THE CYCLAS PERIOD, 1325-1335
Probably at no time in the history of defensive armour has it presented
a more picturesque appearance than during the brief ten years of the
Cyclas Period. Fitting closely to the figure, the various garments
followed the outlines of the human form, and in no parts showed any
marked peculiarities or eccentricities. The evolution of the style
was undoubtedly derived from the experience gained during the Chain
Mail Period, when that defence was proved to be ineffectual against
the terrible effects of lance and sword. Both of these weapons, even
if they did not actually pierce the mail, either bruised the body, or
broke bones, and thereby incapacitated the wearer; while the protection
afforded by the loosely hanging folds of the surcoat of previous
periods, especially against sword-cuts, has been duly noted. Hence
during the Cyclas Period we meet with the introduction of multitudinous
coverings, whereby the lance, the sword, and the arrow were opposed by
plate and mail, and by various padded garments of a textile nature.
The superposition and nature of the defensive equipment will now be
described.
[Illustration: FIG. 163.--Sir Robert Shurland, 1300; showing the
gambeson.]
1. _The Haqueton._--This consisted of a stuffed and padded garment
covering the whole body from the neck to the knees, and the upper
part of the arms; it rested immediately upon the under-shirt of wool.
The padded character of the garment may be seen from the Creke and
d’Aubernoun brasses, where the lower edge reaches the genouillières.
In the Clehongre effigy the haqueton, though doubtless worn, is not
apparent. The padding, besides being defensive, served to protect the
body from the pressure of the mail and plate defences.
[Illustration: FIG. 164.--Sir John de Creke, 1325. Westley Waterless
Church, Cambs.]
2. _The Hauberk._--During the Cyclas Period this garment appears to
have been generally made of banded mail, which consisted of rings or
discs firmly attached on two sides to bands or strips of leather, and
overlapping each other right and left in alternate rows. The protection
afforded by this defence was so good, and the flexibility so great,
that banded mail was in very common use during the greater part of the
fourteenth century for hauberks, camails, and chausses. The hauberk
either terminated in a point in front at the knees, in similar fashion
to the camail, or was rounded, or cut squarely off, according to
the individual taste of the wearer. The sleeves in nearly all cases
terminate a little below the elbow. It probably extended well up the
neck and reinforced the camail.
3. _The Breastplate, or Plastron-de-fer._--So far as we are aware no
exact description of this defence is extant; we only know that it was
of steel, that it covered the upper part of the front of the body,
that it was invariably of a globular shape, and that it was securely
attached to the hauberk, but whether it had a companion backplate so
as to form an entire cuirass is entirely conjectural. Staples were
affixed to it for chains, which at that period were so often attached
to the hilts of the swords and daggers, and sometimes also to the great
heaume, the chain seen in the Northwode brass being for the latter
purpose. The globular form it imparted to the cyclas is well seen in
monumental effigies, but not so readily discernible in brasses.
4. _The Gambeson_ was a body-covering stuffed with wool, padded as
a rule in vertical parallel lines of needlework, and worn over the
plastron-de-fer and hauberk. In the monumental effigy of Sir Robert
Shurland (who in the year 1300 was made a Knight Banneret), engraved in
Stothard, we have probably a unique representation of a knight habited
only in the gambeson, which in this particular case is furnished with
sleeves covering those of the hauberk, although as a rule it was
sleeveless. It fitted closely round the neck, and reached to within a
few inches of the knee. In Fig. 163 this garment alone is shown, all
other details of the effigy being omitted.
5. _The Cyclas._--This extraordinary garment differed from its
predecessor, the flowing surcoat, in being laced up at the sides,
reaching to the knees behind and being cut short in front, so as to
expose the lower portions of the gambeson, hauberk, and haqueton. It
was of a thin material easily falling into folds, silk being the ideal
substance, and was usually girded round the waist by a narrow cincture.
[Illustration: FIG. 165.--Vervelles, showing method of affixing camail
to the bascinet.]
[Illustration: FIG. 166.--Small figure from tomb of Aymer de Valence,
1323.]
A great diversity of bascinets were in use at this period, but all of
them fitted more or less closely to the head, the chief modifications
being in the extensions at the side of the face and at the back of
the head. In the typical brass of Sir John de Creke (Fig. 164) the
bascinet is fluted, while an ornamental apex furnishes the attachment
for a crest or the flowing contoise. To this headpiece is affixed the
camail (or cap-mail), a means of protection for the neck which was
first introduced at this period and remained in fashion for nearly one
hundred years, when it was superseded by the gorget of plate in the
time of King Henry V. The upper portion of this camail was securely
fixed to the bascinet by means of staples or vervelles (Fig. 165), a
cord or lace being threaded through which may be perceived in the Creke
brass. A narrow strip of mail with a very ornamental border is carried
round below the rim. In all cases the camail covers a part of the
cyclas. The upper portions of the arm are defended by demi-brassarts
with coudières, while roundels fashioned to represent the heads of
lions protect the joints of the limbs. The forearms are entirely cased
in vambraces of plate. The chausses are of banded ring mail protected
in front by jambarts and genouillières, while the sollerets are of
mixed mail and plate. Upon the effigy of Aymer de Valence, however,
who died in 1323 and is buried in Westminster Abbey, only roundels are
shown protecting the upper parts of the arm, and incipient coudières;
upon one of the small figures surrounding the effigy a gorget of
plate of a very crude form appears to be indicated, superposed upon
the camail and lying also upon the cyclas (see Fig. 166). Upon the
Creke brass there are no indications that a visor could be affixed if
required, but in the Add. MS. 12,228 in the British Museum a bascinet
is shown of an ornamental character which is provided with a small
defence of this nature which could probably be removed entirely if
required. The neck-guard is seen to be well developed and to be
provided with a projecting rim. Two small feathers surmount the helmet,
and were worn in place of the flowing contoise (see Fig. 167).
[Illustration: FIG. 167.--Bascinet and visor, _c._ 1320. (Add. MS.
12,228.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 168.--Bascinet and visor. (Add. MS. 10,294.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 169.--Swords and dagger, _c._ 1330.]
[Illustration: FIG. 170.--Sir John de Northwode, _c._ 1330. Minster,
Isle of Sheppey.]
[Illustration: FIG. 171.--Knight of the Cyclas Period.]
The man-at-arms of the period was provided with a bascinet which was
more of the character of a simple pot-de-fer; in Fig. No. 168 an
example is shown to which a visor is attached and capable of being
thrown up when not in use. The sword is suspended in front of the
knight by a device which is very simple when compared with that which
formerly obtained; a belt passes round the figure and the two ends are
affixed by swivels to the scabbard. The weapon has apparently a 36-inch
blade, the quillons are straight, swelling slightly at the ends and
drooping in the centre; the grip is swelling and wire bound and has
a wheel pommel. In Roy. MS. 16, G. 6, many swords of this period are
shown, and are all characterised by their plainness and simplicity of
form (Fig. 169). The brass of Sir John d’Aubernoun who died in 1327
and lies in Stoke d’Aubernoun Church, Surrey, shows a figure similar
in most respects to the Creke brass. The roundels at the elbows are
fixed by arming-points, the helmet is less elaborately decorated, the
method of fastening the sword is old-fashioned, and he wears pryck
spurs and not roundels as shown in the Creke brass. A very noteworthy
and curious brass of this period is that at Minster in the Isle of
Sheppey, in memory of Sir John de Northwode, who died _c._ 1330. The
bascinet is of a peculiar swelling form so suggestive of the globular
head-pieces fashionable on the Continent at that period, and the camail
is finished over the chest in engrailed escallops. A chain is joined to
an ornamental staple attached to the breastplate, and passes over the
left shoulder to its attachment with the tilting helm. Only escalloped
coudières and roundels protect the upper arms and scale-like plates of
steel the lower; these vambraces may possibly be of cuir-bouilli, so
prevalent at the period. The grip of the sword swells considerably and
the quillons are short. Only the upper part of this brass is shown in
Fig. 170, but it has been restored and now shows the complete figure.
The shield at this period was of the heater shape and small; it was
concave, so as to enclose the figure, and a narrow guige passing round
the neck secured it. The effigies of Prince John of Eltham, d. 1334,
in Westminster Abbey; that of Sir John d’Ifield at Ifield in Sussex;
and also that of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Constable
of England, d. 1321, in Hereford Cathedral, and the Pembridge knight
at Clehongre Church, Herefordshire, may be studied with advantage as
exhibiting varieties in detail of this style of armour. A knight of the
Cyclas Period is figured in Cotman having the same peculiar swelling
helmet, and also the addition apparently of a plate gorget in place of
the camail; this may, however, be simply a leather covering for the
throat (Fig. 171).