British and Foreign Arms & Armour

The prehistoric man of the Stone Age had undoubtedly one of the most difficult materials to deal with that can possibly be conceived, inasmuch as it was intensely hard, very bri...

The bas-reliefs of Assyria afford us ample materials for becoming acquainted with the arms and armour of that great and warlike empire, and our own national collection probably...

The defensive armour of the Romans differed essentially in the early form from the later, or, broadly speaking, between the Republican Period and the Imperial Period; though it...

The military equipment of our Saxon and Danish forefathers is of much interest to us as a nation, inasmuch as we are curious to ascertain with what weapons and with what persona...

With the advent of the Normans in 1066 the subject of arms and armour in England becomes more definite and exact. This is chiefly owing to the Bayeux Tapestry, to the multiplica...

The essential differences between this period and the last are: (1) the substitution of chain mail for the jazeraint, mascled, and scale armour which had formerly been used; (2)...

One of the most remarkable brasses in existence is that of Sir John d’Aubernoun, in Stoke d’Aubernoun Church, near Guildford, Surrey (Fig. 113). It is the earliest known example...

Probably at no time in the history of defensive armour has it presented a more picturesque appearance than during the brief ten years of the Cyclas Period. Fitting closely to th...

The Studded and Splinted Armour Period was essentially an era of transition, intermediate between a mode of defence which had proved inadequate by reason of its sheer cumbersome...

With the advent of the camail and jupon we enter upon a period which presents a certain amount of uniformity, and is in marked contrast to the tentative styles which preceded it...

With the advent of this period we find the knightly defence consisting essentially, for the first time in English history, of a complete suit of plate with no textile covering w...

The sources of information for this period are considerably enlarged when compared with those preceding it, as, in addition to MSS., missals, brasses, and monumental effigies we...

_The Helmet._--This defence was invariably of the “closed” pattern, and consisted of a crown with a ridge, generally roped, down the centre; two cheek-pieces meeting together at...

This style of armour, which prevailed for so long a period, and of which examples in some form or other exist in almost every museum of importance, saw its origin in the reign o...

Although to the average student the armour prevailing after the sixteenth century possesses absolutely no interest whatever, yet as a certain amount continued to be worn, and it...

_The Guisarme._--This may be claimed with all confidence to be one of the most ancient of weapons, as its first inception occurred in the Bronze Period, and from that remote age...

No evidence is extant respecting the inventor of the first machine for missile throwing, but we know that they have existed from the earliest ages, and have been used by all the...

It may come somewhat in the nature of a shock to the self-complacency of the average Englishman to learn that in the great stores of armour in the public and private collections...

The invention of gunpowder and its use in propelling missiles from tubes was the signal for the abolition of armour, as we have indicated, though the struggle for supremacy betw...