Fig. 164.—Sir John de Creke, 1325. Westley Waterless Church, Cambs.
2. The Hauberk.—During the Cyclas Period this garment appears to have been generally made of banded mail, which consisted of rings or discs firmly attached on two sides to bands or strips of leather, and overlapping each other right and left in alternate rows. The protection afforded by this defence was so good, and the flexibility so great, that banded mail was in very common use during the greater part of the fourteenth century for hauberks, camails, and chausses. The hauberk either terminated in a point in front at the knees, in similar fashion to the camail, or was rounded, or cut squarely off, according to the individual taste of the wearer. The sleeves in nearly all cases terminate a little below the elbow. It probably extended well up the neck and reinforced the camail.
3. The Breastplate, or Plastron-de-fer.—So far as we are aware no exact description of this defence is extant; we only know that it was of steel, that it covered the upper part of the front of the body, that it was invariably of a globular shape, and that it was securely attached to the hauberk, but whether it had a companion backplate so as to form an entire cuirass is entirely conjectural. Staples were affixed to it for chains, which at that period were so often attached to the hilts of the swords and daggers, and sometimes also to the great heaume, the chain seen in the Northwode brass being for the latter purpose. The globular form it imparted to the cyclas is well seen in monumental effigies, but not so readily discernible in brasses.
4. The Gambeson was a body-covering stuffed with wool, padded as a rule in vertical parallel lines of needlework, and worn over the plastron-de-fer and hauberk. In the monumental effigy of Sir Robert Shurland (who in the year 1300 was made a Knight Banneret), engraved in Stothard, we have probably a unique representation of a knight habited only in the gambeson, which in this particular case is furnished with sleeves covering those of the hauberk, although as a rule it was sleeveless. It fitted closely round the neck, and reached to within a few inches of the knee. In [Fig. 163] this garment alone is shown, all other details of the effigy being omitted.
5. The Cyclas.—This extraordinary garment differed from its predecessor, the flowing surcoat, in being laced up at the sides, reaching to the knees behind and being cut short in front, so as to expose the lower portions of the gambeson, hauberk, and haqueton. It was of a thin material easily falling into folds, silk being the ideal substance, and was usually girded round the waist by a narrow cincture.
Fig. 165.—Vervelles, showing method of affixing camail to the bascinet.