Armour in England, from the Earliest Times to the Reign of James the First

This text contains two books which were bound in a single volume: "Armour in England" and "Foreign Armour in England", both by J. Starkie Gardner.

Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible, including inconsistent hyphenation. The tables of contents were created by the transcriber.

In the first book, Sir Noël Paton's Christian name was spelled "Noel"; this has been retained.

On page 47, in the sentence starting "A little later, as at the battle of Montlhéry," "Montlhéry" is a correction of "Montlhery".

Italic text has been marked with underscores. Letters preceded by carets appeared as superscipts. OE ligatures have been expanded.

[Illustration: PLATE I.--Full suit of armour of Henry, Prince of Wales, in the guard-chamber at Windsor Castle. Attributed to William Pickering, master armourer.]

ARMOUR IN ENGLAND

FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE REIGN OF JAMES THE FIRST

By J. STARKIE GARDNER

[Illustration]

LONDON SEELEY AND CO. LIMITED, GREAT RUSSELL STREET NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1897

CONTENTS

PAGE

I. The Britons--An Early Age of Plate-Armour 5

II. The Mailed Warrior 9

III. The Transition Period--From about the Reign of Edward I. to that of Richard II., 1272-1399 27

IV. The Age of Plate-Armour 45

V. The Age of Enriched Armour 78

INDEX 99

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

COLOURED PLATES PAGE

I. Full suit of armour of Henry, Prince of Wales, in the Guard-chamber at Windsor Castle. Attributed to William Pickering, master-armourer Frontispiece

II. Second suit of Sir Henry Lee, Master of the Armoury, reduced facsimile of No. 19 in the Armourers' Album in the South Kensington Museum 28

III. First suit of Sir Christopher Hatton, Captain of the Guard, and subsequently Lord Chancellor. Reduced facsimile of No. 15 in the Armourers' Album in the South Kensington Museum 40

IV. Grand-guard of the suit of George, Earl of Cumberland, in the possession of Lord Hothfield. This is a part of the 20th suit in the Armourers' Album in the South Kensington Museum 46

V. Grand-guard, used for tilting, belonging to the suit of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, with the gilding restored. In the Tower of London 58

VI. Profile of the helmet belonging to the French suit (Fig. 32). In the Guard-chamber of Windsor Castle 76

VII. Ornament on the tapul of the breastplate belonging to the half-suit of the Earl of Essex (Fig. 35), with the original gilding slightly restored. In the Guard-chamber of Windsor Castle 90

VIII. The sword of Charles I. when Prince of Wales, 1616. The hilt entirely covered with raised gold damascened work on blue steel matrix, except the grip of silver wire work. Preserved in Windsor Castle 96

ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT

1. Hauberk, or byrnie, of chain-mail, of the fourth or fifth century, found at Vimose 11

2. Norman knights in mail hauberks and conical helmets 13

3. A complete suit of mail, with coif and mufflers; A thirteenth-century suit, with reinforcing plates 17

4. Mail coif, flat-topped, with leather thong 19

5. Mail coif, round-topped, with jewelled fillet 19

6. Mail coif, conical top, with coronet and mantelet 19

7. Helmet of bronze and iron, from County Down 21

8. Illustration of the development of plate-armour 23

9. The sleeping guards, from the Easter Sepulchre in Lincoln Cathedral 25

10. Melée. From MS. of the fourteenth century 29

11. The helm and crest of the Black Prince, with his shield, from his monument in Canterbury Cathedral 31