Armour & Weapons
Forfatter: Charles Ffoulkes
År: 1909
Forlag: At The Clarendon Press
Sted: Oxford
Sider: 112
UDK: 623 Ffou
With A Preface By Viscount Dillon, V.P.S.A. Curator Of The Tower Armouries
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CHAP. I
THE AGE OF MAIL
25
As the manufacture of mail progressed the whole of the wearer’s
person came to be protected by it. In addition to the coverings of
the body we find continuations that protected arms and legs, and
in course of time the neck and head were protected with a Coif or
hood of mail, which is shown in use in Plate I, No. 12, and thrown
back on the shoulders on No. 8. Although of no protective use,
the Surcoat is so essentially part of the war equipment of the
knight that it needs more than a passing notice. It first appears
on Royal seals at the beginning of the thirteenth century, in the
reign of King John. Some modern writers have suggested that it
was first used in the Crusades to keep the sun off the mail ; however
this may be, we have written proof that it was of use in protecting
the intricate fabric of chain armour from the wet, which by-
rusting the metal played havoc with its serviceability. It will be
seen in different lengths in the figures on Plate I. In The Avow-
ynge of King Arthur, stanza 39, we find—
With scharpe weppun and schene
Gay gowns of grene,
To hold thayre armur clene
And were1 hitte fro the wete.
Like the hauberk, the surcoat was slit to the waist in front and
behind for convenience on horseback, and was usually girt at the
waist with a cord or belt. It was frequently decorated with the
armorial bearings of the wearer. When the barrel helm was worn,
concealing the whole face, some such cognizance was necessary
that the knight might be recognized. The Setvans brass (Plate III)
shows the armorial device powdered over the surcoat.
The headpiece characteristic of the Norman Conquest is the
conical nasal Helm. We should draw a distinction between the
Helmet and the Helm. The former is, of course, a diminutive
of the latter. At the time of the Norman Conquest the head
covering would rank rather as a helmet, as it did not entirely
cover the face. The Norman helmet was conical, usually formed
of four triangular pieces of metal plate riveted in a ring and
1 Protect.