following entry: ‘To furnish for one month 30. armed men and 15 crossbowmcn, dressed and ready to go ... to thc siege ... ofVellexon ... for one aune and a half of vermilion cloth from which were cut the letters dijon put on the sleeve ofeach jack and two aunes of whitc cloth on which were put the said letters in the form of a scroll.’ (Communal archives of Dijon)
In the background gunners serve a bombard, whose mantle would have been lowered in order to protect them while loading. One gunner wears thc white cross of France: this would be an old jacket, as Franco-Burgundian relations were at a Iow ebb, and thc St. Andrew’s cross of Burgundy was starting to be adopted as the duchy’s emblem.
This figurę of Duke Philip, in an emblazoned surcoat on a trappered horse, is based on a contcmporary armorial reference book by an ojficier d’armes of the court: the Armorial Eąuestre de V Europę et
Details from the Reliquary of St. Ursula by Hans Memling (1430/5 94). (Left) A Flemish soldicr, probably typical of the infantry of the Burgundian army. He wears a quilted jacket over a mail shirt; the chain protecting his left arm is a form of protection very rarely illustrated, but must have been most ecónomical, and so possibly quite common. His hose is obviously of the footless variety, with a strap under the foot, as he has rolled one leg up over his ankle. (Centre) Crossbowman shooting with a composite bow of wood and sinew; Steel bows started to be introduccd during the I5th century, but had a reputation for breaking in cold weather. His quiver is of a type used throughout Europę in the t5th century. The archer, whose bow is shorter than the usual English type, wears a breastplate with fauld, and a typical Germanie kettle hat. (Right) This soldier wears a brigandine over a mail shirt, together with piąte arm and leg defences; his comrade above wields a war , axe. (Hansmcmlingmuseum, Bruges)
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