In the context of poleax, spear staffs, javelin, sword, and plate armour, what was Ermite back in Henry VII’s and Henry VIII’s day?
(Note that this spelling of Ermite is phonetic for the time in south-east England, so how we might spell it today could be very different.)
Could you post the word in context, from the play?
OED lists it as a variant of eremite in Middle and Early Modern English.
Edit: by the way, Henry VII/VII would be Henry I after you simplify the fraction, but that’s too early for eremite in English.
So, 'e’s and 'ermite.
Not very useful for war, unless you’re scrounging for largish objects for the trebuchet.
That’s why the context would be useful.
Thanks, APB! 
That has to be it.
Here’ the context Dr. Drake. A friend said that I need armour, and I replied that one of my way-backs had given his to the church, and by doing so was not very thoughtful toward my present need. His will is pretty easy to read for the most part, but I am not familiar with all of the terms. Phonetic spelling makes usually makes it possible to say the words, but even that did not help me figuring out what Ermite was. APB nailed it: armet!
The fellow was the Under Marshal of Calais, where he saw action. As you can see from his will, he was fully armoured. My mistake was in assuming that his coat of plate armour included a helmet, and in assuming that an Ermite was a weapon, for I was grouping by type of item rather than by significance of item. My bad. Once again, thanks, APB.
Nice marmot.
Thanks! I just had it stuffed.
Might you be referring to thermite? Thermite is a compounds made from aluminum powder and iron oxide. Various different recipes exist. Anyway, the compounds burns at over 2,000 degrees F and very energetically.
No recipes existed in the 1500s, however. I think APB was right.