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Above: Halberd
French morion c1575
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can resist all the blows of pike, halberds & swords: The Reines & the testiere[1] furnished between two leather chainettes, with another false Rein of the same, so that if by chance the Reins were broken, or cut, they have recourse to this false rein, the horse being as useless in combat without a rein, as the ship without a rudder in the hand of a pilot. As for the light horses, they are taken from all sorts of people among the populace, provided that they are courageous & of good character & that they have means to own a horse. And when they do not want to, they are compelled, their property exceeding five hundred livres of income without anything being given to them, except when they are in actual service; their defensive weapons are the rondachel in an oval of three feet long & two wide, covered with leather & lined with a light circle of copper. The light Cuirass of boiled leather to protect from the swords & throwing weapons, trimmed at the bottom all around with a piece of mail, or with a stocking of grommets coverings them up to the knees with the back & the sides of their horses. The sleeves also of mail with a pointed morion covered with a plume. Their offensive weapons are, a good pis– tol |
| 1. testiere, "...the bead-stall of a bridle; also, a horse-collar." |