Chapter 1. FROM THE CRUSADERS TO HITLER There is no more Russia! It fell apart, and the idol in the person of the emperor and religion, which connected the different nations of the Orthodox faith, disappeared. If only we succeed in achieving the independence of the buffer states bordering Germany in the east, i.e.

WEAPONS AND PROTECTIVE WEAPONS OF THE CRUSADS

The armor worn by the knights of the First Crusade appears to have been largely similar to that worn by the Normans and French at Hastings and which can be seen on the Bayeux Tapestry (Plate 6). Here they are shown wearing knee-length chainmail shirts; The chain mail bifurcates in front from below so that one can sit on a horse. The sleeves of the chain mail only reach the elbows. Artists used big number conventional patterns to convey the material of chain mail. Most often these are touching circles, sometimes a lattice, sometimes rings inside a lattice. Since in some cases different patterns were used for the same mail, it is believed that there was not much difference between the mail and that perhaps all the patterns were meant to represent mail. However, in one place Duke William's half-brother, Bishop Odo of Bayeux, is shown wearing what might be taken to be armor made of overlapping plates. Although most of The chain mail had a close-fitting hood, integral with the rest of the chain mail; from the images it can be concluded that sometimes the hood was made of a different material than chain mail - perhaps leather or fabric. In several cases the riders are shown wearing hoods without any helmet, and this was a common practice until the mid-14th century. In the Bayeux Tapestry, many coats of mail are depicted with a rectangle below the neck; the rectangles have stripes of different colors along the edges. In one image of Duke William, this rectangle appears to have loosely hanging plates at the top corners, similar to a tie. Another warrior has these plates in the lower corners. It is unclear what these rectangles represent. This is perhaps some kind of armor reinforcement - perhaps an additional piece of chain mail tied to the neck, covering the throat.

The first assumption is confirmed by a miniature from the Italian encyclopedia from 1023 from Monte Cassino. The miniature shows a solid green rectangle on blue chain mail, which is clearly made as one piece with the hood. On the other hand, a Spanish Bible from the early 11th century Roda monastery, now in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, and a closely related Bible from the Vatican Library show a rectangle on the chest without a top stripe, as if it were an extension of the hood hanging down the chest. The lower part of the face is clearly not covered. Something of this kind is more clearly shown on the capital of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame du Port, Clermont-Ferrand, France, which depicts "Psychomachy" (Plate 14). With the exception of one figure, the faces are not covered, it is clear that the hoods are made as one piece with chain mail, and a large rectangle (apparently chain mail) hangs below the throat. If this part of the mail were not often depicted hanging down during battle, one might assume that the image on the Bayeux Tapestry represents precisely this part of the armor (or forearm) covering the face. Apart from this case, a similar rectangle is shown completely without a hood on the same figure in the Rhodes Bible and in an image in an English psalter from Oxford of the early 11th century (Bodleian Library). On the Bayeux Tapestry, in several cases there is only one stripe crossing the base of the neck, which could be interpreted as the lower edge of a hood if it was made separately from the mail. No clear illustration of a separate hood earlier than the 11th century has yet been found.

The part of the tapestry where the bodies of the fallen at Hastings are stripped and naked bodies are visible under the chain mail is the result of restoration work in the 19th century. It was hardly possible to wear chain mail in this way, since it would damage the skin (especially when struck during battle). In any case, most of the living characters in the tapestry have their underwear protruding from the sleeves. Robert Weiss, who wrote much later in his Roman de Rou (“Roman about Roux (Rollon).” – Per.) specifically stipulates that Bishop Odo wore chain mail over a white cloth shirt. Most of the other images show long shirts made of some kind of soft material that is visible under the edges of the chain mail. Perhaps the colored ribbons on the edges of the chain mail on the Bayeux Tapestry represent some kind of ties. They can also be seen, for example, in the Spanish manuscript “Commentary on the Epistles of Paul,” which used to be in the Chester Beatty collection (apparently, the Chester Beatty library is meant. - Per.). The 12th century Saracen writer Osama writes that the chain mail was lined with rabbit fur.

The typical helmet of this period is conical in shape with a nose-protecting strip, sometimes wide enough to allow the wearer to be identified, as Weiss describes how, at Hastings, Duke William was forced to raise his helmet in order to dispel rumors that he had fallen. This incident can also be seen in the tapestry. A helmet of this type, found in the Priory of Olomouc, Moravia (Czech Republic), is now in the Waffensammlung (War Museum) in Vienna. Both the helmet and the nose band are made from the same piece of iron. On the other hand, some of the helmets depicted in the tapestry appear to be made of many segments attached to a ring base, as on the Frankish helmet already mentioned. This design, with particularly wide supporting bands, is quite clearly visible in the Heisterbach Bible of about 1240 (Berlin State Library). The helmet, made of several steel segments held together by rivets but without a ring base, can be seen in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. Where the Bayeux tapestry shows helmets being carried on a cart for subsequent transport on ships, it is clear that they are not made with pieces of chain mail hanging from the helmet, as on the Frankish helmets, but, apparently, they have a liner. Helmets with a nose stripe and chin guard are clearly visible, for example, in a manuscript from Piacenza, Italy, from the 12th century. Several Norwegian ivory chess pieces from around 1200 found at Uig Church on the Isle of Lewis (Hebrides) have conical helmets with a hanging plate at the back of the neck and also a plate covering the cheeks (Plate 8). Duke William's helmet on the Bayeux Tapestry has two short hanging plates at the back, similar to infulae (ribbons ( lat.). – Per.) on the bishop's miter. It is not very clear what these plates were intended for, but many images from the next century show a long veil or scarf running from the bottom of the helmet to the back, or, as on the first seal of the English king Stephen of Blois (1135), two thick belts.

Rice. 9. Helmet preserved in Prague Cathedral, believed to have belonged to St. Wenceslaus (Wenceslaus) (killed 935 or 936). The nasal stripe to protect the nose is decorated with the image of the crucified Christ

“The Song of Roland,” which is believed to have appeared around the same time as the Bayeux Tapestry (the Bayeux tapestry (or, as is sometimes written, the carpet) was created in the 11th century, and the “Song of Roland” in the 12th century. - Ed.), often mentions helmets with decorations. A stone capital in the Musée Granet in Aix-en-Provence shows helmets with brow stripes, apparently decorated precious stones. The Song of Roland mentions the Saracens tying their good helmets from Zaragoza. Although the Bayeux Tapestry does not show anything attaching the helmet to the head, the statue of Roland outside the walls of Verona Cathedral shows a chin strap running up to the hood of the mail. The same can be seen on a mid-12th-century capital from Notre-Dame-en-Vaux at Chalons-sur-Marne, now in the Louvre, Paris, as well as on another dating to 1170 in the Rijksmuseum, Pavia, and on many other carvings.

In the English manuscript of the Roman scholar Pliny's Natural History, located in Le Mans, Pliny's helmet is visible hanging on the chin strap behind his sword, spear and shield. Most images show the strap tied to the helmet on both sides, preventing the helmet from slipping when the wearer is riding.

A large number of knights in the Bayeux Tapestry are shown with their forearms protected by separate wrist-length sleeves. These sleeves were apparently made of chain mail and were worn under the sleeves of chain mail; some knights had similarly protected legs. Since the knights were wearing shoes, it is impossible to say for sure whether the lower parts of their legs were also covered with chain mail. Shoes with chainmail foot protection can be seen in the 13th century Book of Alexander from Trinity College, Cambridge.

Although the Saxons at Hastings are sometimes shown with old-fashioned round shields, most of the shields in the Bayeux Tapestry are oblong, pointed at the bottom, with a semicircular top end. Such a shield made it possible to cover the body from shoulder to knee. This type of shield was probably introduced around the last quarter of the 10th century for use by horsemen. (This is a typical shield of the Norman (Scandinavian), as well as the Old Russian type, used by foot and horse warriors - this is clearly visible on the Bayeux tapestry. - Ed.) One of the earliest illustrations of such a shield is in a manuscript created in Eterna between 983 and 991 (Gotha, Land Library). The elongated pointed part would cover the warrior's vulnerable left side and leg much better than the old round shield. Let's take into account that left hand She also held a bridle with a shield. The shield was held in place by various straps located approximately at the center of gravity. Although this shield still had a umbo - and appears from time to time even in 13th-century images - it no longer covered the arm brace, as it was now off-centre. Most often, the shield was held with the hand by the St. Andrew's cross made of straps that were compressed at the intersection point. The Bayeux Tapestry, however, shows many more intricate ways. In one case, the St. Andrew's Cross was supplemented with two short straps below, through which the forearm passed, preventing the shield from dangling. A single additional strap of the same type is shown in the image of Goliath on the west facade of the Abbey of Saint-Gilles-du-Gard, France, built in the early 12th century. Other shields have straps arranged in a square or hexagon, with one side serving to grip the hand and the forearm passing through the opposite side. These stripes were called brases. Straps with variable tension were called guige, guige (a belt that allowed you to wear a shield slung over your back. - Per.), and they were attached to the shield near the brases. The straps could be used to hang the shield on the wall, throw it on the back in case the weapon required the use of both hands (for example, an ax or two-handed sword), as well as hanging the shield around the wearer's neck on his left shoulder during battle, from where the famous phrase "Escu al col" ("?cu ? col") ("With a shield around the neck" came from). Per.), used to describe a knight ready for action. The surface of these shields was painted with a wide variety of images, of which the most common were crosses and winged dragons, but the shields do not yet show any signs of organized heraldry.

It is possible that even during the Third Crusade (1189 – 1191) some crusaders were still dressed in the same way as Duke William's Normans. For example, the figure in the English Bible Puise (Durham Cathedral) of the late 12th century wears no other armor than a conical helmet with a nose plate and mail with elbow-length sleeves, very similar to the mail seen on the Bayeux Tapestry. This knight's men and all but one of his opponents have no other protection than the shields and helmets of a few men. The shields have the same shape as the shields used at Hastings.

Before about 1400, conical helmets with a nose-protecting strip and a slightly forward-extended top are still seen from time to time, most often in the 12th century. However, during the first three Crusades, the shape of the helmet changed significantly. Helmets with round tops, with or without a nosepiece, appear occasionally in the 12th century, as in the Pembroke College Gospel (Pembroke College, Cambridge). The Winchester Bible (c. 1160 – 1170) also shows a conical helmet without a nose plate (Winchester Cathedral) (Plate 9). To protect the back of the neck, the back of the helmet was sometimes made several centimeters longer, as on the knights carved on the façade of Angoulême Cathedral around 1128, and on another knight around 1100 on a tomb in Modena Cathedral (Plate 10 ). By the end of the 12th century, more or less cylindrical helmets with flat and slightly domed tops, often with a nose plate, became common, as on the St. Guthlac scroll in the British Museum or on the seal of Philip of Flanders and Vermandois from 1162.

The German manuscript Roulantes Liet, kept at the University of Heidelberg (circa 1170), shows a short transverse stripe at the end of the long nosepiece of the helmet. This stripe covers the mouth. In the mentioned manuscript, the visor of the helmet covers the neck, the foreface, coming from the back of the helmet, descends almost to the eyes; this arrangement became widespread in the next century, as can be seen from the carvings on the west façade of Wales Cathedral. A 12th-century Bible from Avila, now in the National Library of Madrid, shows conical helmets with a cross plate at the end of the nose band. The ends of the plate are rounded to cover the lower part of the face not protected by the helmet. In the badly damaged manuscript Hortus Deliciarum ("Garden of Delights" ( lat.). – Per.) Abbess Herrad of Landsberg, illustrated in the last quarter of the 12th century, the ends of this plate cover almost the entire face, with the exception of the eyes. This plate has many holes on it to make breathing easier. By the beginning of the 13th century, the face plate sometimes covered the entire face and curved under the chin. There were only two rectangular slits for the eyes, as in the circa 1210 stained glass window of Charlemagne in Chartres Cathedral. Similar helmets are shown on the shrine of Charlemagne (made 1200 – 1207) in Aachen Cathedral and on the seal of Louis, son of Philip II Augustus (made 1214). In both cases, the helmets also have a short chinrest (photo 13).

The two statues on the west facade of Welsh Cathedral, created between 1230 and 1240, wear cylindrical helmets with a flat top (photo 11). Although helmets have greater height from the front than from the back, there is no clear separation between the plate protecting the face and the plate covering the neck. The flat plate at the top appears to have been made with a flange, which was attached to the cylinder by means of rivets all around its circumference. On one helmet there is one hole left for the eyes. The other helmet has a vertical reinforcement plate running down the front center - this was the more common design. On helmets of this type, the ability to see is improved by the fact that there is a raised rib or strip along the circumference of the helmet; the only surviving example is in the Zeichhaus (Military Museum. – Per.) in Berlin (photo 12). The vertical helmet reinforcing strip has two wide branches at right angles in it; A rectangular hole is cut in each branch. The helmet is pierced with numerous holes, possibly for attaching laces that held the quilted lining. The Welsh helmet may have had the same lining, but the rather curious caps worn on some of the figures - we will discuss this later - suggest that this is not the case.

The time of manufacture of the helmet from Berlin is not precisely established. Very similar helmets were in circulation before 1270, as can be seen from the Psalter of Saint Louis (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale).

As soon as the face began to be covered with a helmet, the question arose about developing some methods for identifying a warrior. The organization, classification and description of the developed forms and symbols later developed into a science called heraldry.

Several Norwegian chess pieces found at Uig (Isle of Lewis) bear on their heads a new type of protective headdress, an open-faced helmet called a kettle-hat, perhaps for its resemblance to an inverted bowler hat. Later, such a helmet began to be called simply a “bowler” (photo 8). Apparently this is a vida stelhufa, a wide steel hat from the sagas. A reconstructed page from a manuscript from southern Germany (c. 1150), now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, shows chinstraps tied at the ends to a helmet. By the middle of the 13th century, such a helmet (“bowler hat”) was definitely considered a quite suitable headdress for a knight. One such helmet can be seen on the seal of Arnoul III, Count of Guines, created in 1248. Although the helmets appear to have been made from one piece, many manuscripts, such as the Maciejowski Bible from around 1250, show a helmet apparently made from separate pieces in the manner of earlier Frankish helmets, but with a rim attached (Pierpont Library Morgan, New York) (photos 7 and 18).

The bowler hat remained popular as long as armor was worn, and was the typical helmet of the 17th century pikemen, when armor was no longer in use. These headgear reappeared in the British Army in 1915 for protection against shrapnel and shrapnel.

On the shrine of Charlemagne, one knight is shown with a chain mail cap thrown back over his shoulder, which makes it possible to see a tight-fitting quilted cap worn under the hood (it was supposed to soften the blow to the chain mail (photo 13). This cap is very common in 13th-century illustrations, as in Maciej's Bible. Since - especially in the 13th century - the hood was very often worn without a helmet, this padding must have played an important role. The flat-topped mail hoods typical of the mid-13th century were apparently supported by caps that had special form and a thick roll of padding around the top, as on the figures at Welsh Cathedral circa 1230 - 1240. A similar cap is shown on another Welsh figure, worn over chainmail, presumably to support the helmet (Plate 11, right). Of course, maybe sometimes for additional protection a steel cap was worn under a chain mail cap. This is very difficult to verify, but an effigy in Ebergevenny Church, apparently of Lord John Hastings (d. 1313), clearly shows the outline of a solid headdress worn under a mail cap.

It is difficult to find illustrations of how the foreframe was kept closed, although many foreframes are depicted in 12th-century painting and sculpture different shapes. However, a rather late image at Pershore Abbey, Worcestershire, has a long foreface hanging down the right side of the neck, while a drawing of Matthew of Paris showing a kneeling knight from about 1250 in the British Museum shows a similar foreface hanging tightly around the throat and tied with laces to the chain mail hood above the left ear (Plate 15). The images at Shepton Mallet, as well as the image of William Longspey the Elder, Earl of Salisbury in Salisbury Cathedral, show a vestibule with a wide rectangular end, which is held by the brow strip of the mail hood with laces.

In some cases, the large foreface went down, so that the chin and neck remained open until the time of hostilities, as in the Codex Calixtinus (Calixtinian Code. - Per.) in the archives of St. James of Campostela. Pre-frames of this type of later date are shown either with a lining, as in a figure of about 1300 from the Cathedral of Strasbourg (Strasbourg) (now in the cathedral museum), or without a lining, as in the image of Landgrave Johann, who died in 1311 in Marburg. A number of English images from somewhat later times, such as those of Sir Peter de Saltmarsh (d. 1338) at Howden, Yorkshire, show lace with knots on either side of the face - possibly to have been attached to a forepiece of this type.

Long-sleeved chainmail became widespread in the 12th century, and by 1200 the hands were often protected by chainmail gauntlets, consisting of one compartment for the thumb and another for the remaining fingers. These mittens were made as one piece with a sleeve, as seen on the shrine of Charlemagne (Plate 13). A rope or strip around the hand prevented the weight of the sleeve from pressing on the mitten, causing it to slide off the hand. When no fighting was expected, the hand could be stuck out into the hole located in the mitten opposite the palm. The earliest illustrations of mittens with cuffs made separately from the chain mail sleeves can be found in a drawing in the Small Chronicle of Matthew of Paris, dating back to about 1250 (Cambridge, Corpus Christi College). The word haubergeon, a diminutive of hauberk, "chain mail", which appears in manuscripts of the time, presumably refers to the short shirts of mail, sometimes with short sleeves, which are often seen in paintings and sculptures.

Unique is the image of a warrior in the York Psalter (c. 1170 – 1175), which has a row of white stripes with red ends. These stripes form a network over the chain mail; through this network the chain mail covering the body and arms is visible. The net does not cover the chain mail hood (University of Glasgow). So far, no explanation for this network has been proposed (Photo 16).

The hood is sometimes depicted as being made separately from the chainmail - for example, in Glossar von Salomon von Konstanz (circa 1150) (Munich, Bavarian State Library) the chainmail hood is clearly made from metal flakes, while the chainmail is clearly not made from them .

Scale armor was clearly a popular substitute for chain mail at the time. For example, armor made entirely of small scales is shown at Porta Romana, Milan, in a late 12th-century image (Plate 17). A Moravian manuscript in the Pierpont Morgan Library, apparently created between 1213 and 1220, shows armor made of quite large scales, as in the early 12th-century Goliath carving on the west façade of Saint-Gilles Abbey. The late 12th-century German poem "Wigalois" mentions that scales were sometimes made from cow horn, a light but hard material that was very difficult to cut.

Robert Weiss, in his Roman de Rou, mentions a new form of body armor, the curie. The word may be derived from cuir, "skin." There are no illustrations from this time, but Guillaume le Breton's manuscript suggests that it was breast armor, while the chivalric romance of Gaidon (circa 1230) shows that this armor was definitely made of leather (at least in this case) and sometimes strengthened with iron. This armor was worn over chain mail, but under a knight's cloak. Although no illustration of such armor is known, several mid-13th-century manuscripts show sleeveless, waist-length jackets made from some kind of durable material. For example, the single figure in the Maciej Bible is dressed in a similar vest, worn over a regular tunic without any armor other than a military cap and a small hemispherical headdress (cervelliere) (Plate 18, top right). This robe appears to have a downward neckline that starts under the armpits; Apparently, this robe was pulled over the head like a poncho. The English Apocalypse in Lisbon (Plate 19) shows a similar garment worn over chain mail. In both manuscripts, lace is clearly visible in two places at hand. In Apocalypse the surface may have been reinforced by a number of round metal plates. If we take the earliest images of the time of which there are records of their creation, then this kind of body armor can be found on a wall painting (circa 1227) in the Baptistery of St. Gereon in Cologne. Such attire is shown in more detail in the portrait of Hugh II, Chatelian of Ghent (d. 1232), which is now in the Abbey of Niven-Bosche, Heusden, near Ghent.

In the second half of the 13th century, cloaks are occasionally depicted with sewn plates, like a sleeping guard on a tomb at Wienhausen, Germany (Plate 20). The position of the plates is indicated by the heads of the rivets that secure the plates to the fabric, and often by the outline of the plates, which are visible through the fabric. Nothing similar has been found for the early 13th century, but very often cloaks, clearly made of soft, close-fitting material, appear to be convex from the shoulder, as, for example, on the statues in front of Welsh Cathedral (1230 - 1240). The above-mentioned drawing by Matvey Parizhsky, depicting a kneeling knight, shows that this bulge may be from a solid plate protection on the shoulder, which in this case is clearly visible under the cloak and is a separate part from it (photo 15). However, one of the figures in Wells Cathedral has a solid upright collar that extends from the cloak, so it is possible that the cloak itself had reinforced shoulders (Plate 11).

Body armor, characteristic of the first three quarters of the 14th century, was called coat of plates, “dress of plates”, sometimes it was called more simply – plates, “plates”. The garment is usually depicted as a short, usually sleeveless jacket, with small circles or flowers printed on it, which are actually large rivet heads holding the overlapping plates together and attaching them to the fabric covering the plates on top. This type of clothing is characteristic of paintings in Northern Italy, such as the series of illustrations of the life of St. George executed by Altichiero in the Chapel of St. George (San Giorgio), Padua (c. 1380 – 1390) (c. 1377. – Ed.). It is unclear when plate dress first appeared, but jackets strewn with dots and circles, very similar to those seen in Altiquiero's paintings, appear in the work of Matthew of Paris and his colleagues around 1250, as well as in the Spanish Commentaries on the Apocalypse. Beatus from about the same time or even slightly earlier (Paris, National Library). In the Beatus manuscript, what appear to be nail heads are clearly arranged in horizontal rows on the surface of the jacket; The vertical seams of the covering material are also clearly visible.

At this time, another type of body armor began to come into use. Guillaume le Breton, describing the first battle between William des Barres and the future English king Richard I, reports that the spears pierced the shield, chain mail and quilted jacket and stopped on the hardened steel plate that covered the chest.

The quilted jacket is first mentioned by Weiss as an alternative to chain mail. Observations from later times suggest that it was a suit, usually made of two layers of linen, stuffed with wool, cotton, etc., and quilted like a down quilt to keep the padding in place (Plate 7). The quilting was usually done in parallel lines, sometimes intersecting like a lattice. The quilted jacket protected quite well from slashing blows and softened their force. The Assize of Arms of 1181 of King Henry II of England decreed that the minimum requirement for all city dwellers and freemen with an income, goods or rent of more than 10 marks per year was a quilted jacket. A similar garment - worn under chainmail to prevent the rings from cutting into the skin - was used from the beginning of the 13th century. By this time there are references to the fact that a spear pierced a shield, chain mail and a quilted jacket. However, there appears to be no known illustration of a quilted garment worn under chain mail. Alternative name for this type of clothing there was an aketon, from Arabic word al-qutun, “cotton”, with which the jacket was stuffed. Later references differentiate aketons and quilted jackets, but what the difference was is unclear.

Manuscript of the novel “Parzival” (by Wolfram von Eschenbach. – Ed.) from the late 12th to early 13th centuries describes a warrior dressed in a quilted silk jacket, over which he put on a quilted aketon. The Maciej Bible, which shows many figures wearing sleeveless quilted robes worn over garments with sleeves, may show just such jackets (Plate 18, top left corner). The Saracen writer Beha ed-Din ibn Shedad, describing the Christian infantry under Arsuf, says: “Each infantryman has a thick “cassock” made of felt, and under it a chain mail shirt, so strong that our arrows have no effect on them... I I noticed among them people who had from one to ten pierced arrows sticking out of their backs; however, these people could move at a normal pace and did not lag behind the detachment.”

Although many knights still fought without leg armor, two types of footwear were used to protect them. One type was long chain mail stockings, attached to a waist belt under the chain mail and tied under the knee to prevent the weight of the stockings from causing them to slide down. Another variety was a strip of chain mail; this strip covered the front of the leg and ankle. The strip was tied with straps tied at the back. This type of protection was also held on by straps that were tied to the waist belt. An example of the first type of protection can be seen on the shrine of Charlemagne, and the second - in the English psalter (about 1200), which is kept at Leiden University. In the second case it is quite clear that cloth stockings were worn under the chain mail stockings - these stockings are visible in the images - and in the first case they were probably also worn, although they are not visible. An early 13th-century manuscript of the Aeneid, kept at the University of Tübingen, shows two men wearing their mail stockings. It is clear that they have some kind of stockings made of fabric under their chain mail stockings. Matthew of Paris's drawing of a kneeling knight (circa 1250) shows quite clearly that, at least in this case, the chain mail stockings do not reach the knight's chain mail that diverges below (photo 15).

A 13th-century manuscript of the Aeneid shows for the first time some type of thick padding worn on the thighs, over chain mail stockings (Plate 21). An illustration in Maciej's Bible shows a man crouching to pull on a similar thigh guard. This protection consists of two separate tapering “tubes” made of some thick material, possibly stitched. Presumably, these “pipes” were attached to the waist belt.

In the Germanic lands, quilted thigh protection (stockings) is often shown in illustrations of the mid-calf leg. Higher up the leg, the stockings appear to have been pulled together in vertical strips, the ends of which were apparently tied together, perhaps to better enclose the leg, as, for example, in a psalter from the first half of the 13th century in the British Museum.

The Knight, engraved on the shrine of St. Maurice (225) in the treasury of the Abbey of St. Maurice, Switzerland, has a plate shaped like a gravy boat attached to his thigh guard above the kneepad. The Trinity College Apocalypse, which features an illustration of a similar small plate placed directly over a coat of mail, has so far been dated to around 1230, but is now thought to date from around 1245 to 1250 (Trinity College, Cambridge). The Icelandic author of The King's Mirror, believed to date from about 1240 to 1250, states that this knee guard was made of iron. In this case, the knee plate is shaped like a bowl, but it has a triangular extension to protect the sides of the knee. In both works, in addition, there are narrow plates in front of the shin, tapering towards the knee. It is not clear how the plates were attached, but from numerous later illustrations it appears that the plates were held by straps that went around the leg over the chainmail fabric. In Maciej's Bible, Goliath wears fairly wide shinbalds secured with straps around his calf. Perhaps the second belt above is hidden by a padded thigh guard that covers his hips and knees and appears to cover the top edge of his shin guards.

As soon as the faces of the warriors were covered with helmets, some kind of identification method was required to distinguish between friends and foes. The second seal of King Richard I of England, apparently dating back to 1194, shows a fan-like object attached to the top of his helmet, which bears an image of a lion - the same as the one on his shield. Liber ad honorem augusti (“Treatise in honor of the Emperor.” – Per.) Pietro de Eboli (c. 1200) (Bern) shows images that were painted on the shields of knights and repeated on the sides of their helmets with conical or round tops. Usually these designs were abstract, with diagonal belts, chevrons, crosses and circles, but the Emperor had an eagle, and Margrave Diopold von Schweinspoint had an eagle. wild bear. In this work, for the first time, the favorite invention of heraldists is encountered - the rebus coat of arms, in which the drawing contains some connection with the name of the owner of the coat of arms (photo 25).

The Tübingen manuscript of the Aeneid shows fantastic helmet crests, birds and animals, clearly three-dimensional and with small flags on the sides (Plate 21). In some cases, the design was applied to the helmet; it seems that this was very common, especially in Spain, where the designs were on both closed and open helmets. Some of the helmets in this manuscript have what appear to be long scarves with ends that go to the sides of the helmets, but these may be the veils of the Amazon warriors, since they are only found on them and these scarves are not on the male figures.

In the second half of the 12th century, the sons of the original owners of the coats of arms began to change the designs used on the shields. The golden lions on the blue shield of Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, which can be seen on his tombstone (circa 1150) at Le Mans, are transformed by his heirs into the lions from the English royal coat of arms, which his Plantagenet descendants placed on the red coat of arms. Meanwhile his illegitimate heir, William Longspee the Elder, Earl of Salisbury, had the same coat of arms as Geoffrey, as shown in his portrait and in the description of the coat of arms in an early heraldic work called the Glover Roll.

Beginning around the middle of the 12th century, a loosely hanging cloak was sometimes worn over the mail, as can be seen on the seal of Waleran de Bellomonte, Earl of Worcester, made before 1250. This example had long sleeves with long trailing cuffs, but more often, as in the Winchester Bible (c. 1160 - 1170), they had no sleeves at all (Plate 9). The cloak is rare until the beginning of the 13th century, when in manuscripts such as the Aeneid, almost all knights began to wear it, and this cloak had no sleeves, and the cloak itself reached mid-calf. Usually the cloak had slits in the middle, front and back, so that one could ride a horse without interference. The cloak had a belt or cord at the waist, separate from the sword belt. Perhaps the cloak appeared to protect the chain mail from the sun's rays during the Crusades, or, as the poem "The Confession of King Arthur" and the Buke of Knychthede (translation of Gilbert Eye into Scottish from the French of Ramon Lall's book on chivalry) make one think. Per.), protected from rain. However, it is more likely that the cloak was an imitation of Saracen attire. Armies throughout history have tended to copy the clothing or uniforms of their opponents. Early examples of these robes are almost always white or a natural color, and only later do the cloak begin to be painted with the same pattern as on the shield.

A blanket hanging loosely from a horse, called a blanket, also appeared at the end of the 12th century, as can be judged by two seals of Alfonso II of Aragon (1186 and 1193). On the second of them the vertical stripes from the owner's coat of arms are clearly visible. The blanket was usually divided into two parts: one covered the horse's head and withers, the other covered the croup behind the saddle. In the manuscript Liber ad honorem augusti (“Treatise in honor of the Emperor.” - Per.) the jagged edges of the blanket with the image of the rider’s coat of arms go down and only reach about 30 cm from the ground. In a few cases, only the front part of the blanket was worn, as on the seal of Louis II, Count of Looz (1216). The die for the making of the seal of Robert Fitzwalter (1198 – 1234) in the British Museum shows the horse's head covered with a different material from the rest of the blanket; perhaps this material served for protection. At a later time, in documents of the 13th century, there are many references to testiers and chanfreins, protection of the horse's head. Illustrations of hoods similar to those shown on this seal, but which were made entirely separate from any blanket, have been found in manuscripts from the late 13th century. Horse armor made of iron (fer) is mentioned in the work of Weiss between 1160 and 1174, but, it is assumed, only because of the need to find a rhyme with the name Osber. The first mention of what was definitely horse armor (the Iranians, particularly the Parthians and Sarmatians, had horse armor. – Ed.), in one case from chain mail, in the other from fabric (apparently, in both cases the chain mail armor was worn over the fabric), found in the inventory of Falk de Brothe, made in 1224.

Although shields with rounded tops and downward ends continued to be used until about 1200, and the spearmen of Italy carried them until the 15th century, these shields began to quickly give way to a new type of shield, with a flat top edge, from about 1150. Such a shield can be seen on the seal of Robert de Vitre (1158 – 1161). Removing the curved part may have allowed for better visibility over the shield without reducing its protective properties. Umbons continue to be seen from time to time even into the 13th century. The manuscript Liber ad honorem augusti shows old uniform shield, but the shield itself becomes smaller than before. In the Aeneid manuscript the shield is only two-thirds the size of the Bayeux tapestry shields, although it remains large enough to carry a wounded man from the battlefield. Many illustrations - for example, in the Aeneid manuscript - show shields curved forward, the ends of which go to the shoulders.

From that time, a single shield dating from about 1230–1250 has survived, although later it was given a more modern look by removing the upward-curved edge. The shield bears the coat of arms of the von Brienz family and may have belonged to Arnold von Brienz, who founded the monastery where the shield was found in 1197. Arnold von Brienz died in 1225. The shield is 15 mm thick and made of wood covered with brocade on both sides. The front features a highly stylized silver lion on a blue background. The original length of the shield (before it was modified) appears to have been between 95 and 100 cm, meaning that it extended from shoulder to knee. This is about the same proportion as the shield held by the knight in the earliest depiction of the Temple Church in London, thought to be William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke (d. 1219). In later images, two large shields can be seen in the same church. On the back side of von Brienz's shield there are traces of a guyge, straps and a soft pad that protects the clenched hand in front; such a pad is also in the Aeneid manuscript.

The older round shield has not completely disappeared. It is often seen in Spanish art and Saracen illustrations. A very small round shield, called a buckler, was grasped by a handle-brace in the center, usually located behind the knob. It was used throughout the Middle Ages; it was usually used by infantry, but was also occasionally used by knights, as shown in images at Malvern Abbey, Worcestershire (c. 1240). A small round shield held by one handle is shown on a portable altar (c. 1160) at Ausburg.

At this time, a new method of using a shield by a mounted warrior with a spear at the ready appeared. On the Bayeux tapestry and other images of this time, the shield is held by the straps with the left hand, which is located at shoulder level and also holds the reins with knots on them. This method can still be seen in the 13th century manuscript of the Lives of the Two Offs in the British Museum. On the other hand, an illustration by Matthew of Paris from the Great Chronicle, also dating from about 1250, shows a hand holding the reins in the modern way - directly above the pommel of the saddle, while the shield hangs from the neck on the gaija (Corpus Christi College, Cambridge). It may be that only a single strap was used, by which it was held by the hand, as in the Book of Alexander from Trinity College, Cambridge. In Le Tournois de Chauvenci (“Tournament in Chauvenci.” – Per.) 1285 it is written: “L’escu au col fort embraci?”, and this indicates that the hand was threaded through the straps. This method can be seen in a 14th-century drawing from Lombardy, now in the Morgan Library, New York. By the end of the 13th century, however, the shield appears to have come to be hung on the gaij without any other support when the spear was held at the ready. It was only when the spear was broken and the sword was used that the hand was moved to the shield straps.

Weiss writes that Norman archers at Hastings wore a short tunic. This is exactly how the Bayeux Tapestry shows them, with the exception of one archer in full armor, who was presumably the commander. Quivers were hung either on right side waist belt, or behind the right shoulder. The archers shown in the Liber ad honorem augusti manuscript, written around 1200, are still unarmoured, although some crossbowmen have conical helmets with bows (Plate 25). Although this is not represented in any way on the tapestry, unknown author poem Carmen de Hastingae Proelio (“Song of the Battle of Hastings.” - Per.), writes that there were many crossbowmen in the ranks of the Normans.

The crossbow was known back in last days Roman Empire, since it is mentioned by Vegetius in a work written around 385. Additionally, a crossbow can be seen on a Roman carved bas-relief in the Musée Crozatier, Le Puy, where the crossbow consists of a short, heavy bow mounted horizontally at one end of a straight stock. When cocked, the bowstring snapped a barrel-shaped “nut” onto the spring-loaded trigger. A regular arrow or a special arrow for a crossbow was placed in the groove with the back end facing the trigger. After this, aiming was carried out (pressing the stock to the cheek), after which a shot was fired by pressing the back trigger. Because the strong steel crossbow arrowheads often had a square cross-section, they were called quarrels from the French carr? (square ( fr.). – Per.). The manuscript of the poem "Aeneid" shows a quiver with a D-shaped cross-section and a narrow neck, perhaps to prevent the arrows from being pulled together. A similar type of quiver can also be seen in the Pembroke College Gospel from the early 12th century.

Anna Komnenos, daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, describes this weapon (the crossbow, or crossbow, was well known in the Eastern Roman Empire, the direct heir of the unified Roman Empire; in Rus' the crossbow had been used since the 10th century, and Western Europeans had mastered it since the 11th century. – Ed.) in the hands of the Crusaders: “He who draws his deadly and very far-shooting weapon must lie, one might say, almost on his back and use all the strength of his legs against the semicircle of the bow and draw the string, using the strength of his legs with all his power in the opposite direction. .. The arrows used for this bow are very short in length, but very thick, with very heavy iron tips.”

At least by the beginning of the 13th century, due to the increasing power of bows on the crossbow machine, they began to be pulled using a hook attached to the center of the crossbowman's waist belt. The bowstring was caught on this hook, the bow was bent by placing the legs in a stirrup attached to the front of the stock, after which the crossbowman's legs were straightened, and a hook on the belt pulled the bowstring. This type of stirrup is shown in The Apocalypse of Trinity College (Plate 7).

Although the use of crossbows was anathematized by Pope Innocent II at the Second Lateran Council in 1139, and by many later decrees, these easel bows became one of the most important weapons of the Middle Ages, especially in the hands of well-trained mercenaries. It is widely believed that Richard I received the retribution of fate, dying from a wound inflicted by an arrow from a crossbow, since Richard himself actively used this weapon in his troops.