Musekins

[Ernst]

Dan,
Could be. A volumetric doesn't make much sense, though it could be a quart of nails for the plate and less solid. Randall Storey's thesis gives us this regarding Edward III:

Edward's blue-taffeta and white- silk jupon adorned with a pound of gold plate and dozens of silver buckles was typical for him. For the Dunstable tournament in 1342, he spent over £7 on a surcoat (tunica ad arma) embroidered with silver and gold figures. In an account from 1350-1352, we learn that a crest for Edward III's helm was made from red velvet and silk with a design of branches and wild men outlined in pearls; this crest sat upon a golden leopard itself wearing a crown of silver set with sapphires.

Konsatntin,
"Delicate iron" is my suspicion as well. Thin wire and small rings: almost certainly an indicator of mail.

[Ernst]

The question of in dem Gewerbe, that is, "in the trade" vs. in dem Gelenk, that is, "in the joint" seems significant. Is there a digital scan of the manuscript, or are there multiple sources with alternate wording?

EDIT: Closest I've gotten to original source.
http://www.hs-rm.de/de/landesbibliothek ... tml?type=0

Closing in:
http://fontiereperti.wordpress.com/author/rammit/
The 1828 publication shows Gewerb.

Time to check out the surrounding lines for context.
http://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/dms/lo ... =PHYS_0047
http://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/dms/lo ... =PHYS_0046

EDITED AFTER GETTING SOME SLEEP
Might we be dealing with gewerte "assessed as", where the mail musekins are counted as other armor to meet the requirements for muster? (Or am I grasping at straws to avoid the musekins being voiders?) The fellow wearing the musekins has a fashionable garment with silk ribbons hanging off the back of the sleeves, tippets, rather than the Schupen, Panzer, und Hauben.

[Theo]

The Armoury of the Castle of Churburg lists musacchini as mail spaulders, which are under the category of voiders that would be cut out of damaged or unwanted mail shirts. There's no illustration of these but I'm guessing that the "mail sleeve with armpit attached" coming out of India is a reasonable approximation, but I'll bet the tailoring is nicer on the originals. There's a lengthy discussion on mail including extremely specific types of mail differentiated by style of rivet closure, wire profile, etc. There are also black and white photos of partial mail garments with large chunks cut out. Unfortunately I only have a .pdf copy.

Pieces of iron mail were very frequently re-used for repairs or to compose falde (skirts), cosciotti, (cuisses) and mussachini (spaulders) intended to defend the abdomen, thighs and shoulders.

(page 191)

[Ernst]

Bertus has given us a fuller translation on another thread, so I've taken the liberty of adding it here as well.
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=168341&p=2571876#p2571876

Btw, I used this edition:

Wyss, Arthur (1883), Die Limburger Chronik des Tilemann Elhen von Wolfhagen. Monumenta Germaniae Historica Tomi IV, Pars I; Deutsche Chroniken und andere Geschichtsbücher des Mittelalters, 4. Band, 1. Abtheilung. Hannover: Hanse Buchhandlung.

The edition you linked to, Signo, uses modern German spelling (modern for 1828 anyway).

He is just describing the manner of armour that was worn in general in his area. This is the whole paragraph.

Item in der selben zit da vurgingen di platen in disen landen, unde di reisige lude, herren, ritter unde knechte furten alle schopen, panze unde huben. Da achte man reisige lude an honder oder zweihondert man mit huben. Item di manirunge unde gestalt von den schupen hatten bescheiden lengde, unde di arme wanten endeiles ein spanne von der asselen oder zwo spanne, unde endeiles hatten nit me dan da man di armen ussstiss. Unde hatten siden qwesten hinden nider hangen, daz was freidicheit. Item die underwamse hatten enge armen unde in dem gewerbe waren si benehet unde behaft mit stucken von panzern, daz nante man musisen.

Quick translation by me:
"Item in these same times (1351), came about the (coat of) plates in these lands, and the mounted people, lords, knights and squires all wore jupons, haubergeons and bascinets. It is estimated there were some hundred or two hundred mounted people with bascinets. (I presume he is still talking about his home region) Item the manner and form of the jupons (was that they) were modest in length, and the sleeves, some (half?) of them measured a span or two spans from the armpits, and some (half?) had no more sleeve than (the hole) which the arms stick out of. And they had silk tassels hanging down on the back, this was jolly/stylish. And the underdoublets had narrow sleeves, and in the joints they were sewn and fitted with pieces of haubergeons, these were called musisen."

--> some / half, the word endeile means 'a part', so I'm not sure if he means the two parts (half sleeves versus no sleeves) make up the whole group of jupon sleeve types, or if he is omitting the full sleeve version.

I think the "muscle irons" sewn in the joints could still refer to mail vambraces rather than voiders, as the mail sleeves would likely be sewn to the doublet at least at the elbow if not the wrist. It would make sense if the jupon padded armor covered the upper arm but left the forearm exposed. The silk tassels are probably what modern readers (perhaps incorrectly) call tippets.
http://www.larsdatter.com/sleeve-tippets.htm

[Ernst]

I'm trying to correlate images within the chronology we have. So far, our documents come from Galleron's Modus armandi"musclers" for the shin<1333, 1333, 1336, 1337, 1338, 1345, 1350, 1351, 1353, 1355-1359?(Norwich Roll K), 1357, 1360, and the 1384 reference from Florence. Richardson notes the disappearance of musekins in the Tower records after 1360, so I think we see a definite period of popularity from c.1330-1360, with some potential use later.

James B. rightly discredited my earlier effigy sample as showing quilted sleeves over the forearm, but there is a lot of variation going on under open mail sleeves, hence the description of the 14th century armor as "transitional". We've got plate and leather vambraces in the record, quilted aketon sleeves, splint armor, and scale on the Northwood effigy.
http://effigiesandbrasses.com/660/891/
http://effigiesandbrasses.com/1425/1435/
http://effigiesandbrasses.com/745/3002/
http://www.bildindex.de/bilder/mi02451f05a.jpg
http://effigiesandbrasses.com/651/867/

There are also a number of possible "mail vambraces" or "under-sleeves", which I have come to believe are the musekins. Unfortunately a number of these effigies only seem to survive in drawings, which may have introduced inaccuracies.
http://effigiesandbrasses.com/1424/1434/ (perhaps my mail vambrace)
http://effigiesandbrasses.com/1429/1439/ (perhaps close to Bertus' mail gusset over the elbow)
http://effigiesandbrasses.com/1431/1441/
http://effigiesandbrasses.com/1386/1396/
http://effigiesandbrasses.com/3370/2806/ (mail sleeve over mail musekins over scale vambrace !?)
http://effigiesandbrasses.com/3787/3343/

[Ernst]

https://books.google.com/books?id=cksGA ... ns&f=false

Inventory of Arms of Joust, of War, and of Tournament of the Count of Auxerre, Jean de Chalon, Seigneur d'Orgelet (Jura), 20 November 1333

Item, Harness for War

24. Item iii paires de panz et de manches et un paires de musequins
25. Item ii paires de chauçons et i hauberjon

(24. Item, 3 pairs of paunces and sleeves and a pair of musekins
25. Item, 2 pair of chaussons and 1 haubergeon)

[Sean M]

Ernst, I unfortunately mis-remembered the date (I must have had Jacopo Cavalli on the brain). The editor of the rule seems to think 1368 or 1369. I think that you are right that so far, the citations are clustered 1330-1370.

The article by Ganshof which you found has been digitialized. Pages 189 and 190 seem to give the same text from 1336 which Richardson summarizes. It has musekins, cauches (chausses?), and cauchons (chaussons?)!

The French philologists derive musequin as the diminutive of museau “snout.” A tapered sleeve for the forearm could be a “little snout” but so could other armour parts. The print dictionary which I have in front of me suggests “Partie postérieure d'une cuirasse” (the rear part of a cuirass, probably cribbing from the Italian dictionary from 1612) or “Τête de lion décorant les genouillères de certaines armures” (head of a lion decorating the knee-pieces of certain armours, perhaps also a guess).

We all know more than when you started this thread, and I think we will sort this term out in the end. Bringing texts, pictures, and surviving pieces in museums together is the right approach.