Martial Arts Of The World - Webs

By 1350, the process of adding ever increasing numbers of plates of
ever increasing size to the older mail armor of the knight had reached its
practical limits, and thenceforth every part of the body would be covered
with some form of metal plate. The plates covering the torso were still covered
with cloth, however, and the plates in general continued to be strapped
on independently of one another until the end of the century. The traditional
great helm was increasingly replaced in this phase by the basinet, a
smaller open-faced helmet that was now provided with a hinged visor to
protect the face when actually fighting. All of the later forms of knightly
helmet were derived from the basinet.
New forms of military organization initiated in the 1270s finally gave
rise in the 1360s to a completely new system of emblems, designed to mark
the servants, soldiers, and clients of a lord, rather than the members of his
lineage. This system (now called paraheraldic, since it was closely associated
with heraldry but initially outside the control of the heralds) was centered
on the livery color or colors, the livery badge, the motto, and the combined
badge and motto now called a “livery device.” All were associated
primarily with the uniforms distributed by princes and barons as liveries to
their household servants, retainers, and allies of various classes (most of
whom were knights or squires), but they were also used on the various new
forms of triangular military flag (including the standard and guidon) borne
by appointed captains rather than (mainly hereditary) bannerets.
By 1380, knights had begun on occasion to incorporate the more important
of these new emblems as flankers or supporters to the arms on their
shield and helm that indicated what they or their ancestors had achieved. The
armorial emblems actually subject to the heralds came at the same time to be
subsumed in what are called the laws of arms, enforced by newly formed
courts of chivalry, usually headed by constables and marshals (as in modern
England), in which heralds acted like court clerks and attorneys. The first serious
treatises on all aspects of heraldry and chivalry, including the laws of
arms, also appeared in this subphase, the most important of which were Geoffrey
de Charny’s Livre de Chevalerie (French; Book of Chivalry) of 1352
and Honoré Bouvet’s Arbre des Battailles (French; Tree of Battles) of 1387.
In the half century after 1380, the history of knighthood took its first
downward turn, as princes and nobles adjusted to new forms of warfare in
which the traditional shock tactics of men-at-arms became increasingly less
effective. The defeats at the hands of infantry suffered by the French
knights at Crécy in 1346, Poitiers in 1356, Nicopolis in 1396, and Agincourt
in 1415, and by the Austrian knights at Sempach in 1386, cast doubt
upon the efficacy of the knight as warrior. As a result, few if any true, neo-
Arthurian monarchical orders were founded between 1381 and 1430, and
most of the existing ones were allowed to decline or disappear through ne-
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