Armour & Weapons

CHAP. II THE TRANSITION PERIOD 33 illustration, the brigandine was made of small plates of iron or steel overlapping upwards and riveted on to a canvas-lined garment of silk or velvet. The plates were worn on the inside in most cases, and the rivet heads which showed on the silk or velvet face were often gilded, thus producing a very brilliant effect. We find many references to these splinted defences in the In- ventories of the period, which form a valuable source of information on the subject of details of armour. The Inventory of Humphrey de Bohun,1 Earl of Hereford, taken in 1322, gives :—‘ Une peire de plates coverts de vert velvet.’ Again, in one of the Inven- tories of the Exchequer, 1331,2 is noted:—‘Une peire de plates covert de rouge samyt.’ The Inventory of Piers Gaveston, dated 1313, a document full of interesting details, has3 :—‘ Une peire de plates enclouez et garniz d’argent.’ The ‘ pair of plates ’ men- tioned in these records refers to the front and back defences. In the accounts of payments by Sir J ohn Howard we find in the year 1465, ns. 8d. paid for 20,000 ‘ Bregander nayles’.4 Brass was employed for decorative purposes on the edges of the hauberk, or was fashioned into gauntlets, as may be seen in the gauntlets of the Black Prince, preserved at Canterbury. Chaucer writes in the ‘ Rime of Sir Thopas ’ :— His swerdes shethe of yvory, His helm of laton bright. Laton, or latten, was a mixed metal, much resembling brass, used at this period for decorative purposes. Whalebone was employed for gauntlets and also for swords used in the tournament. Froissart uses the words ‘ gands de baleine ’ in describing the equipment of the troops of Philip von Arte veld at the Battle of Rosbecque. Quilted garments were still worn, either as the sole defence or as a gambeson under the mail. As late as the year 1460 we find 1 Arch. Journ., ii. 349. 2 Vol. iii. p. 165. 3 New Foedera, ii. 203. 4 Arch. Journ., lx. 95-136. FFOULKES C