[Michele Hansen]

[Elling Polden]

A surcote wich does not have tailored shoulders will stand up in that fashion all by itself, a tendency that might have been exagregated by the artist, or have become a fashion in some regions.

It is also posible that the garment has a cloth armour backing, combining the surcote and sleeveless cloth armour worn on top of the hauberk.
That it should be a until now unknown form of leather armour does not seem to be the most natural explanation to me, in any case.

[Gregory J. Liebau]

The stiffened shoulders on surcoats seem to be a popular trend in French and English art beginning in the mid-1230s, and continued to be fashionable until the 1250s. These shoulders are rarely seen in German art, except in some rare illustrations coming from the period after they disappeared in the west. This appears to be the result of a stiffening process involving particular tailoring, obviously, and possibly the additional of layers of material or starching. It doesn't appear to have any protective qualities.

As for rigid body defenses, reinforced surcoats, as they're most commonly referred, began to appear by the middle of the 13th century. Here's a sculpture of St. Maurice poised in the Cathedral in Magdeburg, Germany, dated c. 1250. The sculpture clearly details the lines of rivets and the secondary layer of material behind. It is impossible to tell whether the form is suggestive of iron or cuir reinforcement.

http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/28323/hl._moritz_magdeburg.jpg

A German chronicle from the 1260s describes the Battle of Benevento mentions plate armor of some sort being used (I haven't seen an original document, and the secondary source is hazy on details) by German mercenaries employed by Manfred of Sicily. Supposedly it was effective enough that it was noted the French began aiming for the unprotected armpits of the German men-at-arms, inflicting casualties in that way.

By the 1290s in Italy cuir boulli armor was definitely coming into its own. One of the most detailed sculptures showing this is the effigy of Guglielmo Berardi da Narbona, dated to 1289. It clearly shows him with a decorated breastplate and leg armor that can only reasonably be interpreted as cuir bouilli, considering the decoration and its up and coming status in surviving art across Italy.

http://images.alinari.it/img/480/cal/cal-f-011897-0000.jpg

A much earlier chronicle mentions Richard Cœur de Lion jousting with an iron breastplate beneath his hauberk. This would have to be c. 1190...

Can't think of much else off the top of my head, and my library is not at hand. It seems very reasonable to suggest that by the 1260s German men-at-arms were beginning to use plate armor, probably in segmented forms riveted to heavy surcoats, such as the depiction of St. Maurice suggests. By the end of the century English effigies, in particular, seem to make this trend notable, although German effigial art typically seems to depict rather archaic visages of men-at-arms in full mail and flowery surcoats - probably not corresponding with modern defenses at the turn of the 14th century. German effigies appear rather unreliable and artsy to take at face value, in my opinion.

Hope this helps a bit. Cheers!

-Gregory

[Elling Polden]

[Michele Hansen]

[Sam Gordon Campbell]

To my mind, looking at the manuscripts, the shoulders remind me of when I was just learning to draw perspective, I would draw the arms inside the torso with a line at the top indicating a particular angle or that what they were wearing was thicker then their actual body.
Just a thought.

[Elling Polden]

I thought that before the 100-years war, english knight WHERE french knights :P

The germans are dandies as well, but in a different fashion. They have a perchant for knee length surcotes with wide sleeves, amongst other things.
This trend continues all the way up to the "Wafferoc" of 15th c Landsknecht officers, so it is probably not pure artistic fancy.
Trends differ from country to country, though.

[Gregory J. Liebau]

[Randall Moffett]

There are a few more. In The Patent Rolls of Henry III we have an Iron Girdle mentioned amongst some military items, Ralph de Nesle;s inventory at his death in 1302 which gives a good idea how gents were equipped in the end of the 13th- tons of pairs of plates, and the Galley yard records in France has a number of early COP in them at this point.

RPM