avantageux pour faire la guerre, veu qui sont gens de pié, et que
en ayant les brigandines il leur faut porter beaucoup de choses
que en homme seul et à pied ne peut faire. Et premièrement leur
faut des dits jacques trente toilles, ou de vingt-cinq, à un
cuir de cerf a tout le moins: et si sont de trente-un cuirs de
cerf ils sont des bons. Les toiles usées et déliées moyennement
sont les meilleures; et doivent estre les jacques a quartre
quartiers, et faut que manches soient fortes comme le corps,
réservé le cuir. Et doit estre l’assiette pregne pres du collet,
non pas sur l’os de l’épaule, qui soit large dessoulz l’assielle
et plantureux dessoulz les bras, assez faulce et large sur les
costez bas, le collet fort comme le demourant des jacques; et que
le collet ne soit bas trop hault derrière pour l’amour de salade.
Il faut que ledit jacque soit lasse devant et qu’il ait dessoulz
une porte pièce de la force dudit jacque. Ainsi sera seur ledit
jacques et aise moienant qu’il ait un pourpoint sans manches ne
collet, de deux toiles seulement, qui naura que quatre doys de
large seur lespaulle; auquel pourpoint il attachera ses chausses.
Ainsi flottera dedens son jacques et sera à son aise. Car il ne
vit oncques tuer de coups-de-main, ne de flêches dedens lesdits
jacques ses hommes.
These very minute regulations show that the “jack” was considered a
most serviceable defence in the fifteenth century. At the same time
it must have been a hot and uncomfortable garment, for twenty-nine
or thirty thicknesses of linen with a deerskin on the top, or worse
still thirty-one thicknesses of deerskin, would make a thick,
unventilated defence which would be almost as insupportable as
plate armour. The last item may be a clerical error, and indeed
from the context it would appear to be thirty thicknesses of linen
with one of deerskin, for the leather would be far more costly to
work up than the linen. The extract has been given in full because
it is so rare to come across practical details of construction of
this nature.
1470. _Harl. MS. 4780. Inventory of Edward IV._
Item a doublet of crimson velvet lined with Hollande cloth and
interlined with busk.
This may be only an ordinary doublet, or it may be some kind of
“coat of fence” or “privy coat” lined with plates of steel, horn,
or whale-bone. These “busks” of steel are found as late as the
seventeenth century, for Gustavus Adolphus had a coat lined with
them (Lifrustkammer, Stockholm) and Bradshaw’s hat (Ashmolean Mus.,
Oxford) is strengthened with steel strips. (Fig. 50.)
1450 (_circ._). _Traité d’un Tournoi_, King René.
... que ledit harnoys soit si large et si ample que on puisse
vestir et mettre dessoulz ung porpoint ou courset; et fault que
le porpoint soit faultre de trys dois d’espez sur les espaules,
et au long des bras jusques au col.
* * * * *
En Brabant, Flandre et Haynault et en ce pays-la vers les
Almaignes, ont acoustome d’eulx armer de la personne autrement au
tournoy: car ils prennent ung demy porpoint de deux toilles ...
de quatre dois d’espez et remplis de couton.
It would seem from the above that in France the garment worn under
the tourney-armour was folded till it was three fingers thick on
the shoulders. In the Low Countries, however, the pourpoint was
of a different fashion, for there they made the garment of two
thicknesses and stuffed this with cotton-waste to the thickness
of four fingers. The difference of thickness can be accounted
for by the fact that folded linen would not compress so much as
cotton-waste. It should be noted in the extract from the Ordinances
of Louis XI that old material is advised as being more pliable
and softer. At the same time we may be sure that it was carefully
chosen. It is interesting to note that in 1322 the material is
ordered to be new, but in 1450 old linen is recommended.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXII_
GAUNTLETS AND GORGET
1. BRIDLE GAUNTLET.
2. RIGHT HAND GAUNTLET BY JACOB TOPF, PART OF THE “LEICESTER” SUIT.
3. BRIDLE GAUNTLET OF JAMES I.
4. XV CENT. GAUNTLET WITH “GADLINGS” ON THE KNUCKLES.
5. LOCKING GAUNTLET, XVI CENT.
6. BRIDLE GAUNTLET, XVI CENT.
7. PARADE GAUNTLET BY HEINRICK KNOPF, 1590.
8. GAUNTLET FOR FIGHTING AT BARRIERS, XVI CENT.
9. GORGET BY JACOP JORINGK, 1669.]
Besides the making of undergarments or complete defences of linen
overgarments, pourpoints, the Linen Armourers, as we find them
called in the City of London Records, made linings for helmets.
This was a most important detail in the equipment of a man, for the
helm or helmet was worse than useless if it did not fit securely
and if the head was not adequately padded to take off the shock
of the blow. In the Sloane MS. 6400, we find among the retinue of
Henry V at Agincourt, “Nicholas Brampton, a stuffer of bacynets,”
and in the Oxford City Records under the date 1369 are the entries
“Bacynet 13/4, stuffing for ditto 3/4.” In the Hastings MS.
(_Archæologia_, LVII), among the items given as the “Abilment for
the Justus of the Pees,” the first on the list is “a helme well
stuffyd.” This stuffing consisted of a thickly padded cap or lining
tied to the head-piece with strings, which are clearly shown in
the well-known engraving of Albert Dürer, of a man and a woman
supporting a shield on which is a skull (Fig. 42, 2). There are
some of these caps in the Waffensammlung, Vienna, which have been
noticed in Vol. II of the _Zeitschrift für Historische Waffenkunde_.
[Illustration: FIG. 42.
1. Padded “harnisch-kappe,” Vienna.
2. Helm showing attachment of cap and lining (after Dürer).]
The original lining of Sir Henry Lee’s helmet (Plate XIII) is still
_in situ_; this, however, is riveted to the helmet and follows
the shape of the head. In this respect it is different from the
helmet-cap, which was padded. A padded cap was worn independently
of the lining of the helmet. These are shown on Figs. 43, 44.
Similar caps are shown on the following works of Dürer: S. George
on foot, S. George (Stephan Baumgartner) and Felix Hungersbourg.
[Illustration: FIG. 43. Sallad-cap (from a picture by Paolo
Morando, 1486-1522, No. 571, Uffizi, Florence).
FIG. 44. Helmet-cap (from a sixteenth-century engraving of Iacob
Fugger).]
1586. _Chronicles_, Raphael Holinshed (edit. 1807, II, xvi, 333).
Our armour differeth not from that of other nations, and
therefore consisteth of corselets, almaine riuets, shirts of
maile, iackes quilted and couered ouer with leather, fustian,
or canuas, ouer thicke plates of iron that are sowed in the
same, & of which there is no towne or village that hath not hir
conuenient furniture.
These defences are of the same nature as the jack shown on Figs.
24, 25. The brigandine was more elaborate and costly, for it was
composed of small plates riveted to the foundation and covering
of fabric and was therefore the work of a skilled artificer. The
jack, on the other hand, was more easily put together and could be
done by the wearer himself or by his wife. An interesting example
of one of these village armouries mentioned above is to be found
at Mendlesham Church, Suffolk, in the strong-room of which are
portions of suits and half-suits dating from the late fifteenth to
the middle of the seventeenth century. The church also preserves
the records of the upkeep of the equipment, one of the last entries
being in 1613, a payment of 1s. 4d. to an armourer for “varnishinge
the town head-piece and the corslitt and for setting on leathers
and rivettes.”
1591-5. _Instructions, Observations and Orders Militarie, p.
185_, Sir John Smith.
Archers should weare either Ilet holed doublets that will resist
the thrust of a sword or a dagger and covered with some trim and
gallant kinde of coloured cloth to the liking of the Captain ...
or else Iackes of maile quilted upon fustian.
From the nature of their composition these “eyelet doublets” are
rarely to be met with. They were made of twine or thread knitted
all over in eyelets or button-holes. The appearance is much the
same as modern “tatting” and macramé work. The best-known examples
are in the Musée Porte de Hal, Brussels (II, 81), in the Cluny
Museum, and in the Musée d’Artillerie, G, 210 (Fig. 45).
1662. _Decades of Epistles of War_, Gervase Markham.
The shot should have on his head a good and sufficient Spanish
morian well lined in the head with a quilted cap of strong linen
and bound with lined ear plates.
1643. _Souldier’s Accidence_, Gervase Markham.
... the shot should have good comb caps well lined with quilted
caps.
It will be obvious that the maker of linings and undergarments for
the soldier had to be in constant touch with the armourer, for he
had to make allowances for the style and cut of the armour.
[Illustration: FIG. 45. Details of Eyelet Coats.
1. Musée d’Artillerie, Paris, G, 210. 2. Musée de Cluny, Paris.]
In the Wardrobe Accounts of Edward I quoted on page 79 there are
entries of payments to Robinet, the King’s tailor, for armour,
banners, crests, helmets, and robes for the King, his son, and
John of Lancaster. At the end of this chapter we shall notice this
combining of the crafts of the armourer and tailor when dealing
with the linen armourers.
It was obviously important that the tailor should be in touch with
the armourer and suit his material and cut to the equipment worn
over them.
1591-5. _Instructions and Orders Militarie, p. 185_, Sir John
Smith.[105]
No armed man should weare any cut doublets, as well in respect
that the wearing of armour doth quicklie fret them out and also
by reason that the corners and edges of the lames and jointes
of the armours doo take such holde uppon such cuttes as they do
hinder the quicke and sudden arming of men.
All parts of the suit were lined, for in spite of the padded
undergarment there was bound to be a certain amount of chafing
which, if the armour was unlined, would in time rub through the
undergarment. In many portraits, especially those of the late
sixteenth century, the linings are shown projecting below the edges
of the various pieces of the suit. The edges of these linings are
generally scalloped.
In the picture by Breughel on the frontispiece a cuisse is shown,
immediately beneath the basket of glass bottles in the centre
of the picture, which clearly has a padded lining. In a list of
payments for work done to Henry VIII’s armour we find “9 yards of
Cheshire cotton at 7d. for lining the king’s pasguard grandguard
great mayn de fer.” A similar charge is made in 1521 for two yards
of yellow satin at 7/4 for lining two head-pieces, two pair of
tasses, a pasguard, and two maynd fers. In 1510 we find an entry of
payment of 25 fl. 29 kr. to Walter Zeller of Innsbruck for lining
armour with black velvet and silk.[106] Frequently the padding
is shown in miniatures, especially on the inside of shields and
bucklers. The Highland targes are generally padded on the inside
with straw to take some of the shock of a blow from the arm. The
lining of such pieces as the taces and pauldrons was added to
prevent the metal over which they worked from being scratched, and
also to lessen the metallic noise, which would be a serious factor
in night attacks. Horse-armour, of course, needed heavy lining,
but little of this remains. An excellent reconstruction of lined
horse-armour is to be found on No. 620, Wallace Collection.
The stuffing of these padded garments was not always of cotton.
In the inventory of the goods of Sir John Falstoffe, 1459
(_Archæologia_, XXI), we find “i. jack of black linen stuffed with
mail and vi. jacks stuffed with horne, xxiiij. cappes stuffed with
horne and mayle, vj. payre of glovys of mayle of shepys skynne.”
Under the heading “Gambeson,” Du Cange[107] states that the
gambeson was stuffed with wool soaked with vinegar, to resist iron,
and he gives a reference to Pliny, Bk. VIII, c. 48, as bearing
on this statement. This was probably done to keep out vermin, a
serious factor when long marches with bad camping arrangements were
undertaken.
In all the defences which were mainly composed of fabrics, the
object seems to have been to provide a substance which would resist
cut or thrust and at the same time would offer a certain resiliency
to the blow. A practical experiment upon thick leather and upon
folded or padded cloth will prove this. Till recent years the
Japanese made much of their armour of quilted fabrics, the chief
drawback to which was its heat and want of ventilation.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXIII_
MAN AT ARMS. MIDDLE OF XV CENT.]
This linen armour or linen and fabric covering for armour was a
distinct craft in itself, and was practised by the linen armourers,
who had the sole right to cover armour or to make such defences as
have been enumerated above. That they were also tailors we know
from their subsequent incorporation with the Merchant Tailors and
also from the Wardrobe Accounts[108] of Edward I, in which Robinet,
the King’s tailor, is mentioned as making robes and armours and
banners.
Besides the lining of armour and the provision of padded defences
of fabric, there was a large field of employment in the covering of
armour. As may be noticed in Appendix A, this covering of helmets
seems to have been common in the first years of the fourteenth
century. There were three reasons for covering the steel head-piece
with fabric. Firstly, as Chaucer writes with regard to the mail
hauberk (page 78), to keep it from wet, the enemy of all iron and
steel work; secondly, as Roger Ascham writes of the peacock-wing
for arrows, “for gayness”; and thirdly, to prevent the glitter of
metal attracting attention.[109] In the _Treatise_ of Johan Hill,
written in 1434 (Appendix C, page 173), the covering of the armour,
especially for the legs, is ordered to be of scarlet “because his
adversarie shall not lightly espye his blode.” Helmet-bags are
mentioned in inventories, etc. In 1578 we find “steel caps with
covers” noticed in more than one will,[110] and in the Lieutenancy
Accounts for Lancashire, _temp._ Elizabeth, the archer’s dress
includes a “scull and Scottish cap to cover the same” (Fig. 46).
Several helmets in the Waffensammlungen at Vienna still show the
silk and satin coverings, and in Munich a triple-crowned burgonet
has a black velvet cover. The highly ornate Venetian sallads,
covered with crimson velvet, over which is set a gilt open-work
decoration of metal, are fairly common in collections (Plate XVI).
[Illustration: FIG. 46. Sallad with cover, from a sixteenth-century
engraving.]
The surcoat and tabard hardly come within the province of the
armourer, for they were quite distinct from the armour. They
were, however, in fashion in various forms till the middle of the
reign of Henry VIII, who landed in France, according to Hall,
in 1514 with a garment of “white cloth of gold bearing a red
cross.” Padded and quilted defences appear to have been worn in
the early seventeenth century, for the Hon. Roger North in his
_Examen_ writes that “there was great abundance of silk armour,”
which in many cases was said to be of pistol proof. Some of these
backs, breasts, and taces, wadded with cotton and covered with
salmon-coloured silk, are preserved in the Pitt-Rivers Museum,
Oxford.
THE LINEN ARMOURERS
As we have seen on page 91, in the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries the tailor was often also a purveyor of armour. M.
Buttin[111] quotes several extracts from documents of the
fourteenth century in which different names of craftsmen appear
classed as “Brodeurs et Armuriers.” It may not be out of place to
notice here that the “milliner” of the present day was originally
the Milaner or Milanese pedlar, who purveyed armour, weapons, and
clothing of all sorts.
The Linen Armourers, as they were called, were a gild distinct from
the Armourers, for in 1272 they were instituted as “The Fraternity
of Tailors and Linen Armourers of Linen Armour of S. John the
Baptist in the City of London.” Edward III was an honorary member
of the gild, and Richard II also became a member when he confirmed
their charter. Their first patent of arms was granted by Edward
IV in the year 1466, and in this document the society is called
“Gilda Armorarii.”[112] This naturally causes some confusion with
the Armourers’ Company, and in many documents it is uncertain
which gild is referred to. The first master was Henry de Ryall,
who was called the Pilgrim or Traveller. As has been stated above,
their first charter was from Edward III. Richard II confirmed by
“inspeximus” this charter. Henry IV also confirmed the charter, and
Henry VI granted right of search, which allowed the gild to inspect
shops and workshops and confiscate any work which did not come up
to their standard. It is doubtful whether the document given in
Appendix A refers to this gild or to that of the Armourers, for
it contains regulations which would affect both gilds. It gives
details as to that “right of search” which was an important part of
the duties of the gilds.
In the reign of Edward IV the gild was incorporated, and under
Henry VII it became the Merchant Tailors’ Company, with the charter
which is held by that company at the present day. This charter was
confirmed by Henry VIII, Edward VI, Philip and Mary, Elizabeth, and
James I.
FOOTNOTES:
[102] Meyrick, _Antient Armour_, I, 139.
[103] Cf. jupon of Black Prince at Canterbury, wadded with cotton.
[104] See also Du Cange, _Glossaire_, under “Jacque.”
[105] Cousin of Edward VI, and knighted by Elizabeth in 1576. His
free criticism on military matters led to the suppression of his
“Discourses on the form and effects of divers sorts of weapons,”
and he was committed to the Tower.
[106] _Jahrbuch des Kunsthist. Sammlungen_, II, 995.
[107] Johnes’ edit., I, 131.
[108] _Lib. Gardrobæ_, 28 Ed. I, 1300. Soc. of Antiq.
[109] _Vide_ modern War Office regulations of the present day as to
scabbards of swords, Highland kilts, etc.
[110] _Arch. Journ._, LX, “Armour Notes.”
[111] _Le Guet de Genève_, Geneva, 1910.
[112] _Hist. of 12 Livery Co.’s of London_, Herbert, 1836.
THE USE OF LEATHER
From the earliest times leather has been a favourite material for
defensive armour. The shield of Ajax was fashioned of seven bulls’
hides, and the soldiers of the King and of the Parliament in the
Civil War favoured the buff coat. Between these periods leather
was utilized in many ways, and when specially treated was a most
serviceable protection which had the merit of being lighter and
less costly than metal. The word “cuirass” itself is derived from
the body-defence of leather (cuir).
[Illustration: FIG. 47. Cuirass from the sketch-book of Willarsde
Honecourt, thirteenth century.]
The Hon. Robert Curzon, writing in 1869, mentions a cuirass of
three thicknesses of leather found in a stone coffin of the
thirteenth century (_Arch. Journ._, XXII, p. 6).
At a time when the weaving of fabrics was in a more or less
primitive state, the skins of beasts were used either as the sole
defence of the warrior or were reinforced with plates of metal
applied over the most vital parts of the body (Figs. 47, 48).
It is always a matter of some difficulty, especially in the earlier
examples, to tell what materials are intended in illuminated
miniatures, for we find what appears to be plate armour painted
brown or parti-coloured, and this points to the fact that armour of
all kinds was frequently painted, even chain mail being coloured to
suit the taste of the wearer, and also, a more important reason,
to preserve it from wet and rust. In some representations of scale
armour, the drawing of the scales, as for example the figure given
on Plate 1, 2, of my book on Armour and Weapons, suggests
leather rather than metal, and certainly the much-debated-upon
“banded mail” must have been a mixture of leather and metal.
[Illustration: FIG. 48. Leather Gauntlet, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.]
Towards the end of the twelfth century we find the material known
as “cuir-bouilli” or “cuerbully” mentioned as being used for the
armour of man and horse. The hide of the animal was cut thick,
boiled in oil or in water, and, when soft, moulded to the required
shape. When cold it became exceedingly hard and would withstand
nearly as much battle-wear as metal.
It had the advantage of being easily procured, easily worked, and
also of being much lighter than the metal. For this reason it was
used largely for jousts and tourneys, which up to the fifteenth
century were more of the nature of mimic fights than was the case
at a later date, when the onset was more earnest and the armour was
made correspondingly heavy to withstand it.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXIV_
PARADE SHIELD BY DESIDERIUS COLMAN, 1554
THE DETAIL IS GIVEN ON PAGE 135]
The best leather seems to have come from Spain and especially from
Cordova. Among the _Ordonnances des rois_ in the Bib. Nat. Français
(T. II, 357) we find it distinctly stated that Cordova leather was
far better than that of France or Flanders. This may have been due
to the breed of horses or cattle found there, but it is more likely
that the tanners of that town had made a speciality of treating the
hides.
On the sculptured effigies and monumental brasses of the fourteenth
century we find the jambs and poleynes often richly decorated and
moulded with more skill than the other parts of the armour,[113]
and these were probably of cuir-bouilli.
The d’Aubernon, Setvans, and Gorleston brasses are good examples
of this. Chaucer in his _Rime of Sir Thopas_ mentions jambs of
cuir-bouilli as being part of the ordinary equipment of the knight
(see page 100).
[Illustration: FIG. 49. Brassard of leather and cord for the
tourney (from René’s _Traité d’un Tournoi_).]
Both King Rene and Antoine de la Salle prescribe cuir-bouilli as
the material for the brassards used in the tourney (Fig. 49),
and this fashion seems to have lasted from the last quarter
of the thirteenth century, at which date we have cuir-bouilli
armour mentioned in the roll of purchases for the tournament at
Windsor Park, held by Edward I, down to the last quarter of the
fifteenth century. Oliver de la Marche, writing at the end of the
same century, describes the armour of Mahiot and Jacotin Plouvier
fighting in a duel as being of cuir-bouilli sewn on the body, legs,
and arms.[114] In his _Advis de gaige de battaile_ the same author
mentions leather armour as being only fit for the man who is “point
gentilhomme.”
As late as the year 1500 cuir-bouilli was much used for
horse-armour on account of its lightness. Of this we have two
specimens remaining to us in the full suit at Turin (G, 2) and
the crupper at the Tower (VI, 89). The horse on Plate XVII
is apparently armed with mail which is covered with trappers
of leather. The original, which was an ivory chessman in the
possession of Rev. Eagles, has disappeared. It was figured by
Hewitt in _Ancient Armour_, Vol. I, and was cast. The photograph
given here is from the cast. Among the few specimens of leather
armour for the man may be noted a morion in the Zeughaus, Berlin
(60_b_), and a pair of seventeenth-century leather “lobster-tail”
cuisses at Goodrich Court, Herefordshire.
The reason for this dearth of examples of leather armour in
collections at the present day is twofold. Much of the discarded
armour of this nature would be used for various domestic purposes,
such as jugs, horse-furniture, and such-like uses, and also much
would be thrown away as useless, for leather unless carefully kept
and oiled tends to crack and warp out of shape.
The above-mentioned bards for horses appear frequently in paintings
of the early sixteenth century. The picture of the battle of
Pavia in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford,[115] shows many of these
brilliantly painted with armorial and fancy designs, and the
absence of rivet-heads points to the fact that they are not of
metal.
The painting of bards seems to have been a distinct trade, for we
find in the Statuto de’ pittori Fiorentini rubr. 79 (_Carteggio
ined. d’artisti_, T. II, p. 40) regulations forbidding any but the
registered bard-painters to undertake such work.