Fig. 2.—Great Helms at Berlin.
1250–1300. 1350–1400.
The long reign of Edward III. (1327–77) saw great strides towards the general use of full plate armour. An illumination on the psalter of Sir Geoffrey Loutterell (died 1345) furnishes an interesting example of the time. The knight is on horseback, sheathed in plate; he wears the pointed bassinet, a rectangular ailette on his right shoulder. His coat-of-arms (“azure,” a bend between six martlets “argent”) is repeated wherever possible: on the ailette, helm, pennon, shield, and housings; and again on the dress of a lady who is handing up the helm. Another lady holds the shield: her dress impales “azure,” a bend “or,” a label “argent” for Scrope of Masham. The saddle is the “well,” and the spurs rowelled. The lance-rest (an adjustable hook of iron for supporting the lance shaft) was introduced about 1360. A brass of Sir John Lowe, at Battle, Sussex, gives a good idea of the armour prevailing late in the reign of Richard II. and in that of Henry IV. The surcoat is omitted, so that in this instance the whole front panoply is exposed to view, though the garment continues to appear occasionally on monuments well into the fifteenth century, as shown on the brass of Sir William de Tendering in Stoke-by-Nayland Church (1408). The bassinet becomes less acutely pointed than on the effigy of the Black Prince. Épaulières show articulations, and gauntlets are articulated at the fingers. This is the case on the brass of Sir John Lowe, where the armpits are protected by rondelles, and the now visible taces of steel hoops form a skirt of from six to eight laminations. The cuisse is articulated, and the sollerets are “à la poulaine,” though not in the extreme form. The spurs are of the rowel type, and the figure is armed with sword and dagger.
Full plate armour was used in Germany and Italy earlier than in England. There is ample evidence of this, but care must be taken in sifting the testimony of old “Chronicles.” In the “Tristan and Isolde” MS., by Godfrey of Strasburg, of the second half of the thirteenth century, the German men-at-arms are represented in “white” armour; helms with the bevor attached to the cuirass, the upper part of the face open, jambs of plate and sollerets “à la poulaine.” Their horses appear with bards. A statute of Florence of the year 1315 is remarkable for the following statement, viz.:—“Every knight to have a helm, breastplate, gauntlets, cuisses, and jambs, all of iron!”
These manuscripts, however, must not be taken as conclusive. On the contrary, they really represent what is now considered to be a late stage of mixed armour. An Italian example figured in Hewitt (Plate XXVII.) shows the statue of a knight in a church at Naples (1335). He wears a hauberk of mail, with rondelles at the shoulders and elbows, rounded plates strapped over the upper arm, and jambs of iron. The sollerets are in chain-mail. The heavy horsemen of the “middle ages” are often referred to as “knights,” but of course there could only be a very small percentage of them enjoying that degree. Presumably many were eligible for the honour of knighthood for marked bravery in the field.
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Before the use of gunpowder in warfare the baronial fortress was almost impregnable, but cannon turned the tables on the feudal nobility, dealing a severe blow at extreme feudalism, of which these castles were the invariable centres.
The reason for the introduction of the cuirass proper was the exceeding weight of the hauberk of chain-mail, in conjunction with the heavy plates often riveted on to it, and the quilted gambeson, etc., underneath; and also by reason of the inefficient protection it afforded against the lance in full career, or strokes from the greatly improved and heavier swords, or blows from the deadly battle-axe; indeed, it often happened that a portion of the chain-mail itself was driven into a wound. It was, however, far from uncommon early in the fifteenth century for a hauberk of chain-mail to be worn under the cuirass, with a gambeson next the body, and another between the mail and the cuirass; but this multiplicity of garments was far too heating, heavy and cumbersome, and at least one of them, and generally two, were discarded on the full introduction of plate armour. These cast-off garments were, however, utilised by the lighter troops. The gambeson is a quilted tunic, often worn in battle in early times without other armour, having been made tough enough to turn a sword stroke; but when plate armour became general it was of quilted linen, fortified with rings under the arms and breastplate. There is a most interesting gambeson of the kind in the national museum at Munich, an example of late fourteenth century date, and the only one known as surviving; it also covers the legs, and is strengthened with mail over the knees. There is a specimen at Munich, thought to be unique, of the familiar horizontal belt one sees on effigies of the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. The underclothing varied greatly at the different periods, and there is often some confusion of terms among the “Chroniclers” regarding these garments. Chaucer calls the gambeson a “haketon,” the habergeon of his day being a shirt of chain-mail. He says:—
“Next his shirt an haketon,
And over that an habergeon,
And over that a fin hauberke,
Full strong it was of plate.”
There is a fine specimen of a fifteenth century habergeon in the Porte de Hal Museum, Brussels. A MS. of this period says that esquires were not allowed a sautoir (stirrup) to their saddles. The order had a distinct status, even to its costume. The esquire was the auxiliary and companion of the knight. His duty consisted in carrying the knight’s arms, breaking-in and seeing to his horses, and generally looking after him; he fought at his side and guarded his prisoners. The spurs of the knight were of gold, those of the esquire of silver. To “win his spurs” and be dubbed a knight, he was required to have performed some valiant deed. There was an intermediate grade between a knight and an esquire in the pursuivant-at-arms. There was a varied and costly elaboration of ornament used by the more courtly cavaliers of the fourteenth century and later times. The figure of the Black Prince in Canterbury Cathedral is highly decorated. The knightly belt has a blue enamel ground, with bosses of gilt leopards’ heads. The bassinet bears a coronet embellished with precious stones. The sword scabbard is inlaid with lapis-lazuli, and the spurs are gilt. Inventories of the period often divulge items such as rich velvet and embroideries, gold and silver. Pearls and carbuncles among gems were especially affected for decorative purposes. The inventory of Piers Gaveston (1313) has been already referred to as mentioning “les alettes garniz et frettez de perles.” Mr. Hewitt mentions the inventory of Louis Hutin, temp. 1316, which has “Item, cote, bracières, houce d’escu, et chapel de veluyan, et couvertures a cheval des armes du Roy, les fleurs de lys d’or de Chypre broudées de pelles [pearls]. Item, picières et flanchières de samit [satin] des armes le Roy, les fleurs de lys d’or de Chypre. Item, uns gantelez couvers de velveil vermeil.” Such portable and valuable adjuncts induced a deal of looting among the fallen champions after a battle, and many wounded lost their lives from this cause who would otherwise have been put to ransom. Stringent sumptuary laws were very rife at this time, but these severe enactments were found very difficult to enforce, and were much evaded; indeed, this has always been the case. Single feathers were worn in the fourteenth century; but in the fifteenth and sixteenth great plumes, drooping gracefully behind, were the rule. The degradation of a knight under King René d’Anjou was a very elaborate ceremony: he was stripped of his armour, which was broken to pieces before him, and his spurs were thrown on a dunghill; there was also much besides. In later times, the knight’s spurs were hacked off by the king’s master-cook.