NOTES.

The series of musters, of which the document above printed forms a part, was taken in the spring of 1539, in view of the threatened war with France. Holinshed thus quaintly records the circumstance :

"The King being informed that the Pope by instigation of Cardinall Poole had mooued and stirred diuers great princes and potentats of Christendome to inuade the realme of England, without all delaie rode himselfe toward the sea coasts, and sent diuerse of his nobles and councellors to surueie all the ports and places of danger on the coast, where anie meet and convenient landing place might be doubted, as well in the borders of England, as also of Wales in which dangerous places he caused bulworks and forts to be erected. And further, he caused the Lord Admerall, Earle of Southampton, to prepare in a readinesse his nauie of ships for defense of the coasts. Beside this, he sent forth commissions to haue generall musters taken through the realme, to vnderstand what number of able men he might make account of: and further to haue the armor and weapons seene and viewed." The King reviewed the London musters, and in preparation for this, "eftsoons euerie Alderman repaired to his ward, and there put aside all such as had iacks, cotes of plate of maile, and brigandines, and appointed none but such as had white armor, except such as should beare morish pikes, which ware no armor but sculles; and there was no stranger (although he were a denisine) permitted to be in this muster."

These musters were general all over the country; most of the returns are preserved among the State Papers. Those for "the libertez of Bradford, commonly callyd Bradfordale," are printed in the first volume of the Bradford Antiquary. I have referred to this once or twice in the following notes.

The musters were taken by townships, and in a considerable number of cases the constable heads the list. The general arrangements for each township, as a rule, follow the same plan. First come the archers horsed and harnessed, next billmen horsed and harnessed; then archers parcel harnessed, followed by billmen parcel harnessed; and lastly the archers and billmen having no harness. Sometimes, however, the three classes of archers come together, and are followed by the three classes of billmen.

The gentry are mostly described as esquires or gentlemen, but not always; e.g. Thomas Gascoigne of Parlington (vol. iv., p. 255).

The great majority of the gentry are entered as archers; but there are a few billmen and two spearmen. The billmen are William Dyneley, gent., of Potter Newton (ix., 102), John More, gent., and William Hall, gent., of Austhorpe (ix., 103); Henry Skelton, gent., of Osmundthorp (ix., 107); and George and John Gascoigne, esquires, of Gawthorp (ix., 302). The two spearmen are George Paslew, of Bingley, presumably a "gent.," but not so described (iv., 245), and John Tempest, Esq., of Bowling (Bradford Antiquary, i., 218).

Sometimes there is a summary of the townships, as at Morton (iv., 247), but this is frequently omitted.

Most persons are described as "able," that is, fit for active service; where persons not able are included, it is because they have harness which would thus be available for use by others (iv., 255; ix., 106, 108). In the same category we must include the “wives” (probably widows), who occur once or twice, e.g. "Francis Kyllyngbeck wyff” and "Asthorp wyff" in Leeds Mainriding, both of whom had harness.

It is not always quite clear whether "abill man” means “able man" or "a billman" (see iv. 256; William Ellis of Barwick); but in most cases it is probably the former.

Practically only two classes of fighting men are recognised, the archers, who are sometimes called bowmen (iv., 256, 257), and the billmen. The spearmen, of whom there are one or two, seem, however, to be distinct from the billmen (ix., 106, and Gawthorp, ix., 302), but what the precise difference was is difficult to say.

We must not expect to find a too exact definition either of persons or armour; the musters were intended to give a general idea of the available military strength of the country, and minute details were not wanted.

ARMOUR.

This remark applies particularly to the arms and armour. Thus, where a man is described as "harnessed," we may assume that he had a full equipment, both offensive and defensive, but we are left in the dark as to what that equipment consisted of. A man having a jack, a salade, and splints, was considered as "parcel harnessed ” only (iv., 258, 259, etc.), and therefore the full "harness" comprised something more; a gorget, probably, and possibly gauntlets. absence of plate body-armour is specially noticeable. Only one breast-plate is mentioned (ix., 101), but it must be assumed that many of the "harnessed" individuals had complete suits of the armour of

The

the period, especially among the gentry. (iv., 250), but we do not get the items.

Half harness occurs once

At the period of these musters full cap-à-pie armour was rarely used for military purposes, except in pictures, though still worn for jousting. What is known as the "demi-suit" begins early in the sixteenth century. It consisted of a head-piece, either of the closed or open type; a breast-plate and back-plate, with arm-pieces and gauntlets, and long thigh-pieces, tassets or cuisses, to protect the upper part of the leg (see plate, Thoresby Society Miscellanea, vol. iv., p. 123).

The head armour mentioned in the text comprises salades, steel bonnets, and steel caps.

to

The salade was a close-fitting steel head-piece, with a projection cover the neck. There was frequently a vizor, either fixed or movable (see plate, as above). The usual head-piece of the period was the morion, which may very probably be included in the term salade.

Steel bonnets. These were probably very similar to the simplest form of salade, without vizor or attached neck-guard.

Steel caps and hats as a rule approximated in form to the ordinary caps and hats of the period, and consequently varied much in shape. A modern round felt hat, low in the crown, and with a wide brim, more or less flat, will perhaps give the best idea of them. When without brims they are known as scull-caps. In the Bradford-dale portion a "ledder stule" occurs (Bradford Antiquary, i., 220). This is probably an error for scule; and if so, the article mentioned is doubtless a scull-cap of boiled leather, cuir bouilli. An early account of the Battle of Agincourt thus describes the English archers-"les aulcuns portoient huvettes ou capelines de cuir bouilli, et les aulcuns d'osier, sur lesquels avoit une croisure de fer" (Hewitt, Ancient Armour, iii., 524).

Breast-plate.-Only one breast-plate is mentioned in the Skyrack Muster; it belonged to Anthony Birkby of Kippax, and a back-plate is probably implied as well (ix., 101). But, as I have already pointed out, most of those who are described as "harnessed" probably had complete suits, which would, of course, include breast-plates.

The gorget was a steel collar protecting the neck and throat. They continued to be worn until the middle of the seventeenth century, and not infrequently were prolonged into shoulder-pieces or pauldrons.

Jack.-This word is probably used here for any protective covering for the body other than the cuirass. In general these coats or jackets

were made of velvet, silk, linen, or other material, strengthened with scales or small plates of steel, iron, or sometimes even horn, fixed to the inside. Among the effects of Sir John Fastolfe (temp. Henry VI.) were "vj jakkes stuffyd with horne," and "j jakke of blakke lynen clothe stuffyd with mayle" (Archeologia, xxi). They were generally without sleeves, and are often called "brigandines."

Gauntlets are too well known to need description. It may be noted, however, that at this period the fingers were for the most part separately articulated. One gauntlet occurs at Swillington-cum

Preston (ix., 258).

Splints. This term presents some difficulties. It was used for any piece of armour made up of narrow pieces articulated together. Occasionally the whole suit was thus formed, and was known as "a suit of splints." In these musters "splints " probably mean splinted armour for the back and breast. They are here always mentioned in pairs, i.e. a back and a breast piece.

TOWN ARMOUR.

One of the most interesting features of these Rolls is the evidence of public armour, belonging to the township. There can be little doubt that many of the constables who are harnessed or parcel-harnessed were in fact accredited with the public arms and armour, even where it is not so stated explicitly. Difficulties must frequently have occurred in the way of fit, which in many cases would be insurmountable.

The townships possessing armour were not the largest or most important, but rather the other way. The following is a list of them :— Menston (iv., 251, 252)-horse and harness for a man, common in the town. No details.

Bramhope (iv., 253)—two jacks, two salades, two pairs of splints and two gorgets, in commonalty in the township.

Garforth (iv., 255)-one common jack, salade, and splints, within the said town.

Aberford (iv., 260)—a jack, a salade, a pair of splints, and a gorget, belonging to the town.

Halton (ix., 101) -two jacks, two sheaves of arrows, and a salade,

belonging to the town.

Thorner (ix., 104)-two jacks for the town.

Shadwell (ix., 105)—a common jack, salade, splints, bow, and a

sheaf of arrows.

Menston, it will be noticed, has a public horse as well as public harness. One would like to know more of these township properties. Were they bought out of public moneys for this or some similar occasion? Had they been given or bequeathed by the lord or some unknown public benefactor? Were they provided by the Crown or the county? Unfortunately, there is no means of answering any of these questions.

ARMS.

The only arms mentioned are spears, bills, and bows and arrows. It is remarkable that swords and daggers should be conspicuous by their absence. No doubt the "harnessed" men had one or both, but it is certainly singular that none are specified among the "parcel harnessed." It is possible that they were omitted as not coming within the scope of the muster. This may also account for the absence of guns or pistols of any kind.

Bills.—This term probably includes a variety of weapons, the bill proper, the partisan, the halberd, and others of a similar kind. Originally the bill was simply a scythe fixed straight on a shaft, instead of at right angles. Later on both edges were sharpened, so as to make a better thrusting weapon, and a hook with a cutting edge was added at one side.

Spears. These weapons are implied in the term "spearman," which occurs at Bingley (iv., 245) and Gawthorp (ix., 302), while spears are mentioned at Headingley-cum-Burley (ix, 106) and Horsforth (iv., 253). They were probably lances of some sort, but it seems impossible to define them more minutely.

Lead Maule.-In Leeds Borough-cum-Kirkgate John Blackburn has after his name "a selet and a ledemen" (ix., 110). I printed this "lede men" under the impression that it possibly meant some sort of a trained leader, a "sergeant-major" perhaps of the period. I have since come to the conclusion that the term should be "lede mau," and means a maule," mallet or mace, with a leaden head. The dropping of a final "1" after a vowel is a common feature in middle English, and is to this day specially characteristic of northern dialects. Thus we get ba' for ball, ca' for call, Dawtry for Daltry, etc. A short time ago I asked a worthy Sussex countryman if he knew what a "mall was. Oh, yes, he said, he knew what a "maw was; it was a big wooden mallet, used to drive pegs into the ground. Hewitt, in his Ancient Armour (iii., 597), quotes an order that every