a series of musters or wapenshaws, between two and four times a year, checked that potential soldiers maintained suitable equipment. individuals were expected to equip themselves for war according to their estates. instructions given to sheriffs in 1513 indicated that gentlemen were expected to muster in plate armour, while common soldiers were to come in jacks and sallets. after the disaster at flodden there seems to have been a deliberate abandonment of plate armour by the nobility, perhaps because of the difficulties it created in handling a pike, and by 1547 many noblemen were virtually indistinguishable from the majority of troops. highland lords continued to use lighter chainmail and ordinary highlanders dressed in the plaid, leaving their lower legs naked. in place of a jack, they often had a patchwork linen garment, covered with wax or pitch.