Warriors For The Working Day
Military Art
By
Paul Hitchin
145 Walsall Road
Pelsall
Walsall
WS3 4BP
UK
Telephone
07967630942
Tudor
Man at Arms
A knight or officer of Henry V111th’s
army. Over his fine armour of Italian design he wears a surcoat of the
Tudor livery colours also featuring the cross of Saint George and the
Tudor Rose. Beneath the armour he wears an arming jacket, a padded garment
with gussets of mail to protect the vulnerable joints at elbow and armpit.
The jacket also features ties with which the arm defences were actually
tied to the jacket. The man carries a double handed sword with a leather
covered ‘ricasso’ allowing the user to grasp that section of blade and
thrust with the weapon.
He also carries another sword slung from his belt, perhaps a little old
fashioned when many contemporary swords featured hilts with extra
protection for the user’s hand. Double handed swordsmen were supposed to
take an active part in the breaking up of opposing units of pikemen and
men at arms such as this man were still very much a feature of the armies
of Henry V111th particularly his campaigns against the Scots.
