Of the Man-at-arms and his barded charger we obtain an admirable definition from the _Chronicon Colmariense_ under the year 1298: "Armati reputabantur qui galeas ferreas in capitibus habebant, et qui wambasia, id est, tunicam spissam ex lino et stuppa, vel veteribus pannis consutam, et desuper camisiam ferream, id est, vestem ex circulis ferreis contextam, per quæ nulla sagitta poterat hominem vulnerare. Ex his Armatis centum inermes mille lædi potuerunt: habebant et multos qui habebant dextrarios, id est, equos magnos, qui inter equos communes quasi Bucephalus Alexandri, inter alios eminebat. Hi equi cooperti fuerunt coopertoriis ferreis, id est, veste ex circulis ferreis, contexta. Assessores dextrariorum habebant loricas ferreas: habebant et caligas, manipulos ferreos, et in capitibus galeas ferreas splendidas et ornatas, et alia multa quæ me tæduit enarrare." The armour of these sturdy warriors we shall presently examine piece by piece.
The _Sergens à pied_ (_Servientes_) included the mass of the troops beneath the knightly dignity. Guillaume Guiart arms them with the lance and crossbow:--
"----bon serjanz i a A arbaletes et a lances." _Chronique Métrique_, 2^e. partie, vers 8567.
And the same weapons are assigned to those levied by the _ordonnance_ of Philip of France in 1303: "Et seront armés les sergens de pie de pourpoint et de hauberjons, gamboison, de bacinez et de lances: Et des six, il y en aura deux arbalestriers[268]."
The _Sergens d'armes_, (_Servientes Armorum_,) whose establishment in the twelfth century we have already observed, (page 100,) continued to form the royal body-guard throughout the present age. In 1214 they especially distinguished themselves at the battle of Bovines, as we find recorded by the monument (before noticed) in the church of St. Catherine. The inscription of the monument, though itself not earlier than the beginning of the fifteenth century, probably relates very exactly the circumstances of their victory, and of the foundation of the church. It is as follows:--"A la priere des Sergens darmes Mons^r. Saint Loys fonda ceste Eglise et y mist la premiere pierre: Et fu pour la joie de la vittoire qui fu au Pont de Bouines lan Mil. CC et XIIII. Les Sergens darmes pour le temps gardoient ledit pont et vouerent que se Dieu leur donnoit vittoire ils fonderoient une eglise en lonneur de Madame Sainte Katherine. Et ainsi fu il." A statute of Philippe le Bel in 1285 limits the number of these guards attending the court to thirty: "Item, Sergens d'armes, trente, lesquels seront à Cour sans plus." From the same statute we learn that one of their weapons at this time was the crossbow: "Ils porteront toujours leurs carquois pleins de carreaux."