Written Sources for Gambesons/Aketons/Pourpoints 1100-1350

[Sean M]

Thanks Len and Jonathan. I have decided that the linen armour article will be my 'medieval writing project' for the second half of this year.

[Len Parker]

A correction. The latin Gesta Herewardi was written around 1109-31 according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hereward_the_Wake .
Geoffrey Gaimar's version was in the 1130's.

Down near bottom: https://hug-renning.blogspot.com there's Ledrpanzari, silkipanzar and linpanzar in Karlamagnus saga.

[Jonathan Dean]

I found this reference in the Song of the Albigensian Crusade:

Que cascus d'els aporta complida garnizo o escut o capel, perpunt o gonio, e apcha esmolua, aucilha o pilo, arc manal o balesta o bon bran de planso, o cotel o gorgeira, capmailh o alcoto.

Janet Shirley provides the following translation:

...each with his full equipment, be it shield or iron hat, tunic or leather jacket, with sharpened axe, scythe-blade or javelin, handbow or crossbow, good lance, knife, gorget, mail-hood or padded jacket.

The translation does leave something to be desired, since "perpunt" is the Occitan version of "pourpoint", and as far as I can make out, "gonio" just means "tunic" or perhaps "coat". Shirley may have simply switched "pourpoint" and "tunic" in her translation and went with the older view of the quilted leather arming garment, though.

[Sean M]

Thanks Jonathan, keep them coming! I would be inclined to translate gonio as "gown" since it has the same etymology. I guess that alcoto is "aketon."

[Jonathan Dean]

Issi comme il eissirent fors, Li Mar. s'en issi lors De la vile toz desarmez, Quer il n'esteit de rien armez Fors de son porpoint solement. Eisi s'en issi senglement; E kant cil de l'ost esgardérent Que la gent le rei s'en alérent, E que la cité déguerpirent, Beal lor fu k'aler les en virent Sis sivirent a fine chace : S'est qui fuie asez est qui chace.

E li quens de Peitiers monta Sor son chival ; einz ne s'arma Fors d'un porpoint, sans plus de feste;

L'Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal, lines 8791-8805

Nigel Bryant translates the section as:

As they were leaving the town the Marshal was quite unarmed, his doublet his only protection; and he was on his own.284 When the French saw King Henry’s men abandoning Le Mans they were jubilant and set off in eager pursuit: whenever people flee there are plenty to give chase! The count of Poitiers mounted, too, clad in no more armour than a doublet and an iron cap for his head, and charged swiftly after.

Then there is this table from “Some industrial price movements in medieval genoa (1155–1255)”, by William N Bonds, Explorations in Economic History, Volume 7, Issues 1–2, Autumn–Winter 1969, Pages 123-139, which lists the median prices of mail coifs, hauberks, leather armour and textile armour.

Finally, James F. Powers lists a large number of municipal charters from the various Spanish kingdoms in the 13th century in the footnotes to A Society Organized for War, some of which feature references to "perpunte" and other forms of armour. I've not fully worked out his abbreviations and don't know Spanish anyway, but the second volume of the Siete Partidas has a few examples of the word being used:

Otrosí los acostumbraban que non fuesen dormidores porque nuce mucho á los que los grandes fechos han de facer, et señaladamente á los caballeros quando son en guerra ; et por eso asi como les consentien en tiempo de paz que troxiesen ropas muelles et blandas para su yacer , asi non querien que en la guerra yoguiesen sinon en poca ropa ' et dura, et en sus perpuntes, et facienlo porque dormiesen menos et se acostumbrasen á iofrir laceria , ca tenien que ningunt vicio que haber podiesen non era tan bueno como seer vencedores.

In addition to all this, they derived another great benefit from it, as it lessened their daily expenses, so that they could the better accomplish daring deeds, which is something very becoming to those whose duty it is to make war. Moreover, they trained them not to be heavy sleepers, because this is very injurious to such as have important duties to perform, and especially so to knights who are engaged in hostilities. For this reason, as they permitted them in time of peace to wear soft and smooth linen, when they took their rest, so, in time of war, they were not willing that they should lie down, except in scanty and coarse cloth or in their pourpoints.

(2.21.19)

Et por ende ha meester que hayan para defenderse lorigas, et lorigones, et perpuntes, et corazas, et escudos, et yelmos, et capiellos de íierro, et otros guarnimientos de cuero que son buenos para sofrir golpes de piedra

For this reason, in order to defend themselves, they must have coats-of-mail large and small, pourpoints, cuirasses, shields, and helmets, in order to resist blows with stones, and to strike firmly.

(2.24.9)

Et por ende porque semejase mas fecho de guerra pusieron nombre caballería a la parte que á cada uno copíese de la ganancia que hobiesen fecha, et ordenáronlo de esta guisa, que el que levase caballo, et espada et lanza que hobiese una caballería et por loriga de caballo otra et por loriga complida de almohar una caballeria ; et por brafoneras complidas que se cingan media caballeria, por lorigon, et escudo et capiello de fierro una caballeria; por lorigon que llegase la manga fasta el cobdo con brafoneras una caballeria, por camisote et perpunte una caballeria; et el que levase guardacds con perpunte et capiello de fierro una caballería.

For the reason that it was suggestive of warlike deeds, they gave the name caballeria, to the portion of the booty to which each one was entitled, regulating it in the following manner, namely; he who secures a horse, sword, and a lance, shall be entitled to one share; for a horse’s coat-of-mail, one share; for a complete coat-of-mail with a helmet, shall be given one share; for complete arm plates which buckle on, half a share; for a larger suit of armor, a shield, and a steel cap, one share; for a suit of armor where the sleeves reach to the elbow and has arm plates, one share; for a suit of armor with sleeves to the wrist, and a pourpoint, one share; and he who secures arm plates along with the pourpoint, and a steel cap is entitled to one share.

(2.26.28)

Original text from this edition, translations from Las Siete Partidas, Volume 2: Medieval Government: The World of Kings and Warriors by Robert I. Burns and Samuel Parsons Scott.

If anyone with some understanding of Spanish wanted to look through the rest of Powers' references, the whole book has been placed (legally) online here. Chapter 5 has all the references to armour.

[Sean M]

Wow, some of those translations do strange things! An English doublet is the same as a French pourpoint in the 16th century but not in the 12th century. We are so lucky to have access to scanned books today so that its less time consuming to check the original language.

There seem to be a few stories about someone who was so brave that they fought with just a gambeson and a steel cap: the History of William the Marshall, Villehardoun, maybe Joinville ... Montaigne the French essayist talks about soldiers in the field sleeping in their pourpoints like a bivouac in the 1800s.

It looks like the word cuirie falls out of use in French around 1350. That is good for this thread.

I will have a look at the book with the Spanish documents.

[Jonathan Dean]

There seem to be a few stories about someone who was so brave that they fought with just a gambeson and a steel cap: the History of William the Marshall, Villehardoun, maybe Joinville ... Montaigne the French essayist talks about soldiers in the field sleeping in their pourpoints like a bivouac in the 1800s.

Especially in the History of William the Marshall, it sounds very much like the Marshal and the count were wearing their padding rather than a standalone defence in order to move faster. The context of the passage is Henry II's retreat from Le Mans, and the count of Poitiers is pursuing the skirmish with the English. It's a recurring theme in the History, although this is the only case where "gambeson" is used. For instance, in one episode John Marshal ambushes the forces of King Stephen, who are only "lightly armed", while John's men are "fully armed". Similarly, while Henry II was still at Le Mans, he went scouting "unarmed" and refused to take William because he was fully armed. Finally, after the siege of Arques was called off by Philip Augustus, the Marshal and three other earls went with their men "lightly armed" to harry the French, but were chased off by "fully armed" French knights since there was too much a risk of wounds to fight them. I suspect that knights on campaign mostly wore no armour but a gambeson and a steel cap except for when they expected to be fighting.

Looking at the story from Villehardoun, I'd suggest that Eustace of Marchais was less a brave man fighting only in a gambeson and steel hat and more a man who responded quickly to a major attack before he could get fully armed and got caught up in the pursuit, and the Joinville examples are along a similar vein.

I've also found that the first volume of Hoffmeyer's Arms and Armour in Spain has a discussion on textile armour from p128-132 with a large number of quotes from contemporary sources about "perpunte" and "gonio".

[Sean M]

Jonathan, I guess the first thing to do is to list all the sources Ada Bruhn de Hoffmeyer cites, then see about tracking down editions. I wish we had a paper copy of that book, something to buy when I have a stable job again.

• Libro de Alexandre (written 1178 to c. 1250) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libro_de_Alexandre
  Jesús Cañas Murillo ed., Libro de Alexandre, Editora Nacional, 1978
  Francisco Marcos Marín (ed. lit.), Libro de Alexandre, Madrid, Alianza, 1987 I can't find the actual text on http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-vi ... e--0/html/
• Primiera Crónica General (written 1260-1284) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primera_c ... ca_general
  https://archive.org/details/primeracrni ... og/page/n9
• Crónica de Don Jaime (libre dels feyts) (1276) https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llibre_dels_feits
  Cervantes Virtual of the Chronicle and Cervantes Virtual on the Book of Deeds
• Gran Conquista de Ultramar (written 1291-1295) https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gran_conq ... e_Ultramar
  Text and Concordance of the Gran Conquista de Ultramar, Biblioteca Nacional MS 1187. Edition, study and notes de Louis Cooper, with the assistance of Franklin M. Waltman, Madison [Wisconsin], Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, 1979
• Ramón Llull: which work? he wrote a lot of stuff, but the passage she quotes seems to come from the Book on the Order of Chivalry.

Lexilogos has some Old Spanish Dictionaries to look through. The Diccionario filológico-comparado de la lengua castellana does not give examples.

It sounds like gambax (p. 118), perpunte, and perpunt are the usual spellings in Spain. It looks like she could not find much from the 12th century, even though Spain is closer to the Moslem world than Normandy! The whole narrative that "they brought linen armour back from crusade" has some problems.

[Sean M]

Its also interesting that she could not find words in the jupe family, derived from Arabic (and algoton seems to mean "cotton" not "quilted garment stuffed with cotton" in Spanish). She talks about them on pages 222-226 in chapter 10, but that is on the second half of the 14th century. Her sources are Pere March, L'Armes del Cavaller (he was captured by the English at Nájera in 1367, wrote 1407-1410) and the Dotze del Crestia by Francesc Eiximenis (twelfth book of an incomplete encyclopedia written in Catalan from 1385-1392, scan of an edition at http://www.antiblavers.org/) and she mentions jaque and jupon.

My impression is that jupon is a 'late' word for quilted garments, but in the 16th century they say jubon in Spanish, pourpoint in North French, Wams in German, and doublet in English. So there may have been a shift in vocabulary in Spain at some point.

[Marshal]

There seem to be a few stories about someone who was so brave that they fought with just a gambeson and a steel cap: the History of William the Marshall, Villehardoun, maybe Joinville ... Montaigne the French essayist talks about soldiers in the field sleeping in their pourpoints like a bivouac in the 1800s.

Joinville tells of at least one instance when many of his comrades fought in just gambesons...not because they were demonstrating any particular bravery but because they all had lots of small wounds from the tips of Saracen arrows pricking them through the rings of their mail, and it was just too painful to put on and wear their hauberks.

I think there was also a surprise attack at night where they ran out in just gambesons. ( IIRC it might be the same incident rather than a separate one. )

[Sean M]

I have learned a bit about the deeds of Hereward the Wake ... it is a tale about an English outlaw who became a folk hero because when he returned to England after the death of Edward the Confessor, some of the people he killed were Normans (and he sailed to distant countries, killed a fearsome bear, married a talented woman who helped him on his later adventures, and so on). The passage about the felt togas daubed with pitch or short tunics of strong leather seems to be a description of a Frisian army he battled when he was in Flanders.

The University of Rochester has a translation of about two thirds of the text but they skip the juicy military sections https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/ ... troduction

I think I will talk about this and some of the things which WoodKern and Jonathan Dean found in the article, but focus on the sources from 1160 onwards.

Edit: I added the History of William Marshall and the Song of the Albigensian Crusade to the original post, I have not yet started on Jonathan's sources from Iberia. I already list 47 sources, and maybe the Spanish sources would make a good article on their own?

[Jonathan Dean]

Hey Sean, here's a translation of the Gesta Herewardi with the original in parallel. Miller transcribes the section on leather differently ("coria valde cortis" instead of "coria valde coctis"), which I think was probably an error on his part given later references to cooked leather as armour, but otherwise it seems identical regarding the felt.

Regarding the felt in the Gesta, Greimas' Dictionnaire de l'ancien français jusqu'au milieu du XIVe siècle suggests that "afelter" was a term to mean "prepared for combat". Unfortunately, I've been unable to track down any example in Benoît's Chronique des ducs de Normandie or in Garin le Lorrain, which are the two examples Greimas gives. It was evidently still used in this manner in the late 14th century, so it must be in the cited sources and the OCR just isn't good enough/I haven't tried the right spelling variant to find it. As David Nicolle suggests in Crusader Warfare: Volume 1, this might point to felt being the earliest material for padding before it was replaced by cotton and it would add support to the Gesta's mention of felt armour in the early 12th century.

I've been really caught up in a rabbit hole of my own lately, so I haven't looked at the Spanish sources, but I think that including a handful of them might round the article out out. I also may have one or two more examples from southern France that I need to verify before putting them here. I'll try and get that done soon.

[Sean M]

Hey Sean, here's a translation of the Gesta Herewardi with the original in parallel. Miller transcribes the section on leather differently ("coria valde cortis" instead of "coria valde coctis"), which I think was probably an error on his part given later references to cooked leather as armour, but otherwise it seems identical regarding the felt.

That looks like a pretty reasonable translation, you can see how I translate that section when the article comes out.

I am surprised that someone has not leaped all over the description of a partnership between one man with shield and sword or axe and two men each carrying "three or four squared darts for hurling." People have all kinds of theories about combinations of arms on early medieval battlefields, but this is an actual source!

Right now it looks like sources from the 12th century will fill an 8,000 word article, so I can include some of the 13th century Iberian sources in the second and third articles.

Regarding the felt in the Gesta, Greimas' Dictionnaire de l'ancien français jusqu'au milieu du XIVe siècle suggests that "afelter" was a term to mean "prepared for combat". Unfortunately, I've been unable to track down any example in Benoît's Chronique des ducs de Normandie or in Garin le Lorrain, which are the two examples Greimas gives. It was evidently still used in this manner in the late 14th century, so it must be in the cited sources and the OCR just isn't good enough/I haven't tried the right spelling variant to find it. As David Nicolle suggests in Crusader Warfare: Volume 1, this might point to felt being the earliest material for padding before it was replaced by cotton and it would add support to the Gesta's mention of felt armour in the early 12th century.

I wish I had access to David Nicolle's Crusader Warfare but I am poor and live in a tiny apartment.

The Franzozisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch says that afelter or afeutré can refer to saddles or saddlebows or being 'harnessed' or 'saddled' because saddles have felt padding. They say it is used from "c. 1190-13th century" but they don't say by whom; they cite ChevCygne which is probably one of the stories about the Knight of the Swan/Le Chevalier au Cigne.

The DEAF defines afeutré as 1. “couvert de feutre”⁠ (covered with felt), 2. “harnaché, sellé” (harnessed, saddled).⁠ They cite Alexandre de Paris, Roman d’Alexandre (c. 1185), AliscW 485 (a version of Bataille d’Aliscans), and MonRaincB 1240 (Le Moniage Rainouart).

[Jonathan Dean]

That looks like a pretty reasonable translation, you can see how I translate that section when the article comes out.

Looking forward to it!

I am surprised that someone has not leaped all over the description of a partnership between one man with shield and sword or axe and two men each carrying "three or four squared darts for hurling." People have all kinds of theories about combinations of arms on early medieval battlefields, but this is an actual source!

I think the problem is that it's an obscure text to begin with, with an even more obscure translation, and there hasn't been the crossover between the people who know about the text and those who are interested in the practicalities of early medieval warfare. It's actually a really fascinating passage, because apart from the information on the armour and the method of fighting, the spears used by the javelin men sound very much like they might be the predecessor of the goedendag given their ability to crush as well as thrust/hook.

It also brings the number of distinct styles of combat in the early 12th century that we can identify. The Gesta Principum Polonorum says that the Pomeranians fought on foot by drawing up in a defensive position, kneeling with their spears grounded and pointing outwards, which was not how Christian (certainly Polish and most likely German) infantry fought.

Right now it looks like sources from the 12th century will fill an 8,000 word article, so I can include some of the 13th century Iberian sources in the second and third articles.

That's fair.

I wish I had access to David Nicolle's Crusader Warfare but I am poor and live in a tiny apartment.

I can scan the section for you if you'd like, and any other you think might be of interest, but it doesn't really add anything beyond the suggestion that "gambeson" derives from "kabadion" - which is not his argument but one he cites - and some trivia that the earliest use of "aketon" was in reference to a banner, not armour/padding.

The Franzozisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch says that afelter or afeutré can refer to saddles or saddlebows or being 'harnessed' or 'saddled' because saddles have felt padding. They say it is used from "c. 1190-13th century" but they don't say by whom; they cite ChevCygne which is probably one of the stories about the Knight of the Swan/Le Chevalier au Cigne.

The DEAF defines afeutré as 1. “couvert de feutre”⁠ (covered with felt), 2. “harnaché, sellé” (harnessed, saddled).⁠ They cite Alexandre de Paris, Roman d’Alexandre (c. 1185), AliscW 485 (a version of Bataille d’Aliscans), and MonRaincB 1240 (Le Moniage Rainouart).

Even with the DMF's example meaning "prepared for combat", I can see that coming from the more usual use of the horse being ready for battle now that you put it like that.

[Sean M]

I can scan the section for you if you'd like, and any other you think might be of interest, but it doesn't really add anything beyond the suggestion that "gambeson" derives from "kabadion" - which is not his argument but one he cites - and some trivia that the earliest use of "aketon" was in reference to a banner, not armour/padding.

One of the late 12th century poems seems to say that someone's hauberk was "much more white than auketon." That sounds like the poet means 'cotton' too.

The good thing about a thread like this is that people can keep adding things, and if someone decides that a source sounds interesting to them they can start pulling that thread. I am glad that people have added things like these Irish sources or the Deeds of Hereward the Wake which I did not know about!

[WoodKern]

It's been too long since I check back here. Looking forward to reading your article Sean.

[Sean M]

It's been too long since I check back here. Looking forward to reading your article Sean.

You are welcome.

I found another dictionary of medieval German and added a few German sources: Ulrich von Zatzikhoven and Herbort's von Fritslar who just use the word wambeis around 1200, and the Old Prague City Law from the early 14th century which mentions that there were false, Bohemian, and Swabian gambesons and tailors were absolutely not allowed to make false ones (I do not understand the wording completely).

It feels good to have some very early German sources, but I think we have enough high medieval stories about Lancelot or Troilus and adding more will not really tell us much new. The original post already feels 'busy' to me.

And I think giving you guys a translation of the early sources will be way more useful than just teasing you with a list!

[Dan Howard]

I have nothing to contribute that isn't already here but I'm enjoying this immensely. Looking forward to reading your paper, Sean.

[Jonathan Dean]

Found this citation in "Military Games and the Training of the Infantry", by Aldo A. Settia, JMMH XI:

91. Cesare Manaresi, Gli atti del comune di Milano fino all’ anno MCCXVI (Milan, 1918), doc. 285, p. 392 (1 December 1205) with the included list of the objects taken away from the Pavians of the castle of Rubbio, written 28 December 1202: “scuta VII. peditum et cistarellas IV et gamberias VI di radice valentes solidos LX minus solidos II.”

I can't find an online digitised copy of Manaresi's book, but it would seem to be one of the earliest mentions of a gambeson in Italy.

There's also Raimbaut de Vacqueyras's Epic Letter, which mentions the author wearing a gambeson:

Pueys vinc ab vos guerreyar part Monço;
entorn Blaquerna, sotz vostre pabalho,
estei armatz, a ley de Bramanso,
d'elm e d'ausberc e de gros guambaizo;
e.m combatey sotz la tor el Peiro,
e.i fui nafratz d'outra la guarnizo.

Afterwards, I went with you to fight beyond Modon; around the Blachernae, beneath your banner, I stood clad in helm, hauberk and great gambesons, in the Brabantine style; and I fought beneath the Petrion tower and was wounded through my armour.

[Sean M]

Thanks!

The passage from Raimbaut de Vacqueyras is interesting because it describes an event we can date very precisely, the attack on the Blachernae Palace at Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade. Humh, another source where gambesons are associated with the North Sea area (Brabant in modern Belgium and the Netherlands) not the Arab world or the eastern Romans ... I added it to the original post, and the Fourth Crusade will be part of the second article.

I think that the published version, with full translations and better organization, will be more useful to people. Right now I think the original post has so many sources in so many different formats that it will make people's eyes glaze over.

A gamberia/jambier is usually shin armour. I wonder what a "greave of root" is? And cistarelle sound like "little boxes" (ciste like German Kiste and English cyst) maybe they are quivers for bolts?

[Jonathan Dean]

Ah, that would make sense, since "gamberuoli" and "gambiere" appear elsewhere as leg armour. I should have known.

The "cistarelle" were wicker helmets, and the name is more like "basket", with the wickerwork being implied. I don't get a good sense of what the roots the greaves are woven from are, since a later (14th century) source from the same region distinguishes between the helmets made from wicker (viminibus textis) and greaves made from roots (radicibus texta), which suggests that there are significant differences in construction. Perhaps they roots aren't woven together, but are tied together by cords as a form of splint armour?

[Sean M]

For today's work on this article, I finally found the actual passage from John Mair's Historia Maioris Brittaniae (that is a 'dad joke' in Latin: it either means 'History of Greater Britain' or 'Mair's History of Britain', haw haw).

It is book 1 chapter 8 folio 16 and you can find the Latin at https://archive.org/details/ita-bnc-mag-00001173-001/ and Archibald David Constable's English translation on the Internet Archive.

My translation: "From the mid thigh to the foot they have no hose, they are dressed instead with a cloak for an upper garment and a shirt dyed with saffron. Bow and arrows, an extremely broad sword, with a small halberd; they always carry a great dagger with just one cutting edge, but very sharp, beneath the belt. In time of war they put on a hauberk of iron rings over the whole body and fight in that. Having his body covered in linen cloth sewed together in many layers and waxed or pitched and covered with stag's skins the common woodland Scot charges into battle. But our domestic plebians and English fight in woollens (sagis)."

[WoodKern]

Hi Sean. As you might know this is a text which has always interested me. I see that you have translated "multipliciter intersuto" as "sewed together in many layers" instead of "manifoldly sewed" as the previous translation had it. Might I ask what prompted this choice? I have long suspected that Major might have been describing a multi-layered linen garment rather than a stuffed one, but your translation makes this more definite.

[Sean M]

Hi Sean. As you might know this is a text which has always interested me. I see that you have translated "multipliciter intersuto" as "sewed together in many layers" instead of "manifoldly sewed" as the previous translation had it. Might I ask what prompted this choice? I have long suspected that Major might have been describing a multi-layered linen garment rather than a stuffed one, but your translation makes this more definite.

Hi Woodkern, I tried to translate in a way which communicates the sense rather than pedantically translating an adverb with an adverb. In English we usually forget that manyfold means "in many folds or layers." multi-plic-iter is "many-fold/layer-edly."

The wording reminds me of Radulfus Niger and the Itinerarium Peregrinorum around 1188, and I read all three as describing a many-layered construction. Those were probably the most expensive kind like in India in 1817. It is in the 16th century that we hear English settlers in Ireland whining about how their mandatory jacks are too expensive ("buy a Dutch breast and back then, those are so cheap you have no right to whine" answered the crown).

[WoodKern]

Hi Sean thanks for the reply. It's funny because I remember having a discussion with someone once about this text and I argued that manifoldly could mean many folds of cloths. It's nice to see I'm not the only who thinks this.

[Sean M]

I found the public-domain translation of that strange Irish text Caithréim Chellacháin Chaisil at https://archive.org/details/caithreimcellach00norsuoft/ The bits about cotúin "aketons" seem to be in chapters 11 (where he translates them as "shields") and chapter 95 (where he translates them as "targets").

The first article has three groups of sources: weird early stuff which is hard to date or interpret, solid sources from the late 12th century, and sources connected to the Third Crusade.

Does anyone here read Middle Irish at all? Having to quote an Irish text when I don't read it at all makes me nervous, but WoodKern and Jonathan Dean have convinced me that this is worth including.

[Sean M]

eDIL points me to one more Irish text which I might include in the second or third article: The chase of Sid na Mban Finn.

The editor in 1910 suggested that it was composed in the "thirteenth or fourteenth century" (Kuno Meyer, Fianaigecht: being a collection of hitherto inedited Irish poems and tales relating to Finn and his Fiana (Hodges, Figgis, & Co.: Dublin, 1910) https://archive.org/details/fianaigechtbeing00meye/ )

p. 72 And Finn was arrayed thus: he had a broad-chested cotún about him, in which were twenty-seven board-like, compact, waxed shirts protecting his body against fights and the uprising of battle.

That reminds me of the text which WoodKern found in the Táin Bó Cúailnge which was first composed in 1106 but may have been edited later.

p. 98 And in revenge for his wound Finn dealt Fer-tái such a fierce blow with his sword that neither the long ...hauberk (lúrech) nor the dense-packed (comdlúta http://edil.qub.ac.uk/11052) cotún nor the hard foreign armour (édedh http://edil.qub.ac.uk/20870) was any protection to Fer-tái, so that the champion fell to the ground in two heavy pieces. And Finn boasted of having achieved that great dead.

I just get the impression that dating these Irish text is hard, there is stuff in them which may go back to the Bronze Age and stuff which is much more recent and I never studied medieval Ireland.

Edit: Also worth saying- the passage from the Táin Bó Cúailnge is from a scene with a warp spasm, a scythed chariot with armoured horses, a spell of invisibility, and other weird **** That is why its really important to look at these words in context http://adminstaff.vassar.edu/sttaylor/C ... ariot.html

Edit 2: According to eDIL, a medieval gloss gives Irish cotun = Latin parma "light shield." So that is why some of the scholars before WW I translated it as "shield" or "target." I am pretty confident that in The chase of Sid na Mban Finn a cotún is an aketon given how its used in context; eDIL no longer lists "shield" as a possible meaning.

[Jonathan Dean]

The editor of the gloss noted that he hadn't seen the cotun = parma gloss elsewhere. It's possible that the author who composed the gloss was in error.

[Sean M]

Thanks Jonathan! Or it could be the other way around, they did not know what a "parma" was except that it was some kind of protection and decided that it was the same as a cotún.

Unfortunately, I have gone beyond the target length of 8,000 words and the article is only 80% complete. The the Táin Bó Cúailnge is hard to talk about concisely (I use 500 words), but I will talk to the journal and see what I can do.

No updates on the arbalest thread this week because I worked on this instead.

[Jonathan Dean]

That's the line I was thinking along.

Did you ever look into the Spanish feuros?

[Sean M]

I don't think I have heard that word before, and I don't read any Iberian languages.

At this point, I will only add new texts to the list if someone gives me chapter and verse (and, as always, I find the source convincing and noteworthy). I can't afford to do any more hunting for things which might be out there or any searches that just start with "doesn't author A say something about that?"

[WoodKern]

I really don't check back on this thread regularly enough. Sean, If you look back at the previous page of this thread, the two bits I quoted about Fion Mac Cumhaill's armour were taken from The Chase of Síd na mBan Finn and the Death of Finn. In case you don't know Finn and Fion are the same person. And here's is the original Irish for the other bit you found.

Ocus tug Finn crúadhbéim claidhim d'Fer tái a ndígail a ghona, co nár bó dín lúirech leburlaidsech ná cotún comdlúta ná édedh arnaid allmurdo d'Fer tái, co torchuir in trénfer for talmain 'na dá ordlach imthroma.

Which Meyer translates as:

And in revenge for his wound Finn dealt Fer-tái such a fierce blow with his sword that neither the long [...] corslet nor the compact wadding nor the hard foreign armour was any protection to Fer-tái, so that the champion fell to the ground in two heavy pieces.

I'll go over this bit when I have some time.

As for the Caithréim Chellacháin Chaisil, here's the original text

"Ocus mar do bhadar annsin co bhfacadar na .V. catha coraighthi ar lar an muighi fo glere sciath 7 lann 7 luirech fo ghlere shleagh 7 chotun 7 cathbarr"

Note: the "7" is a stand-in for a symbol in the Gaelic script which means ocus (and), the "&" symbol could be used as a substitute.

Here is Bugge's translation again with chotun translated as aketons rather than targets.

"And as they were there, they saw five battalions drawn up in the middle of the plain with choice shields, and swords, and coats of mail, and with shinning spears, and aketons, and helmets."

[Jonathan Dean]

I don't think I have heard that word before, and I don't read any Iberian languages.

At this point, I will only add new texts to the list if someone gives me chapter and verse (and, as always, I find the source convincing and noteworthy). I can't afford to do any more hunting for things which might be out there or any searches that just start with "doesn't author A say something about that?"

The feuros are essentially town charters, many of which specify the types of equipment that members of the militia are required to have. I've been hunting them on an off for the last week, but the only 12th century example I've turned up so far is the Feuro de Alfambra:

Todo uezino de Alfamara que terna cauallo deue lo toner de .II. siellas en susso e deue tener armas escudo et lanza et capillo de fierro et perpunt et uala cauallo de .XXX. mazmodinas et con esto sea escusado de pecha.

Source

I haven't been able to track down some of the other 12th century feuros yet, or a medieval Spanish to English dictionary, but I think this feuro in particular is important because it dates to 1175/76 and is the earliest "law" to mention textile armour.

[Sean M]

WoodKern, send me an email address through

Code: Select all

sean period manning at protonmail dot com

or the PM system here and I will send you the current version of the text and translation, I can't afford to keep two versions of the text, translation, and commentary synchronized.

Jonathan, that is very important because it is six years earlier than the English (and French and Flemish) law and so far the only source from Mediterranean Europe. Ada Bruhn de Hoffmeyer's book did not point to anything I could confidently date to the 12th century and I can't find any good historical dictionaries of any of the Iberian languages.

Todo uezino de Alfamara que terna cauallo deue lo toner de .II. siellas en susso e deue tener armas escudo et lanza et capillo de fierro et perpunt et uala cauallo de .XXX. mazmodinas et con esto sea escusado de pecha. "All people living in the neighbourhood (vezinos) of Alfambra who hold horse ought lo toner de 2 saddles en susso and ought to hold arms: shield and lance and iron cap and pourpoint and the horse should be worth 30 mazmodinas (an Alamohad gold coin) and with this he shall be excused from scrounging a living."

FYI: the first article will have about 24 sources (including The Chase of Sid na Mban Finn). Of these five are not yet complete:

• Aliscans: translation unfinished (there is a published version but I would have to order it from far away for money)
• Benoit, Chronique des ducs de Normandie: need to finish translating it
• Chrétien de Troyes, Le Roman de Percival: need text and translation ahaha! I think the reference was to a Continuation of Percival from the early 13th c, so too late for part 1
• Thomas of Kent, Le Roman de Alexander/Le Roman de Toute Chevalerie: I do not have a text yet, I have ordered it
• Ambroise, History of the Holy War: need text and translation (I ordered a published edition and translation)

I have an old text of Gui de Nanteuil and it is not interesting enough to translate. I have a few more references to French literature from 1200 onwards but I am not looking for those either, I think we have enough romances and chansons de geste in French.

Edit: For part 2 and part 3, I may try to track down:

Karl Wichmann, Die Metzer Bannrollen des dreizehnten Jahrhunderts, 4 vol. Quellen zur lothringische Geschichte und Altertumskunde 5-8 (Scriba: Metz, 1908-1916) {a set of militia rolls in Old French, volume 1 covers 1220-1279, volume 2 covers 1277-1298, a dictionary says it mentions pourponts}

But that is after the cut-off date for part 1, and getting one part published is way more useful than adding another thing to the chaotic pile of texts we sort of know exist but have never read.

Second edit: apparently the Chrétien de Troyes citation is from the First Continuation which could be as early as the 1190s, I have updated the original post with a link to the Hathi Trust

[Jonathan Dean]

I may be able to get Aliscans on ILL or, if you have the line numbers, I might be able to get a page scanned if the universities aren't willing to let the public sully their books.