TACES, TUILLES, TASSETS, BRAYETTE, AND GARDE-DE-REINE OR RUMP GUARD.
Taces were the laminated plates at the bottom of the cuirass, and to these the tuilles or upper thigh guards were attached by straps and buckles. It was common to wear mail below the taces, often with escalloped edges, but the lower portion was often the bottom of a shirt of mail still worn beneath the cuirass. The mail skirt appears so late as 1578 on an effigy at Whitchurch, Denbigh. Taces usually consisted of three, and sometimes of five, and even of eight lames, as noticeable in the brass of Sir John Lysle (died 1407), whose armament is entirely of plate; but early examples are in one piece, and indeed late examples also. An early example, with taces only, is to be found on the brass of Sir John Drayton, but part of the lower portion is missing. Laminated taces first appear late in the fourteenth century; the brass of Nicholas Hawberk (died 1406), at Cobham, is an example. The introduction of “Almayne” rivets (sliding) gave great elasticity to the armour. Tuilles are peculiar to armour dating from the second quarter of the fifteenth century; the earlier form is short and square, but later it becomes pointed and an escalloped shell or tile-like plate in one piece, extended down so as to cover the top of the cuisse, and was attached to the taces by straps and buckles as a guard against an underthrust of the sword. There is an early example on the brass of John Leventhorpe, in Sawbridgeworth Church, Hertfordshire (1433). This, like all tuilles of its time, was small and attached by straps or hinges to the lowest rim of the taces—indeed, it differed but little in shape from the plate to which it was attached. It lingered long in England, as shown in the Stanley and Lementhorp brasses in Westminster Abbey and Great St. Helen’s Church, 1505 and 1510 respectively; and there is a very late example on a suit of armour of the time of Philip II. of Spain, but this may perhaps more properly be looked upon as a solid tasset, the suit having been used for tilting. The Beauchamp effigy shows four tuilles, two large and two small. Tassets followed on these pieces, though they were for a time contemporaneous. They were practically the same piece as the tuille in laminated plates, but were generally attached directly to the bottom rim of the cuirass, taces being then usually dispensed with, unless in one plate, forming the connecting link. It was not uncommon to find them in two parts during the second half of the sixteenth century, as shown in the Alnwick example ([Fig. 33]), and there are also cases where they are in one solid piece, as shown on a gilded suit in Windsor Castle, and in the other example referred to. Tassets gradually increased in length as time went on until they reached the knees, forming then the cuisse itself of laminated plates. This was the last stage before the introduction of the jackboot. The brayette or cod-piece is a hollow cap-like projecting plate for fixing on to the bottom of the cuirass for the protection of the fore-body. Fig. 14 represents this piece in chain-mail. We are not aware of the existence of another specimen in chain-mail. The fortunate possessor of this unique piece is Dr. Edgar von Ubisch of Berlin, and we are indebted to his kindness for the illustration. The garde-de-reine was a projecting piece attached to the rim of the backplate; it was of overlapping plates, and protected the rump and small of the back.
Fig. 14.—Brayette in Chain-mail, at Berlin.