Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 4.djvu/375

 OKIfifNAT, DOf'UMKNTS. 351 Majesties Armourers: And that the said Mill, formerly employed in t^rind- inir, glazeini^ and makeing' cloane of Armes, is destroyed and converted to other uses by one jNI"". Woodward, '.vho claiines it by virtue of a Grauntfrorn Kinge James (of blessed memorye) but the ofllcers of the Armorye (for his M.ijesties use) have it now in their possession. Memorandum. That the several 1 distinguishments of the Armors and Furnitures before mencioned, viz' The first serviceable, The second defec- tive, and to be repaired, The third unserviceable, in their owne kinds, yet may be employed for necessary uses, are soe reported by Eichard Kinge and Thomas Cope, two of his Majesties Armorers at Greenwich, who were nominated and appointed in his Majesties Commission, under his signe Manual before recited, to be assistant in this Service : And wc doe thinke the same to be by them faithful!)^ and honestly soe distinguished. Will. Legge, Master of his Majesties J. Robinson, I^i: Ten: Toure. Armories. Jo. Wood. Barth. Beale. The attempt to of!*er a detailed explanation of all the questions regarding armour and militar}- costume, suggested by the foregoing document, would be beyond the limits of our present purpose. The principal terms occur- ring in it have been satisfactorily interpreted by Sir Samuel Meyrick. The chief divisions, under which ordinary defensive armour of the earlier half of the seventeenth century is here found to be classed, are, for Cavalry, Harquebuzeers', and Curasseers" armour ; for infantry, corslets, and curats. This official return is perfectly in accordance with the state- ments of writers of the period, and the descriptions given by Markham, in his " Souldiers Accidence," printed 1645, with the schedule of prices of aimour, established by a commission appointed by Charles I. in 1631, supply a complete explanation of the items here found, in regard to the equipment both of horse and foot f. The harquebuzeers were light-armed horsemen, and their equipment was so devised as to give the greatest possible freedom of movement, requisite for the effective use of fire-arms ; on which account they had head-pieces with great cheeks and a bar before the face, here designated as Dutch s. The armour of the heavy cavalry was of more complicated and ponderous description ; the head-piece, or '"casque"" was close, the limbs Avere protected by vambraces, cuisses, and knee-caps, with the culet or guardereine. ' The prices weip, for harqutbu/.ccis' fifteenth century, and also in the armies of armour, £1 12s.; cuirassiers', ,1 1 10s.; Francis I. See Sir Samuel Meyrick's corslet for a foot soldier, £1 2s. Crit. dissertation on the introduction and use Enqu., vol. iii. p. 87. of tliis lire-arm, Arch.tologia, vol. xxii. ' The harijuebus was more usually the p. (J."]. A good representation of a mounted weapon of infantry, hut horse-arquebusitrs liarquebuzecr is given in Capt. Cruso's were employed in Germany as early as the Instructions for Cavalry. 1fi32.