Osprey - General Military - Knight - The Warrior and ... - Brego-weard

terms (after all the compiler of the document and those using it both knew what he
was talking about) the task of deciphering what is being described becomes very
problematic indeed.
A CHRONOLOGY OF ARMOUR
DEVELOPMENT
Taking these difficulties into account it is still possible, by drawing on the wide variety
of sources, to outline in general terms the developments and changes that took place
in 'knightly' armour. By the mid-11th century the norm for Western European armour
was that it was made of mail, generally consisting of a hauberk — a shirt reaching the
wearer's knees, with elbow-length sleeves and, occasionally, a coif that protected
the wearer's head. Some form of ventail, a flap of mail attached to the coif to protect
the lower half of the face, might also have been used this early on; depictions of them
are rare but it seems the most likely explanation for the peculiar squares that are seen
on the chests of some of the Norman warriors on the Bayeux Tapestry. Over the coif
the 1 lth-century knight invariably wore a conical helmet with a nosepiece, or nasal.
This might be raised as a single piece or made up of two or more panels riveted to an
outer framework — the so-called Spangenhelm mode of construction that had been the
norm from the late Roman and early medieval period.
During the course of the latter half of the 11 th century and into the 12th there was
relatively little change in the protection the knight wore. The amount of mail increased
somewhat: in the Tapestry very few warriors wear long-sleeved hauberks that
completely protect the arm, but by the 1100s almost all knights are depicted so.
Similarly, whilst only three key individuals in the Tapestry appear to be wearing mail
chaiuwj or leggings, by the 1120s this seems to have been the norm. By the mrddle of
the 12th century the hauberk clearly incorporated the coif and ventail as a single piece
and often incorporated protection of the hands in mail mittens. The helmet continued
to be of the nasal type, but for a brief period in the second quarter of the century there
was a widespread fashion for the crown of the helm to slope forwards. Whilst it has
been suggested that this may have been some kind of reinforcement for the brow and
crown of the helm, it is far more likely that it was an early example of armour
mimicking civilian fashions, the shape of the helm reflecting the forward-sloping
'Phrygian' cap popular in ordinary dress in the same period.
The first dramatic change in the appearance of the knight occurred towards the end
of the 12th century, with the return of spectacle-shaped protection for the face -
ARMS AND ARMOUR •*}*•
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