There is a singular figure of a knight in an attitude of devotion illustrated in Roy. MS. 2, A. XXII., dating from about 1290, which has been ably reproduced in Shaw’s “Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages” ([Fig. 121]). Many little details of thirteenth-century armour are delineated, affording a valuable acquisition to our knowledge. The mode in which the coif-de-mailles is fastened up to the side of the head by an arming point is well shown; the same method has been illustrated in [Fig. 122] on p. [107], where two continuous hauberks are seen looped up in the same way. The palms of the hands are free from rings, in order to afford a better grasp of a weapon; this was the usual mode for constructing the mail gauntlet, and is also shown in [Fig. 123]. It also permitted the gauntlet being slipped off the hand when required. The gauntlets are continuous with the sleeves of the hauberk. Upon the shoulders are singularly small ailettes, consisting merely of a cross similar in design to those emblazoned upon the surcoat. The thighs are defended by chaussons or haut-de-chausses of mail, apparently with rings only upon the parts exposed. The chausses are of Bezanté armour, formed of small discs, each with a stud in the centre; these are sewn or riveted on to a pliable material, probably leather, which is fastened together by a series of points down the back of the leg. The chausses are prolonged to cover the feet, upon which are strapped the usual short pryck spur. The heaume is very much ornamented, and its general contour points to an earlier date than c. 1290, as does also the absence of genouillières. The lance and its pennon are shown. A leg protection of leather and highly ornamented was in use upon the Continent at this period; its form and dimensions may be gleaned from [Fig. 125].
Fig. 123.—From “Lives of the Two Offas,” by M. Paris (Cott. MS., Nero, D. 1).
Fig. 124.—Circular ailettes. (MS. 211, Bod. Lib.)
In a MS. in the Bodleian Library (No. 211) a knight or man-at-arms is represented carrying a shield and wearing ailettes of a circular pattern, which are fastened to his banded mail at the upper part of the arm ([Fig. 124]). He wears a hemispherical steel cap and is clothed in a voluminous surcoat. A similar example, but of later date, is shown in Roy. MS. 20, D. 2, British Museum, where a figure habited in banded mail and a conical pot-helm, with sword and shield, wears circular ailettes in precisely the same manner as the previous example ([Fig. 126]).
