This study can be used simply as a glossary to quickly check meanings. The documents are printed in chronological order. Each is numbered. When referred to in the introduction to the source-types and illustrated glossary the document number is in bold font in parentheses, e.g. (134). The sourcebook can, however, be used at a more advanced level in order for the reader to build up their own better understanding of the subject. In this section I provide two examples of how our sources – textual and material – work hand in glove to increase our knowledge. The first is development and the second relates to living history.

Development

This sourcebook does not seek to provide a detailed study of the development and evolution of arms and armour. What it does do, however, is furnish researchers with solid evidence – evidence that is essential to any future study in the field. Here are two examples:

First, take schynbalds: a type of shin defence. No physical specimens have yet been positively identified. In our sources they are described as being ‘of plate’ and pieces of iron for their making are listed in Scarborough Castle (39); thus we can conclude that they were a solid metal defence. Their form is nowhere described. They are recorded most frequently in the earlier part of the century. There is reference to them in an inventory of 1397 (144). This could well, however, be interpreted as their forming part of much old harness piled up in Pleshey Castle. Such appearance – then disappearance – is telling. This might hint at the fact that they did not offer such good protection to the lower leg as did the fully-enclosing greave and were therefore superseded. We can draw the conclusion that they were a defence for the front of the leg only. This type of evidence can be employed, for example, by scholars working in such fields as medieval literature.

Second, an arming doublet is recorded amongst the possessions of an English knight in 1387 (131). There are no extant medieval arming doublets. We know from medieval artwork and two arming treatises of the mid-fifteenth century that they were the padded fabric foundation to which the metal plates of a harness are laced. This is a small, yet significant, contribution to our knowledge of the development of plate armour.