I3i 



The Antiquaiy. No. X. 



[Sept. 1, 



Tor the 'Monthly J^fasozine. 

 THE AMlUUAllY. 



NO. X. 



TT^IIE inclofed letters, from tlie Aiiti- 

 JL quarv's ( 'om lJK)iKlcnls arc uiven 

 to the reader, and lliey do not require 

 pither pretacc or poltfcript. They are at 

 leall as carious as any witli which the 

 Antiquarj' can himfelf indulge hiai. 



SIR, 



AS an appendix to your paper on the 

 Hillory ot" Am-ieni ('iiiile^, 1 lend jou a 

 tew incmoranda relating to the Mihtary 

 Habits of tlioie who were accuftouied to 

 #icfcnd them. 



Body-annour in this country, I be- 

 lieve, wns ncurlv co-cviii with fucli 

 catties as were intended for ri'fidence as 

 veil iv^ for defence. The early Dritons 

 knew very little of its incumbrance : to- 

 ward the clofe of their hiftory we find 

 feme reafon for believai<; that they had 

 adopted il from the llomans ; but we 

 \',d\c no particidara detailed to us. Ts'or 

 was it known to the Saxons at their lirll 

 arrival : at Icaft we have nothing that 

 Ihould induce us to believe lb. 60 late 

 cvxn as the eiiihth century Mr. Strutt 

 could find but one infiancc where any 

 thinsi; like mail-nnnonr occurred, and th;>t 

 ■was in the reprtlcntation of a royal ha- 

 bit. — (See Strait's DrclVes and Ilabits, 

 ▼ol. 1, p. 3.T.) A leathern hehnct with 

 the fur turned outwards ; an oval lliield, 

 ■which varied in its lizc, but was of tiie 

 feme material ; a larp;c long fword ; and 

 A barbed lance ; — were the <;eneral ar- 

 mour of the Anglo-Saxon, In the ninth 

 and tinth centuries a dilTereiit fort of 

 body-armour was in ufe, which feenis to 

 have confifted of thin plates of metal fatt- 

 ened upon the interior garment or tunic, 

 fo as to move upon each other. Thcfe 

 it is more than probable were accompa- 

 nied by a brealt-platc, as a defence for 

 that part is frequently mentioned by the 

 Saxon writers. Gicavcx, or leg-guards, 

 lire faid to have been added in the tenth 

 century, and their introduction is attri- 

 buted to the Danes. 



j\]ail, or ringed, armour, however, fuch 

 as it ujipeared in the fucceeding centu- 

 ry, was a martial habilamcnt peculiar to 

 tiie Normans. The accoutrements of a 

 ■vi-arrior at that period are exprcfsly enu- 

 merated in tlie Conqueror's laws, (See 

 Lambard. Archaion'>m. Leg. Gul. I., 

 c. 22, 'ZQ,) and conliited of a hawberk, 

 helmet, iliield, fpoar, and iword. The 

 hawberk at tluit time wa.s literally no 

 inqj-c than a liiirt yf mail ; but in the 



twelfth century it formed a complete dp- 

 fenlivc annour, and iuvelied every part 

 of the warrior but his face. It continued 

 in ufe till the beginning of the fifteenth 

 century. Henry IV. is the laft of our 

 kings who appears in it on his great-leal. 

 A lew inliances occur before this time 

 of what antiquaries, I believe, call ar- 

 mour wi-pnilic, part mail, pait plated ; 

 and mail Ikirts we find in ufe fo late <!vei» 

 as the iixleenlh century. Grofe, how- 

 ever, arterls (Treatife on Armour, p. 74,) 

 that plated armour was completely intro- 

 dueefl both lieie and in France about the 

 middle (jf the fourteenth century. 



The dilVerent parts of the plated ar- 

 mour, as they aHe6t the body, had the 

 following names: J «wi;v/ce.< f<ir the de- 

 fence ot the arms, from the Ihoukler t(» 

 tlic wrili ; gauntlets for the hands ; cui- 

 ra/i, for the back and brealt-i)late ; ciiijj'cs 

 fur the thighs ; geiioidllerex, or knee- 

 pieces ; greaves ; and iron Ihoes. 



Of the head-coverings, the round, thfi 

 jminted, an<i the dat helmets, appear to 

 have been all ufed in the early iSonnaii 

 period ; though the round one, till VA- 

 ward lll.'s reign, feenis to have been by 

 far moll common. Sometimes they were 

 guarded in front with frame or lattice- 

 v.ork ; and a liew inftanccs occur where 

 there arc pendants to guard the note. 

 The round helmet, Mr. Cirofe favs, was 

 ciiWcc] rliapelle defer. It is defcribcd by 

 P. Daniel as the lightell of all helmets, 

 ^vithout \i7,fir or gorget. In the four- 

 teenth century the helmets were more 

 Commonly like the armour, hammeri:d 

 and plated. Thomas F.arl of Lancafter, 

 eldell fop of r.dnmnd Crouchback, is the 

 firft whofe helmet is furmountcd by a 

 orefi, — (Sep. Mon., vol. 1, p. cxxxviii.) 

 In this century, as well as in thofe which 

 iiinnediutfcly fucceeded, we find the hel- 

 iTicts were curioully ornamented and 

 enricbed, and even in foine cafes not on- 

 ly infcribed with letters, but Ituddcd 

 with jewels. The hehnct of William de 

 \'alence, at Wclhninfier, who died in 

 120(3, has a flowered filkt, fi added. The 

 Black Prince's, at Canterbury, has a 

 chaplct. JNIr. Grr/c, in his Treatife on 

 ancient Annour, has enupierated, very 

 carefully, the various names by which, in 

 the fiiurteiiuh and filtcejith centuriee, 

 nur helmets were diilinguiflied. 'The 

 greater i^art <jf thefe, however, are only 

 to be Ibught for in illuminated manu- 

 fcripts. Un our tombs we rarely fee any 

 other than the liate-behnet. 



'J'lie gr.idual eban>:es which took place 

 in the f'.'nu and fulhiou of our auL'ient ar- 



tuouj: 



