Fig. 51.—Helmet of Don Jaime el Conquistador (Armeria Real, Madrid.)
Under Philip Augustus, who, as we know, was one of the leaders of the third crusade, the conical helmet assumed a cylindrical form; to this was occasionally added a vizor called ventail, intended to protect the face. Richard I., King of England, is represented on his seal with this kind of helmet; level with the eyes and also at the height of the mouth are two horizontal slits, which admit of seeing and breathing. Still the use of the conical helmet without vizor or nose-piece was retained even to the thirteenth century in Spain, as is proved by that worn by Jaime I., King of Aragon ([Fig. 51]), which is preserved in the Armeria Real, Madrid. It is of polished steel, is surmounted by a dragon’s head, and portions of it are richly ornamented.
Thus in the third crusade the use of the “coat-of-arms” became general,—a sort of overcoat, if we may so term it, of cloth or of silk stuff, and the purpose of which, at first, was only to mitigate the insupportable effect of the rays of an Eastern sun on metal armour. This new garment soon served, moreover, when made of various colours, to distinguish different nations marching under the standard of the Cross ([Fig. 52]). It became really a dress of military splendour, was made of the richest stuffs, and embroidered in gold or silver with excessive refinement.
Fig. 52.—Knight in his Hauberk (after Meyrick).
The slingers, who had never been otherwise recruited than from the lower orders, disappeared from the French armies after the reign of St. Louis. As for the archers, those of England wore at that time, over the hauberk, a leather jacket, adopted subsequently by the French archers, and called jacque d’Anglois. An old author, in fact, thus mentions it:—
“C’étoit un pourpoint de chamois;
Farci de bourre sus et sous;
Un grand vilain jacque d’Anglois,
Qui lui pendoit jusqu’aux genoux.”
The jacque having become the fashion in France was soon recognised in every kind of material more or less costly; it continued in use until the end of the fourteenth century; Charles VI. wore one of black velvet during a journey he made in Brittany.
