The Normans in Italy 1016–1194 by Raffaele D'Amato & Florent Vincent

Author:Raffaele D'Amato & Florent Vincent
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9781472839473
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2020-03-09T00:00:00+00:00

‘Sleeping guards at the Holy Sepulchre’, 1140, from the Palatine Chapel, Palermo. The flat shields are round or oval; some seem to have floral patterns embossed, while that on the left shows halved colours and Kufic script around the edge. (In situ; author’s photos)

The cavalry chess pieces of the same group also attest to the wide employment of lamellar armour in the region.1 These hauberks of scale and lamellar construction are not found on the Bayeux Tapestry, which argues for their Mediterranean origin. The hauberks represented in the Palatine Chapel, in scale or mail, show a slit up the front and back for ease when riding; sometimes slits are also visible at the sides.

Under the metallic armour was worn a padded garment of linen or felt. Such quilted or padded garments, which in the West culminated in the so-called gambeson, had been in widespread use since Roman times. They were sometimes worn alone, or, imitating the Eastern Roman fashion, on top of a metallic cuirass, like the Byzantine epilorikion or the epanoklivanion.

Both at home and initially in Italy, the Normans employed circular shields typical of the Germanic tradition (as also used by the Lombards). These were gradually supplanted by the kite- or almond-shaped shield, which maintained a flat cross-section until the end of the 11th century, evolving into the widely used concave form thereafter. The elongated version typical in the second half of the 12th century is visible in both Eastern Roman and northern Norman iconography.

Various iconographic sources show elementary decorative motifs and proto-heraldry between the first decades and the second half of the 12th century. Blazons include geometrical or floral patterns, such as six-petalled flowers surrounding a small metallic boss. Crosses are also visible on shields, and it seems that Count Roger’s men displayed them at the battle of Cerami against the Muslims in 1063: (GM, I I, 33: ‘we all carry the emblem of Christ’). True heraldry seems to appear only at the end of the 12th century, in the manuscript of Pietro da Eboli.

The shield shows crossed leather handles on the back. Examples used in combination with a spear and long sword are visible on the capitals of Santa Sophia in Benevento (which confirm that both these weapons were also used in boar hunts). The internal colour of the shield is orange-red in some sources (e.g. Vatican manuscript of c.1070), while the leather strap is red. The shield could also be grasped by a wooden handle, used primarily by mounted warriors.

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