1. The Surcoat or skirted jupon was sleeveless and fitted the upper part of the body tightly, but below the waist was made full so as to hang in folds to the knees; as a rule it opened up the side, but sometimes was slit only a short distance up the front and then laced at the neck. It displayed the armorial bearings of the wearer above the sword-belt, then worn round the waist or a little below it, and in some few cases the skirt was dispensed with and terminated at the belt. The lower part of the skirt was either plain or escalloped, the latter feature sometimes partaking of the nature of gadroons and extending upwards to the belt. The skirt also at times was of a different colour to the upper part, a feature which is well shown in one of the windows at Ely Cathedral, dating from 1335, where six figures are shown in contemporary armour, and the skirts of three surcoats are darker in colour than the upper part, one being ornamented with a band of a still darker colour. All the skirts shown reach below the knees and have no sleeves.
2. The Hauberk beneath the surcoat was of chain-mail of various patterns, or banded mail, and reached to the knees, being about an inch longer than the upper garment. It was furnished with a high collar and with sleeves reaching to the wrists, plate gauntlets being almost universal at this period. The hauberk exemplified all the various kinds of chain mail known in the mediæval period. The banded mail, already spoken of in the preceding period, had varieties; instead of the rings being merely superposed as in [Fig. 162], they were at times interlinked and given a slight twist, so as to lie flat similarly to an ordinary curb chain, each of these continuous chains being sewn to the usual raised leather band on either side. In some examples, chains of large and thick links an inch or more in diameter are shown merely fastened down to the under leather or material without any separating bands. But probably the most effectual defence, though of enormous weight, was the usual system of putting rings or discs of metal face to face, like rouleaux of coins, and known as the pure banded mail, which afforded effectual protection against the deadly arrow of the period, which could neither penetrate nor force apart the tightly wedged discs. We read of knights emerging from the fray bristling with arrows, which were pulled out of their harness by the squires.
3. The Breastplate was undoubtedly worn at this period, as the globular conformation of the upper part of the body and the chains sometimes affixed to that part through the surcoat prove. It can hardly be imagined that these chains could be fastened to a hauberk. It is probable that the breastplate was always worn immediately below the surcoat; and there are indications that the haqueton or gambeson was sometimes worn at this period under the hauberk.
4. Chausses of mail were universally worn protecting nearly the whole length of the legs and covering the feet.
Fig. 172.—Bascinet, c. 1330. (Roy. MS. 16, G. 6.)
