Armour & Weapons

CHAP. V HORSE ARMOUR 89 reign of Edward I. In the Roll of Purchases of Windsor Park Tournament (1278), the horses are provided with parchment crests, and the Clavones or rivets used for fixing these crests are mentioned in the Wardrobe Accounts of Edward I in 1300 : ‘ cum clavis argenti pro eodem capello.’ The earliest note we have of a rigid defence for the horse is in the Windsor Roll, which contains the following item :—‘ D Milon le Cuireur xxxviij Fig. 40. Horse armour, a, Chamfron ; B, Crinet ; c, Peytral ; D, Flanchards ; E, Arçon ; f, Cantel ; G, Crupper ; h, Tail-guard ; j, Metal rein-guard ; K, Glancing-knob. copita cor de similitud’ capit equoz.’ This headpiece was of leather, either used in its natural state or as cuirbouilli, and seems to be the material suggested in the ivory chessman (Fig. 39) illustrated in Hewitt (vol. ii, p. 314). In the Will of the Earl of Surrey (1347) is mentioned a breastpiece of leather for a horse. In the fifteenth century we find the horse protected with plate like his rider, and usually the lines of the Barding or horse armour follow those of the man. Fig. 40 shows the armed horse with the various portions of his defence named. The Chamfron is sometimes provided with hinged cheek-plates