Archaeological Journal/Volume 8/Original Documents: Armory of Winchester College, Inventory taken about the year 1455

by Albert Way

ARMORY OF WINCHESTER COLLEGE.

Inventory taken about the year 1455.

The following document may not inappropriately be appended to the interesting extracts for which the Society is indebted to Mr. Gunner. It is found in a Register amongst the College Muniments, containing lists of the Wardens, inventories of books, sacred ornaments, furniture, &c. These were taken a few years after the decease of Robert Thurnberne, Warden from 1413 to 1450. The following list occurs after household effects:—

 

ARMARIA.

Item, xlvj. do Basnettes et Palettes cum xxxiij. Ventall'. Item, ij. par' de Plates integ' coopert' cum blod' velvett', quorum j. cum Frenge de serico. Item, vij. Brestplates cum iiij. Pusiones. Item, viij. par' Rerebrases et ij. pro j. arm'. Item, viij. vambrases, cum iiij. par' de leg harneys et j. leg' cum Cusshu. Item, ij. par' de Sabaturez cum vj. par' cirothecarum. Item, xv. lorice, cum xiij. Pollaxes, unde xij. de una et eadem secta. Item, xij. archus (sic) novi. Item, iij. shefes sagittarum. Item, j. Gesarme, et j. Barello pro loricis purgandis.

 

It would be curious to ascertain what had at any period been the number of men for whom equipment was kept in the armory. We find a disproportionate number of head-pieces, not fewer than forty-six, and a slender supply of body-armour, with few weapons; a dozen new bows had been provided, with a modicum of arrows. It is clear that there was slight fear of hostile aggressions at that time.

There occur here some terms of military costume, which will be interesting to some of our readers. We find Palettes, not, as Sir Samuel Meyrick somewhat hastily surmised, round plates for the shoulder-joint, like a painter's palette, but head-pieces; the pelluris, galea ex coreo et pelle, a defence, no doubt, of cuir bonilli. There were pusiones, or Pisans, not made at Pisa, but defences, as Mr. Hudson Turner well observes, for the pis, or breast. For the thighs of the collegiate guard there was small protection, the harness for one leg only having a quisshew, or cuissart. Hauberks there were fifteen, with a barrel in which they were cleansed from rust by rolling, the customary expedient, of which mention is made in other documents. A. W.