British and Foreign Arms & Armour

by Charles Henry Ashdown

CHAPTER XVIII

GERMAN, ITALIAN, AND OTHER INFLUENCES UPON EUROPEAN ARMOUR

It may come somewhat in the nature of a shock to the self-complacency of the average Englishman to learn that in the great stores of armour in the public and private collections of Great Britain and Ireland only an infinitesimal portion is of English origin, and also that England was never celebrated in any age for the output of reliable suits. The excellent quality of English steel is, at the present time, accepted throughout the world, while the care and finish bestowed upon articles fabricated from it is proverbial, and in marked contrast to that of many other nations. This fact is so well known that the average inhabitant of our isles unconsciously places armour in the same category, and believes as a matter of course that it was pre-eminent in the Middle Ages. But the superiority of British iron is a matter of the last two or three centuries, and only sprang into existence when armour was becoming obsolete, whereas upon the Continent the manufacture in some places dates back almost to remote antiquity. This is especially the case with regard to Germany, whence has emanated the great majority of the armour seen in our museums. If we take the Wallace Collection, for instance, we find that sixteen cap-à-pie suits are contained in it, of which thirteen are German, two Italian, and one English. Of this number the eight earliest, dating from 1460 to 1560, are of German manufacture. Of the three three-quarter suits dating from 1520 to 1540 the whole are German, while of the nine half-suits only one is Italian, the remainder coming from Germany. A similar comparison taken in other museums would probably give a like result. If, however, a collection has no suits of armour previous to the year 1605, a probability exists that English armour might occupy the second if not the first place, inasmuch as the half and three-quarter suits in use during the Civil Wars were largely made in England. It must not be supposed, however, that the English armourers of the Middle Ages were incapable of manufacturing defensive or offensive equipments, for it is almost certain that the greater part used from the time of the War of the Barons to the Wars of the Roses was fabricated at home, always excepting that worn by royalty and the most prominent nobles. English armour was, however, heavy and cumbrous, the inferior quality of the metal necessitating great thickness in order to secure efficiency; consequently those who could afford it procured the foreign article, where the superior temper gave a minimum of weight with the same or even better protection. It may be compared to the modern Harveyised steel plate for battleships, of six or eight inches in thickness, which affords greater security than the eighteen inches of iron formerly in use. A large amount of foreign armour has found its way into our country owing to the law of tournaments, whereby the equipment of the vanquished became the lawful spoil of the victor; while the prolonged wars waged upon the Continent by English armies—invariably with some degree of success—must have furnished both the knight and the common soldier with means of defence superior to that of home manufacture.

Fig. 441.—Spanish soldiers, eleventh century. (Add. MS. 11,695.)

It is curious to note how in the early part of the Middle Ages the same general outline of military equipment prevailed over the civilised portion of the continent of Europe, and this is exemplified in [Fig. 441], taken from Add. MS. 11,695, a Spanish parchment of the eleventh century. If the warriors delineated in it are compared with those represented upon the Bayeux Tapestry, the only essential differences to be discovered are the excessive lengths of the hauberk and gambeson, and also the circular shield. The trilobed pommels of the swords and the cross guards of the lances suggest a Scandinavian origin, but the hauberk, nasal helmet, and leg defences are almost exact counterparts of the Norman equipment. Again, in [Fig. 442], which represents a continental warrior of the year 1100, the general appearance is similar to our own knights of the Chain Mail Period, if we except the peculiar helmet and the deep indentations in the skirt of the surcoat. The coif-de-mailles, hauberk, chausses, shield, and sword are almost precisely the same. In the year 1330 the continental equipment was the same in its broad character as in England, which may be seen from [Fig. 443], taken from Add. MS. 12,228 in the British Museum, where the only differences are the trefoil coudière and the laminated brassarts, which were not general in our country, although isolated instances occur of both. During the Camail and Jupon Period the plate armour was precisely similar all over the Continent, the only variations being in the shape of the jupon, which was sleeveless in England, but was often provided with baggy sleeves ornamented with rows of buttons in other countries, chiefly Spain and Italy, while tight sleeves were worn in Germany. The frequent intercourse between the Continent and ourselves in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries led to the free introduction of foreign supplies, and English armour lost what little insular character it formerly possessed.

Fig. 442.—Continental warrior. (From a foreign MS., c. 1100.)