Posts: 1,191 Location: Kingston, Washington
Sun 27 Apr, 2008 4:26 pm
Daniel;
Sorry about being absent from this thread for so long, but thank you for that proper translation of d'Aubigne! I too had wondered about it, but thought, well, buff coats DO come into play not too long afterwards, so perhaps they were...
Per the translation of "Blouses" I would submit that these are the garments which today are often referred to as "Waffenrocks" or based doublets, the kind with a heavy pleated skirt protecting the body from waist to knees. The cassocks spoken of later as "small round bell jackets" would be of the standard sort, which in fact do bell out rather at the hem, shown in the Lant Roll of Sir Philip Sidney's funeral procession of 1587. There are plenty of woodcuts from the period showing this sort of cassock being worn over armour. Considering that it was about the height of the Little Ice Age, small wonder! Here's an illustration from the Lant Roll of Foote cassocks, which would be a bit shorter than for Horse, but the idea is the same.
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Also some Cavalry trumpeters in cassocks, though they are getting somewhat longer here than was, I believe, generally the case.
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I would have to agree too with the idea that the use of heavy columns probably came from the need to put less well armoured and horsed material in the rear ranks, rather than trying to put them into the front ranks of the gendarmerie. And being armed with pistols rather than lances was of benefit, actually. A lance is of little use at slow speed, or in the rear ranks where it cannot be brought to bear. On the other hand, a pistol is as deadly if discharged from a halt as it is at full speed on a horse, and any hommes d'armes making it through the front ranks of the column would be dispatched by those in the rear ranks.
Cheers!
Gordon