PLATE ARMOUR (1410-about 1600)

It is so very rare to be able to fix the date of a suit of armour at a particular year that we are forced, in dividing our periods of defensive armour with any degree of minuteness, to have recourse to the records existing in monumental effigies. The earliest brasses which show the whole suit of plate without camail or jupon are those of one of the d’Eresby family at Spilsby, Lincolnshire, and of Sir John Wylcotes at Great Tew, Oxon., both dated 1410. In these brasses we find that the camail has become the Standard of Mail, or collarette, worn under the gorget of plate. The hauberk is seen beneath the taces and, in the former brass, in the ‘dÉfaut de la cuirasse’, or unprotected part at the junction of arm and body. In the Great Tew brass this part is protected by oval plates which, as we have noticed in a preceding chapter, are called motons or besagues. Hewitt does not seem to have come across these terms in the course of his very minute investigations, but calls them Croissants or Gouchets. He quotes a passage from Mathieu de Coucy’s History of Charles VII (p. 560) which runs:—‘au-dessous du bras at au vif de son harnois, par faute et manque d’y avoir un croissant ou gouchet.’ Haines, in his Monumental Brasses, mentions the moton, but assigns this name to a piece of plate rarely met with, shaped to fit under the right armpit only. With the disappearance of the jupon we see the body defence exposed to view. The breastplate is globular in form, and below the waist we see the taces or laminated strips of plate overlapping each other, which at this early period were attached to a leather lining. As we have seen in the chapter on the Construction of Armour, at a later period these taces were held together by sliding rivets, which allowed a certain amount of vertical play. Plate armour, during the earlier years of the fifteenth century, was naturally in a somewhat experimental state, and we find frequent examples of the old forms and fashions in contemporary representations. About the year 1440 appears a distinct style, called ‘Gothic’, which, of all types of defensive armour, is perhaps the most graceful. This term, ‘Gothic,’ is as inappropriate, in the relation which it bore, to armour as to architecture; but its use is so general that we must perforce adopt it for want of a better. The salient points of Gothic armour are the sweeping lines embossed on its surfaces (Plate VIII). The cuirass is generally made in two pieces, an upper and a lower, which allows more freedom for the body. From the taces are hung Tassets, ending in a point towards the lower edge. The later form of Gothic breastplate is longer, and the taces fewer in number. Armour was so frequently remade to suit later fashions, or, from lack of antiquarian interest, so often destroyed, that there is little of this Gothic armour existing in England, except those suits which have been acquired from the Continent by private collectors or public museums. Almost all of them are incomplete, or, if complete, have been restored—particularly the leg armour—at a recent date. Perhaps the finest example of this style is to be found on the ‘Beauchamp’ effigy in St. Mary’s Church, Warwick. Space will not allow of a full account of the documents connected with the making of this magnificent figure, which was executed by Will. Austin, a bronze-founder, and Bartholomew Lambespring, a goldsmith, in 1454, fifteen years after the death of the Earl. All these interesting details are given very fully in Blore’s Monumental Remains. To students of the constructional side of armour this monument is particularly valuable because all the fastenings, rivets, and straps are conscientiously portrayed, not only on the front, but also at the back. Charles Stothard, the antiquary, when making drawings of the figure for his work on Monumental Effigies, turned it over and discovered this example of the care and technical ability of the makers. The breastplate is short, and consequently the taces are more numerous than when the breastplate is longer. They consist of five lames. From the taces hang four tassets, two bluntly pointed in front, and two much shorter, and more sharply pointed, over the hip-bones. The taces are hinged at the side for convenience in putting on and off. The coudes are large and of the butterfly-wing type, and the sollerets are of normal length. In many of the Gothic suits these sollerets, following the custom in civil dress, were extravagantly long and pointed. This form is called ‘À la poulaine’, while the shorter kind are known as ‘demi-poulaine’.

Some writers are apt to confuse this term ‘poulaine’ with ‘poleyne’, the knee-cop used in the earlier days of the Transition Period; it is needless to point out that they are quite distinct. Baron de Cosson has put forward a most interesting theory in connexion with this effigy. He finds a close resemblance between the armour here portrayed and that shown in the picture of St. George, by Mantegna, in the Accademia at Venice. The Earl of Warwick, who is represented on this monument, is known to have been at Milan in his youth, and to have taken part in tournaments at Verona; so it is more than probable that he ordered his armour from the Milanese armourers, of whom the famous Missaglia family were the chief craftsmen, and who made some fine suits of this Gothic style.

Plate VIII

Armour of
(1) Archduke Sigismond of Tyrol, 1470,(2) Louis XIV of France, 1680.The next distinctive style to be noticed is called the ‘Maximilian’. It can hardly be said that this new design was evolved from the Gothic, though of necessity there must be a certain similarity between them, at least in constructional detail. It is more likely, when we consider the individuality of the young Maximilian, especially as recorded in Hans Burgkmair’s Weisskunig, and his interest in every art, craft, and trade, that it was a fashion made, so to speak, to order. The Maximilian Period of armour may be said to last from about 1500 to 1540. It is distinguished by the radiating fluted channels that spread from a central point in the breastpiece, closely resembling the flutings of the scallop-shell (Fig. 24). The main lines of the suit are heavier and more clumsy than those of the Gothic variety. The breastplate is shorter, globose in form, and made in one piece as distinct from the Gothic breastplate, which was generally composed of an upper and lower portion. The pauldrons are larger and the upstanding neck-guards more pronounced. The coude and genouilliÈre are both smaller than in the Gothic suit, and fit more closely to the limbs. In imitation of the civilian dress the solleret becomes shorter and broader in the toe. This variety is known as the ‘bec de cane’ or ‘bear-paw’ soleret. Some writers use the term Sabaton for the foot-defence of this period. This term is found (sabataynes) in the Hastings manuscript referred to in the preceding chapter. The pauldrons of the Maximilian suit are generally of unequal size; that for the right arm being smaller, to admit of the couching of the lance under the armpit (Fig. 34). The tassets are made in two or more pieces, connected with the strap and sliding rivet described in the preceding chapter. The fluting on the Maximilian armour is not without practical purpose, for, besides presenting the ‘glancing’ surface, which has been before referred to, it gives increased strength and rigidity without much extra weight. A modern example of this is to be found in the corrugated iron used for roofing, which will stand far greater pressure than will the same thickness of metal used flat.

It is at this period of the history of defensive armour that we first find traces of that decadence which later on permeated every art and craft with its pernicious poison. It is to be found in the imitating of fabrics and also of the human face in metal. There exist suits of plate in many museums, both in England and on the Continent, in which the puffings and slashings of the civilian attire are closely copied in embossed metal, entirely destroying the important glancing surfaces on which we have laid such stress. It is alleged that this fashion in civilian dress was intended to suggest, by the cutting of the material to show an undergarment beneath, that the wearer was a fighting man who had seen rough service. If this be the case it is the more reprehensible that metal should be treated in a similar manner; for hard usage would dent, but it would not tear. A portion of one of these debased suits is drawn on Fig. 42.

It must not be supposed that all armour at this period was fluted. There was still a good deal which had a plain surface, and this plain armour continued to be used after the Maximilian armour had been given up. It may have been that the evil genius of the Renaissance pointed to the plain surfaces as excellent fields for the skill of the decorator, a field which the strongly-marked flutings of the Maximilian armour could not offer. At first this decoration was confined to engraved borders, or, if the design covered the whole suit, it was so lightly engraved that the smooth surface was in no way impaired, though perhaps some of the dignified simplicity of the plain metal was lost. An instance of this proper application of ornament to armour is to be found in the ‘Seusenhofer’ suit in the Tower (Plate VI), made to the order of the Emperor Maximilian for Henry VIII. It is one of the finest suits of this period in existence. The ornament is lightly engraved all over it, and includes representations of the legends of St. George and St. Barbara. Instead of taces and tassets the lower part of the body and the thighs are protected by steel Bases made in folds to imitate the skirts worn in civilian dress. It will be remembered that in the preceding chapter a conversation between Seusenhofer and the young Maximilian was quoted, and when we study this suit carefully we feel that the young king did wisely in the choice of his master-armourer. The craftsman’s PoinÇon or mark is to be found at the back of the helmet.

If space but permitted we might devote many pages to the work of the great armour-smiths as exemplified in the armouries of Madrid and Vienna. It is difficult, at this period of history, to generalize at all satisfactorily. Each suit is, in many ways, distinct from its neighbour, just as the character and personality of the wearers differed. The young Maximilian’s words to Seusenhofer, ‘Arm me according to my own taste,’ is true of every suit that we examine, for it is evident that each man had his own favourite fashion or, from physical necessity, was provided with some special variation from the usual form. An instance of this may be noted in the Barendyne helm at Haseley Church, near Thame, in which an extra plate has been added at the lower edge of the helm to suit the length of neck of the last wearer.

As the experience of the armourer increased, and as the science of war developed, the armed man trusted more to the fixed defences of his person than to the more primitive protection of the movable shield. In the tilt-yard and also in war the mounted man endeavoured to present his left side to his adversary. On consideration the reason for this will be plain, for the right arm was required to be free and, as far as possible, unhampered by heavy armour, but the left arm, held at rest at the bridle, could be covered with as heavy defences as the wearer might choose. This form of unequal arming is well shown on the Frontispiece. The left shoulder wears a large pauldron with a high neck-guard, and the elbow wears the passe-guard which we have noticed in detail in the preceding chapter. The leg armour in this suit should be noticed, for it is extremely fine and graceful in line, and yet proclaims its material. The suit of Henry VIII (Plate VI) is a good specimen of armour of the Maximilian period, but without the flutings which generally distinguish this style of plate. The neck-guards are high and the large coudes show the glancing surface plainly. This detail also is shown on the fan plates at the genouilliÈres, which in the Tower Inventories are called by the more English term ‘knee-cops’. The bridle-hand of the rider wears the Manifer (main-de-fer). Those writers who still follow blindly the incorrect nomenclature of Meyrick give the name Mainfaire or Manefer to the Crinet or neck defence of the horse. How this absurd play upon words can ever have been taken seriously passes understanding.

The manifer is solely the rigid iron gauntlet for the bridle-hand, where no sudden or complicated movement of the wrist or fingers was needed; another instance of the difference in arming the two sides of the body. This difference of arming is more noticeable in the jousting armour, for in military sports, especially during the sixteenth century, the object of the contestants was to score points rather than to injure each other. We find, therefore, such pieces as the Grand-guard, and with it the Volant piece, the Passe-guard, the Poldermitton—so called from its likeness to the ‘Épaule de mouton’, and worn over the bend of the right arm—and the various reinforcing breastplates which were screwed on to the left side of the tilting suit to offer a more rigid defence and also to present additional glancing surface to the lance-point. In some varieties of joust a small wooden shield was fastened to the left breast, and when this was the case the heavy pauldron was dispensed with. The large Vamplate (Plate XI) sufficiently protected the right arm from injury. The Nuremberg suit (Plate VII) shows this form of arming for the joust. The great helm is firmly screwed to the back and breast, the two holes on the left side of the breastplate are for the attachment of the shield, the rigid bridle-cuff, covers the left hand, and the curved elbow-guard—this is not the passe-guard—protects the bend of the left arm as the poldermitton protects the right. The large circular disc defends the vif de l’harnois, and is bouchÉ or notched at its lower end to allow the lance to be couched, resting on the curved lance-rest in front and lodged under the Queue at the back. The legs, in this variety of joust, were not armed; for the object of the jousters was to unhorse each other, and it was necessary to have perfect freedom in gripping the horse’s sides. Sometimes a great plate of metal, curved to cover the leg, was worn to protect the wearer from the shock of impact. This was called the Dilge, or Tilting Cuisse, which is shown on Plate VIII behind the figure of Count Sigismond, and also on Plate VII. The large-bowed saddle also was used for this end. There is one of these saddles in the Tower which measures nearly 5 feet in height. Behind the saddle-bow are two rings which encircled the rider’s legs. It is needless to point out that in this form of joust the object was to break lances and not to unhorse; for, if the latter were intended, the rider stood a good chance of breaking his legs owing to his rigid position in the saddle.

The Tonlet suit (Fig. 35) was used solely for fighting on foot. The bell-shaped skirt of plate was so constructed with the sliding rivets or straps which have been before referred to, that it could be pulled up and down. Sometimes the lower lame could be taken off altogether. When fighting with axes or swords in the lists this plate skirt presented a glancing surface to the weapon and protected the legs. The tonlet is variously called by writers upon armour, Bases, Lamboys, or Jamboys; of the two latter terms jamboys is the more correct. The Bases were originally the cloth skirts in vogue in civilian dress at the time of Henry VIII, and when defensive armour followed civilian fashion the name came to be applied to the steel imitation.

Towards the end of the sixteenth century we find the weight of the war harness gradually decrease. The richly-ornamented suits which mark this period were in no way suited for any practical purpose and were used only for parades. Extended campaigns and long marches necessitated lighter equipment, and we find in contemporary records instances, not only of the men-at-arms discarding their armour owing to its inconvenience, but also of commanders ordering them to lighten their equipment for greater rapidity of movement. Sir Richard Hawkins, in his Observations on his voyage into the South Sea (1593), writes: ‘I had great preparation of armours as well of proofe as of light corsletts, yet not a man would use them, but esteemed a pott of wine a better defence than an armour of proofe.’ Again, Sir John Smythe, in his Instructions, Observations and Orders Militarie (1595), writes: ... ‘I saw but very few of that army (at the camp at Tilbury) that had any convenience of apparrell to arme withal.’ Edward Davies, in 1619, mentions the fact that men armed ‘with a heavie shirt of mail and a burganet, by that time they have marched in the heat of summer or deepe of winter ten or twelve English miles, they are apt more to rest than readie to fight’. As early as the year 1364 we find that at the Battle of Auray Sir Hugh Calverley ordered his men to take off their cuisses that they might move more rapidly. In the armour of the late sixteenth century one of the chief points of difference from the former fashions is to be found in the cuisses. Whereas these defences were formerly made of one, or possibly two plates, we now find them laminated from waist to knee and joined by the strap and sliding rivet arrangement which we have noted in the arm defences and tassets. The tassets are now no longer used (Fig. 36). Very soon the jambs were given up in favour of buff boots, and when once this was established the next step was the half suit which will be noticed in a succeeding chapter.

Plate IX

Design for a suit of armour for Sir Henry Lee,
from the Almain Armourer’s Album.After the fourteenth century the great helm was but seldom used for war, but for jousting it was still retained, and, as this form of military sport was practised more scientifically, so the weight and shape of the helm were made to suit the necessary conditions. The Brocas helm (Plate V) is the finest example of English helm of this period; it weighs 22 lb. The other known examples of home manufacture are the Westminster helm, which was discovered in the Triforium of Westminster Abbey in 1869, and weighs 17 lb. 12 oz.; the Dawtray helm at Petworth (21 lb. 8 oz.); the Barendyne helm at Haseley, near Thame (13½ lb.); the Fogge helm at Ashford, Sussex (24 lb.); the Wallace helm, in the collection at Hertford House (17 lb.); and the great headpiece in the possession of Captain Lindsay of Sutton Courtenay, Abingdon, which turns the scale at 25 lb. 14 oz. It will be seen from the weight of these helms that they could only be used for the jousting course and were put off on the first opportunity. The details of their construction have been noticed in Chapter III.

On referring to Plate V it will be seen that the bascinet was the precursor of the Salade, which may be considered the typical headpiece of the fifteenth century. The rear peak of the bascinet is prolonged over the neck, and in a later form of German origin the peak is hinged to allow the wearer to throw back his head with ease. The ocularium, or vision slit, is sometimes cut in the front of the salade, but more often it is found in a pivoted visor which could be thrown back. The Beavor is generally a separate piece strapped round the neck or, in tilting, bolted to the breastplate. Some writers call this the MentoniÈre, but this name should rather be applied to the tilting breastplate which also protected the lower portion of the face. Shakespeare uses the term beavor very loosely, and frequently means by it the whole helmet.

The German ‘Schallern’, or salade, so called from its shell-like form, seems to have been evolved from the chapel-de-fer or war-hat by contracting the brim at the sides and prolonging it at the back. In fact, in Chastelain’s account of the fight between Jacques de Lalain and GÉrard de Roussillon the salade worn by Messire Jacques is described as ‘un chapeau de fer d’ancienne faÇon’.[23] The salade was often richly decorated. Baron de Cosson, in the preface to the Catalogue of Helmets exhibited at the Archaeological Institute in June, 1880[24], instances a salade made for the Duke of Burgundy in 1443, which was valued at 10,000 crowns of gold. More modest decoration was obtained by covering the salade with velvet and fixing ornaments over this of gilded iron or brass. There are several of these covered salades in the various collections in England and on the Continent. Sometimes the salade was painted, as we see in an example in the Tower.

The Armet, or close helmet, followed the salade, and is mentioned by Oliver de la Marche as early as 1443.[25] The name is supposed to be a corruption of ‘heaumet’, the diminutive of ‘heaume’, the great helm of the fourteenth century.[26] Whereas the salade is in form a hat-like defence, the armet fits the head closely and can only be put on by opening the helmet, as is shown on Plate V and Fig. 31. The various parts of the armet have been already described in Chapter III. The armet does not appear in monumental effigies in England before the reign of Henry VIII. The English were never in a hurry to take up new fashions in armour; being to a large extent dependent on the work of foreign craftsmen, they seem to have waited to prove the utility of an innovation before adopting it. Against this, however, we must place the fact that in the picture at Hampton Court of the meeting of Henry VIII and Maximilian, the English are all shown wearing armets, while the Germans still wear the salade. The armet on the Seusenhofer suit in the Tower, which has been noticed in this chapter, is a very perfect example of this style of headpiece.

The Burgonet is an open helmet, and, as the name implies, of Burgundian origin. To those students who consult Meyrick it is advisable to give a word of warning as to this author’s theory of the burgonet. He assumes that it is a variety of the armet, but with a grooved collar which fitted over the gorget. His authority for this assertion is a single reference in the Origines des Chevaliers ArmoriÉs et Heraux, by Fauchet.[27] Space will not allow of the investigation of this authority, but Baron de Cosson in the Catalogue above quoted effectively disposes of Meyrick’s theory.[28] The salient points of the burgonet, as may be seen on Plate V, are the Umbril or brim projecting over the eyes, and the upstanding comb or (in some cases) three combs that appear on the skull-piece. In the best examples these combs are forged with the skull out of one piece of metal, a tour de force in craftsmanship that could hardly be surpassed. The ear-flaps are hinged at the sides, and at the base of the skull is fixed the Panache, or plume-holder. The faceguard, when used with the burgonet, is called the Buffe,[29] and, like the beavor worn with the salade, is held in place by a strap round the neck. This form of helmet was chiefly used by light cavalry.The Morion and the Cabasset are both helmets worn by foot-soldiers, and appear about the middle of the sixteenth century. The cabasset is generally to be distinguished by the curious little point projecting from the apex. Often the comb and upturned brim of the morion are extravagant in form and tend to make the helmet exceedingly heavy and inconvenient.

Fig. 37. Pavis. Cotton MS. Julius E. iv, 1485.

The shields of the fifteenth and sixteenth century were more for display than for use, except in the tilt-yard. As we have seen, the development of plate armour, especially on the left side, made the shield not only unnecessary, but also inconvenient. In the joust, however, where it was important that the lance should find no hold on a vital part of the body, such as the juncture of the arm, the shield was used to glance the weapon off, or, where unhorsing was the object, it was ribbed with diagonally crossing ridges to give the lance-point a surer hold. The Pavis or Pavoise (Fig. 37) was more generally used by archers and crossbowmen as a cover. A good specimen of the pavis exists in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, and there are two large examples of heavier make with peepholes for the archer, and wooden props as shown in our illustration, at Brussels and Berlin.

Plate X

Horse armour of the Emperor Maximilian. Tower.

Photograph by Viscount Dillon.