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Meyrick's Medieval Knights and Armour

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INTRODUCTION.

Armour had its origin in Asia, the warlike tribes of Europe at first contemned all protection but their innate courage, and considered any defence except the shield as a mark of effeminacy. The warm climate of Asia, however, together with its temptations to luxury, had too great a tendency to enervate its inhabitants, so that, to be on an equality with their neighbours, they were obliged to have recourse to artificial protection. As all the European armour, except the plate, which was introduced at the close of the fourteenth century, was borrowed from the Asiatics, it becomes necessary, towards its thorough elucidation, to give some introductory account of their antient armour.

ASIATIC ARMOUR.

In considering the subject, I must be allowed to bring under this head the armour of the Egyptians, for though their country is not precisely in Asia, yet their habits were Asiatic, and different from those of the Africans, and their intercourse with Asia was so frequent and early, that I should think it a useless distinction to separate them.

EGYPTIAN ARMOUR.

Notwithstanding the effeminate character given to the Egyptians by Herodotus, we have reason to conclude, that in the earliest periods of their history, they had obtained some renown for their martial achievements. The battles of Sesostris, Asymanduas, and Xamolxis, though merely mythological, and referring to the propagation of particular religious tenets, would not have been represented under a military character, had it not at the time most suited the genius of the people. Herodotus tells us what were the arms and armour of the Egyptians, the helmet of Psammeticus was of brass, but metal was confined to kings and nobles, for the soldiery wore them of linen, strongly quilted, a fashion continued by the sailors so late as the time of Xerxes, who employed them in his expedition into Greece. The only body armour was the pectoral, which hung over the breast and shoulders like a tippet, this was made of linen several times folded, and quilted in such a manner as to resist the point of a weapon, it was of various colours, and one presented by Amasis, the king of Egypt, to the Lacedemonians, is said to have been adorned with many figures of animals, and enriched with gold. The chain was of admirable structure, fine and slender, although consisting of 363 distinct threads, that being a mystical number, viz., the number of days in the antient year, and, consequently, supposed to contain a charm. Such another, presented by the same king, was to be seen at Lindus, dedicated to Minerva. The warriors had likewise shields, which, in the time of Xerxes, were convex and, as weapons, a short sword and a javelin. The troops who fought in the ships had merely large daggers, while their commanders had javelins and immense double-axes. The ornaments of the warriors were torques and bracelets. From the Old Testament, we further learn, that war-chariots were used in great numbers by the kings of Egypt.

On the walls of the temple of Carnac are several representations of conquests, in which we have the armour, weapons, standards, and chariots of the Egyptians, but these bear so very strong a resemblance to Grecian workmanship, that there is no doubt of their having been painted during the Ptolomean dynasty. They are engraved in Plate LXXIII of Denon's Egypt. There is, too, a military triumph at a temple near Medinet-Abou, represented in Plate LXXIV of Denon, and several paintings of arms and armour, on the walls of a chamber in the tombs of the kings at Thebes. The Greek helmet, the shield, which, from its resemblance to a gate, being oblong and curved at top, they called [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], and the Grecian chariot, strike us at once, but the only body armour is the Egyptian pectoral. The colours of this last we learn from a painting discovered at Herculaneum, and published in the Antichite d'Ercolano, as we do those of the helmet, which appears to have had a kind of tiara or ornamented frontlet. We learn moreover, from Denon's engraving, that this thureos was carried by putting the spear through the aperture made for looking at their enemies; and also, that the quiver for lances, and the quiver for arrows, were put on each side the car, or across each other on one side, the warrior not only using his bow, but driving the horses, the reins being fastened round his waist. But the most curious painting on these walls, if correctly delineated, is a tunic of rings, set edgewise, or single mail, as it was afterwards called in Europe, as this is the earliest specimen of that species of hauberk. Mr. Hope also, from Denon, has given the figure as he supposes of a priest, habited in a cuirass of scales, which comes up to the armpits, and is there held by shoulder-straps.

Plate I. contains specimens of these Græco-Egyptian arms and armour. Fig. 1. A cutting sword, with cord and tassel at the hilt, a practice still in fashion among the Persians. Fig. 2. A scymitar, with double cord to the hilt. Fig. 3. A long dagger in its sheath, with double cord, its general resemblance, particularly in the hilt, to the Moorish and Turkish daggers of the present day is strikingly curious. Fig. 4. A mace, with a guard for the hand. Fig. 5. The shield called Thureos. Fig. 6. A military pectoral. Fig. 7. and 8. Helmets. Fig. 9. The padded linen cap worn by the soldiery. Fig. 10. and 11. Helmets. Fig. 12. Military cap of a charioteer. Fig. 13. A quiver containing javelins, with a throwing stick. Fig. 14. The throwing stick taken out of the quiver. Fig. 15. A quiver for arrows, with its covering. Fig. 16. An arrow. Fig. 17. A spear. Fig. 18. A battle-axe, rendered heavier by a weight on the back of the blade. Fig. 19. Another battle-axe. Fig. 21. and 22. Standards. Fig. 22. Denon's incorrect representation of the body armour.

Since the first edition of this critical enquiry the systematic work of Sir Gardiner Wilkinson has made its appearance, the result of twelve years residence in Egypt, and a thorough investigation of the Egyptian remains brought to this country. At the hazard therefore of tautology, the following condensed remarks are added.

The strength of the army consisted in archers, they fought either on foot or in chariots, and may therefore be classed under the separate heads of a mounted and unmounted corps, and they probably constituted the chief part of both wings. Several bodies of heavy infantry divided into regiments, each distinguished by its peculiar arms, formed the centre; and the cavalry, which according to the Scriptural accounts was numerous, covered, and supported the foot; and they had also mercenary troops, who were enrolled either from the nations in alliance with the Egyptians, or from those who had been conquered by them. Masses of heavy infantry armed with spears and shields, and a falchion or other weapon, moved sometimes in close array in the form of an impregnable phalanx, each company having its particular standard, which represented a holy subject, a king's name, a sacred boat, an animal, or some emblematic device. The troops were summoned by sound of trumpet, and this instrument as well as the long drum was used by the Egyptians at the earliest period into which the sculptures have given us an insight, trumpeters being frequently represented in the battle scenes of Thebes, sometimes standing still and summoning the troops to form, and at others in the act of leading them to a rapid charge.

The offensive weapons were the bow, spear, two species of javelin, a sling, a short and straight sword, dagger, knife, falchion, axe or hatchet, battle-axe, pole-axe, mace or club, and the lissan which is a curved stick similar to that still in use among the Ababdeh and modern Ethiopians. Their defensive arms consisted of a helmet of metal, or quilted headpiece, a cuirass or coat of armour, made of metal plates, or quilted with metal bands, and an ample shield. But they had no greaves, and the only coverings to the arms were a part of the cuirass, forming a short sleeve, and extending about half way to the elbow.

The shield was in length equal to half the height of the soldier, and generally double its own breadth. It was most commonly covered with bull's hide, having the hair outwards like the [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] of the Greeks, sometimes strengthened by one or more rims of metal, and studded with nails or metal pins, the inner part being probably wicker work, or a wooden frame. To the inside was attached a thong, by which it was suspended on a man's shoulder. The handle is placed sometimes perpendicularly, sometimes horizontally, and at others so situated that a man might pass his arm through and grasp a spear. The object of a circular cavity in the upper part of the shield, is by no means clear. There are some few instances of a pavoise, or large shield reaching from the shoulder to the ground, and which instead of being semicircular at top, more nearly resembled a Gothic arch.

The Egyptian bow was from five feet to five and a half in length, and was strung by fixing the lower point in the ground, and standing or seated, the knee pressed against the inner side, while it was bent with one hand inwards, the string being passed by the other into the notch at the upper extremity. The archer wore a brace, which was not only fastened round the wrist, but secured by a thong tied above the elbow. The mode of drawing was either with the forefinger and thumb, or two forefingers, and though in the chase they sometimes brought the arrow merely to the chest, their custom in war was to draw it to the ear. The bow-string, was of hide, catgut, or string, and so great was their confidence in the strength of it, and of the bow, that an archer from his car sometimes used them to entangle his opponent, whilst he smote him with a sword. Their arrows were of wood, or reed, tipped with metal heads, one of which is in the Doucean Museum at Goodrich Court, and they were winged with feathers. They varied in length from 22 to 34 inches. The spear or pike was between five and six feet in length, of wood with a blade of metal into which it was inserted and fixed with nails, as appears in the specimen preserved in the Museum at Berlin.

The javelin was also of wood armed with a two-edged metal head of an elongated diamond shape, either flat, or increasing in thickness at the centre, and sometimes tapering to a very long point. The butt end of the shaft was terminated by a bronze knob, surmounted by a ball, to which were attached two thongs. The sling was a thong of leather or plaited string. The sword was short, straight, and apparently with a double edge, tapering the whole way to a point. The dagger was worn in a leathern sheath, one being preserved in the Museum at Berlin. The axes were often highly ornamented, and some were much in the form of the Indian elephant blades.

LYBIAN ARMOUR.

I should not have noticed these savages of Africa, who merely carried wooden lances, pointed and hardened at the end by fire, and daubed their bodies with vermilion, had not Herodotus told us, that from them the Greeks received the apparel and ægis of Minerva, as represented upon her images: he, however, observes that there was this difference, that instead of a pectoral of scale armour, in Lybia, it was merely a skin, and that the fringe was of leather instead of serpents. In all other respects, he observes, the resemblance is perfect, and that even the name testifies that it came from Lybia, for the women of that country wear a mantle of tanned goat-skin, dyed red, and fringed, over the rest of their garments. On a fictile vase, in Sir Wm. Hamilton's collection, the figure of Minerva has not only this pectoral of scales, but it has flap sleeves of the same; and on another the ægis is similarly formed, but apparently of quilted instead of scaled work.

The Lybians, Numidians, and Getulians, according to Strabo, and the Massylians, according to Lucan rode without saddles.

ETHIOPIAN ARMOUR.

Mr. Hope says, that the antient Egyptians are evidently descended from the Ethiopians, and gives many physiological reasons for this assertion, I ought not, therefore, wholly to pass over this people. Herodotus tells us, that the manners and habits of the Eastern Ethiopians were greatly analogous to those of the Egyptians, but the western parts of Ethiopia were inhabited by a people much less cultivated. Their shields were often made of the raw hides of oxen. Those who inhabited the parts above Egypt were clothed in the skins of lions or leopards, and, previous to their engagement in battle, they daubed one half of their bodies over with a kind of white plaster, [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], and painted the other half with vermilion, [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]. They had bows four cubits long, with arrows proportionate, and pointed with sharp stones instead of iron, and the heads of their javelins were made of goat's horns sharpened : they had also maces armed with iron. The women of this country, moreover, bore arms until they arrived at a certain age.

The dress of the Asiatic Ethiopians had some resemblance to that of the Indians, who used a species of armour made of wood: but instead of a helmet they substituted the skin of a horse's head, stripped from the carcase, together with the ears and mane, and so contrived that the mane served for a crest, while the ears appeared erect upon the head of the wearer. Their shields, unlike those in common use, were composed of the skins of cranes. The people who lived west of the Garamantes wore the skins of ostriches instead of armour. Those who inhabited the isles of the Red Sea were armed like the Medes.

JEWISH ARMOUR.

We have little more than mere names to assist our researches respecting the military habits of the Israelites. Their knowledge of tactics was probably derived from the Egyptians, and, it must be confessed, that they do not appear to have been by any means deficient in military skill at the time they resided in the wilderness. In the latter part of their history they probably adopted many customs of the Syrians. The thorax or pectoral, the plaited girdles for the body, the military sagum or cloak, called an habergeon in our translation of the Pentateuch, together with the helmet, and the shields, which are of two kinds, the one larger than the other, formed the chief part, if not the whole, of their defensive armour. Their offensive arms consisted of swords, some of which had two edges; daggers, spears, javelins, bows, arrows, and slings. Axes or maces, as [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] should perhaps be translated, were also used as weapons of war. The Jewish slingers, indeed, are said to have been so expert, that seven hundred of them in one army could sling stones at a hair's breadth, and not miss. Their weapons appear to have been made of brass, and of iron or steel, for the original word admits of both interpretations, [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], a weapon of iron or steel, [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], a bow of brass. We also read of shields of gold, that is, probably, plated with gold, for we may easily conceive they would have been much too rich for common use if they had been made entirely of that metal. Although the shields and targets which Solomon caused to be made and hung up in his palace, were of massy gold, yet they appear to have been merely ornamental. The Hebrew word for the thorax, or pectoral, is [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], from [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], to be strong; and, probably, the same kind of armour is meant by Jeremiah, who uses the word [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], or in the plural, [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], from the verb [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], to turn aside, as the armour does the point of the weapon. The pectoral is a part of body armour, exceedingly antient, and which probably originated in Egypt, it is not unlikely, therefore, that the Israelites derived its usage from that country. It is usually called, in the English translation of the Old Testament, a coat of mail, and probably, in remote times, it was attached to a short tunic, in the same manner that the sacred breast-plate was fastened upon the ephod, resembling, in Strutt's idea, the [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], or brazen vest, mentioned by Homer. Beneath the pectorals were belts plated with brass or other metal, and the uppermost of them was bound upon the bottom of the tunic, which connected the pectoral with the belts, and all of them together formed a tolerably perfect armour for the front of the whole body. These belts, in the Hebrew, are called , and were generally two, one above the other, and appear similar to what are represented in antient Greek sculpture, though in some degree higher upon the breast. This mode of arming perfectly explains the passage in Scripture, where Ahab is said to have been smitten with an arrow [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] between the openings, or joints, that is, of the belts, [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] and between the thorax or pectoral. The pectorals of the Egyptians were made of linen, and perhaps, antiently, those of the Jews were the same. In after times they seem to have been covered with plates of metal; and, in the New Testament, we meet with the words [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], or pectorals of iron.

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Excerpted from Meyrick's Medieval Knights and Armour by Samuel Rush Meyrick. Copyright © 2007 Dover Publications, Inc.. Excerpted by permission of Dover Publications, Inc..
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