"West Frankish/Norman Breton Javelinmen" Topic

What do we know about these guys? I can't find anything online that indicates they were part of the Norman army at Hastings. What would they look like? Would many wear helmets? Would they just be something like Essex DGS9?

Well it's not like there were scales of issue and authorized kit.
Tunic, small shield. Coming from the lower classes probably not terribly well groomed either (so I'd not fuss on the Norman style haircut)

Thanks. DGS9 seems reasonable then.

I don't believe that there were dedicated javelinmen in Normandy, or NW France. Not like the bidets and Almughavars in Spain. Being of "Viking" descent, the "spear/javelin" was the most common weapon of infantry. It could be thrown. Carrying more than one was likely. Shields were "body shields", or typical "shield wall" size, not some smaller buckler.

Medieval Bretons were of Scandinavian descent?

Perhaps Frankish skirmishers would have tunics like David in the 'Bible of Saint Stephen Harding', Cîteaux, abbaye Notre-Dame, Bourgogne, France, 1109-1111AD

mirror: David & Goliath in the 'Bible of Saint Stephen Harding', Cîteaux, abbaye Notre-Dame, Bourgogne, France, 1109-1111AD

Druzhina
Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

I think that mentions of such javelinmen refer only to Bretons, or to Basques/Gascons in Aquitanian ("southern West Frankish") armies, and are largely hypothetical in this period: we know that Breton cavalry were javelin-throwers,at least in the 9th-10th centuries; and we know that 10th-11th century Breton armies had some infantry, but not much is known about them; and we know that there were some Breton bidower-style javelin infantry skirmishers in the 14th century; and therefore Breton infantry skirmishers with javelins in the 9th-10th centuries sound plausible. I'm not sure there has ever been any more solid evidence that that.