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This
illustration shows the typical opponent of the English bowmen in France in
the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. This man is bravely
facing the feathered death so amply provided by the English bowmen.
The
Knight, mounted on his heraldically barded destrier is well armed in
contemporary fashion. His helmet is a visored bascinet with a hanging mail
aventail. On his body he wears a padded ' jupon ' based on an example
dated around 1380 and worn by Charles VI of France which is still
preserved in Chartres. Beneath the jupon would be extra defences of mail
or plate. He wears full plate defences on his legs and steel gauntlets. he
is armed with spear, sword and mace and would bear a dagger hanging from
the enamelled belt worn around his hips.
The heraldry shown is conjectural and does not represent any particular
family but rather attempts to typify those nobles of
France who tried to stem the English tied and often died trying.
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