It’s amazing the things you can find on the internet. Really. And if you have an academic bent and love history, you can learn a lot by chasing down links from article to article.

I am such an “academic.” For those of you who are not, that translates “dork” and you can go to sleep now and save yourself an excursion that is sure to bore you to sleep anyway. For the rest of you…

LOOK WHAT I FOUND!

(Seriously, only a dork could be this excited over a 470-year-old list of “Things to Bring”…)

This is the muster list of equipment* that Francisco Vasquez de Coronado’s men took with them on their expeditions:

Cavalry Equipment (225 horsemen)

Armor:

• 5 full plate harnesses (including helmets) four of them Coronado’s
• 4 full sets of plate horse armor, all Coronado’s
• 7 corselets or ¾ plate (breast & back plates, collar, armor for arms, armor for upper legs, and an open helmet; the Borgonata was most popular)
• 8 cuirasses (breast & back plates)
• 55 Cota de Mala (long chainmail shirt, all but one sleeveless)
• 2  Jacqueta de Mala (sleeveless chainmail vest)
• 3  sets of chainmail for the legs.
• 207 Gambeson/Esquipil quilted cotton jackets
• 65  leather jackets
• 20  morrion style helmets
• 7    borgonata style helmets
• 23  buffe (plate or chainmail protection for face and neck)
• 2    gorgets (plate collar)
• 2    metal gauntlets (not a pair)
• 19  “armor for the head” (just what this refers to is not stated, but it is differentiated from helmets)
• 4    quilted cotton armor for the head

Weapons:

• Every man had a lance and a sword
• 4 “arms of Castile”
• 3 crossbows
• 3 matchlock muskets
• 1 two handed sword
• 1 dagger
• 2 lances (Since these two were specifically noted, they presumably are the heavier impact type weapon not normally carried in the field in Nueva España.)

INFANTRY EQUIPMENT (62 men, 5 of whom also had horses)

Armor:

• 1 corselet/ ¾ plate
• 6 leather jackets
• 43 Gambeson/Esquipil quilted cotton jackets
• 1 set of chainmail sleeves
• 21 metal knee plates (No man had two, usually worn on leading leg.)
• 2 borgonata type helmets

Weapons:

• 49 swords
• 1  two handed sword
• 12 daggers
• 21 matchlock muskets
• 16 crossbows

*Many thanks to the National Park Service’s Cabrillo National Monument website