If we once again look at the knights from the Bayesian Canvas and the miniatures from the Maciejewski Bible, it is not at all difficult to notice that, although the changes in their equipment are undoubted, new helmets have appeared, that they began to wear multi-colored surcoats over their armor, in general In general, the figure of the knight was not at all bright and impressive at first. Metal chain mail, at least chain mail leggings tied to calves, and a painted helmet - that's all that the Norman knight of 1066 could boast of except for a shield with the image of a winding cross or dragon. But the knight of 1250, judging by the miniatures from the "Bible of Matsievsky", also had nothing to boast about. Well, a colored surcoat without sleeves, well, a helmet - someone's gilded, someone's painted. For example, the blue itself, and the cross-shaped amplification on the front is white and that's it. Even horse blankets and those are of the same color.
But here we look at a miniature from the "Romance of Thebes" (1330) and see something completely different. No, the cut of the surcoat hasn't changed - it's still the same long-sleeve sleeveless jacket. But on the other hand, horse blankets bear an image corresponding to the pattern on the shield, that is, they have turned into a kind of knightly coat of arms - or rather, its addition, designed for recognition from afar. The saddle is also decorated with images from the coat of arms. Surko - no, for some reason surco does not have such images, but on the shoulders of the knights appeared "shields" all with the same pattern as on his shield.
Miniature from "The Romance of Thebes" (1330). National Library of France, Paris.
This is France. And here is Germany, where, in fact, the word "knight" came from - the famous "Manes Code" (about 1300), kept in the library of the Heidelberg University, and in which we see about the same - a real riot of colors and fantasy. True, we can say that the helmet-mounted decorations, which are in the miniatures of this code and which are not in the "Bible of Maciejewski", are depicted here because it is not a real war that is shown, but tournament fights. It is quite possible to agree with this statement, since we know (judging by the rare samples of such helmet-mounted jewelry that have come down to our time) that their weight could reach one kilogram and even more, and carry a three-kilogram helmet on our shoulders, and one more a kilogram of "jewelry" in battle would be the height of imprudence.
The first gravestone images with espowlers date back to 1250. For example, this is the figure of Guy de Plessis-Brion, in which we see an empty knight's shield without a coat of arms and the same empty rectangular espoulers. Undoubtedly, both the shield and the shields were painted in some color, and this Guy was content with that.
Hubert de Corbet (1298), St. Agatha, Evans, Liege, Belgium. His espowlers are huge. The images on them and on the shield are squirrel fur.
However, the conclusion that we can already draw is obvious. Somewhere between 1250 and 1300, the clothing of the knights became quite bright and had a pronounced heraldic character; that on many of the miniatures we see images of coats of arms on shields, helmets, surcoats, and even on saddles. And the effigies, well known to us, also confirm this. For example, it is in the heraldic jupone (that is, in the shortened surcoat) that the knight Peter de Grandisson (died in 1358) is represented on his effigy in Hereford Cathedral. And the painted effigy of Sir Robert du Beuys (died in 1340, was buried in the city church in Fersfield, Norfolk) both a helmet and a surcoat with a red cross on the chest, and even white gloves are covered with heraldic ermine fur.
They demonstrate to us effigies and such an element of knightly armament, which is also clearly visible on miniatures, as espowlers. How do you know when they appeared? Well, here, for example, let's look at the drawing of the tombstone of Pierre de Blémur, dating back to 1285. It clearly shows his espaulens with the image of a straight cross, and we see the same cross on his surcoat and shield. They are also on the effigy of Roger de Trumpington (1289). But they are not on many other English effigies of a later time, that is, we can say that the popularity of this piece of knightly equipment of those years on the continent was higher than in England. By the way, we have already turned to the sketches and photographs of British effigies many times and made sure that most of them do not have shields. Although it cannot be said that English effigies do not occur with espowlers at all. Meet. But less often than in the same France.
Pierre de Blémour (1285), Church of Cordelia, Senlis, France.
For example, the breaststroke is known - that is, an engraved copper plate on a tombstone with the image of Sir William de Septvans (1322), with espoulers on the shoulders, which seem to repeat the image of his coat of arms - three baskets for winding grain. But only on the shield there are three baskets, but on the shields there is only one and you will not draw more there! His surcoat, however, is also all embroidered with baskets, so it is quite possible that their number for some reason did not play a role.
Robert de Septvans (1322), Church of St. Virgin Mary in Chatham, Kent.
Focusing on the great variety of effigia with scutes, we can draw some conclusions: first, about their shape. Most often it was either a square or a rectangle, almost always bearing the image of the knight's coat of arms. However, from the same miniatures, we know that they could sometimes be of the most amazing shape. For example, round, or in the shape of a square, but with sides concave inward. And there were also such, like in this effigy of Matthew de Verenne in 1340, that even it cannot be determined, one can only describe it for a long time and wordy. Moreover, it is not clear what is still depicted on them. After all, the coat of arms and the design on his espowlers do not match. Of course, you can say that this is the wrong side, but usually they were not portrayed from the inside out!
Matthew de Varennes (1340), church at Mennval, Normandy, France.
There are effigies showing us espowlers in the form of a knight's shield with a rounded bottom edge and even a hexagon, similar to the "Bear in the North" candy wrapper. As, for example, in Guilliam de Hermenville (1321), buried in the Abbey of the Ardennes. That is, here the knights showed their imagination as they wanted.
Espoulers of a completely unusual shape on a miniature from the History of Saint Graal (1310 - 1320). Library of Philosophy Hermetica, Tournai, Belgium.
The bad news is that none of their effigies shows how these scutes were attached to the surcoat. That is, it is obvious that wearing them required surcoat, but how they were attached is not exactly clear. And here the question automatically arises about the material from which they were made. Obviously, they were light and, most likely, covered with fabric, because how else can you see the fringe on some espowlers?
Pierre de Courtenay (1333), Abbey of Verre, Verre, France.
A still from the Soviet film Knight's Castle (1990). This knight of the Order of the Swordsmen had his shields slipping down to his chest. Did they interfere with him in battle or not? In any case, they could not be made of metal, since they were attached to a fabric surcoat. But how was it filmed then? Shields could pull the sleeves off the shoulders … Or was it something that kept them from doing this? In any case, M. V. Gorelik, who curated this film, did not manage to make sure that the espowlers of the knights did not slide on their chests. Although who knows, maybe they just most often crawled onto their backs, as the effigies show us.
But on this miniature there are no espowlers … "The Mirror of History", 1325-1335. West Flanders, Belgium, National Library of the Netherlands.
How long has the fashion for shoulder espowlers been around? A very interesting question, which the effigii give us an answer to. At least one of them: the effigy of Arnold de Gamal, dating from 1456.
Arnold de Gamal (1456), Limburg, Belgium.
On it, as you can see, a knight is represented in "white armor", completely corresponding to his era, but with a small shield and … espowlers on his shoulders. This is so atypical that you can't even say anything about it. The armor is new, but the shields are clearly a century old, even his great-grandfather probably wore such. However, there are always people who adore everything deliberate, lovers to shock the public and it is quite possible that this Arnold was just one of them.
It is clear that the espowlers did not perform any protective function. At best, they were pieces of "plywood" sewn into the fabric, so that they could hardly protect from anything. But they could undoubtedly increase the entertainment and recognizability of the figure of the knight!
Drawing by a contemporary artist depicting late 13th century French knights with shoulder pads.
As a result, we can say that, according to experts, it was the espowlers or ellets (they were also called that way) that became the predecessors of future epaulets and shoulder straps.
