THE CLEANING OF ARMOUR

An important part of the work of the armourer was the cleaning and keeping in repair his master’s effects. This was especially the case with mail, which from its nature is peculiarly susceptible to the action of rust. It is to this cause and to the incessant remaking of armour that we owe the loss of all authentic mail armour of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. A good example of this may be cited in the hoard of plate armour and helmets, of which last nearly a hundred were collected, found in a cistern in the castle of Chalcis, in Eubœa, in the year 1840.[93] They had lain there since the year 1470, when the castle was taken by the Turks, and are in many instances in excellent preservation considering the condition in which they were found. The collection was brought to light and catalogued in a very unscientific manner by the historian Buchon, but there is no trace of mail of any kind except one link attached to a helmet.

In the early part of the fifteenth century mail was used extensively both for complete defence and for protecting vital parts not covered by plate, of which details will be found on page 109; therefore it is most improbable that a large collection such as this should have been left with no vestiges of mail. It is obvious, therefore, that the delicate fabric was attacked and destroyed by rust long before the same agent could make any effect on the solid plate. The following extracts will give in chronological order the various entries which concern the cleaning and repairing of armour:—

Here we find the reason, or at any rate one of the reasons, for wearing the surcoat. Some writers have suggested that it was worn to protect the Crusader from the sun in his Oriental campaigns, but the quotation given definitely asserts that it was to keep off the rain. This is certainly a practical reason, for, as has been stated before in this chapter, the intricate fabric of mail was peculiarly susceptible to damp.

This refers to leather sacks used either for keeping the armour in or for cleaning it by shaking it with sand and vinegar.

The barrel was here used in the same way. The mail was placed inside with sand and vinegar and rolled and shaken. The same method is still practised in some districts for cleaning barrels for cider or ale. Chains are placed in the barrel with sand to obtain the same result. On Plate XV a barrel is shown on the extreme left of the picture with a mail shirt hanging over the edge.

This extract shows clearly the need for the barrel and sand. The mail had evidently rusted with rain and perspiration, and left stains and marks on the quilted undergarment. We find the term “rokked” used in the poem of Syr Gawayn, which means cleaned by rolling.

The pumice was for cleaning off the rust, and the blanket was used for packing the armour when in store or on a journey.

The “bockeling & ledering” of course refers to the fitting of new leather straps and buckles. The Almain rivet was the half-suit of the foot-soldier and has been explained on page 52.

Froissart describes the champion Dimeth, at the coronation of Henry IV, as being “tout couvert de mailles de vermeil, chevalier et cheval.”[96] This painting of armour was frequently indulged in both for the above practical reason and also for personal adornment. Tinning was also used for protecting armour from wet (vide page 33 sub ann. 1622). Armour in the Dresden Armoury and elsewhere is painted black. Hall in his Chronicles in the account of the funeral of Henry V states that men-at-arms in black armour rode in the procession. The armour in the seventeenth century was often blacked or russeted. Suits of this kind are to be seen in the Gun Wharf Museum at Portsmouth and elsewhere. Haselrigg’s “lobsters” were so called, according to Clarendon,[97] because of their “bright shells.” It is quite possible that their armour was blacked. In the Lansdowne MS. 73, William Poore suggested a remedy for “preserving armour from pewtrifying, kankering or rusting,” but there are no details given of the method he employed; it was probably some kind of lacquer or varnish. Among the Archives of the Compte du tresor de Savoie (63 f. 157) is mentioned a payment to Jehan de Saisseau “por vernicier une cotte d’aciel,” and in one of the Tower inventories (Harl. MS. 1419) of the year 1547 “a buckler of steel painted” occurs.[98]

With regard to the keeping of armour in store two instances have been mentioned above under the dates 1296 and 1513. In addition to these we find that in 1470 in the Chronique de Troyes, the French soldiers were forbidden to carry their arms and armour in “paniers,” which, from the statement, was evidently a practice.

In the Wardrobe Account of Edward I, 1281, published by the Society of Antiquaries, we find payments to Robinet, the King’s tailor, for coffers, sacks, boxes, and cases to contain the different parts of the armour.

In the Wardrobe Expenses of Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby (Camden Soc.), 1393, are found the following entries:—

The “buckler of steel painted” mentioned above is scheduled as being in “a case of leather.” In an engraving of Charles I by W. Hole, in the British Museum, a box is shown for holding the breast and back plates.[101]