Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 2).djvu/229

 close with his adversary and to grasp the blade of his rapier or sword without risk of being hurt. Sometimes a pair of gauntlets are met with, of which only the left-hand gauntlet is lined with mail. Leather gloves with mail lining were in use until the third quarter of the XVIIth century. We illustrate an example from the collection of Mr. W. H. Fenton (Fig. 532).

JAZARINES, BRIGANDINES, AND JACKS

When we come to consider the flexible defensive apparel of our knightly ancestors other than the true shirt of linked mail we are confronted by un embarras de richesse; for from the early times at which we commenced our chronicle such armaments existed in countless varieties. The quilted hacketon, the gambeson, and all those semi-secret defences that were part of the knight's military dress throughout the XIIIth and XIVth centuries come under this heading. Some eminent writers have made a considerable difference between what is now known as the jazarine, the brigandine, and the jack. Yet there seems no real necessity for making these subdivisions; for all these defences, into which plates of metal are introduced, come under the general heading of flexible garments and only vary in name according to the arrangement of the inserted metal parts. One is accustomed to consider the terms jazarine and brigandine as more particularly belonging to the XIVth, XVth, and XVIth centuries garment; while the jack seems associated with the commoner flexible apparel of late XVIth and early XVIIth century date. This, however, is only a mental analysis of the terms used, a contention which we can make good by reference to the armaments of old Japan, for in no other country, probably, were such varied forms of quilted defences known; and yet, though these had many and elaborate subdivisions, they were all classed under the generic name of Kozane.

Meyrick speaks of the word "jazerant" as being derived from the Italian ghiazzerino, a clinker-built ship; while Ducange suggests that ghiazzerino was an early Italian word meaning a coat of chain mail. The word is probably of Saracenic origin. Both to a certain extent agree that in the case of jazerant armour the plates of metal were exposed; witness as an example Martin and George Klausenburg's beautiful figure of St. George (Fig. 533). The appearance of the actual armour would, however, resemble that of the XVIth century half suit to be seen in the next illustration. There is record of defensive armour of the jazerant kind as early as 1316 in the oft