habergeon

English

Alternative forms

• haubergeon

Etymology

From Middle English hauberjoun, from Old French hauberjon, haubergeon, from Early Medieval Latin (h)alsbergum.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈha.bə.d͡ʒən/, /həˈbɜː.dʒən/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhæ.bɚ.d͡ʒən/, /həˈbɝ.d͡ʒən/

Noun

habergeon (plural habergeons)

1. (historical) A sleeveless or short-sleeved coat of mail armour (a shorter hauberk).
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 30, page 265:

     Their mightie ſtrokes their haberieons diſmayld, / And naked made each others manly ſpalles; […]

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Nehemiah 4:16, column 1:

     And it came to paſſe from that time forth, that the halfe of my ſeruants wrought in the worke, and the other halfe of them held both the ſpeares, the ſhields and the bowes, and the habergeons, and the rulers were behind all the houſe of Iudah.

   • 2013, Mavis Fitzrandolph, Traditional Quilting - Its Story And Its Practice, Read Books Ltd, →ISBN:

     […] wore a quilted haketon next his shirt, and over that the habergeon, a lesser hawberk of chain mail.

   • 2016, Rose G. Kretsinger, The Art of Quilting and Designs in America, Read Books Ltd, →ISBN:

     The gambeson was a medieval garment of cloth or leather, stuffed and quilted. This was worn underneath the habergeon or coat of mail to prevent bruises, but later it formed the principal defensive garment.

2. (historical) The quilted undergarment worn under a hauberk.
   • 1839, David Price, Memoirs of the Early Life and Service of a Field Officer, on the Retired List of the Indian Army, page 242:

     His quilted habergeon stuffed with cotton, gave him, indeed, an exterior almost herculean. What finally became of this brave belligerent I did not learn; but as he was never shy in exposing his person, it is very probable that […]

   • 1992, Derek Brewer, Chaucer and His World, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, →ISBN, page 58:

     There would be an iron helmet, with protection for the face given by the hinged vizor; body armour of a mixture of chainmail and plate, worn over a thick padded habergeon of cloth or leather; iron gauntlets.

   • 2021, Michael Jecks, Templar's Acre, Canelo, →ISBN:

     His squire was already at his side, and helped with the coat of plates, the mail, the thick padded habergeon, and all the while Guillaume de Beaujeu was thinking, assessing, analysing, considering.

3. (loosely) A hauberk, any coat of mail, less commonly even a coat of scale armour.
   • 1835, The Saturday Magazine, page 123:

     The defensive armour, or coat of mail of a knight, or man at arms, (also called a hauberk or habergeon,) was […]

   • 1878, Susan Bogert Warner, The kingdom of Judah, by the author of 'The wide, wide world'., page 138:

     The Egyptians wore a kind of tippet, or square piece with a hole in it for the head to pass through, covering the shoulders and breast; this is the hauberk or habergeon. It was of scale armour; and below it, to protect the rest […]

   • 2005, James Stuart Bell, Carrie Pyykkonen, Linda Washington, Inside "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe": Myths, Mysteries, and Magic from the Chronicles of Narnia, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 63:

     The knee-length mail shirt was called a hauberk or habergeon. But these shirts of mail didn't protect the legs. So, during the twelfth century, many soldiers began wearing mail pieces attached by leather on the front of their legs.

Coordinate terms

• byrnie, hauberk

Middle English

Noun

habergeon

1. Alternative form of hauberjoun