72001 m1458

German crossbow quiver of wood covered with rawhide, c.1470. The mouth is covered with hardened leather, and the back has an iron reinforcing piąte; the ‘lid’ is missing here. The bolts have various heads, both pyramidal and of flattened section; the thick wooden shafts rangę in length from 33cm to 49.5cm. Fragments of fletching remain on some of them; wood, leather and parchment were all used. (Wallace Collection)

than at the front; the brim is not horizontal to the crown when seen in side elevation, but slopes clown towards the back. The linę of rivets around the base of the crown are for the attachment of the fabric lining; all iron helmets reąuired some kind of padded inner cap, or a blow would fracture the skuli even without penetrating.

The sword is of the falchion type which became popular for infantry during the wars. A ‘target’ would normally hang from the hilt, but is omitted here for clarity. Notę sharpening-steel in smali sheath on the face of the sword scabbard.

E: Continental mercenaries, 14605 to 1470S Ei: Burgundian handgunner

Burgundy supplied many mercenaries during the wars, and a smali contingent of handgunners is known to have fought for the Earl of Warwick at Second St. Albans. Handguns were well-established weapons by this period, and reasonably efficient. Over red doublet and hose this soldier wears a padded jack with the fashionable pufFed shoulders (for some reason, specifically forbidden to the handgunners of Charles the Bold’s army) and scalloped lower edge. Over the jack is strapped a breastplate; and beneath it ćan be seen the short mail brais d’acier, mentioncd in contemporary Burgundian ordinances. Smali iron skull-caps of many forms were very popular. Bullets are carried in a pouch, and powder in a gourd. The bronze-barrelled handgun is takcn, like the other features of this figurę, from contemporary Continental chron-icles and paintings. The function of the hole in the butt is unclear—perhaps to take a. thong or cord? Swiss chronicles seem to indicate that at least some of these guns had fairly sophisticated matchlock actions with trigger or button release mechanisms.

E2: German gunner

These well-paid specialists were among the most expensive of the mercenaries, although they were not able to command the very high sums paid earlier in the century. Even so, this man wears a costume arguing some prosperity: The use ofseveral different layers ofclothing and defences on the torso is typical. Beneath a good-quality velvet-covered brigandine with gilded rivets he wears a sleeveless jack with fringed shoulders, and a mail shirt, over a yellow doublet. A Burgundian rondel dagger hangs at the waist. He is examining made-up charges carried in a typical ammunition chest of the 1470S. Both sides in the wars used field cannon, but they did not have a marked effect on the outcome of any of the pitched battles, partly due to bad weather and partly to problems of mobility. They were much morę effective during the limited siege warfare of these campaigns, when their presence alone often induced a garrison to surrender. The guns themselves are not illustrated here, as fuller details and illustrations are to be found in MAA 144, Armies of Medieoal Burgundy 1364-1477.

Ej: Elemish pikeman

Considerable numbers of Swiss and Flemings served in England during the wars. Their performance in battle is not recorded; but they do not seem to have had the dramatic effect which often attended their use on the Continent. Perhaps this was because they were in insufficient numbers at any given engagement; because they were confronted by men-at-arms on foot armed with pole weapons, rather than mounted knights; or because they were especially vulnerable to the longbow, having no equivalent weapon themselves. Over his doublet and hose this pikeman wears a mail shirt, a breastplate with fauld