord, 60

Arundel Society, 40
Augsburg, 40, 41, 60

Gage, Sir John, 53

Colman Family (Armourers), 40,

Back-plates, 28, 29, 40, 44
Bastard of Burgundy, 77
Battle Abbey, Arms
Bavier, The, 53

of,

60, 68, 72

Colman, Lorenz, 28, 41

Cologne, 12, 13

53

Cominazzo (Maker of Firearms), 90

Commines, Philip de, 32, 36, 38, 53

Bayeux Tapestry, 18
Beauchamp, Effigy of, 24, 30
Bedford,

Duke

of,

Constantinople, 25

38

Corselet3, 14,

Bernabo Visconti (Statue

of),

20

Bernal Collection, 14, 68, 73

Black Prince, 10

Bbheim, 40, 41
Bohun, Sir Humphrey

Crossbows, 15, 83
Crossbow-men, 36
Cuirasses, 14, 71

14

Cumberland, Earl
Currie,

37,

40,

44, 47, 60, 64, 68

Brett Collection, 12
British Museum, 10, 17, 47,
53
Brittany, Duke of, 14
1

Bucarte, Lord, 60
Burges Collection, 10, 19, 47

Burgundian Armour, 49-51

Burgundy, Duke of, 14, 38
Cabassets, 72
Cadell, Thomas (Armourer), 93-94

Cajazzo, Count, 40
Calais, 38
Canterbury, 54
Cap-a-pie Armour, 6,

82

Cassel, Battle of, 8

see

12, 67, 68,

73

Damascened Armour, 22, 67, 68

Douglas, Sir Archibald, 77
Doune (Stirlingshire), 93
Dover Castle Collection, 10
Doyac, John, 14
Dugdale, Sir William, 77
Dukes of Albany and Orleans,
Fight between, 38
Ear-pieces, 68

Mail Armour

Hauberk, The, 18, 19

Head-pieces, 51, 53, 60
Helm, 39, 43, 51, 60
Helmets, 18, 20, 28, 32, 41, 48,
68, 71, 72
Tilting, 51, 52

Henry IV., 8, 14, 54

Henry V., 8
Henry VI., 60
Henry VII., 16, 38, 51, 53, 59
Henry VIII., 9, 10, 13-15, 24, 48,
51,52,54,59,78
Herbert, Lord Richard, 37
Horse-armour, 41, 44, 46, 51, 74
Hothfield, Lord, 11

Hutin, Louis, 14, 16

Edward I., 22
Edward III., 77
Edward VI., 10,

38, 60

Italian

Armourers, 14

Elbow-guards, 30
Farleigh Castle,

7, 1 1, 23, 27,
29, 32, 44, 46, 51, 56, 72

Chain Mail,

of,

Mr. David,

Flint-locks,

of,

Hatton, Sir Christopher, 63

Dillon, Lord, 9

Brescia, 15, 90
Battle before, 36

Capture

Halberds, 39
Hall, 24, 38, 52, 60
Harding, 60
Harold, 18

Crests, 32, 48, 53

de,

Duke of, 11, 63

Bourdonasses, 36, 37
Bows and Arrows, 38
Brantome, 14-16, 72
Brassey, Mr. Leonard, 11
Breast-plates, 15, 28-30,

Cifitar.a, The,

de,

47
54

Coutts-Lindsay Collection, 12

Bourbon,

Brooke, Lord,

di,

Gordon, Mr. Panmure, 46

Gorget, The, 7 1
Greenwich, 9
Grunewalt, Hans (Armourer), 40
Griinewalt, Heinrich, 40
Guidarelli, Guidarello (Effigy of), 36

48

Cosimo, Piero
Cosson, Baron

Galatin, 17
Gauntlets, 42, 44, 64, 68
Ghisi, Giorgio, 72
Gilded Armour, 60

90

Flodden, Battle

of, 7

Florence, 15
Fluted Armour, 11, 41, 43, 44, 47,
5 1 - 53
Fornovo, Battle of, 36

Jarnac and La Chateigneraye (Duel

between), 22
Joan of Arc, 54
John of Eltham, 8

Kenyon, Lord, 74
Kirkener, Erasmus, 53

"

DATE DUE
96

Lances, 36, 37
Layard, i~

82

f the,

19

44
*

of Mail, 21, 22

Louis X., 16
Louis XI. 14, 16, 39

of, 52,

60

[J.

F., 56

7,

82

Irl

of Shrewsbury, 85

16, 31,

Macquoid, Mr. Percy,

Madrid Armoury, 16
Mail Armour, 17, 18,
Mantua, Court of, 41
Marquis of, 36
Marignan, Battle of, 1
Matchlocks, 85

Matthew

17

la,

Lodelovve, Abbot Tho:

Londesborough Collect
Longfield, Mr. F. H.,

53, 54,

"lbert, 16

84

72, 73, 74,

of Paris, 14
-ittle of,

Maximilian Armour, "

Maximilian, Emperor,
40, 41, 53, 60
Medici, Cosmo de', 68
Meyriclc Collection, 1
Middle Temple Hall,
Mielich, Hans, 73, 74
Milan, 13, 14, 39
Milan, Duke of, 14

6 7, 77, 83

-3,

32, 5 2
"

trey de, 17

Milanese Armour, 14,

--,

Buckler, 72
Missaglias,

37

10, 11, 14, 44, 46,

),

The (Arr

4,

3
48, 51, 52, 71

40
Mola, Gasparo, 72
Monstrelet, 14, 17
Montfort, Simon de,

Montlhery, Battle

of,

jection,

_ace, 11,

,.

Montmorency, Duke
Moorish Steel-Worke;

29,

46,

64

ioses, 24, 37

Morion, 16, 72

10,

tie,
-1

CAT NO 1137

ij

of, 8, 9,

37,54

Dunt, Effigy

scales, L,or<i,

National Gallery, 20, 21, 30, 32,

47
Neck-guards, 68
Negrolis, The (Armourers), 68
Netherlandish Armour, 16
Nineveh, 17, 20
Norfolk, Duke of, 13, 81
Nucius, Nicander, 59

Nuremberg, 28, 40, 44, 45, 85

Otterbourne, Battle of, 12
Otto IV., Count, Figure of, 30
Oxford, Earl of, 37

of, 30
Westminster, 9, 10, 51, 54, 77
Westminster, Duke of, 47, 64
Wheel-lock, 85, 86

77

Shoulder-guards, 30, 36, 51

Shrewsbury Collection, 12
Sidney, Sir Philip, 52, 82
Sigman, Georgius, 73
Smith, Mr. Cozens, 72
Smith, Sir James, 56
Snap-hance Lock, 89, 90
Sollerets, 28,

29,

30, 32, 39, 40,

52, 53
Soltykoft Collection, 73

South

Kensington

Museum,

30, 35, 36
Spacini, Hieronymus, 72

10,

William III., 85
William of Toulouse, 8
Williams, Mr. Morgan, 41
Wilton House, 1
Wilton, Lord Grey de, 8, 9
Windsor Collection, 10, 54, 63, 82
Wolsey, 15

Woolwich Collection,
Wyatt, Costume worn
Zouche, Lord,

THE END

1182

Printed by R.

&

R. Ci.ark, Limited, EdinLwgh

12,

25

10, 20,
by, 2 1

48

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CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET

UNIVERSITY OF

NK
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G?

TORONTO LIBRARY

Gardner, John Starkie

Armour in England from
the earliest times to the
reign of James the First