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.
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.
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.
Fig. 165.—Vervelles, showing method of affixing camail to the bascinet.
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]).
Fig. 167.—Bascinet and visor, c. 1320. (Add. MS. 12,228.)
Fig. 168.—Bascinet and visor. (Add. MS. 10,294.)
Fig. 169.—Swords and dagger, c. 1330.
Fig. 170.—Sir John de Northwode, c. 1330. Minster, Isle of Sheppey.
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]).