CHAPTER V
CONTINUED GENERAL HISTORY OF ARMOUR AND ARMS A.D. 1300-1400
At the commencement of the XIVth century the fashion of adding
plates to the chain mail for strengthening the defence at vulnerable
spots had reached the stage at which the breastplate made
its appearance. On arriving at this important landmark in the
history of armour we are handicapped at the outset in our
attempt to deal with this particular defence by the entire non-existence—as
we believe—of any actual body armour of this period; so for our illustrations
of such body armaments we have still to rely upon effigies, brasses, and contemporary
illuminations. A detailed description, therefore, of the breastplate
or plastron is impossible. That it was generally of slightly globose form we
can only conjecture from the shape given to the close-fitting outer garment
represented in some brasses and more particularly in effigies. That it was made
of metal and fitted over the hauberk we may take as certain; but whether a
backplate was worn with it to form a complete body defence is uncertain.
If we could picture accurately the fully caparisoned warrior in the early years of the first half of the XIVth century, his appearance would not—we believe—reach that high ideal which he is usually thought to approach. We cannot associate all the numerous thick defensive garments that he is known to have worn with the dignified bearing of a knight; on the contrary, they must have given him the aspect of a very much coddled-up gentleman. He had his counterpart in the Japanese nobleman of the Ashikaga period, who, when completely armoured in his quilted, gamboised and studded garments and interlaced plates of defence, would seem to the present-day critic of the human form a very unprepossessing example of symmetry.
Certainly the knight did not add to the elegance of his appearance by the addition of reinforcing plates to his original chain mail defence. These inserted plates would prevent the hauberk in some degree from clinging to the shape of the figure, and were in themselves at first of a crude make, not conforming to the lines of the limb, nor did they assist the smooth working of the joint which they protected. His dignity was not enhanced by the
