Mitten Gauntlet
Mitten-style metal gauntlet with unified finger shell
The mitten gauntlet is one branch of the metal glove that the knight of 14th- and 15th-century Europe set on his hand, and took its name from the form in which only the thumb stood apart while the four fingers were bound together within a single metal shell. While the finger gauntlet that grew up at the same time covered all five fingers each on its own, the mitten gauntlet covered four fingers in a single face with hardly a gap between the knuckles, so that the grain of the protection over that face was a little thicker and unbroken compared to the finger gauntlet. The hand of the maker took less work at one place, so the price of a single pair was lighter, and so in the early 14th century, when the full plate harness was just taking root, almost every knight set the same shape on his hand. Despite the great fault that the fine play of five fingers each on its own was held back, the same shape fit a spear, a poleaxe, or a flail, in which only the grip needed to be sure, and so it held firm in the seat of the tournament until the late 15th century.
Origin
The form of the mitten gauntlet grew up at the same place as the full plate harness of the early 14th century. Its earliest face is the hourglass gauntlet, which took root in Italy and Germany around the years 1300 to 1350. The name was taken from the curve that widened from the wrist to the back of the hand and then narrowed again toward the fingertips, like an hourglass, and the same form stands at the very beginning of the mitten weave that covers four fingers at once with a single great plate. From the late 14th century, as the call grew for the five fingers each to hold the hilt of the sword on its own, the finger gauntlet grew up alongside it, and the two forms passed an age together through the 15th century, when the armorers of England, Burgundy, and Italy polished and sent both. In the 16th-century tournament the locking gauntlet took root, in which the fingers were fastened by rivets and cords on the inside so as not to come loose, and this piece was held so much to one side that several tournaments of England and the Holy Roman Empire forbade its use.
Features
- Single metal shell for the four fingers, with only the thumb set apart
- Unbroken grain of protection with little gap between the knuckles
- Lighter price than the finger gauntlet, taking less work from the maker
- Earliest face in the hourglass gauntlet of about 1300 to 1350
- Fit for a spear, a poleaxe, or a flail, in which only the grip needs to be sure
- Later form set in the tournament as the locking gauntlet
Stories
The mitten gauntlet was set on the hand as the last single piece of the 14th- and 15th-century plate harness. Within it the man set a leather glove and then drew the mitten gauntlet over it, and bound it firmly to wrist and back of the hand with the leather straps within. With one pair of mitten gauntlets the grip on a spear's shaft grew much, with the five fingers gathered into a single face, and the same form, set on both hands at once, let a man grip the haft of a poleaxe or a flail firmly enough to mark his hand. The hands borne by the English knights at Crecy (1346) and Poitiers (1356), and by the knights of both sides at Agincourt (1415), were nearly all of the same hourglass mitten. In the tournament the locking gauntlet, in which the fingers were fastened inside by rivets and cords so as not to come loose from the haft, took root in the joust, and it kept the hand from dropping the haft and let a duel be drawn out in a single breath.
Weakness
The greatest weakness of the mitten gauntlet was that the fine play of the hand was held back. Because the five fingers could not be bent each on its own, the shifting of the fingers on the hilt of a sword in a single breath, the drawing of a bow's string with the fingertips, and the light rolling of a dagger's grip in palm and finger inside were all held back. So the knight who leaned on the fine sword work of dagger and single-handed sword often shunned the same form and chose the finger gauntlet. The single great plate bound the four fingers together at one place, so when rain came in or the hand grew wet with sweat, the leather inside slipped and the strength of the grip on the haft was, on the contrary, lost, and when the leather strap within came loose, the protection of a whole pair fell apart at once. So from the late 15th century, as the age of the single-handed sword and the dagger came in, the same form moved slowly into the seat of the tournament, and the field seat was given over to the finger gauntlet.
Cultural Significance
The mitten gauntlet is the clearest piece of work from the place where Europe of the 14th century first set the full plate harness on its own hand, and on the hands of the harness laid on the tomb of the Black Prince (Edward) at Canterbury Cathedral, set down in 1376, the same hourglass mitten is fitted. The tomb sculpture of the English royal house, the illuminated manuscripts of France, and the 14th-century mitten gauntlets preserved in the armory of Churburg Castle at the foot of the Alps all show most clearly how the same piece sat in the hand of the knight of that age. The skill of the same armorers, moreover, reached beyond the weapon to our daily speech. In English the word gauntlet is still used today for a single piece of the metal glove of challenge in the hand, and the expressions throw down the gauntlet and take up the gauntlet come straight from the gesture of the medieval knight, who flung a single mitten gauntlet down at his foe's feet. As the tournament slowly cooled in the 17th century and the full harness moved into the seat of ceremony, the same mitten moved from the weapon of the field into the seat of the museum.
In Popular Culture
The mitten gauntlet sits on the hand of the knight in films, period dramas, and games about western Europe of the 14th and 15th centuries. The hands borne by the knights in Braveheart (1995) and The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999), and by Richard the Lionheart and his men in Robin Hood (2010), wear the same hourglass mitten, and some of the crusader knights of Kingdom of Heaven (2005) bear the same form on one hand. The action RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance, set in 15th-century Bohemia, sets the mitten gauntlet and the finger gauntlet aside in separate pairs, and gives the player the choice between them according to the weapon in hand, and Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord and For Honor set the same form as a mark of 14th-century armor. Films, however, often draw the mitten and the finger as one, and so the fine difference of the two forms is often blurred.
Trivia
- At Canterbury Cathedral in England, where the tomb of the Black Prince Edward sits, his single harness is laid alongside, and the hourglass mitten gauntlets fitted on its hands stand today as one of the clearest pieces of evidence for the hand of the English knight of the late 14th century.
- In the 16th-century tournament the locking gauntlet took root, in which the fingers were fastened inside the mitten by rivets and cords so as not to come loose from the haft of a lance, but because it tipped the balance of the duel too far to one side, several tournaments of England and the Holy Roman Empire forbade its use.
- The English word gauntlet is still used today for a single piece of the metal glove of challenge in the hand, and the expressions throw down the gauntlet and take up the gauntlet come straight from the gesture of the medieval knight, who flung a single mitten gauntlet down at his foe's feet.