80857 m1456

Two types of typical i5th century pole axe, as widely used by men-at-arms fighting on foot. The left hand wcapon is French, of c.1470; the right, possibly French of c.1400 50. Shafts were between four and six feet long. (Wallace Collection)

mittens, with separate thumbs and forcfingers, arc of contemporary design, but speculative hcre: there must have been some protection from the flaming pot.

C4: Archer

Taken from a mid-i5th century manuscript illustration, this soldier wears a long mail shirt or hauberk, with a ąuilted and studded fabric armour, the studs almost certainly securing internal plates: the exact construction is not elear. Other archers in the manuscript wear a hauberk beneath a brigandine with a plackart over all, but few wear any piąte defences on legs or arms—mobility was of morę importance to an archer than the ability to trade blows face to face. Archers usually wore close-fitting helmets such as the various types of visored or open-faced sallet, or soft hats: a brimmed kettle hat would have interfered with the bowstring in action. This costume is probably fairly typical of the ‘full-time’ soldiers of the cohtract companies.

With longbowmen on both sides, the supremacy

of the longbow was cancclled out unlcss some special factor intervened, as at Towton. In any case, men-at-arms in piąte armour could endure any amount of archery without coming to much harm, provided it was not at short rangę, and provided they protected the vulnerable face and the mail areas at armpit, elbow and knee.

D: Foolsoldiers of the ifSos and 1470S Di: Billman

This soldier, armed with an English bill, is probably untypically well protected in that he has fuli piąte leg armour and gauntlets in addition to hisjack; but he is otherwise as described by contemporary eyewitnesses of the levy troops raised for ‘part time’ service by towns or estates. He wears a visorless sallet—these were sometimes painted, against rust.

« The jack is madę of several layers of canvas or other fabric stuffed with soft materiał such as tow, secured evenly in place by stitched quilting. These ‘soft armours’, used by many cultures at various periods in history, gave surprisingly good protection against edged and pointed weapons. His side arms are a

Two war hammers, a mace and an axe of the mid- to late-i5th century. (Wallace Collection)