bishop's mantle

English

Noun

bishop's mantle (plural bishop's mantles)

1. A tippet (shoulder protection), often with a collar and/or cape, of mail.

   Coordinate terms: camail, pisane, standard

   • 1925, Royal Ontario Museum. Division of Art and Archaeology, Bulletin, Issues 3-5; Issues 7-11, page 18:

     The second illustration shows a case devoted to the equipment of the "Landsknecht" soldiers, that famous body […] High up in the centre is a chain mail tippet or "Bishop's mantle," so frequently depicted by the engravers […]

   • 1958, Austin Lane Poole, Medieval England, Clarendon: Oxford:

     German 'Landsknecht ' or professional foot-soldier, wearing mail 'bishop's mantle', carrying a two-handed sword, and also another sword with typical S-shaped quillons; from a contemporary woodcut, time of Henry VIII […]

   • 1997, Barbara Lane, Echoes from Medieval Halls: Past-Life Memories from the Middle Ages, Are Press, →ISBN:

     Right : Robert Taggert (Lars Holtzclaw) wears a "bishop's mantle" of mail around the shoulders. He is a German soldier, or Landsknecht, and is a member of King Henry VIII's royal guard. His helmet is called a sallet.

   • 2009, Kimberly Tony Korol-Evans, Renaissance Festivals: Merrying the Past and Present, McFarland, →ISBN, page 175:

     I was dressed as a Landsknecht captain. I was wearing a chain mail bishop's mantle and carrying a short sword. […]

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see bishop,‎ mantle.

Further reading

• 2011, Elizabeth J. Lewandowski, The Complete Costume Dictionary, Scarecrow Press, →ISBN, page 32:

  bishop's mantle: Elizabethan (1550–1625 C.E.). Germany. Worn by the Landsknechts, a deep mail cape, often with a standing collar. It was worn over the armor.