MILITARY CLOTHING

Because Scotland was at war for a large percentage of Arran's regency, it is not surprising that the Accounts include items to be worn on the battlefield. This study only considers types of clothing that, while military in nature, were composed partially or wholly of textiles. These include harness doublets, jacks, arm guards, aprons of plate, and a few accessories.

Sixteenth-century Scots did not wear uniforms on the battlefield unless they happened to be part of a household that had been issued a livery including military items. Letters sent during the war between England and Scotland sometimes mention details about battlefield wear. In June 1548, the Master of Ruthven “was at Yester with his servants in there jackes and red skarffes,” and in July, Pedro Strozzi was carried off, wounded, by “hys men in crymosen and whight velveit.” These sets of men in livery were probably identifiable to those on both sides, but humbler soldiers sometimes had to adopt some form of ad hoc insignia in order to show their allegiance. Some Scots along the borders changed sides more than once, so at one point instructions were given for “the assured Scots to wear red crosses fast sewed [on their jacks or coats] and if taken without, to be held as [enemies or] unassured.”

The invading English army seems to have been in continual need of supplies, not the least of which was clothing for its troops. Numerous requests were sent for “coat money” and clothes for soldiers and sailors: “I humbly beg your grace for the poor mariners and soldiers, who have been these 7 months unpaid, and worn out their clothing …” While English troops were “forced to make match[es out] of their shirts for near 3 months,” “die[d] every day for lack in the extreme cold” or were “unable to serve, having neither clothes nor money,” an English spy “saw 40 French gentlemen in velvet coats, with swords and targets, land at Dunbarton to be captains to the Scots.”

Predictably, most of the military clothing in the Accounts was for those at the upper end of the social scale, especially the Regent himself, and so was more likely to resemble the French captains in their velvet coats than the shivering common soldiers of the English.