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KNIGHT HOSPITALLER, 14th CENTURY
An extract from Armies of the Middle Ages, Volume 2by Ian Heath
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43. KNIGHT HOSPITALLER, 14th CENTURY
This figure, from the grave effigy of Fra Bernat de Foixa (d.1382), depicts characteristic if somewhat incomplete 14th century Western European armour, which is fully described in volume 1. It is unusual for the forearms to be unarmoured by nothing more than mail by this late date, but it is interesting to see that the earlier prohibition of mail mittens with separate fingers had by this time been relaxed. His jupon is red with a white cross (as would have been his shield), the battle-dress of brethren of the Order, while the cloak round his shoulders would have been black, again with a white cross (see 45); the cloak would not have been worn in action. For the probable appearance of a Hospitaller man-at-arms at the very beginning of this period see figure 26 in Armies and Enemies of the Crusades.