Hundred Years War - Welsh Knifemen
These models are the new addition to my Hundred Years War English army. With the point adjustment for Reg BwS, my army need to reform and the Welsh Knifemen is a good additional as Pk(F).
One funny thing about the model is they wear only one shoe. At first I thought it is a miscast but I have done some research on the Internet and found the following.
The "one shoe" motif is one of those things that is nearly impossible to interpret. As far as I know, the only source for the motif is two drawings in a manuscript known as "Liber A" (Edwards, J. Goronwy ed. 1940. Littere Wallie. University Press Board, Cardiff.), a collection of legal documents from the reigns of Henry III and Edward I. The documents are grouped generally by subject matter, and groups of documents are introduced by a drawing related to the contents e.g., the Pope for the papal bulls. The sections on Welsh, Scottish, and Irish documents are introduced by figures presumably intended to represent those nations, but it isn't clear how true to life they might be, or in fact if they have any relation to the people they are supposed to be depicting except in the English artist's imagination. For example, McClintock is fairly well convinced that the Irish figures have no relation to reality. The two figures depicted in the Welsh-related section of the collection -- an archer and a spearman -- each feature only a single shoe, on the left foot. Other sources of information sometimes note people going barefoot (or bare-legged, which may or may not imply the same thing), but as far as I know, this one manuscript illustration is the only source for "one shoe on and one shoe off".
and also
StartFragmentThe warriors were dressed in a linen shirt (often red) and linen drawers; they covered these with a woolen cloak hanging to their knees, which was sometimes described as being "thin". Several manuscripts depict Welsh warriors as having only one shoe and their other foot bare - this probably allowed them to keep a balance on hilly or rough terrain. Hair was worn short, and was shaped around the eyes and ears; moustaches were popular, but beards were not. EndFragment
