How Sir John Hawkwood Shall Be Armed

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[00:00:43]Sir John Hawkwood was an English knight with an incredible backstory.

[00:00:48]Originally born a tanner's son, he chose to serve in the English military and rose through the ranks to become one of the most famous and revered knights in all of English history.

[00:01:00]In today's video, we will be taking a slightly different path.

[00:01:05]We will still be discussing the armor of this fine warrior, but we will also be discussing some of the history behind Sir John Hawkwood's career in both the English and Italian armies.

[00:01:18]First, Hawkwood wears his greaves.

[00:01:22]As mentioned in previous videos, these are known as anatomical greaves as they are crafted to mimic the shape and curvature of the wearer's leg muscles.

[00:01:31]John Hawkwood was likely born in 1320 AD in a village in Essex, England called Sible Hedingham.

[00:01:39]While his father was indeed a tanner, the family was noted as considerably wealthy and owned a small amount of land in Essex.

[00:01:47]Hawkwood's early career initially began with him moving away from home to become a tailor's apprentice in London.

[00:01:53]However, he soon decided to sign up as an archer under the kinship of King Edward III.

[00:02:00]Hawkwood wears the top half of his leg harness, the cuisses.

[00:02:04]The cuisses covers the thighs and knees, and also features a poleyns fan plate, which helps prevent incoming strikes from hitting the back of the knee, which is a particularly vulnerable area on the leg.

[00:02:16]He was believed to have fought at the Battle of Crécy in 1346, and also possibly the Battle of Poitiers 10 years later.

[00:02:25]However, records containing common soldiers' names are rare to survive after almost 700 years, so this cannot be said for certain.

[00:02:35]We know that John Hawkwood became knighted at some point in his military career, likely around the time of Poitiers, but accurate records of when he was knighted and by whom, unfortunately, do not survive as far as we know.

[00:02:50]John Hawkwood enlisted with the White Company, which was an English mercenary group of whom Sir Hawkwood would lead into infamy by the time his long military career would end.

[00:03:03]Hawkwood's military experience saw him quickly rise through the ranks, and appeared to have gained a very senior rank by around 1360 AD.

[00:03:13]Next, the knight wears his arming cap in preparation for the mail shirt.

[00:03:19]By the 1370s, full plate armor was now becoming present on the battlefield, where the head, torso, and limbs were all now fully protected by steel, with mail covering the various gaps and articulation points on the body.

[00:03:36]By the early 15th century, a knightly harness would rely less on mail for protection. So, the mail shirt, also known as a burnie or hauberk, would usually be replaced by other mail garments such as voiders and skirts.

[00:03:51]This mail shirt already has his shoulder protection tied on, which comes in the form of small steel roundels called spaulder plates.

[00:04:00]Another component of mail is worn called the collar or standard.

[00:04:06]This is before the invention of the bevor, so the throat was instead protected by a tightly fitted mail collar with densely linked rings.

[00:04:14]Later, another layer of protection for the throat will be worn.

[00:04:21]In a letter from the Pope which warned the White Company with excommunication if they continued to harass Pont-Saint-Esprit, a strategic fort near Avignon, Sir John Hawkwood was addressed as the leader of the mercenary group.

[00:04:34]Due to the White Company ignoring the Pope's demands, they were indeed excommunicated.

[00:04:40]But, following a deal struck between Hawkwood and the Pope, the White Company agreed to enlist in the services of the Pope himself.

[00:04:49]The White Company was sent on two military campaigns, one in Spain and one in Italy, which split the group.

[00:04:56]Hawkwood traveled to Italy.

[00:05:01]Hawkwood now wears his cuirass. This is one of the earliest variants of full plate armor for the torso.

[00:05:09]Previously, coat of plates or corrazinas had been worn, which were made up of multiple smaller plates riveted together on a canvas, leather, or wool backing, similar to a later brigandine.

[00:05:21]By the mid-14th century, armorsmiths had finessed their craft to the point where large plates could be hammered out from steel billets using a large power hammer functioned by the use of water or by mules.

[00:05:34]These billets would be hammered out into thinner sheets of metal and then expertly crafted into breastplates.

[00:05:42]Here you can see the breastplate also features a lance rest called an arret, which is a small hook on a hinge so it can be pulled out when the knight wishes to couch his lance during a cavalry charge.

[00:05:55]The cuirass also features another additional component called a stop rib, which is the V-shaped metal bar riveted just below the neckline.

[00:06:04]As mentioned in previous videos, the stop rib is designed to be a barrier for points of weapons such as lances or arrows when they strike the breastplate.

[00:06:14]The globose curvature of the cuirass encourages the blade to slide over the armor, so the stop rib is there to prevent the redirected weapon from going near the throat where the knight is more vulnerable.

[00:06:27]After the breastplate, Hawkwood now wears a surcoat which is embroidered with his family coat of arms, consisting of three scallop shells on a black chevron with a white background.

[00:06:40]Despite popular belief, the White Company did not actually have its own official coat of arms, and instead adopted the personal heraldry of Sir John Hawkwood himself, who became ingrained as the face of the White Company.

[00:06:55]The effect that the White Company had on the various Italian factions that became the mercenary groups' enemies would go down in history.

[00:07:04]The White Company's first campaign in Italy would be fighting for the Pisan army against the Florentines.

[00:07:11]Despite losing the Battle of Cascina, the Italian commanders were impressed with Hawkwood's understanding and application of tactics, both taking into consideration terrain and field conditions with his battlefield maneuvers. His setback appeared to be the poorly trained or inexperienced soldiers that he was in charge of, so he sought to correct this mistake with rigorous training.

[00:07:36]Hawkwood's second campaign further proved him as a capable military leader, as he managed to capture many high-ranking officers during the Battle of Rubiera in 1372.

[00:07:50]His squire now assists him in wearing his arm harness.

[00:07:54]By the 14th century, a fully articulated plate arm harness was typically worn over the sleeves of the mail shirt.

[00:08:02]The arm harness consisted of a lower cannon to protect the lower arm, an upper cannon to protect the upper arm, and couters to cover the elbows. Again, with a fan plate protecting the inner elbow, which is a vulnerable area since it cannot be protected by plate armor.

[00:08:17]Of course, by the very end of the 15th century and into the 16th century, armorers had developed a way to protect the inside of joints in armor by the use of very small strips of steel all riveted together and designed to collapse over each other when the arm is bent.

[00:08:32]But, during the 1300s, the knight had to rely on the mail rings from the hauberk to protect his inner joints.

[00:08:41]The White Company was a cutthroat organization.

[00:08:44]Multiple accounts of people who witnessed the mercenary group describe how the Italian people feared them and were disgusted by how the English soldiers acted during their time in Italy. Protecting towns would sometimes lead to sacking them. Unarmored civilians were butchered. Monasteries were looted and burned. Women were defiled and prisoners were dismembered.

[00:09:08]The English soldiers under the banner of the White Company may have been highly trained and veteran soldiers, but they were widely known as being beasts of men, [music] capable of fulfilling military objectives, but with much blood spilled and a total disregard for the law.

[00:09:24]Unfortunately, for the various Italian city-states who employed the White Company, they knew that the English mercenary group had become too big and powerful to challenge. So, largely turned a blind eye to the atrocities that the soldiers were committing on each campaign.

[00:09:42]Following the arm harness, a belt is worn around the surcoat, and then a second belt is worn which holds Sir Hawkwood's dagger and sword.

[00:09:51]The sword in question is a beautiful example of an Oakshott type 15, a popular sword design during the 14th and 15th century.

[00:10:01]It features some very attractive components, such as a brassed or gilded pommel, and a leather rain cover over the crossguard.

[00:10:09]This is so when the sword is in its scabbard, rainwater does not get inside the scabbard and rust the blade.

[00:10:18]Sir John Hawkwood was paid handsomely for his services, being known to have received a yearly payment which was over 2,000 times more than the average skilled worker at the time.

[00:10:30]After falling out with the Pope due to not being paid for a bout of military service, Hawkwood signed an agreement with Florence, the very city-state he had previously fought tooth and claw against.

[00:10:43]In the new contract, all previous history between the White Company and Florence was forgiven, and the English soldiers fought as bloodthirsty dogs on behalf of the Florentine army, using various devious tactics such as feigned retreats, ambushes, and deception.

[00:11:02]After wearing his sword belt, Sir Hawkwood then equips his shield, which is again decorated in his household coat of arms.

[00:11:10]The 1300s were a time when shields were gradually becoming less prevalent on the battlefield. This was a direct response to armor doing a better job at protecting the knight without requiring the use of a shield.

[00:11:23]Over the next few decades, knights will begin to utilize two-handed weapons more, which did a better job of taking down a heavily-armored opponent.

[00:11:36]As today's event was a tournament, this reenactor is wearing a red band on his arm, which was gifted to him as a favor for a melee competition.

[00:11:46]In reality, there is no strong evidence for Sir Hawkwood engaging in tournament-eering.

[00:11:52]Over his half-a-century-long career in the military, he likely engaged in more than enough real combat exercises to be concerning himself with tournaments.

[00:12:03]And now, the knight wears his helmet.

[00:12:07]This type of helmet is called a bascinet, specifically referred to as a dog snout due to the rounded tip of the visor, separating it from the hound skull, although this is likely a modern reference, similar to the term pig face bascinet.

[00:12:24]The visor features very thin oculars and breath holes.

[00:12:28]Notably, the breath holes are only on the right-hand side of the visor, and there are no breath holes on the left side, since it is the left side which would be more likely to take hits from an opponent.

[00:12:40]The bascinet also has an attached mail aventail.

[00:12:44]The aventail provides an additional layer of protection around the throat and neck, which goes over the breastplate and the mail collar, making three levels of defense against incoming attacks.

[00:12:58]For the last component of armor, Sir John Hawkwood wears his gauntlets.

[00:13:04]These are known as hourglass gauntlets and were very popular during the 14th and early 15th century, named as such due to their hourglass timer shape.

[00:13:15]The cuff plate is designed to overlap the lower arm harness, and the flared shape allows for a high level of wrist movement.

[00:13:24]Sir Hawkwood wields his lance with a banner of his coat of arms attached.

[00:13:33]By 1394, Sir John Hawkwood resided over a wealthy estate and had considerable lands in both England and Italy.

[00:13:43]He had been awarded citizenship of Florence, but he wished to move back to England to live out the rest of his days in retirement.

[00:13:51]However, on the 17th of March, 1394, Sir John Hawkwood died in Florence before he could realize his plans to return to his home in England.

[00:14:05]I would like to give a special thank you to the reenactor featured in today's episode of How a Man Shall Be Armed.

[00:14:12]He is a dedicated member of the 14th century reenactment group [music] named Societas Anglicis, and I certainly hope I got the pronunciation of that correct.

[00:14:23]They joined forces with similar groups from the Hundred Years War in France, such as Fleur d'Argent and Gendarmes, who together hosted a brilliant late 14th to early 15th century tournament at Château de Blandy, a beautiful castle not far from Paris.

[00:14:41]Indeed, we filmed multiple episodes of How a Man Shall Be Armed Together, which I'll be showing you over this summer.

[00:14:49]So, don't stay tuned for further variants of Hundred Years War armor.

[00:14:54]And please support all of the reenactors involved by following their living history groups, especially the Gendarmes YouTube channel, who are providing excellent videos of their numerous reenactment events all over France.

[00:15:07]I have added the social media links to all the groups in the video description below.