Download PDF | Ralph Moffat (editor) - Medieval Arms and Armour_ A Sourcebook. Volume II_ 1400–1450 (Armour and Weapons, 13)-Boydell Press (2024).
267 Pages
Preface
De Bueil was a warrior who knew and understood arms and armour in a way this author (and perhaps even you the reader) will never truly be able to. What was ubiquitous, everyday, working equipment to him has become — to us — extremely rare and precious artefacts. Terminology now opaque was — to him — common parlance, artistic representations commonplace, working documents and narrative accounts self-explanatory.
Yet through the tremendous efforts of curators, scholars, artists, crafters, living-history practitioners, and their ilk we have been drawn much closer to De Bueil’s world. This sourcebook is but one more weapon to be added to our armoury. My hope is that the reader, thus armed, will be engendered with the courage to engage more fully with our fascinating discipline — for there is so much more waiting to be discovered.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Profs Sydney Anglo, Rosalind Brown-Grant, Wendy Childs, Noel Fallows (with especial thanks for his translation assistance with doc. 80), Kouky Fianu, Richard Firth Green, Tony Pollard, Nigel Ramsay, Graeme Small, Matthew Strikland, Jane H. M. Taylor, Alex Woolf, Drs Laura Bernardazzi, Claude Blair, Alan Borthwick, Dirk Breiding, Lucinda Byatt (with especial thanks for her translation assistance with docs 9 and 65), David Caldwell, Toby Capwell (with especial thanks for sharing doc. 43), Mario Damen (with especial thanks for his translation assistance with doc. 19), Jacob Henry Deacon, Paul Dryborough, David Grummitt, Daniel Jaquet, Robert W. Jones, Martin MacGregor, Elizabeth McDonald, Johnny McFadyen, Malcolm Mercer, Alan V. Murray, Marianne O’Doherty, Rhiannon Purdie, Zsuzsa Reed (with especial thanks for her translation assistance with doc. 20), Christopher Retsch, Thom Richardson, Susan Rose, Regula Schmid Keeling, Debra Strickland, Jonathan Tavares, Pierre Terjanian, James Titterton, Mark Tizzoni (with especial thanks for his translation assistance with doc. 20), IasonEleftherios Tzouriadis, Alan Williams, Marina Viallon, Messers Sean Andersson, Gilles Bernasconi, Garry Brannan, Clive Cheeseman (Richmond Herald), Benedetto Luigi Compagnoni, Enzo di Cosmo, Arthur Credland, Bernard Desmaele, Baudouin D’Hoore, Chris Dobson, Keith Dowen, Fadi El Hage, Louis Faivre d’Arcier, Graham Field, Andrew Gray, Bruno Guignard, Mark Hall, Mike Harkness, Michael Harris, Gregory Holyoake, Scot Hurst, Stuart Ivinson, Edward Jones, Philip Lankester, James Lloyd, Mike Loades, Simon Metcalf, Matthias Millon, Derek Newman, Anténio Oliveira, Frédéric Petot, Graeme Rimer, Will Sherman, Martin Stuchfield, Nathan Williams, Robert C. Woosnam-Savage, Francois Wyn, Henry Yallop, Ms Marion Bernard, Elisa Brunoni, Keara Burr, Marion Chaigne, Emily Champion, Julia Cook, Lieve De Mecheleer, Charlotte Denoél, Liz Dent (and all the Friends of Glasgow Museums), Hannah Dunmow, Sophie Ellis, Cathy Garner, Véronique Gorczynski, Magali Guilhot, M.-Th. Lalagué-Guilhemsans, Emilie Lebailly, Anja Marginet, Clare McNamara, Christine Meille, Vida Milovanovic, Caroline Moffat, Isabella Mulhall, Caroline Palmer, Giuseppina Petrotta, Marie-Claire Pontier, Niki Russell, Janet Portman, Iona Shepherd, Louise Smith, Cecilia Tamagnini, Stephanie Taylor, and Natalie Toy, my colleagues at Glasgow Museums, the Royal Armouries, and the universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Leeds, the team at Boydell, and my family.
Using the Sourcebook
This sourcebook can be used simply as a glossary to quickly check meanings. The documents are printed in chronological order. Each is numbered. When referred to in this section and the illustrated glossary the document number is in bold font in parenthesis, e.g. (64). In addition, the volume is furnished with a comprehensive index. The work can, however, be used at a more advanced level in order for the reader to build up their own better understanding of the subject. I provide here one example to demonstrate how this can be achieved.
Proofing of armour
Trewe yt is good armour demynishethe not the bowldnesse of a man and of the towe [...] yt is better to have an armore of evill shape and good mettell than of good shape and evill mettell.
—Sir Henry Lee.
If armour does not provide protection there is no point donning it. This is an incontrovertible fact. Don Pero Nifio’s undesired nose piercing (80) is a vivid — and wince-inducing — example of the danger of uncovering the face to the shot of crossbows. Arrows loosed. by well-trained bowmen caused the death of the Lord of PIsle-Adam (69) and the near-fatal injury of Prince Hal (14). Our sources can be employed as solid evidence for men having their armour proofed by crossbow-bolt shot. Before proceeding, it should be pointed out that certain dents on the ‘Avant’ harness in Glasgow Museums’ collection are almost certainly caused by crossbow bolts. The fact remains, however, that it cannot be stated with certainty at what stop on the armour’s journey from manufacture to museum this damage occurred. It would be pleasing to imagine this happening in the process of proofing or in the heat of battle but, alas, this must remain in the realm of the imagination.
Returning to our sources. The Pratese merchant, Francesco di Marco Datini (4), has listed in his stock basinets and breastplates of proof (‘di p[r]ouva’) and of half proof (‘di % p[r]ouva’). We find similar designations in the regulations of the armourers of Paris and of merchants selling armour there (51). Those importing armour for sale are obliged to swear ‘which type of proof — that is to say: if it be simply proofed, half proofed, or as common harness without having been proofed at all’ (‘de quelle espreuve ils le vendent; c’est assavoir, ou d’espreuve simplement ou de demie espreuve, ou comme harnois commun). This is more fully expounded in regulations from that same city of 20 March 1452 (new style). Craftsmen are to produce:
white harness and brigandines of the proof of a device-spanned crossbow or of half proof of a belt-hook-spanned crossbow or bow (i.e. longbow). The fully-proofed work shall be marked with two marks and those of half proof with one mark
harnoys blanc & brigandines despreuue darbaleste a tillolles ou demie espreuue a tout les moins darbalestre a croq ou darc et sera louurage despreuue merque de deux merques & celui de demie espreuue dune merque?
Through surviving correspondence, we see this process in action. A letter to Francesco, the ruler of Mantua (9), refers to an armourer making a ‘cuirass of proof’ (‘coraza da proua) for him. It is evident that he requires the proofing procedure to be very thorough; his servant assures him that ‘we will also send two viretons of our conjoining (i.e. the head to the shaft) which you will use to proof the said cuirass with a device-spanned crossbow’ (‘e si te ma[n]daremo doi veretoni di nostri saldi como iquali tu farai aprouare la dita coraza como vno bono balestro da cidello’). A second letter to Francesco (20), written in Latin, alludes to the construction of ‘cuirasses proofed against viretons (‘Coracias ad p[ro]bam ueretonor[um]’). The personal armourer of Thomas, duke of Clarence, purchases various pieces of armour for his master and arranges boat hire from London to Greenwich ‘for assaying the said harness’ (‘p[u]r assayng [sic] del dit hfer] neyse’) (53). This very likely refers to the process described above.
The sources even provide hints as to the improvement of weapons so that they might be able to defeat plate armour. Inventoried in Philip, duke of Burgundy’s armoury at Dijon are: ‘25 large crossbows for shattering white harness’ (‘xxv grosses arbalestes pour fauser harnoiz blanc’) (83). The oldy-named arrow-types recorded amongst the possessions of an Englishman (61), more fully discussed in the illustrated glossary, may also be examples of this drive to improvement.
However well-made and rigorously proofed a harness might be, contemporaries understood well that it did not make its bearer invincible. In his interpretation of Ramon Llull’s work on the theory and practice of knighthood, Sir Gilbert Hay firmly reminds us that ‘a knycht suld nocht all traist jn his armoure na wapnis bot jn his awin vertu’.
In providing this example I trust I have demonstrated just one of many ways in which our sources can improve our understanding. Now they are in your hands to make of them what you will.
Textual Source-Types
It is important to understand that the two source-types — textual and material — always work in tandem to increase our understanding. It is only out of necessity to the format of a sourcebook that they are introduced in this manner. There are many instances where the documentary evidence is all that survives. For instance, there are — at present — no surviving arming doublets of the type used in Western Christendom from the fifteenth century. These fabric foundation garments were essential to the proper fitting of a full harness.
Another salient point is worth reiterating here: the choice of my sources is governed by my linguistic and palaeographical expertise. These volumes are in no way comprehensive, nor do I make any claim for them to be. My gauntlet remains to be taken up by colleagues in the field.
A Justified Sinner’s Confession
It is only through the hard work of the eminent scholars who have gone before that I have been able to produce this work. By the process of hunting down footnotes, endnotes, quotations, and bibliographies in their publications, I have (true to my Reiver ancestry) ruthlessly plundered from the works of the likes of Meyrick, De Cosson, Dillon, ffoulkes, Laking, Mann, Norman, and Blair. Many references appear multiple times in succeeding works, and thus the strands of the web spread and entwine into a near-impossible tangle. Readers of the grizzled-veteran variety will certainly recognize some auld acquaintances amongst the sources: Sir John Cressy’s Milanese harness (97) and a very rudely-named dagger-type bequeathed by a York draper (93) being good examples. A great many of the sources can ultimately be traced to the exhaustive labours of such glossarists and lexicographers as Du Cange in the 1600s and Godefroy and Gay in the nineteenth century.? These scholars sometimes drew directly from original manuscripts or, for many entries, from printed editions. It is of paramount importance that due respect is shown to this valuable research — especially as it was undertaken in a pre-digital age.
Whenever feasibly possible, I have endeavoured to source the original document. Loss, damage, or difficulty of access have, at times, hampered progress. By providing detailed references it is hoped that many originals might yet be tracked down. Indeed, this writer actively encourages his readers to do so. Therefore, should my methods be considered sinful, then — as described by Henry, Duke of Lancaster — may my nose be bloodied and befouled like that of a man who frequents tournaments (‘sicome un homme ge va moelt a ces turnois’).3
Note on Transcription and Translation
‘Transcription
These are not letters of the alphabet, and it is not Greek. I would recognize it. They look like worms, snakes, fly dung ...
—Adso of Melk.
The young novice monk, Adso, is brusquely informed by his supersleuth master that the letters are, in fact, Arabic. At times training the eye to read a different script can feel as though one were learning a new language. The fifteenth century bears witness to a notable change in handwriting styles. On the one hand is the clear bastarda copied out in fine manuscripts for readers of high status and with deep pockets (or pouches). On the other are the hands used in official documents. Such clearly-legible forms as the cursiva anglicana of the previous centuries have been replaced with the fast-flowing secretary hand; very convenient for its scribblers — far less so for its readers.
Quite a few of our documents have only just endured the ravages of time. In many cases the parchment or paper is in very poor condition, sometimes little but damaged fragments, the ink faded and only visible under ultraviolet light. Some transcriptions have been made from old photographs or microfilms (or even photocopies of these) of lost originals. Others are transcribed from early scholars’ copies of manuscripts which have subsequently been lost to us. By including detailed references, I hope that doubters will check my transcriptions for themselves. The availability of full manuscripts online has proliferated exponentially since the beginnings of the research undertaken for my studies. Such institutions as the Bibliothéque nationale and British Library have made a great many freely accessible.
Wherever possible, I have endeavoured to provide my own interpretation of the most probable meaning. There is no standardized spelling, capitalization, or punctuation in any of these documents. I only include the bracketed corrective [sic] if the spelling, proper noun, or word order drastically affects the meaning. For instance, a Scottish knight’s hauberk (‘lauricam de milam’) (58) is clearly of Milan make and not a mail shirt ‘of mail’.s There is no evidence for the use of the word milam for mail armour in any known source.
In order to be true to the original script, where recognizable contemporary scribes’ signs (notae communes) are used they are expanded in square brackets: e.g. p[ro], plar], q[ue], p[re]d[ic]to[rum]. For word endings, abbreviations, and contractions that do not have specific scribal signs — an example being a single macron penned over a word — I use a single inverted comma: thus cu’ for cum (Lat. with), London’ (Lat. Londinensis, -dinium), Reg’ R’ (Lat. king’s reign). Thankfully, this neatly avoids the need to provide what might be considered ‘correct’ declensions in Latin. It should be strongly argued that, as many of these words are neologisms and originate in vernacular tongues (e.g. breastplate, haubergeon), they cannot be declined at all.¢ One exception to this general rule is that some English (and Scots) sources have had some words such as [t]he, i[n], and i[s] expanded for better comprehension.
A great many of the documents are written in the form of lists with only one entry per line. In this sourcebook they have been condensed into single paragraphs to reduce their length without compromising their meaning. I have expunged such terms as ‘item’ and eidem (Lat. ‘to the same’ person) commonly employed by the compilers of inventories, household accounts, and legally-binding documents. Superfluous elaborate honorary titles such as mon dit seigneur (Fr. ‘my said lord’) have also, wherever possible, been removed. So numerous are the lacunae in the paper and vellum that these gaps are represented by bracketed ellipses: [...] only if the meaning is seriously affected.
Translation
Qué les parece 4 vuestras mercedes sefiores, dijo el barbero, de lo que afirman estos gentiles hombres, pues atin porfian que ésta no es bacia sino yelmo? —Y quién lo contrario dijere, dijo Don Quijote, le haré yo conocer que miente, si fuere caballero, y si escudero, que remiente mil veces.
“What say you, gracious lords,” said the barber, “of what these gentlemen affirm, for they still insist that this be no basin but a helm?” “And whosoever sayeth otherwise,” said Don Quixote, “be he a knight, I will make him know he doth lie, and if a squire, that he lieth a thousand times!” —Don Quixote.7 The process of translation can often feel akin to tilting at windmills like the hapless Knight of La Mancha — one man’s barbers’ basin may be another’s enchanted helm.
To best allow the reader to engage with these primary sources I have presented the original text in as clear a form as possible. Therefore, it is not necessary to be completely reliant on my translation. It is highly likely that, by looking again, better interpretations will be suggested and more useful insight gained. For example: in an English will, written in Latin (8), there is bequeathed a ‘Jakk de Fens’. If the 7 in ‘Fens’ were to be read as a double 7, it might be interpreted as ‘Jakk de ferris’ (Lat. ‘of iron’) and thus have an entirely different meaning. With the exception of arm-protecting chains (67), there is no evidence whatsoever that jacks had any solid-metal components prior to the sixteenth century.’
When it comes to prose sources I have sometimes broken up long sentences constructed of multiple sub clauses. Rearrangement of syntax has also been considered necessary in some instances. This allows for a smoother-flowing and more readable text.
Since the publication of my first volume my un-ashamedness to translate into English has been in no way dulled. My challenge to colleagues with expertise in different dialects and languages to make sources accessible will always be there to be taken up.
‘There is not space in this volume for a detailed etymological examination of new words. A brief explanation is given if it is beneficial to understanding, for example: the armet with its origins in Italian passing, in two different forms, to both English and French.
Writing to his kinsman Richard II, the Scottish earl of March entreats: ‘mervaile yhe nocht’ (do not be surprised), ‘that I write my lettres in englis fore that ys mare clere to myne vnderstandyng than latyne ore Fraunche’.» I have endeavoured to make the primary source material as clear to our understanding as possible. I warmly encourage the reader to question and interrogate the sources and translations thereof.
Types of Documents
‘The textual sources can be divided into two general categories: official documents and prose. By ‘official’ I mean those of a legally-binding type such as wills, inventories, petitions, acts of parliament, legal complaints and inquisitions, craft statutes, and mercantile sources. Those categorized as ‘prose’ are chroniclers’ accounts, instructional texts, and letters of challenge to take part in various types of combat.
Official Documents
Wills
These documents may initially appear rather brief and functional. But by closer reading we find these to be a key source for our study. They are legally-binding. The instructions contained therein must be executed by those officially appointed to the task, thus precision of language is paramount. We hear the voice of the testator themselves and the importance they attach to their bequests. For instance, a member of a noble family who claims descent from Guy of Warwick — a giant-slayer lauded in a popular romance — passes down the hero’s sword and haubergeon (5). An armour-furbisher from York leaves mail-making tools to his daughter (82). In this author’s opinion this is not sufficient evidence for the existence of female crafters of arms and armour. By marriage to the daughter of a craftsman and freeman of a city, the new husband would be elevated to the same status as his father-in-law. A daughter’s tools might well be considered to be a dowry of sorts. We have already seen the importance of familial bonds amongst craftsmen in the statutes of the armourers of Paris of 1364. It is decreed that masters’ sons are exempt from enrollment fees.'° This is also the case with the haubergers (mail-makers) of that same city (24). Moreover, it is noteworthy that many of the documents relating to Milanese armourers (70) frequently record a father’s name and his title ‘master’. This is not to say, however, that women and children were not involved in many physical and arduous tasks. It is simply the case that, due to their social standing, their appearance in the written record is extremely rare.
Testators refer to (as-yet) unidentified weapons such as the Carlisle axe (21, 93) and Bordeaux sword (94). There is even a hint of humour in the name given to a type of dagger (93). The inextricable relationship between the worldly and the spiritual is evident in gifts to churches (29, §6) and the provision for tombs and tomb effigies (48, 58, and 71). That a Scottish knight makes payment for the erection of his in Angers Cathedral (58) is testament to his role, and that of his compatriots, in the French wars.
Inventories and Household Accounts, Royal, Noble, and Civic Payments
As is the case with wills, these are legally-binding documents. Many are compiled by professionals: men with a day-to-day familiarity with the vocabulary of arms and armour, sometimes (unfortunately) to the detriment of our understanding. They are truly a goldmine of information. The detailed appendix is by far the most effective tool for their excavation. Here I provide a mere few choice nuggets:
Louis, Duke of Orléans, is gifted a bejewelled crossbow by his Milanese bride (x) whilst his son Duke Charles (36) makes sure that competitors are fitted out for fashionable jousts in Paris. Charles’ penchant for satin linings ensures the smooth and silent movement of the plates of his harness. John, Duke of Burgundy, entrusts his Lucchesi maitre d’ to personally oversee the transport of his fine armour from Milan and sees to it that a widow receives the payment due for the crossbow bolts supplied by her late husband (26). His brother Antoine, Duke of Brabant, has a great deal of mail armour thoroughly cleaned and fabric lined (19). Might the sumptuously-decorated Turkish quivers (§7) inventoried at the Palace at Dijon have been a diplomatic gift from the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I during the negotiations for the release of John the Fearless? There survive accounts of the hunting-hound collars decorated with gold, silver, and velvet commissioned by John’s concerned father ‘que on envoye audit Bazac’." A Parisian armourer has, in his rented lodgings at Dijon (72), all the necessary tools as well as parts of armours of named individuals such as the adventurous amiral Jehan de Vienne.
One inventory of René, Duke of Anjou’s Chateau of Tarascon records the introduction of the word cuirasse in French (52) and a second is a key source for the etymology of the word sallet (68), as examined in the illustrated glossary. The Duke’s lifelong passion for jousting is evident from household accounts (102). The sumptuous arms and armour of Francesco Gonzaga (22) must have been quite a sight with their fine decoration. The Italian origins of the armet helmet-type can also be discerned in this text.
A Passau sword would have been a trusted companion of the bellicose Breton ‘Butcher’, Olivier de Clisson, and his coat armour bedecked with its boastful motto a wearable taunt to his enemies (23). Passau swords are also to be found in the care of the King’s Armourers at the Tower of London (40). A desperate Charles foots the bill for a fine harness from a master craftsman for Joan of Arc (77); the saintly saviour sent by God Himself. Armours for men-at-arms in his service are provided by a Milanese armour merchant (101), some are made to measure.
There is a wide variety of arms and armour in the Chateau of Blois (89), including plate arm defences ‘of the Paris fashion’. There is also clear evidence here that the bec de faucon was a short-hafted weapon in its own right, rather than simply a component of the pollaxe.
Thomas, Duke of Clarence, tasks his personal armourer to purchase gilt mail links for the embellishment of his young stepson’s hauberk. There is also an early mention of the sallet in a source relating to an Englishman (58). Sir John Dynham’s various types of arrow (61) are discussed in the “Using the Sourcebook’ section and the illustrated glossary. The silk-lined mail pants purchased for John, the Earl Marshal, were undoubtedly the most comfortable worn in the campaign that led up to Agincourt (43). That he was invalided out during the Siege of Harfleur due to dysentery would have left a nasty mess for whoever was demoted to cleaning duty!
Our sources clearly illustrate the increasing use of gunpowder weapons. The ‘iron apples’ purchased by the citizens of Namur are an early instance of cast-iron cannonballs (42). There are Philip of Burgundy’s beloved bombards (83) and, from England, the accounts of the Master of the King’s Ordnance (74), purchases from a London gunfounder (75), and well-furnished ships (75). A gun is even to be found at Durham Priory (15).
‘The cleric recording in Latin the harness in the possession of an Archbishop of York (64) does his utmost to explain the meaning of schynbalds and breastplate. Scribblings in the accounts of London’s Brewers’ Company reveal that the armourers of that city did not yet have a suitable venue for their social events (63). A thrifty upcycling of mail links for wall hangings shows that there are various uses for armour
beyond the battlefield. Craft Statutes and Related Documents
Documents of this kind are often born out of concern. For the haubergers (mail-makers) of Paris, theirs is the flagrant sale of substandard goods (24). Such practice can lead to the injury and even death of the worthy fighting men of the realm. Not only do they seek to police the crafting and refurbishing of mail but its import and sale as well. Such concerns were warranted, as one merchant is slapped with a hefty fine for selling knockoff mail shirts (31).
A legal set-to between Paris craftsmen and merchants (51) belies the shortage of local artisans and their inability to meet the demand for their products. The importance of proof marks, which are also referred to in this document, is discussed in the ‘Using the Sourcebook’ section.
The ‘society’ formed by the Milanese Cristoforo Corio and Maffino da Fagano (70) is a direct result of — or indeed probably the cause of — the situation in Paris. Such documents produced by the men of the city of Milan, and surrounding duchy, let us know how they were able to meet orders for their products from across Christendom. The Corio firm’s contract with Giovanni Garavaglia (70) is a key piece of evidence for the construction of the ‘Avant’ harness in Glasgow Museums’ collection (see Figure 5). It would be very interesting to know exactly how many pairs of legharness Giovanni was able to craft during his two years of employment.
Royal and Noble Decrees, Acts of Parliament, Indentures for Military Service, and Muster Rolls
The regulations for arming for the tourney (39) are extracted from a decree issued in the name of Henry, “Roy s[ouue]rain des francoys et des anglois s[eigneu]r dirlande’ — most likely identified as Henry IV or his heir.* The forfeited harness of Thomas, the Earl Marshal, is for jousts of peace and of war (17). In the safe conducts issued by Francesco Sforza (108) we can imagine the carters’ arduous journey over the Alps carrying the carefully-packed armours — complete with stands — for the King of France and his courtiers. The roll of arms of the townsmen of Lyon (33) reveals them to be well equipped with axes. In the ordonnance of Jean, Duke of Brittany (67), a Scottish act of parliament (79), the muster of the garrison of English-occupied Bayeux (90), and an English indenture (84) we get a fuller understanding of the fighting equipment required of men of various social standing. The provision for archers emphasizes their significant role at this time.
Legal Complaints and Inquisitions
The manner in which a ship’s contents are recorded is illuminating. The cargo of one captured by the men of Kingston-upon-Hull (10) included hardware destined to arm the bellicose Scots. At Plymouth the recorder felt it necessary to explain that certain torso defences were ‘called “brigandines” (54).
The work of the notaires of the County of Dunois (28) ensures there are preserved for us an early example of the names armet and cuirass in the French language. An eyewitness paints a picture of a naive teenaged rustic with no experience whatsoever of battling in harness (77). Because of this, Joan of Arc is so seriously injured that she can only be armed in a soft, silk-lined and stuffed body defence on rising from
her sickbed. Official Correspondence and Royal Petitions
The missives to the ruler of Mantua (9, 20) are a crucial source for the use of the crossbow for proofing plate armour — as discussed in the “Using the Sourcebook’ section above. In his correspondence, Charles VII can barely contain his excitement at the prospect of a large force of hard-fighting Scots soon to arrive to bolster his flagging cause (66). There is palpable frustration in the letter from Henry V to the Lieutenant and Treasurer of Calais at the mysterious disappearance of a fine horse and armour from Lombardy (60). A keen sense of his status consciousness is expressed by Sir Hugh Standish in his petition to the King for a suitable harness (47). Another petition, that of Thomas Hostell (62), describes his hideous wounds sustained during two successive sovereigns’ pursuit of their claim to the French throne. The wealthy English merchant Sir John Paston (106) is incensed at the brutal treatment meted out to his folk by an enemy’s ‘riotous peple [sic]’ identified by their livery-sashes.
Mercantile Sources
Key to the expansion of Francesco di Marco Datini’s arms-dealing empire (4) is the ability of his craftsmen to refurbish old pieces. Here I must cry mea culpa for my incorrect translation of traversata and retraversata in volume I (see the footnote in the document itself for a full explanation). There are listed, for example, numerous Paris-made pieces fixed up for resale. If a group of merchants in the French capital are to be believed, it had passed its heyday as a centre of manufacture (51). Datini’s accounts are not only invaluable for information about cost and distribution but also for the evolution of vocabulary — armet and sallet especially.
There are customs levied upon alien (i.e. foreign) merchants for their goods imported to London (59, 85, 103), Kingston-upon-Hull (98), and Southampton (95). These include supplies of such vital matériel as the bow-staves, swords, and sallets needed to arm the fighters of a realm soon to be ripped apart by dynastic strife. The nature of the contents of the two chests of armour for the teenaged Henry VI (95) entrusted to a Florentine merchant must be left to our imagination. An inspection of the goods sold in London by Italian merchants (97) is evidence for the cost of Milanese harness available to knights and squires.
Prose Sources
Chroniclers Accounts, Biographies, and Anonymous Writings
Safely ensconced in Saint Albans Abbey’s scriptorium, a Benedictine brother revels in the sensation of schadenfreude at the serious injury and capture of a dreaded Scottish warlord and the humiliating defeat of his forces (13). A French cleric captures the febrile atmosphere in Paris during the conflict between the Armagnac and Burgundian factions with rumours of ‘black ops’ in the planning of a brutal massacre (50). A soldier and chronicler is less than impressed by the gear of Irish troops at the Siege of Rouen (55). An anonymous account of the Battle of Brouwershaven (69) can only have been based on that of an eyewitness who understood well the danger presented by the English equipped with their longbows. He gives us a most amusing description of the failure of crossbow-shot.
The oft-quoted passage about the rearming of the ducal forces in Milan following the Battle of Maclodio (73) will be quite familiar to many readers. Despite the fact that I have only been able to trace this to the early-eighteenth century, it is worth including as it speaks to the perceptions already held by commentators at this time. Many of the other documents provided in this sourcebook are testament to the fact that such a claim is not purely hyperbole inspired by an Enlightenment historian’s civic pride.
For a Burgundian herald the sight of Portuguese knights jousting at a nuptial celebration (78) is less than inspiring — surely this newfangled style with its unnecessary safety features such as the tilt barrier will never catch on?! The mounted combat at Arras (81), on the other hand, was a much more satisfying spectacle with men and horses struck to the ground and the mighty blows necessitating the provision of the best medical treatment to the injured, this paid for by the Duke of Burgundy himself.
The pas darmes (104) was a lavish event, being a sort of dramatized version of a chivalric romance. In this extract we are treated to a compelling narrative: two bastard sons of great nobles fight on horseback and on foot with an array of weapons. A bit of friendly banter over a basinet-visor also enlivens the action.
Don Pero Nifio’s standard bearer, Gutierre Diaz de Games, records his master’s death-defying feats of derring-do (80). These are but a few short extracts from an absolutely fantastic source. He himself is thrust into the thick of the action. We find in his writing that enduring Iberian passion for bullfighting, what it felt like to be a target for fearsome English archers, and an insight into the French manner of jousting — it is certainly not for the novice or the faint-hearted.
The lodgings of a wealthy Paris bourgeois (88), we are informed by a Flemish man of letters, are replete with fine weapons and armour and a well-reinforced door with a secure peephole is a must-have in a dangerous city.
Also featured in this sourcebook are the writings of those whose names are not recorded. The Seneschal of Hainaut undertakes a kind of single combat tour (16). He first takes on an Englishman, then the ‘most dreaded man in Spain’ whom he deals a near-fatal lance-thrust. The writer also alludes to the armet, yet another early use in French.
The account of the feats of arms undertaken by Richard, Earl of Warwick, is most dramatic (44). It is notable for its insight into the thickness of shields as well as the employment of the term ‘hosting harness’ for war armour, that being a complete plate harness of the sort borne in the Royal Host — not a mounting aid that employs some kind of hoist.3 Unsurprisingly, the valourous earl bests ‘oon of the best Justers of Fraunce’.
A poet (91) strings his jocular rhymes on the ovine cowardice of the Flemings, yet he also produces an insightful pen-portrait of their battlegear. This source has been included under the ‘Prose’ categorization solely for the purposes of this introduction.
Instructional Texts: Treatises, Descriptive Prose, and a Recipe
John Bradmore’s account of his treatment of Prince Hal’s horrific arrow-shot wound (14) is essentially a work of shameless self-promotion. Indeed, he generously takes the trouble to draw our attention to the failure of the efforts of divers ‘wise lechys’. Nevertheless, illustrated with his ingenious extracting ‘instrumentum’ (Figure 1), it is remarkable in its level of detail as to the treatment and aftercare provided to one as wealthy as an English prince.4
In the testimony of a witness in a case held at the English Court of Chivalry we have a man at the outset of the fifteenth century employing his own words to describe a tomb brass produced in the first half of the fourteenth (25). It is for this reason that an illustration of this brass appears in this volume (Figure 2 and Figure 34 — a significant detail). This source is thus invaluable for our understanding of the use of the nomenclature used at the time.
‘The treatise on arming for the judicial duel by John Hill (87) is one of the single most important texts of the century. Here, for the first time, it is transcribed from a fifteenth-century manuscript.’
The long and detailed passage penned by an anonymous Frenchman (100) must be hailed as one of the most descriptive of the Middle Ages. His knowledge and insight is astounding. Just one gem of his wisdom is to ensure one has flush rivet-heads on one’s jousting helm in order to prevent an opponent’s lancehead from catching.
Lastly, the ingredients for a recipe for varnish for crossbows (65) would be recognized by a skilled artisan even today.
Written Challenges to Combat
A series of challenges (6) composed by pseudo-historical and mythical figures such as Cleopatra and Venus allow us to peep into the grounds of Eltham Palace and wonder at a joyous féte of Christmastide jousting in honour of a princess. The strict regulation of equipment, as well as the proper matching of the participants’ age and experience, confirms the practical considerations at the heart of these courtly epistles.
Back in the real world, a team of English knights and squires reply to a challenge issued by a team of Frenchmen to fight it out on the border of English-held Gascony. This would become known as the ‘Combat of the Sever’ (12). We hear the smug tone of the copyist who notes the defeat of the Englishmen. Such a taste of jubilation would subsequently turn to ashes in his mouth, however, for according to a challenge sent a few years later to a Castilian knight, the French side needed a substitute for the noble knight Sir Guillaume du Chastel who had died warring in Cornwall like a good knight (‘el noble cavallero mosén Guillén del Chastel [...] que murié en Cornualla, en guerra, como buen cavallero’).° Another of the combat’s victors, Sir Arnault Guilhem de Barbazan, was captured fighting in a sapper-mine and held in a cage for a decade.”
‘The challenge of a member of the French royal household (76) is couched in the language of the enduring cult of courtly love, the victor’s lady is to be presented with the loser’s basinet as the prize. Parity of arms and armour for combat on horse and on foot is the principal concern of the Seigneur de Haubourdin (92). His insistence on the use of saddles of Milan ensures a degree of exclusivity most befitting of those seeking to take on a natural son of a great lord.
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