Brigandine in the Musée d'Artillerie, Paris.]
We find many references to these splinted defences in the Inventories of the period, which form a valuable source of information on the subject of details of armour. The Inventory of Humphrey de Bohun,[9] Earl of Hereford, taken in 1322, gives:--'Une peire de plates coverts de vert velvet.' Again, in one of the Inventories of the Exchequer, 1331,[10] is noted:--'Une peire de plates covert de rouge samyt.' The Inventory of Piers Gaveston, dated 1313, a document full of interesting details, has[11]:--'Une peire de plates enclouez et garniz d'argent.' The 'pair of plates' mentioned in these records refers to the front and back defences. In the accounts of payments by Sir John Howard we find in the year 1465, 11_s._ 8_d._ paid for 20,000 'Bregander nayles'.[12] 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 Arteveld 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 regulations of Louis XI of France ordering these coats of defence to be made of from 30 to 36 folds of linen.[13]
Leather, either in its natural state or boiled and beaten till it could be moulded and then allowed to dry hard, was frequently used at this period for all kinds of defensive armour.
In Chaucer's 'Rime of Sir Thopas', from which we have quoted before, occur the words, 'His jambeux were of quirboilly.' The jambeaux were coverings for the legs. This quirboilly, cuirbully, or cuirbouilli, when finished was an exceedingly hard substance, and was, on account of its lightness as compared to metal, much used for tournament armour and for the Barding or defence for the horse. In the Roll of Purchases for the Windsor Park Tournament, held in 1278, mention is made of cuirasses supplied by Milo the Currier, who also furnished helms of the same material.[14] In the Inventory of Sir Simon Burley, beheaded in 1338, we find under 'Armure de guerre':--'Un palet (a headpiece) de quierboylle.' There is a light leather helmet of the 'morion' type, dated sixteenth century, in the Zeughaus at Berlin.