Post
by Clibinarium » Tue Dec 22, 2015 1:19 pm
This description never made much sense to me, I always imaged they wore fur caps the fur of which might be piebald. To go back to the original description from the diary of John Eveyln, from 1678;
Now were brought into service a new sort of soldier called Grenadiers, who were dexterous in flinging hand grenadoes, every one having a pouch full ; they had furred caps with coped crowns like Janizaries, which made them look very fierce, and some had long hoods hanging down behind, as we picture fools. Their clothing being likewise piebald, yellow and red
It could well be that he means clothes of red and yellow are "piebald" in the sense that they're a mix of two colours. Seems like a semicolon might have made more sense, but such is 17th century punctuation. All that is just speculation on my part though.