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Armour

"I rode myself and a fellow with me; and he rode with an hundred horse with jackets and sallets..."1

The above illustrates the armour of the common English soldier when raised by their masters. The sallet and jack. Richer men would have wore gestrons or brigandines, with the brigandines perhaps worn over an arming doublet with plate arms. The gentry and the nobility would have been the only people to wear a complete harness. The purchasing of a full harness was an expensive undertaking then, as now.

There are two main types of sallet. The open faced and the visored. They are mentioned in inventories and even in wills. Besides the two types there were also two very different styles these were related to the area of manufacture, northern Italy and central Germany.

A 'black' sallet. This is a copy of the Italian style Sallet from Witton-Le-Wear Church, Durham, on display in the Royal Armouries, Leeds

This open faced sallet is based
on a Northern Italian sallet
in the Royal Armouries.

This 'white' visored sallet is
of German style, based on a
sallet in the Wallace Coillection

All of these styles would have been seen in England during the late Fifteenth century.
(click the above photos to see larger images)

Jacks are the body armour of the common soldier. It is a jacket-type garment made from many layers of linen or fustian cloth, providing good all-round protection by absorbing the power from a blow much in the same way as fragmentation vests worn by modern soldiers do. In the Howard Household Accounts there are mentioned Welsh Jacks, Scottish Jacks and Doublets of (De)Fence.

There is another similar garment called an arming doublet. This would be worn under other armour such as a brigandine or complete harness. Its construction would be very similar to a doublet of defence but with eyelets sown in to allow pieces of armour to be pointed on. It may also have pieces of mail sown to it. For example, "Item 3 pair of gousettes of mayll, 5s. Item 2 fandarttes of mayll"2 These would fill in the gaps that the outer armour would not cover for example the armpits or groin.

1. Letter LXVI, page 71, The Paston Letters, Vol. 1, Edited by John Fenn, Everyman's Library, 1924.
2. Public Records Office, Probate Inventories, PROB 2/15 John Skyrwyth Inventory. Membrane 10.

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