Thank you for the translation!

Pieter B. wrote:

myself wrote: "[...] zinen helm ofte ysern hut, zine yseren huven, zine troyen, zine armeleden, zine vlekken, sinen kraghen [...]" (1345) [...]"... His helm or iron hat, his iron huven?, his jack, his arm members?, his vlekken?, his collar *huven could be translated to cap but I am not sure. EDIT: Come to think of it iron huven might be a mail coif but that is just speculation on my part.

troyen: I would translate it with "pourpoint", "gambeson" or "aketon" as it sound too early for the term "jack" for me, asscoiating it with a front opening upper sleeveless garment, initially worn to war by the lower classes known by the diminutive term "jaques" (peasants). A theme for another thread, I guess.
armeleden: I would translate it with "(mail) sleeves".
vlekken?: "patches", Commonly translated with "gussets" or "garment with mail gussets fastened onto it", but I would argument for narrowing it down to the separate mail skirt only at this early date. Also subject for another thread.

Pieter B. wrote:

A second legislation from Bremen states the following. "en iewelk lantman ... schal hebben to ewighen tyden ene troyen, enen ysern hud, en par wapenhanschen, enen schilt, ene worpbarden vnde enen peck van zestein voten vnde kortere nicht." "And every husbandman... shall have at all times a jack, an iron hat, a pair of gauntlets, a shield, a throwing axe and a pike of sixteen feet and not shorter" I find the throwing axe curious.

What is the dating of this one? Am I guessing right in presuming this is from the group Derventer Burgerscap citing a 1390 Bremer law from Ehmck, 1883 (eg Ehmck, D.R. 1886, Bremisches Urkundenbuch bd. 4. Urkunden von 1381 - 1410, p 161? The "throwing axe" part do seem strange as no proper secondary weapon is mentioned. It is tempting to translate it into "war axe", a weapon specialised for use in war like we see in earlier norwegian law. A theme for yet another thread.

John Smith's "General Historie" and "A Relation of Maryland" list the 1635 requirement for the St. Mary's militia as:


* One Musket
* 10 pounds of powder
* 40 pounds of lead, bullets, pistol, and goose shot (a mix of all up to 40 lbs minimum)
* One sword
* One belt
* One bandeleere
* match


I don't know if this was an official law, however.

There was an attempt in 1638 to pass legislation requiring the following:

"[E]very housekeeper or housekeepers within this province shall have ready and continually upon all occasions within his, or her, or their house, for them and themselves, and for every person within his, her, or their house, able to bear arms, one servicable fixed gunne of bastard muskett boare, one pair of bandeloors or shott bag, one pound of good powder, foure pound of pistol or muskett shott, and sufficient quantity of match for matchlocks, and of flints for firelock and, before Christmas next shall also find a sword and belt for every such personas aforesaid."

The intended penalty for not having these was supposed to be set at 30 pounds tobacco per default.

This law did not originally pass, because the assembly at the time didn't actually have the right to make law, but evidently was adopted at some later point in time.

Interesting to note a consistent 4:1 ratio of lead to powder.

Sometime around 1666 there seems to be an effort to upgrade some county militias in the area, as the assembly voted to accumulate arms for even distribution to various counties - these are listed as:

"400 pound gunpowder, 4200 pound shot or lead, 140 Snaphance musketts high Culvuer bore, 140 cutlashes and belts, 50 Carabines for Horsemen, two dozen bulletmolds high Culver bore, two dozen Carabine Bullet moulds".

Evidently the local Lieutenant General was supposed to appoint someone to keep watch on these.

M.

Statue from 1558 during the reign of Queen Mary I of England.
Source [p316-318]: https://books.google.ie/books?id=R7CZMMbcOx4C&pg=PA317&lpg=PA317&dq=%22blacke+bill%22&source=bl&ots=VurFE6enu9&sig=MXirzTPzF6q9uYlUtZQo-_GW2aU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiejvKd0NHXAhXGJMAKHcZjALkQ6AEIQDAH#v=onepage&q&f=false

And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that every nobleman gentleman and other temporal person, after the rate and proportion hereafter declared, shall have and keep in readiness such horses geldings armour and other furniture for the wars, at the least, and in such sort and manner as is and shall be in this act hereafter expressed and declared, that is to say:

All and every person temporal having any honours lordships manors houses lands meadows pastures or woods of estate of Inheritance or freehold, to the clear yearly value of one thousand pounds or above, shall from and after the first day of May which shall be in the year of our Lord God one thousand five hundred fifty and eight, have find keep sustain and maintain within this realm of England, of their own proper and at their own proper costs and expenses, 6 horses or geldings able for demilances, whereof 3 of them at the least to be horses with sufficient harnesses steel saddles and weapon requisite and appertaining to the said demilances horses or geldings; and 10 light horses or geldings able and mete for light horsemen, with the furniture of harness and weapon requisite for the same. And also 40 corslets furnished, 40 Almain rivets, or instead of the said Almain rivet, 40 coats of plate corslets or brigandines furnished, 40 pikes 30 longbows 30 sheaves of arrows 30 steel caps or skulls 20 black bills or halberds 20 arquebuses and 20 morions or sallets:

And every person temporal, having any honours lordships manors houses lands meadows pastures or woods of any such estate as is aforesaid to the clear yearly value of one thousand marks or above, and under the clear yearly value of a thousand pounds, shall have find sustain and maintain within this realm, of their own proper and at their own proper costs and expenses, 4 horses or geldings able for demilances, whereof 2 at the least to be horses with sufficient harnesses and weapon and saddles meet and requisite to the said demilances horses or geldings, and 6 light horses or geldings able and mete for light horsemen, with furniture of harness, and weapon requisite for the same. And also of armour and weapon 30 corslets furnished 30 Almain rivets, or instead of the said Almain rivets 30 coats of plate corslets or brigandines furnished, 30 pikes 20 longbows 20 sheaves of arrows 20 steel caps orbskulls 10 black bills or Halberds 10 arquebuses, and 10 morions or sallets:

And every person temporal having honours lordships manors houses lands meadows pastures or woods of any such estate as is aforesaid, to the clear yearly value of £400 or above, and under the clear yearly value of a thousand marks, shall have finds kept sustain and maintain as is aforesaid, 2 horses, or 1 horse and one gelding, able for demilances with sufficient furniture of harness steel saddles and weapon for the same as is aforesaid, and 4 geldings able for light horsemen with sufficient harness and weapon for the same. And also 20 corslets furnished, 20 Almain rivets furnished, or instead of Almain rivets 20 coats of plate corslets or brigandines furnished 20 pikes 15 longbows 15 sheaves of arrows 15 steel caps or skulls 6 arquebuses and 6 morions or sallets:

And that every person temporal, having lordships manors houses lands meadows pastures or woods of any such estate as is aforesaid, to the clear yearly value of £200 or above, and under the clear yearly value of £400, shall from the said first day of May have keep sustain and maintain, 1 great horse or gelding able for a demilance with sufficient furniture of harness, steel saddle and weapon for the same, and 2 geldings able for light horsemen with harness and weapons sufficient as is aforesaid for the same. And also 10 corslets furnished 10 Almain rivets, or in the place of Almain rivets 10 coats of plate corslets or brigandines furnished, 10 pikes 12 longbows 12 sheaves of arrows 12 steel caps or skulls, 3 arquebuses, and 3 morions or sallets:

To be continued...

And every person temporal having any lordships manors houses lands meadows pastures or woods of any such estate as is aforesaid, to the clear yearly value of £100 or above, and under the yearly value of £200, shall from and after the said first day of May have keep and sustain as is aforesaid 2 geldings able and mete for light horsemen, with sufficient harness and weapon requisite for the same, and also 3 corslets furnished, 3 Almain rivets, or instead of them, so many coats of plate corslets, or brigandines furnished, 3 pikes, 3 longbows, 3 sheaves of arrows, 3 steel caps or skulls, 2 arquebuses and 2 morions or sallets:

And also every person temporal having lordships manors house lands meadows pastures or woods of any such estate as is aforesaid, to the clear yearly value of 100 marks or above, and under the yearly value of one £100, from the said first day of May, shall have keep maintain and sustain one gelding able and mete for a light horseman with the harness and weapon sufficient and requisite for the same, 2 Corslets furnished, 2 Almain rivets, or instead of the same, 2 coats of plate or brigandines furnished, 2 pikes, 2 longbows, 2 sheaves of arrows, 2 steel caps or skulls, 1 arquebus, 1 morian or sallet:

And also every person temporal, having lordships manors houses lands meadows pastures or woods of any such estate as is aforesaid, to the yearly value of £40 or above, and under the yearly value of 100 marks, shall from and after the said first day of May, have maintain and keep 2 corslets furnished, 2 Almain rivets, or instead of the same 2 coats of plate corslets or brigandines furnished, 2 pikes, 1 longbow, 1 sheaf of arrows, 1 steel cap or skull, 2 arquebuses, 2 morions or sallets:

And also every person temporal having lordships manors houses lands meadows pastures or woods of any such estate as is aforesaid, to the clear yearly value of £20 or above, and under the yearly value of £40, shall from the said first day of May, have keep and maintain 1 corslet furnished, 1 pike, 1 arquebus, and 1 morion or sallet, 1 longbow, 1 sheaf of arrows, and 1 steel cap or skull:

And also every person temporal having lordships manors houses lands meadows pastures or woods of any such estate as is aforesaid, to the clear yearly value of £10 or above, and under the yearly value of £20, shall from and after the said day have keep and sustain 1 Almain rivet, coat of plate, or brigandine furnished, 1 arquebus, 1 morion or sallet, 1 longbow, and 1 sheaf of arrows, and 1 steel cap or skull:

And also every person temporal
having lordships manors houses lands meadows pastures or woods of such estate as is aforesaid, to the clear yearly value of £5 or above, and under the yearly value of £10, shall from and after the said first day of May have keep and sustain 1 coat of plate furnished, 1 black bill or halberd, 1 longbow, 1 sheaf of arrows, and 1 seele cap or skull:

Still more to come....

And also every person temporal, having goods or chattels to the value of 1,000 marks or above, shall from the said first day of May have find keep sustain and maintain as is aforesaid 1 horse or gelding able for a demilance with sufficient harness steel saddle and weapon convenient and requisite for the same, and 1 gelding able and mete for a light horseman, with harness and weapon sufficient and requisite as is aforesaid for the same, or 18 corslets furnished instead of the said horse and gelding and furniture of the same, at his choice. And also shall from the same day have find keep and maintain of armour and weapon, 2 corslets furnished 2 Almain rivets, or for the same Almain rivets 2 Coats of plate 2 corslets or 2 brigandines furnished, 2 pikes, 4 longbows, 4 sheaves of arrows, 4 steel caps or skulls, and 3 arquebuses, with 3 morions or sallets:

And also every person temporal having goods or chattels to the values hereafter in this act specified and declared, shall from and after the said first day of May have find keep sustain and maintain such geldings armour weapon and furniture for war as is hereafter declared, that is to say; Having to the value of £400 or above, and under the value of 1,000 marks, 1 gelding able and mete for a light horseman, with sufficient harness and weapon requisite and mete for the same, or 9 corslets furnished, and also shall have find and keep one other corslet furnished, one pike 2 Almain rivets or plate coats or brigandines furnished, one arquebus, 2 longbows, 2 sheaves of arrows, and 2 steel caps or skulls:

And having in goods and chattels to the value of £200 or above, and under the value of £400, 1 corslet furnished, 1 pike, 2 Almain rivets plate coats or Brigandines furnished, 1 arquebus, 1 morion or sallet, 2 longbows, 2 sheaves of arrows, and 2 skulls or steel caps:

And having goods and chattels to the value of £100 or above, and under £200, 1 corslet furnished and 1 pike, 1 pair of Almain rivets, or plate coat or pair of brigandine furnished, 2 longbows, 2 sheaves of arrows, and 2 skulls:

And having as is aforesaid, in goods and chattels to the value of £40 or above, and under a £100, 2 pair of Almain rivets, or coats of plate or brigandines furnished, 1 longbow, and 1 sheaf of arrows, 1 steel cap or skull, and 1 black bill or halberd:

And having as is aforesaid in goods and chattels to the value of £20 or above, and under the value of £40, 1 pair of Almain rivets, or 1 coat of plate, or 1 pair of brigandines, 2 longbows, 2 sheaves of arrows, 2 skulls or steel caps, and 1 black bill or halberd:

And having as is aforesaid, to the value of £10 or above, and under £20, 1 longbow, 1 sheaf of arrows, with 1 steel cap or skull, and 1 black bill or Halberd: