British and Foreign Arms & Armour

by Charles Henry Ashdown

Fig. 332.—Chapelle-de-fer, c. 1490. (Tower of London.)

Fig. 333.—Chapelle-de-fer, temp. Edward IV. (Roy. MS. 14, E. IV.)

The period under discussion, from 1430 to 1500, saw the common foot soldier, whether bowman, arbalestier, billman, petardier, or cannonier, much better equipped, and in every way more carefully provided for, than in any preceding age. It had early been perceived in England that the native infantry was as effective in battle as the flower of foreign chivalry, and instead of being jealous of this fact, as were the foreign nobles as a rule of their own foot soldiers, the knights of our own country sought by every possible means to add to the deadly prowess of the soldier, and to defend him by every artifice that wit could devise. It came to be recognised as an article of military knowledge that a charge of cavalry against English archers armed with the long-bow resulted, under ordinary conditions, in disaster, and that no good result was to be obtained by it, but on the contrary it was simply to court destruction. The lessons of Creçy and of Poictiers had been well learnt, and it was remembered that the French chivalry, although encased in steel and the horses defended by bardings, simply melted away before the deadly sleet of arrows emanating from the English position, and in spite of their most strenuous efforts only managed to reach the archers in such a disorganised form that an effective charge was out of the question. So long as the bowmen stood firmly in their position and preserved order and discipline they had nothing to fear from the most determined charge of cavalry. The secret of this undoubtedly was that although the knight himself was impervious to the arrow so long as it did not strike a gousset or the junction or joint between two plates, his horse was by no means equally well protected, and it is well known that the arrow was in most cases directed towards the unfortunate steed in preference to the invulnerable rider. It thus became a custom for the knights and heavily-accoutred men-at-arms to dismount and advance on foot to the charge, in imitation doubtless of the example set by the Black Prince at Poictiers. But the slow progress of such a mass of heavily-armed men against a body of archers gave the latter plenty of time to select their opponents, and with unerring aim to challenge the weak points of their adversaries’ defences with the deadly cloth-yard shaft. The invariable result was that the archer came off victorious, and the discomfited mail-clad knight thus found himself unable to reach the enemy with whom he desired to close either on horseback or on foot. In this dilemma the invention of the pavise came to his help, and for a time the archer was to a certain extent nonplussed. This was at first an upright wicker-work defence, square in form and plane of surface, sufficiently large to cover the knight and also the page or squire who bore it. The knight also carried his own shield as an additional defence, and thus effectually protected from arrows could advance to close quarters, or if necessary, take post behind his own archers in order to repel a charge of cavalry. The pavise, once introduced, was quickly improved upon, and soon developed into a convex shield of wood faced with leather or other protective material, and resting upon the ground. Some of these were elaborately decorated, being painted with designs of more or less merit, some of which have been preserved to the present age and form remarkable instances of mediæval art. In the Wallace Collection is a pavise of parchment upon a foundation of wood, with a semi-circular ridge down the centre, upon which occurs a representation of a castle and background. It is of German origin, and dates from about 1490; another in the same museum of about the year 1500 has a similar ridge down the centre, is of the same materials, and is painted black. The arms of Nuremberg in colours are upon the left-hand top corner. The examples are only sufficiently large to cover one man, and might therefore have been used by archers, arbalestiers, cannoniers, &c., for these were alert to seize upon the new defence, and quickly adopted it. During the siege of a town or fortress the pavise was in constant use, and in MSS. of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries it is common to note in the illuminations how they are employed to cover every type of combatant. In Cotton MS., Julius, E. IV., many examples are delineated, bodies of pavisiers being shown in combat with each other. [Fig. 329] is a representation of a mediæval long bowman of the year 1473, in which he is shown with a hat and gorget of banded mail and a hauberk of overlapping scales of leather covered by a brigandine of leather. The only plate defence is a corselet. The quiver is slung at the back and a sword in front. The arbalestier shown in [Plate XL.], p. [366], is habited in a very graceful salade, a brigandine of the fifteenth century partly covered by demi-breast and backplates, or placcates, and wears a knee-piece upon the left leg. The arbalestier of the time of Edward IV. is represented in the Harleian MS. No. 4379 ([Fig. 330]) as possessing a complete defensive equipment, consisting of bascinet, camail, brigandine of jazeraint work, tuilles of leather plates, and complete plate for the legs. In addition he has a corselet of plate. The peculiarly-shaped quiver for the bolts is characteristic of the period. That arbalestiers were as an established rule better provided with defences we have already seen: a further confirmation is afforded by the accompanying [Fig. 331] of an arbalestier of the earlier part of the fifteenth century, before the dagged houppelande of Richard II. and Henry IV.’s reign had gone out of fashion: he is represented as being clothed in it, whereby the defences of the body and arms are hidden, but the legs are in plate, with sollerets for the feet, and a chapelle-de-fer, or plain skull-cap, covers the head. It is taken from Sloane MS. 2433.

Fig. 334.—Archers’ salades, temp. Edward IV. (Roy. MS. 14, E. IV.)