335 GLOSSARY. ABILLEMENTS. Called also Billements and Habillements, and mentioned in the Privy Purse expenses of the Princess Mary (afterwards Queen of England), are there distinguished by the terms "upper" and "nether." Sir F. Madden observes that "it evidently implies some ornaments of goldsmith's-work, probably worn round the neck or bosom, not unfrequently set with pearls, diamonds, rubies, etc. The term is equivalent to that of border, which was also divided into upper and nether, so that the ornaments must have been nearly the same." ACKETON (Fr.). A quilted leathern jacket worn under the armour. In the Romance of Alexander (fourteenth century), a knight is pierced "Through brunny and shield to the akedoun;" and in Richard Cœur de Lion, that sovereign fights with a knight, and "Such a stroke he hym lente That Richard's feet out of his styropes went, For plate, nor for acketton, For hauberk, nor for gampeson. Such a stroke he had none ore That dydde him half so much sore." In a wardrobe account of the time of John, in the Harleian Library, No. 4573, is an entry for a pound of cotton to stuff an acketon for that king, which cost twelvepence; and the same amount was expended in quilting or stitching it. Chaucer, in his Rime of Sir Thopas, tells us that the knight wore "Next his shirt an haketon, And over that an habergeon." Thynne, in his Animadversions on Chaucer, 1598, says: “Haketon is a sleveless jackett of plate for the warre, covered with any other stuffe; at this day also called a jackett of plate. Suche aketon Walter Stapleton, bishoppe of Excester and custos or warden of Londone, had upon hym secretlye, when he was apprehended and behedded in the twentyeth yere of Edwarde the Second." Sir S. R. Meyrick, in his Critical Inquiry into Ancient Armour, inclines to consider that this military garment was "not introduced into England until the time of Richard the First, after which it became, and continued for a long time, very prevalent” (vol. i. 48). It appears to have been derived from the Asiatics during the Crusades; "and this," says Meyrick, "countenances the supposition of Perizonius, who supposes the word a corrupt pronunciation of the Greek ó xTV. Whether the Turks had adopted the Greek name and corrupted it, or the garment was originally Asiatic, and called by the Greeks, who might be ignorant of its real name, ho kiton, i.e. 'the tunic,' when asked by the inquiring crusaders, may be matter of doubt; but the several corruptions of the word are in this order -hoketon, hoqueton, hauqueton, hauketon, haukton, auketon, aketon, actione, and acton." The term was in use on the Continent at a comparatively recent period; thus, in "Icones Historica Veteris et Novi Testamenti" (circa 1550), is a cut representing Joseph's brethren bringing his ensanguined coat to Jacob, which is there styled le hoqueton. From the manuscript Chronicle of Bertrand du Guesclin [compiled at the commencement of the fifteenth century] we learn that it was made of buckram; for it is said, "Le haucton fut fort, qui fut de bouquerant;" "The hacketon was strong, being made of buckram;" and from the MS. Roman du Ride et du Ladre, that it was stuffed with cotton: "Se tu vueil un auqueton, Ne l'empli nie de coton, Mais d'œuvres de misericorde, "If you wish for an hauketon, But of works of mercy, To the end the devils may not bite thee." AGGRAPES. Hooks and eyes, used in ordinary costume or in armour. AIGLETS (properly Aiguillettes). The tags or metal sheathings 66 66 of the points, so constantly used in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to tie different portions of the dress. Aglottes of silver fine" are mentioned in the 25th Coventry Mystery; and in Halliwell's Glossary to the edition of these early dramas printed by the Shakspeare Society, we have "agglet of a lace or point, fer." The commentators on Shakspeare tell us, that these tags or points sometimes represented small figures; which is what Grumio alludes to in the Taming of the Shrew, act i. scene 2, when he declares of Petruchio, that "give him gold enough," and any one may marry him to a puppet, or an aglet-baby." They were used profusely in the dresses of ladies and gentlemen from the time of Henry VIII. to that of Charles II. During the reign of Henry, they were appended to the ribbons or cords which drew together the different portions of the dress, and hung from the slashes of the garments, as well as from the cap, where they sparkled as ornaments. For passing allusions to these articles see pp. 187, 248, 250; and for their form see POINTS. The works of Holbein, and the many fine portraits of that period, will furnish abundant examples of their form. Sir Anthony St. Leger, lord-deputy of Ireland in 1541, is described in a MS. in the State-Paper Office, quoted in Walker's History of the Irish Bards, as dressed in "a cote of crymosin velvet, with agglettes of golde 20 or 30 payer; over that a great doble cloke of right crymosin sattin, garded with black velvet, a bonette with a fether set full of aggylettes of golde." AILETTES (Fr.), Little Wings. A word applied to the small square shields of arms which were worn upon the shoulders of knights during a part of the middle ages, ranging from the latter part of the reign of Edward I. to that of Edward III. The brass of a knight in Gorleston Church, Suffolk, engraved p. 128, affords an example of their appearance; that of one of the Septvans family, in Chartham Church, Kent, engraved in Hollis's Monumental Effigies; and that of Sir Roger de Trumpington, 1289 (17 Ed. I.), in Trumpington Church, Cambridgeshire, engraved in Waller's Monumental Brasses. The Royal MS. 14 E 3 contains other examples, some of which are engraved in Hone's edition of Strutt's Sports and Pastimes of the People of England, pp. 136, 142. ALAMODE. A plain kind of silk, something like lustring, but thick and loosely wove; mentioned in the Act for the better encouragement of the silk-trade in England, passed in the fourth year of Philip and Mary. (Ruffhead, vol. ii. p. 567.) |