Buke Thryd, p. 31.
The “habergione” was a piece of defensive armour early in use among the Scots, and even worn by some Highlanders and Isles-men so late as the 17th century. It was a sort of chain or ringed mail, extremely light and flexible, allowing the greatest freedom to the motions of the wearer, and was equally well adapted for combat on foot or on horseback. It was variously constructed according to the prevailing taste. The most approved were those brought from Asia by the crusaders, in the early part of the reign of Alexander III. They consisted of four rings joined to a fifth, and all rivetted;—they were sometimes double. Towards the end of the 13th century, this description seems to have been in general use, both in England and Scotland. They had the form of shirts, and were quite impervious to an arrow.
The “goune” which the Minstrel alludes to, as covering the “habergione,” we conceive to mean the surcoat, or coat of arms,—a fashion introduced into Britain in the 13th century. It is thus described by Dr Meyrick:—“The surcoat, which had been adopted by the crusaders in the 13th century, to prevent their armour from being heated by the sun’s rays, a mode still continued by the Mamelukes in Egypt, was at first of merely variegated patterns, but soon became embellished with the same armorial bearings as the shield;—hence, the expression ‘coat of arms.’ It was a long loose dress, without sleeves, open before and behind, for the convenience of riding, and girted round the waist by the cingulum militare, or belt. It was put on over the hauberk, and reached to the neck; and when the hood was placed on the head, it was covered by it as far as the shoulders. The front and back were emblazoned alike.”
This piece of dress appears to have been the same as the tabard. It is thus taken notice of by Thomas Hearne: “Tabard, a jacket, jerkin, mandilion, or sleeveless coat, worne in times past by noblemen in the warrs; but now only by heralds, and is called their coat-of-arms in service.” Verstegan tells us, in his Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, “That tabert was anciently a short gown, that reached no further than the mid-leg, that it remaineth for the name of a gown in Germanie and in the Netherlands, and that in England, it is now the name only of a herald’s coat.” But what Stowe tells us, in his Survey of London, is more remarkable, where, talking of several fair inns in Southwark, he takes occasion to speak of the Tabard Inn as the most ancient of them, and thereupon writes thus: “Amongst the which innes, the most ancient is the Tabard, so called of the signe, which, as wee now term it, is of a jacket, or sleevelesse coate, whole before, open on both sides, with a square collar, winged at the shoulders: a stately garment, of old time commonly worne of noblemen and others, both at home and abroad in the wars; but then (to-wit, in the warres) their armes embroidered, or otherwise depict upon them, that every man by his coate of armes might bee knowne from others: But now these tabards are onely worne by the heralds, and bee called their coates-of-armes in service.” Allusion is also made, by Wyntown, to the tabard of John Baliol, who, on being stript of the ensigns of royalty by his magnanimous conqueror, the “pelure” or fur, was also torn from his tabard. The passage is curious:—
“This Jhon the Balliol on purpos
He tuk, and browcht hym til Mwnros;
And in the castell of that Town,
That than wes famows in renown,
This Jhon the Ballyol dyspoylyd he
Of all hys Robys of Ryaltè.
The Pelure thai tuk off hys Tabart,
(Twme Tabart he wes callyt eftyrwart.)”
Wyntown, vol. ii. p. 88.
The “steylle capleyne,” it is very likely, may have been taken from the “chapelle de fer,” or “iron hat,” which, the same writer says, had a rim and convex crown, and was worn over the capuchon or hood. “After being placed on the head, it was kept from turning round, when struck, by cords, with which it was fastened to the shoulders. The effigy of Sir Roger de Trompington not only gives its form, but shows that it was sometimes held to the body by means of a chain. It was ornamented in front with a cross fleury, the transverse bar of which was pierced with occularia, or openings for the sight.” That worn by Wallace, however, does not appear to have had this advantage, for
“His face he kepit, for it was euir bar,
With his twa handis.”
The limbs were usually defended at this time, by being encased in boiled leather, on which knee-plates of iron, and guards for the shin-bones, were fixed; these, with a round or triangular shield, painted with the armorial bearings of the wearer, formed the defensive armour of the period.
Wallace’s favourite weapon appears to have been a long and ponderous two-handed sword, which his prodigious strength enabled him to wield with the greatest ease.[72] The mace and spear were also at times used by him; and for close rencounters in castles, peels, and other confined situations, he was furnished with a dagger for each hand, of a particular kind, having guards, which extended above the wrist, between which the hand passed; and grasping a transverse bar about an inch from the spring of the dagger, the weapon projected from the centre of the first, like the horn of an unicorn. This sort of dagger was often attached, by a kind of hinge, to the arm-plate, and could be folded back under the arm between the wrist and the elbow when not in use, and secured and concealed in that position by the cloth gloves, which our hero appears to have worn over his “glowis of plate.”[73]