CUISSE, GENOUILLIÈRE, AND JAMB.
Up to the Conquest there was probably no leg armour in England other than thongs, but there are early German examples. Chausses would naturally suggest themselves after Hastings, as William bore them; while Harold, who did not, was wounded in the leg. The term applied to the upper leg armour, or breeches of mail, was chaussons. Soon after the Conquest cuir-bouilli was largely used, and this was followed by stockings of mail and sollerets of the same, as may be seen on the seals of Richard I. Wace mentions iron chausses. Even up to the middle of the fourteenth century it continued common in England to wear these pieces in chain-mail with attachable genouillières. An example of this kind may be seen on the effigy of Robert de Vere (died 1221) in Hatfield Broad Oak Church.
The cuisse was the plate going round the front of the lower thigh, fastened by strap and buckle. It first appeared in France and England in the second quarter of the fourteenth century, and became general towards the close. In armour of the latter half of the fifteenth century it was often embellished by consecutive laminations at the top. In the second half of the sixteenth century it was sometimes in two detachable pieces, for foot fighting and horseback.
Genouillières (defences for the knee) were the first body pieces of plate, except perhaps the plastron-de-fer or breastplate, and possibly the coudière also. They were called poleyns, and first appear in the thirteenth century; an example, about 1250, is figured in Plate XXX. of Stothard. The side of the knee became further protected by rondelles later in the century; and from that time these appendages became more ornate and comprehensive. As soon as plate armour was completed, genouillières became articulated both above and below the knee. In armour of the second half of the fifteenth century they are specially beautiful, assuming a shell-like form, often bivalve and butterfly shape with escalloped edges and flutings. The chausse, or shin-piece, was used in chain-mail, indeed earlier still in fortified leather, and early in the fourteenth century it became plate and was termed jamb; first only in front attached by strap and buckle, and later going round the leg hinged, and fastened by sliding rivets. These pieces were also called greaves. The inventory of Piers Gaveston (1313) catalogues “three pairs of hinged jambs.” These pieces were generally plain. Both they and sollerets disappeared with the advent of the jackboot.