Fig. 87.—Methods of representing different kinds of defences, other than plate.
It may not be out of place to deal at this point with various armours, quite apart from plate, which will be referred to or illustrated in this work. Hewitt has dealt with this subject perhaps more fully and lucidly than any other author, and the woodcut on opposite page ([Fig. 87]) is taken from his work. No. 1 is perhaps the commonest of all, and will be referred to as “banded mail.” Its construction is fully dealt with in [Chapter VII]. Occasionally the lines between the alternate crescents are shown double, but probably that is only a modification of this style of defence. During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries it was in constant use, and did not altogether die out for some considerable time afterwards. It is interesting to compare the variations in this style either of the actual defence or of the modes of delineation by the artists; the brasses of Bacon, Creke, d’Aubernoun, Northwode, Raven, Cheyne, &c., may be cited as examples worthy of interest in this respect, though many more may be found upon careful inspection. No. 2 is very common in illuminated MSS., and is occasionally found chiselled upon effigies; the Trumpington brass is an example of its incision in metal. No. 3 is generally found exemplified in brasses and effigies of the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries, and is by far the finest method for representing interlinked chain armour. It has a richness and reality which is unsurpassed by any other method. On the brass of Sir Thomas Burton it is shown in perpendicular chains; horizontal on that of Sir William Bagot; large rings are engraved in the case of Sir John Hanley, and there are many examples of small rings. On the brass of Sir Robert Russell there is a remarkable width between the parallel rows of chains, from which it may be inferred that although the chain-mail proper linked laterally, and also above and below, occasionally parallel chains linked at the sides only were in vogue. It is probable that the mail shown on the d’Aubernoun brass is of the latter pattern. No. 4: early examples of this are to be found on the Septvans and Buslingthorpe brasses. No. 5 is taken from one of the Temple Church effigies; a modification of this method, in which the lines are straight, may be seen upon an incised figure of a knight at Avenbury, Herefordshire, c. 1260. No. 6 occurs upon foreign effigies. No. 7 is an example of the mail shown upon the monumental statue of Sir William Arden, in Aston Church, Warwickshire. No. 8 is from early woodcuts. Nos. 9 and 10 are probably intended to represent banded mail, and No. 11 appears upon an ivory chessman of the thirteenth century. No. 12: this has been mentioned as occurring in the Bayeux Tapestry, and there are many other instances of its use. No. 13 occurs upon the Great Seal of King Stephen and other examples of early seals. No. 14, a variety of No. 12. No. 15, from a steel statuette; the indentations appear to have been made with a punch. No. 16 is from an effigy in Bristol Cathedral. No. 17, from Roy. MS. 14, E. IV., a manuscript written and illuminated for King Edward IV. No. 18 is much used upon seals—one of King Stephen, for example. Nos. 19 and 20, from Add. MSS. 15295 and 15297. No. 21, from two MSS. of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries (Egerton MS. 809; Add. MS. 15268). No. 22, from Harl. MS. 2803.
PLATE IX
The “Rhodes” Suit at the Rotunda, Woolwich
Fig. 88.—Armour, c. 1190.