Written Sources for Gambesons/Aketons/Pourpoints 1100-1350

[Sean M]

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.

Jonathan, thanks! Its a bit more complicated than that because I am in the process of boiling down the lists of every line mentioning certain words into the ones worth quoting (and I don't always have a full list of lines until I have worked through the text in the original). Some of the dictionaries just say "poem A uses word B" so hunting lines takes time.

• Aliscans Verse XIII/lines 374ff. and Verse LXIII/lines 2336ff.: I have a text from 1903, I would like to check Joan Ferrante tr., Guillaume d'Orange: Four Twelfth-Century Epics.  Records of Civilization, Sources and Studies 92  (Columbia University Press: New York, 1974) https://www.arlima.net/ad/aliscans.html
• Benoit's Chronicle of the Dukes of Normandy: I have the Old French, I do not know of any translation but a colleague in Louisiana can probably help
• Thomas of Kent line 844: I have ordered Ian Short and Brian Forster's edition and translation from 1976 https://www.arlima.net/qt/thomas_de_kent.html
• First Continuation of Chrétien de Troyes lines 1020 and following, 16168 and following, 18464 and following: I have a text, I do not have access to any of the English translations https://www.arlima.net/mp/premiere_cont ... graal.html
• Athis et Prophilias around lines 15,090: I have a text and I don't know of any published translations, translation is about 90% complete
• Ambroise, Estoire de la Guerre Sainte/History of the Holy War lines 3568; 3573; 9773; 4981: I can find a French text online, I got what I needed in the Marianne Ailes and Malcolm Barber edition and translation on Google Books https://www.arlima.net/ad/ambroise.html#

Havard K found a line from the original Perceval which I will include, I have a translation.

[Ernst]

My old notes were from Ferrante, Guillaume d'Orange, Four Twelfth Century Epics p.200, Columbia University Press, 1974.
I think my online copy was found from Oxford. Hopefully auto-correct hasn't screwed the Old French.

Aliscans, L.XIII, ll. 373-8
En sa maiu tint d'uue lance uu tronchon
Par tell ai'r eu jeta le baron
Tot li desront san hauberc fremillon
Et trespercha par me son auketon,
Si ke par mi son vermeil ciglaton
Li enbati el cors jusqu'au poumon.

He holds the stump of a lance in his hand;
the baron throws it with such great force
that it years the brilliant hauberk apart
and pierces the padded garment beneath;
it tears through even the red silk tunic
and into his chest as far as his lungs.

[Ernst]

I don't think Ferrante offers a translation of Alicans' Laisse lxiii.

Molt a bon frain, d'or i a maint boton
El la sele est de l'ouevre Salemon.
Uns haumes pent devaut a son arçon
Derriere trosse son hauberc fremillon,
Mais n'a entire forrel ne gambison.
Blance est la maille assés plus d'auketon
Et s'en y a de rouge com carbon.

[Jonathan Dean]

Michael A. Newth apparently has a full translation (The song of Aliscans), so I'll try and get that on ILL.

Edit: The library is open but not doing ILLs yet. I'll check again next week.

[Sean M]

"Stump" is better than "shaft" for tronchon "fragment, broken wood," otherwise my translation of Lai XIII was pretty similar and I think they make one mistake.

I found a German translation of Aliscans which helped me with the second passage, he translated the first passage pretty much like I did.

Lai XIII

En sa main tint d'une lance un tronchon;
Par tel aïr en jeta le baron, (375)
Tot li desront son hauberc fremillon
Et trespercha par mi son auketon,
Si ke par mi son vermeil ciglaton
Li enbati el cors jusqu'au poumon.
Viviëns chiet, ou il vausist ou non.

In his hand he took the stump of a lance,
With such spirit he thrust at (en jeta) the baron, (375)
He completely broke his glittering hauberk
And pierced through the middle of his aketon
And through the middle of his vermillion siglaton
He impaled the body up to the lung.
Vivien fell, whether he would or not.

Er hielt in seiner Hand den Stumpf einer Lanze,
mit solchen Eifer war er ihn auf den Krieger,
zerschnitt ihm ganz seine glänzende Halsberge
und durchtrennte sie über seinem Wams, (395)
so dass er durch den roten Seidenstoff hindurch
in den Körper bis zur Lunge eindrang.
Vivien fiel, ob er es wollte oder nicht.

I am still working on the second passage, you can see it when I send around the working paper.

Jonathan, if the other translation comes in it could be fun to compare my English and their English.

[Sean M]

I realized that I should check Bertrand de Born and the other troubadors in case the dictionaries were snobby about which Romance languages are really French. Brett Devereux blogged about him a while ago.

Lo coms m'a mandat e mogut
Per N'Araimon Luc d'Esparo
Q'ieu fassa per lui tal chansso
On sion trencat mil escut,
Elm et ausberc et alcoto,
E perpoing falsat e romput.
http://www.trobar.org/troubadours/bertr ... /poem1.php

Someone has flawed and broken thousands of shields and helms and hauberks and aketons and pourpoints.

James H. Donalson translated it:
The count has sent and moved me too,
by Raymond-Luke of Esparron
to write a song for him that can
cut through a thousand shields for him,
with helmet, hauberk, jerkin and
with doublet ripped and torn as well.

This is mainly interesting because it lets us see which words someone speaking the Langue d'Oc chose (aketon and pourpoint). Most of the other sources speak northern dialects. Someone called Raimon d'Avinhon (Avignon) says that he has practiced every trade, even making jupas and jupels. I would like to know if there are any forms of gambais/wambais/gambeson in Occitan.

Edit: Ahaha! Raimbaut de Vacqueyra (1204-1207) has gambeson and Pierre de Bergerac's Bel m'es (around 1212) has perponz e ganbais.

[WoodKern]

Hi Sean I had some time to go through the Cathréim Cellacháin Caisil again and found another reference to cotúns other than the two you already know about in sections 11 and 95. This one is from section 82.

"Ro fergaighet na feinnid gu fir-gharg uime-sin & ro innsaighset gu garb na grang-Lochlannaig & ro gabsad garb-gresa gaibhtacha arna gruam-Lochlannaig. gur scoilset a sceith. gur leadairset a luirecha. gur coimrebsad a cotuin.

The champions became fiercely angry because of this, made a violent attack upon the sullen Lochlannachs, and dealt hard, dangerous blows upon the gloomy Lochlannachs, so that they cleft their shields, and cut their armour into pieces, and tore their targes."

Maybe this line would suit your paper better (of course with changing targes to aketons / cotúns) as it uses cotuin rather than chotun. Chotun is an unusual form of cotún and I worry than some people might think that it's a different word altogether. You could also change Lochlannachs to Norsemen if you wanted to make things clearer.

[WoodKern]

And here is section 11 from the Cathréim Cellacháin Caisil.

"IS andsin ro eirghetar Clanna Eogain gu crodha ciallmar curata ima caem-ri im Ceallachan cum an chatha. Ocus do coraighhedh gu calma ag na curaduibh bro bhadhbha bith-aluinn bhuan-aicmheil bratac Ocus sonn sesmach sith-remhar sleagh & tor tenn triath-onchonta taisech & grinne gasda gadhamail gormlann & lonn-bhuaile ladhach línanart uman laechraid. ár ni rabhutar gorm-ait nait glan-luirecha 'gá n-gasraid. achtmad inair cuanna coir-tharblaithi & cotuin & muincedha maisecha min-gresacha re diden corp & cnes & caeim-cenn."

"Then towards the battle arose the descendants of Eogan fiercely, prudently, bravely around their gentle king, around Cellachan. And there was arrayed bravely by the heroes an ever beautiful, very strong, fold (?) of battle, surrounded by standards, and a solid, very thick pallisade of spears, and a strong, princely-ensigned tower of chiefs, and a skilful phalanx of blue blades, and a handsome (?), strong enclosure of linen cloth around the heroes. For the heroes had neither blue helmets nor shining coats of mail, but only elegant tunics with smooth fringes, and shields, and beautiful, finely wrought collars to protect bodies, and necks, and gentle heads."

Again replace "shields" with aketons or cotúns in the last sentence and I think this translation is good. This one is probably the most interesting as it makes specific reference to linen cloth, strengthening IMO the idea that cotuin means linen armour rather than some form of shield.

[Sean M]

Hi WoodKern, I will think about Cathréim Cellacháin Caisil chapter 82 when I go through the article asking whether each passage needs to be there. Right now there are 27 sources in 9 languages, 5 of which I have never studied, one of which I don't even know how to pronounce (Arabic) and I already give it a whole page.

In the 12th century, all these words seem to be synonyms (most authors pick one word and use it) and I will try a little medieval-style map to show which words appear where:

Irish likes cotún

Norse likes panzari

English likes wambais and later aketon
Low German likes {citation needed}
High German likes wambais

The Langue d'Oeil/North French likes aketon, pourpoint, gambeson, and later jupel
The Langue d'Oc/Southern French likes aketon, gambais, pourpoint, and later jupel

Italian likes jupe and later jupel (zuparello, juparello, giuparello)

Iberian languages like gambais and pourpoint

And then later words like jupon (first attested in the 1340s) and troia (13th century) appear, but they just reinforce the pattern where French has the most words and other languages are satisfied with one or two.

[Ernst]

I have wondered about the old, smoky gambeson in this passage. Perhaps the best way to dry out the perspiration was to hang it by the mantle?
There's a long tradition of keeping the musket over the mantle, perhaps to "keep the powder dry".

From the Romance Gaydon,
"A ces mots il s'arme d'un vieux gambison toul enfumé,
couvre sa tète d'un chapeau non moins vieux,
mais si dur qu'il ne redoute aucune arme,
prend sa massue et monte sur une jument."

(At these words he arms himself with an old smoky gambeson,
covers his head with a hat no less old,
but so hard that he does not fear any weapon,
takes his mace and mounts on a mare.)

[Sean M]

Ernst, if Gaydon has "gambeson" I could add that to the original post and then to the second article.

Could you give us the edition you used and the line number?

Its very important to give the edition, because any one word in these poems and romances can be different depending on the edition. I found one where different manuscripts call something a jupel, a corset, and a surcote.

[Ernst]

I just gave the authors' summary passage. Sorry I'm falling down on the job. I'm using this online source:
Guessard, François and Luce, Siméon, A.Franck, Paris, 1862

https://archive.org/details/gaydonchansondeg00gues
The passage appears on pp.72-3, ll.2386-9

2386 A ces paroles , li vavasors s'arma
2387 D'un gambison viez, enfummé, qu'il a.
2388 .1. vies chapel sor sa teste ferma;
2389 Mais tant fu durs que arme ne douta.

Later we see the Baron's men similarly armed on p.85, ll.2807-2810

2807 Le vavassor a tantost apelié ,
2808 Moult doucement li a ammonesté,
2809 Et tant proie et tant li a rouvé
2810 Que il li a son gambison osté.

[Ernst]

I don't know that any construction details are found in Gaydon, but again we find the the aketon worn in conjunction with mail, while the gambeson is a standalone, or supplementary defense over mail.

p. 64, ll. 2084-5

2084 Que il les percent ausiz com auquetons ;
2085 Mais li hauberc lor font deffencion :

p. 94, ll. 3098-3102

3098 Ferraus s'arma sus en palais plennier:
3099 Les chauces lace sus espérons d'ormier;
3100 Auqueton et d'un drap de soie chier ;
3101 Deseure vest .1. bon hauberc doublier,
3102 Fort, et tenant, et merveilles legier.

p. 177, ll. 5883-5886

5883 Les chauces chauce, onques meillors ne vi,
5884 Espérons ot qui sont à or burni,
5885 .I. auqueton ot de Roie vesti,
5886 Puis vest l'auberc, qui fu fais à Châmbli.

p. 193, ll. 6400-6401

6400 Sor l'auqueton vest l'auberc jazerant,
6401 Fort et legier, maillié menuement.


p. 196, ll. 6485-6486

6485 Sor l'auqueton qui d'or fu peinturez;
6486 Vesti l'auberc qui fors fu et serrez.

p. 205, ll. 6892-6893

6892 Sor une coute le couchent d'auqueton,
6893 Car à malaise se gist li loiaus hon.

p. 288, ll. 9548-9550

9548 L'escu li perce, ne li vault .I. bouton.
9549 Les mailles tranche dou hauberc fremillon,
9550 Et la cuirie, la cote et l'auqueton.

[Ernst]

Li Romans de Bauduin de Sebourc, from Hainaut and believed to date to c.1350 continues the use of the aketon beneath mail and plates.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id= ... 4087008793
Baudouin de Sebourg, Boca, M. L., editor, Valenciennes, De li̓mprimerie de B. Henry, 1841.
p.313

271 Il vesti l'aqueton, de soie fu ouvrés;
272 Et un riche auberc li fu ou do getés;
273 Unes plates d'achier lacha par ches costés;

[Sean M]

A translation of the continuation of Chrétien de Troyes arrived!

I hope I am not summoning Timothy Dawson, but I wonder if the suvrosberga "over (super) the hauberk (osberga)" in Bologna could be a translation of Greek ἐπιλώρικον epilōrikon "over (epi) the haubergeon (lorikon)." Its used by writers in the 10th, 11th, 12th centuries like Emperor Leo and Constantine Porphyrogenitos (L z BG).

[Sean M]

There is one more word to look at: bliaut / bliaud / bliau / bleaut

One day Gawain had in bed healing for more than three months when he decided it was too beautiful a spring day to be in bed. So he asked for breeches and a shirt, and then:

Un cor[t] blïau d'un boquerant,
Tel com il covint a armer,
A fait devant soi aporter, (First Continuation of Chrétien's Percival line 6080)
Si l'a vestu delivrement.

("a short bliau of buckram, such as was convenient to arm (in)")

and then for his arms. I am sure none of us has snuck out of hospital like that!

http://www.anglo-norman.net/D/bliaut
http://www.1186-583.org/goddard/#bliaut
http://ducange.enc.sorbonne.fr/blialdus
http://lexissearch.arts.manchester.ac.u ... spx?id=487

It seems to be another of those words which comes from a type of fabric (some kind of patterned silk or cloth of gold?) and later had a vague meaning like "short coat." So if you want evidence for not everyone wearing a quilted coat under their mail, it could be a good word to explore. Apparently German writers think it is a precious fabric, but the First Continuation of Chrétien de Troyes sees it as a type of coat that could be made of cheapo buckram. (And even Gawain sometimes wore cheap stuff under his mail!)

Both men and women wear bliauds, they seem to have been tres chic.

Because these don't seem to be quilted, I will leave this word to another time.

[Sean M]

The anonymous blogger Håvard K. at Høvel & hage points out another issue with the public-domain translation of Bahai al-Din's life of Saladin: it was first translated from French into English, and then someone else checked the retranslation against a new edition of the Arabic https://hoveloghage.wordpress.com/2020/ ... ng-i-1191/ A reviewer had a bad feeling that the text the French translation was based on was different from the Arabic text the English translation was checked against, and that errors crept in due to the double translation.

The famous scene with Richard's crusaders marching and ignoring the Turks' arrows has either "a vest of thick felt" (un habit de feutre très-épais) or "solid iron corselets" over the coats of mail, and the second translation is newer and based on the best manuscript.

[WoodKern]

Very interesting Sean thanks for sharing.

[Håvard]

The famous scene with Richard's crusaders marching and ignoring the Turks' arrows has either "a vest of thick felt" (un habit de feutre très-épais) or "solid iron corselets" over the coats of mail, and the second translation is newer and based on the best manuscript.

Thanks for your link and comments about Richard's translation, Sean. I cannot seem to get the image of protruding arrows out of my head and wonder how they would get stuck in a coat of mail worn with an iron corselet rather than with some textile garment. We are as you say bound by the latest translation, although it would be interesting to hear the Oxford professor's rationale for his reinterpretation.

[Sean M]

Håvard, it is frustrating because I don't know if the Arabic text changed between the two translations or just the English translation. The only Arabic philologist I know is Cornelius the fencer in Germany and I pissed him off for being so clumsy and out of training. The problem with being a builder of bridges between communities is that often I'm not physical enough for one group or I don't have the energy to have drinks with enough kinds of people and keep track of all the relationships.

I am starting to think there would be room for someone to study felt armour in western Eurasia.

We have Classical Greek pilos "felt" helmets (which could be bronze helmets shaped like a felt hat, like a chapel de fer is a "felt hat of iron," Agatharchides of Knidos writing that "For the war against the Aithiopians Ptolemy (II of Egypt) recruited 500 cavalrymen from Greece. To those who were to fight in the front ranks and to be the vanguard - they were a hundred in number - he assigned the following form of equipment. For he distributed to them and their horses garments of felt (stolas piletas), which those of that country (hoi kata ten choran; "the natives of the country" in Burstein) call kasas, that conceal the whole body except for the eyes." We have Pliny the Elder saying that some felt can resist iron weapons, and that Frankish chronicle about St. Gall with monks wearing felt garments instead of shirts of mail and wielding fire-hardened stakes instead of iron lances.

There is this Arabic term around the root lbd which does seem to mean "felt" at least in Aramaic, and possibly some of the Turkish / Mongol stuff that i do not know well. So maybe there was a tradition of felt armour in some places which died out in western and northern Europe by the 12th century?

But I think you guys will be happier if I actually finish this project before exploring felt armour!

Edit: Ekkehard IV, Casus Sancti Galli ("Events at St. Gall": the author died in the middle of the 11th century) MGH SS 2 p. 104 from our MyArmoury chat last year

Nam Ungri, auditis tempestatibus regni, Noricos rabidi invadunt et vastant, Augustaque diu obsessa, precibus Uodalirici episcopi, sanctissimi quidem inter omnes tunc temporis viri, repulsi, Alemanniam nemine vetante turmatim pervadunt. At Engilbertus, quam idoneus ad mala toleranda quidem fuerit, impiger ostendit. Nam malis his immenentibus militum suorum unoquoque pro semetipso sillicito, validores fratrum arma sumere iubet, familiam roborat, ipse velut Domini gigans lorica indutus, cucullam superinduens et stolam, ipsos eadem facere iubet: 'Contra diabolum,' ait, 'fratres mei, quam hactenus animis in Deo confisi pugnaverimus, ut nunc manibus ostendere valeamus, ab ipso petamus.' Fabricantur spicula, piltris loricae fiunt, fundibula plectuntur, tabulis compactis et wannis scuta simulantur, sparrones (= modern German Sperr) et fustes acute focis praedurantur.

Sed primo fratrum quidam et familiae, famae increduli, fugere nolunt. Eligitur tamen locus velud a Deo in promptu oblatus, ad arcem parandam circa fluvium Sint-tria-unum; quem sanctus Gallus quondam sanctae Trinitatis amore de tribus fluviis in unum confluentibus sic equivocasse fertur. Praemunitur in artissimo collo vallo, et silva excisis locus, fitque castellum, ut sanctae Trinitati decuit, fortissimum. Convehuntur raptim, quaeque essent necessaria. Haec in vita Wiboradae per scriptorem eius minus dicta, a fratribus qui haec noverant docti perstrinximus. ...

"For the Huns (ie. Magyars), having heard the disorders of the realm, savagely invaded and ravaged Noricum (in 926), and besieged Augusta (ie. Augsburg) for a long time; driven off by the prayers of bishop Woldaliric, certainly the most holy man of that time, they penetrated the forbidden Alemannian forest in squadrons." Abbot Engilbert of St. Gall prepared the "stronger of the brothers" and the hangers-on to defend themselves, so "darts are made, body armour created from felts (piltris loricae fiunt), slings woven, with joined tablets and twigs shields are imitated, bolts and cudgels are hardened to a sharp point in the hearth" but a few lines later they are retreating to a high place called Siteruna (Sint-tria-unum "Three shall be one" explains the chronicler, "that is folk etymology for an honest German word!" says the editor) with all the most necessary things before the scouts of the Huns arrive.

[Jonathan Dean]

This reminds me of a discussion I had with Evan Schultheis a few days ago. The thorocomachus mentioned in De Rebus Bellicis is said to be made from thick fulled cloth or felt ("quod de coactili"), and the earliest copy of the text (admittedly from the 15th century!) shows it as a tunic, while Graham Sumner mentions a 2nd century CE papyrus with the dimensions and weight for a military tunic that works out as ~740g/m^3. Add in the earliest reference to textile armour in medieval Europe (the Gesta Herewardi) saying it was made from felt, and I've started to think along the same lines as you. I'm thinking it's possible that there was an "old" style of under armour padding that was made from one or two layers of thick/medium wool cloth that was slowly replaced over the 12th and 13th centuries by a quilted, cotton stuffed alternative, and an "old" style of felt based stand alone armour that was more rapidly replaced by layered linen. Felt, from the one test I've seen, doesn't seem to offer as much protection from projectiles as layered linen.

Definitely a project for later, though! I wonder if anyone's looked for evidence of textile armour in the Early Middle Ages, or if it's just assumed that it didn't exist.

[Len Parker]

https://archive.org/stream/songofgirart ... t_djvu.txt Line 4836 has a doublet under mail.

[Sean M]

Thanks Len. I can't add any more texts to the article but that can stay here for reference.

There is a free online version of the French: Bertrand de Bar-sur-Aube, Le roman de Girard de Viane, P. Tarbé ed. Collection des poètes de Champagne antérieurs au XVIe siècle, 10 (Reims: P. Regnier Impr., 1850) p. 126 Internet archive link

Et li frans Quens se prist à despolier
Son frès bliant et son hermine chier.
En sa chemise remeist le chevalier; (line 4835 Van Emden)
Et porpoint vest le nobile guerrier.
Toz fut de paile; ne crient quarrel d'acier
Ne d'armeure, qui le puist enpirier.
Si com il duit vestir l'aubert doublier,
Atant esvos Dan Girars le guerrier. (line 4840 van Emden)

The 1999 English translation was based on Wolfgang Van Emden's edition in 1972 not this edition from 1850 but it looks like the translator's "doublet" is the French text's pourpoint. That would be a great translation if this text had been written 200 years later.

[Håvard]

Seven Sheitan in the XIII century European Armour group on facebook brought my attention to a Guerrierisma-article on
Abbot Pierre de Chevry's 1274 ordonance for the milita of Saint-Maur-des-Fossées just outside Paris.

Those 53 people worth 30 pounds or more are especially relevant in our case:
Habentes autem valorem XXX librarum et amplius haberent tunicas, gambesatas sive gambesonos et capellum ferreum, ensem et cultellum ; et inverti fuerunt LIII

The relevant parts was translated to "they would have gamboised tunics or gambesons".
- Ernst wondered "what the difference between the "gambasatas" (gambesettes?) and gambesons entails? Perhaps sleeveless vs. sleeved defenses?"
- Whereas Seven Sheitan believed [gambesatas] was "more probably an adjective : both "tunicas" and "gambasatas" are in the feminine, plural, accusative form so it defines the tunics [l]ike "gambesoned" (padded?) tunics".
- With the latin text I guess we can disregard the punctuation, ignoring the comma between 'tunicas' and 'gambesatas' accepting Sheitan's interpretation?

[Sean M]

Yes, at first glance that looks like "they shall have gamboised coats or gambesons and iron caps, swords and daggers." I am trying to figure out whether they reprint someone else's transcription or made their own.

Usually, tunica = cote and supertunica = surcote in the high middle ages.

[Ernst]

Further, from the same XIII century European Armour FB thread, Nath dos Reis wrote,

The oldest mention for the word "gamboised" under a hauberk is 1211 in Gui de Bourgogne.
"La coiffe de l'auberc li rompi et faussa et puis le ganbison, si qu'el chief le navra"

The coif of the hauberk was torn and cut and then the gambeson, so that the head was wounded.

Perhaps there is a gamboissed coif beneath the mail, or the gambeson has a hood like the hauberk. At least it's an early reference for a gambeson (rather than an aketon, pourpoint, etc.) being worn beneath mail.

https://archive.org/details/guidebourgognec01michgoog

[Ernst]

I still wonder with the "sive" usually being an either/or proposition if the gambesatas (or gamboissed tunics) are not a separate, but functionally equivalent item to the gambeson, or should I be reading "sive" as aka?

[Håvard]

Yes, at first glance that looks like "they shall have gamboised coats or gambesons and iron caps, swords and daggers." I am trying to figure out whether they reprint someone else's transcription or made their own.

Lagier states that he redid the transcription due to inconsistencies between Duby and Nicolle. I found one in the Bibliothèque de l'École des chartes, vol 10/1849, p 68 which is similar apart from some letters and punctuation. "Revue de la garde féodale de Saint-Maur-les-Fossés, en 1274":
Habentes autem valorum XXX libr. et amplius, haberent tunicas gambesatas sive gambesonos, et capellum ferreum, ensem et cultellnm[sic]; et inventi fuerunt LIII. I believe Lagier translates "ensem" as glaive or polearm.
The registry list a few other "ordonnance" and "armes" too.

I still wonder with the "sive" usually being an either/or proposition if the gambesatas (or gamboissed tunics) are not a separate, but functionally equivalent item to the gambeson, or should I be reading "sive" as aka?

Yeah. I've seen it used both as "or", "and" and "or also known as". While all seem possible, the other instances in this text best translates as "or": XL: "... et capella de ferro, spatam sive ensem, et cultrum." XXX: "... tunicas gambesatas sive gambesonos". X: "... galeram sive capellum ferreum". "... illum sive illos qui indigerent".

[Sean M]

Benoit does mention the chapel de fer with the spelling chaple. It looks like we are seeing this whole technological system (hauberks and haubergeons, aketons / pourpoints / gambesons, separate collars, cuiries, helms and iron caps, crossbows) in northern France by the 1170s.

Benoit is the only source on my list that I have not read through and translated, I will pick out 2 or 3 good passages to leave in the published article. Its already a bit long for my first choice of journal.

Edit: One of the passages which Jonathan Dean and Ernst picked out a few years ago is cool:

Del duc Richart qu'os pot l'on dire?
C'est des autres princes li sire
E des bons chevaliers la flor.
La nuit el grant palais autor, (19185)
Quant sis osbers li fu ostez,
Qui en plusors leus ert fausez,
Remest en l'aucoton de seie
Qui en sanc e en suor glaceie;
Les mailes out el front enprientes. (19190)

On Duke Richard what can you say?
He is the master of all the princes
And of good chevaliers the flower.
That night outside the great palace,
When he was pulled out of his hauberk,
Which was broken in many places,
He remained in the aketon of silk.
Which was soaked in blood and sweat:
The rings were impressed on the front.

[Jonathan Dean]

Benoit does mention the chapel de fer with the spelling chaple. It looks like we are seeing this whole technological system (hauberks and haubergeons, aketons / pourpoints / gambesons, separate collars, cuiries, helms and iron caps, crossbows) in northern France by the 1170s.

The really interesting thing about this, to my mind, is how long before this system appears in art. I know some aspects of it, like the chapel de fer/caps show up from ~1200 (possibly as early as 1185), but I don't think we see it illustrated as a whole until the Morgan Crusader Bible in the 1250s. A lot of questions need to be asked about how reliable manuscript illuminations are in depicting equipment in the 12th and early 13th centuries, and whether the written sources give off a false impression of how common reinforcements worn over mail were (eg. William the Breton's description of Bouvines).

[Sean M]

The really interesting thing about this, to my mind, is how long before this system appears in art. I know some aspects of it, like the chapel de fer/caps show up from ~1200 (possibly as early as 1185), but I don't think we see it illustrated as a whole until the Morgan Crusader Bible in the 1250s. A lot of questions need to be asked about how reliable manuscript illuminations are in depicting equipment in the 12th and early 13th centuries, and whether the written sources give off a false impression of how common reinforcements worn over mail were (eg. William the Breton's description of Bouvines).

One of the devious things about Claude Blair's book is that he switches types of sources without calling out what he is doing. If you read carefully you can see when his history of armour switches from a history of effigies to a history of surviving armour, but he does not stop his narrative and make sure the reader notices that the story surviving armour tells can be different from the story which texts tell and the story which paintings and sculpture tell.

He also uses careful phrases when he thinks something might be earlier than the oldest source he had time to find.

He did not know that he was writing one of the last "antiquarian" books and that armour scholarship would not find a place at universities.

[Jonathan Dean]

I admit, it's only been very recently that I've picked up on what Claude was doing there. Unfortunately, there's just not enough surviving armour to avoid relying heavily on artwork and artistic sources.

[Håvard]

A couple of helpless translations from rules concerning wambais from Bohemia and Moravia, based on a source Sean already have but which might be new for the rest of us: Rössler, Emil Franz 1845, Deutsche Rechtsdenkmäler aus Böhmen und Mähren; ein Sammlung von Rechtsbüchern, Urkunden und alten Aufzeichnungen zur Geschichte des deutschen Rechtes I wonder what the distinction between a "behemisch", a "swebisch" and an "allaine" pertains to?

Rules for Wambeis, Moravia 1311, p 24:
"vnd zv wem man ein valsch wambeis vindet, daz sol man brennen zvm ersten mal, vnd zum andern mal alsam; begreift man es zv im zvm dritten mal, er hat sein recht verlorn vnd sol ein jar di stat meiden."

"and for those who made a false wambeis, that should be burned the first time, the second time as well; If you understand it to be the third time, he has lost his right and should avoid the state for a year"

Rules for menders concerning Wambeis 1318, p 32:
"Ouch sol nyeman ein neves wambeis noch ein vbertrages feil tragen, es en sei danne zerisen, noch an keiner stat feil tragen, wen yeder man, do er gesessen ist, sol haben nur zwai wambeis, ein behemisch vnd ein swebisch, oder nur aines allaine; di wambeis sullen auch vngefelst sein; sindet man aber vber das ein wambeis an einer andern stat fail, das sol man nemen vnd ein vngerechtes oder ein gefelstes wambeis, wo man das fvnde, das sol man ouch nemen, vnd des sol halbe dem richter geburn vnd halb den sneydern; vnd och das kein genecht von seinem maister sol geen ze einem hofsneider; welcher es dar vber tut, den sol chein maister in einem iar ze im nemen; welcher maister aber das dar vber tut, der sol geben ain halbe schok; des haben fchokes sol geburen ein dritteil dem richter, ein dritteil den schepfen, vnd den sneidern ein dritteil"

"And should no one carry a new wambeis or a contract for sale, it should then be torn apart, nor carry for sale at any place, wherever you have been seated, you only have two wambeis, one Bohemian and a Swabish, or just one "allaine"; the wambeis should also be cut; but if you find a wambeis at another stat fail, you should take it and an unfair or a rocky wambeis, where you find that you should also take it, and half to the judge and half the cutter; And oh that no right from his master should go to a court tailor; whoever does it again, such a master should not be seen for a year; but whichever master does this, he should give half a fine; the fine should have a third part to the judge, a third part to the schepfen, and the tailors a third part".

[Sean M]

Håvard, every new pair of eyes on these (and new translation) is good! Every translation misleads.

Here are the words for quilted coat attested in different regions in the first article. Because we have so few sources, its a stylized map inspired by Roman geographers rather than by our map projections. Is this useful? Should I try to mark the areas with no sources, like Italy and Low Germany, in some way?



Writing it in poor Caroline miniscule may have been a bridge too far. I resisted the temptation to draw a little Saracen, a little Greek, and a little Lithuanian on the edges of Christendom.

Edit 2024-01: fixed link. Link now points to version from 2023 with text in a digital font.

[Jonathan Dean]

I really like the map - it makes it easy to visualise the approximate transition zones in linguistic terms, and I think the Romanesque design is really fun.