Fig. 295.—Pauldron of Walter, Lord Hungerford, 1459. Salisbury Cathedral.
Fig. 296.—Laminated pauldron.(Cott. MS., Julius, E. IV.)
Fig. 297.—Pauldron, &c., Sir Miles Stapleton, 1466. Ingham Church, Norfolk.
Pauldrons.—The defence known as the Pauldron was introduced in England about 1430, and may be looked upon as a development of the palette, which, becoming larger and larger, finally ended by covering the epaulières. This enlargement may be readily seen from the accompanying [Fig. 294], where the palette is seen to have reached the shoulder. The right arm defences of Walter, Lord Hungerford, 1459, from his effigy in Salisbury Cathedral ([Fig. 295]), afford us an example of the pauldron in its early stage; it is plain and of small proportions, just sufficient to fit upon the lames beneath. The peculiar shape of the coudière with its flutings should be noticed. A pauldron consisting of long lames of plate is shown in Cott. MS., Julius, E. IV. ([Fig. 296]), and also on the Staunton brass; it, however, invariably consisted of a strong and rigid plate, which is well exemplified in the brass of Sir Miles Stapleton in Ingham Church, Norfolk, 1466 ([Fig. 297]), where the defence, beautifully ornamented by curves and cusps, is not only designed as a protection to the shoulder and upper arm but also to a certain extent for the neck, which is also encircled by a standard of interlinked chain mail. In this ridging for neck defence occurred the first idea of passe-gardes or pike-guards, an innovation which in different forms was in vogue during the latter part of the fifteenth and nearly the whole of the sixteenth centuries. It is still further indicated in the brass to Thomas Colt, Armiger, 1475 ([Fig. 298]), at Roydon, Essex, where a serrated ridge is shown traversing a large part of the pauldron with the evident object of arresting a sword-cut. The pauldron is of large dimensions, and projects well over the breastplate. William Yelverton, 1481, whose brass is shown at Rougham in Norfolk, has the passe-garde well developed and rising in a high ridge on the left side of the neck; the pauldron is of fair dimensions, but strange to note does not cover the left gousset ([Fig. 299]). It is probable that the wearer bore a shield. The pauldron and its passe-garde or pike-guard is well shown upon a suit of Gothic armour in the Wallace Collection, dating from about 1490 ([Fig. 300]); here the great difference in the sizes of the two pauldrons is shown, the small one upon the right shoulder necessitating a palette in the form of a roundel being introduced to guard the gousset of the right arm.
