Step 1 : Introduction to the question "3. What crucial item did an English archer keep under his headwear during periods of bad weather?"
...1. A change of socks 2. His bowstrings 3. His lunch 4. His Bible and rosary "Keep(ing) it under your hat" is a phrase in common usage today. It is accepted that it comes from the fact that archers would keep their bowstrings under their hats or headwear when the weather was bad. This kept them dry and prevented them from rotting and stretching. An archer could do this even as the enemy were bearing down on him, as an experienced archer could string his bow in seconds ... All English archers were highly experienced men (this showed in their daily rate of pay), whereas a crossbow took considerably longer to string. It has been written that the English at Azincourt were ravaged by dysentery and a lot of the soldiers fought the French naked from the waist down. Keeping a clean change of socks seems pointless! An archer of this period may well have carried a rosary but he would most likely be illiterate and not own a Bible of his own.