Weaponry: Norman Arms and Armour

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The army of William of Normandy that landed at Pevensey on 28th September 1066 was a well-equipped fighting force composed of hardened and well-trained soldiers. But what was it like to be one of those soldiers? How did it feel to fight as the Normans and their allies?

To answer those questions it is necessary to know what weapons the Normans and their allies employed as well as what protective clothing they wore.

Some form of protective clothing was worn by most of the Norman horsemen, but in general the foot soldier was less well armoured and many infantrymen wore no armour at all. The Bayeux Tapestry, which was completed sometime in the 1080s and is by far the best pictorial source of information about the arms and armour of the Normans, contains a total of 201 armed men of whom 79 are wearing some armour. The usual form of body armour used by the Norman horseman was a knee-length mail shirt called a hauberk that had three-quarter-length sleeves and was split from hem to fork to facilitate riding. Although usually constructed of mail the hauberk does occasionally seem to have been made of overlapping scales of some stiff material such as cow horn. But such scale armour never seriously challenged the supremacy of mail formed of interlinked, riveted rings that could be made very strong and, because of its pliability, still gave the soldier complete freedom of movement.

To complement the mail shirt some warriors illustrated on the Tapestry have leg and arm defences also of mail, and such defences seem to have become increasingly popular. In some case the hauberk is shown apparently extending over the head as a hood or coif, although sometimes the coif appears to be separate from the hauberk. It is now impossible to tell whether this mail armour of the Normans had any lining to make it more comfortable to wear, but it was certainly worn over some form of clothing and not next to the skin, as is suggested in one badly restored portion of the Tapestry.

The greatest drawback of mail armour seems to have been its weight. To bear a long mail hauberk hanging as a dead weight from the shoulders for very long would have sapped the strength of even a man trained from childhood to bear armour. It would appear that the Normans were well aware of this and that they wore their armour only when absolutely necessary. The Chanson de Roland (witten at the end of the 11th century by an Anglo-Norman) contains much accurate information about the armour and weapons of the Normans and how they were used. In this work neither armour nor weapons are worn while fighting men are on the march, unless there is some danger of an ambush.

It would appear that the full equipment of war was only put on just before a battle and often when in sight of the enemy. Corroboration of this can be found in the works of Norman historians. For instance the Chronicle of Battel Abbey states that Duke William halted the advance of his army from Hastings at Hechelande, less than three miles from the waiting Saxon forces, so that he might put on his armour, and one can assume that most of his army dressed themselves for battle at the same time. The Abbey Chronicle was not written until nearly 100 years after the battle, so it may not be a true account of events in 1066, but it must accurately have reflected normal 12th century military practice, and neither arms nor armour can have changed much in the intervening years.

That armour was sometimes too debilitating and weighty for the soldiers of the time is shown by an anecdote in the chronicles of William of Poitiers who was writing between 1071 and 1076. He recounts that when William landed at Pevensey on an inhospitable and unfriendly shore he reconnoitered the surrounding country with about 25 soldiers, one of who became so exhausted that, despite the possibility of attack, the Duke carried his mail hauberk for him on their return.

Tags: British Heritage, Weaponry

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