WEAPONS. A Pictorial history

The knights of the early thirteenth century wore the same chain-mail hauberks that their fathers had worn at Hastings, except that the skirts were made longer, following the fashion of civilian clothes, and the sleeves were made full-length to protect the arms better. The sleeves ended in mittens of mail which had slit palms for getting the hand out. All armor now included chain-mail leg and foot coverings.

Each link of this mail was separately forged and welded. It would have been easier to make the links of wire but no one had yet discovered how to draw wire. A number of patterns of mail were in use, all of which are recorded in exact detail on tombstone statues and all of which are various combinations of interlocked rings. None of the actual material of these very early hauberks has survived. It rusted quickly and then, too, it must have been fine stuff for scouring pots. This tendency to rust caused the introduction of the sleeveless chemise or surcoat which was worn over armor to protect it from dampness. When chain mail became rusty, it was put into a barrel with small stones and coarse sand and rolled around the courtyard for an hour or so to clean it up.

Chief among the added protections however was the "heaume," or helm on the head. In its first form this was an iron pot in the shape of a flat-topped cylinder, open at the bottom, pierced or slotted for seeing and breathing, and weighing some thirteen or fourteen pounds. The helm was worn over the mail hood which was part of the hauberk, and often covered an additional iron skullcap called a basinet. The basinet was elaborated over the years into the headpiece we usually think of when we say helmet.

The weight of the first great helms was borne entirely by the head; later in this century, when helms had domed tops and hinged fronts, they were made deep enough to rest on the shoulders. A man fighting needed a lot of air, and since the slots in the helm were made small to keep spear points out, quite a few fighters smothered in their buckets. Smaller iron hats, some with brims, some with nose guards, were used at times in real battles without the helm and were called helmets, which means "little helms."

The knights' hand weapons had changed little since Hastings. The lance was somewhat longer, perhaps a bit heavier, but it was still a simple pole. The sword was the same except that it now had its cross hilt turned down a little, and it was hung on a fancy draped belt which put the hilt right over the knight's breadbasket. The misericord began to be worn on the right side. This was a dagger which has been called the "dagger of mercy' 'with the idea that it was used for the quick dispatch of a suffering loser; actually it was the persuader which, presented point first to a fallen foe, impelled him to plead for mercy and come across with a healthy ransom.

In war, though not in tournaments, the falchion became deservedly popular. It was a real snickersnee – a sword, but built more like a knife or a cleaver, and nearly three feet long, with a single, curved cutting edge supported by a very thick-backed blade, which gave it weight and authority.

A knight's face was hidden under his helm, and this required that some way be found to tell friend from foe in the midst of battle; so men began to paint their shields with striking patterns. Each man chose his own mark and stuck to it; it was associated as closely with him as Elsie the Cow is with canned milk. As the idea spread, it became the business of the heralds who were the announcers at tournaments and the go-betweens in war to record each man's device. Thus the whole system became known as heraldry. Like all the rest of chivalry, it was badly overdone in later days.

A thirteenth-century knight arming for a tournament

In the illustration, the knight is in complete chain mail with a basinet under his hood and added plates at his knees. He wears his sword over his long surcoat. His helm is under his right hand and with his left he is about to place the guige (strap) of his shield over his head. A squire is holding his horse while pages help with his equipment.

This is a wealthy knight of some importance, perhaps a baron. His horse is trapped with expensive chain mail, and the spear his squire is holding bears not a mere pennon, but a banner of the knight's heraldic arms.

Chain mail was heavy and the plate armor of the fourteenth century was much heavier, so the horses ridden by armed knights had to be big and strong. Fairly nimble Spanish horses were favoured in the thirteenth century, but later, in France, Flanders and England, special horses were bred which could carry more weight. Their descendants, the Percherons, Belgians and Clydesdales, are the best draft horses in the world today.

Caltrops

Nearly everybody in the Middle Ages belonged to some trade guild, and the brotherhoods of chivalry have been called "The Guilds of the Horse Butchers." It's true that they went for each other's horses. A knight's horse was his fighting platform, as well as his most vulnerable point. Kill or cripple his horse and you had your knight where you wanted him. One device for accomplishing this was to sow the field where an enemy would charge with little four-pointed metal gadgets called caltrops. The points of a caltrop were so arranged that one of them always stood straight up.

In order to protect their horses from spears and arrows the wealthier knights began to drape them with a "trapper" of chain mail. Hoods with eyeholes covered head and neck and hung nearly to the ground on both sides; a blanket of mail equally long was spread over the horse's rump. Since this rusted, it came to be covered with a drapery on which the knight often painted his heraldic device. Poorer men protected the horse with quilted cloth.

When the Crusaders took their strong horses to Palestine, they suddenly discovered the advantages of military mobility. The light-armed, swift-mounted Saracens rode circles around the plow horses and hit them from all sides. All of the Saracen weapons were planned for these hit-and-run tactics and hence were very different from the European ones. There is a famous (and probably false) story which illustrates one of the differences. At a truce meeting Richard I showed off his bull strength by severing an iron bar with one sword stroke. The Sultan Saladin then set everybody's teeth on edge by slicing a sofa pillow in half with his curved, razor-sharp scimitar. However, a scimitar was not too good for slicing an iron hat, which may be the reason the Crusaders were able to maintain a toehold in the Holy Land.