MAXIMILIAN ARMOUR, 1500–1540.
The strong military tone lent to this period by the bent and character
of the three great monarchs who then ruled the destinies of Europe, had
great influence on armour, civil dress, art, and display generally. The
tendency, as in architecture, was towards redundancy of detail, and
the abandonment of simpler and more truly artistic forms for something
more ornate. This tendency found expression more in the details and
ornamentation of armour than in the intrinsic beauty of the form
itself. The third estate emerged more and more from its long vassalage,
bringing trade and opulence in its train; besides a corresponding
diminution in the power and prestige of extreme feudalism. The
imagination was cultivated, as it had not been before, and luxury,
with the means of gratifying it, had correspondingly increased;
indeed, the society of the time had already passed the threshold of
the “renaissance”--one of those periods of revival, in long course of
incubation, suddenly bursting into life. Harnesses were more solid and
altogether less mobile than in the “Gothic” form.
The “Ehrenpforte” of Maximilian, supposed to have been decorated
from the designs of Albert Dürer, gives a vivid representation of
the meeting between Henry VIII. and Maximilian. This work, and much
literature with illuminations, filled in details of the times which are
invaluable to us now. These monarchs revelled in pomp and parade which
found expression greatly in the tilt-yard; and the influence exercised
on the arms and armour of the period was immense. Now the man-at-arms
was completely encased in plate. Immensely heavy “Gothic” suits of
armour already began to be laid aside in tournaments in favour of
harnesses made for battle, supplemented with reinforcing pieces.
Armour then underwent a great change about the end of the fifteenth
century, during the reign of the Emperor Maximilian (died 1519), when
fluted armour (_armatura spigolata_) came into fashion. The change was
radical and abrupt, being obviously suggested by the civil dress of
the period. The transition was so sharp as to convey the idea that the
change was by order. The beautiful Gothic lines, ridgings, and indented
outlines disappear, and the form becomes stiffer and less elegant in
every way. The breastplate is shorter and more globular, and fringed
at the top by a projecting piping; the more graceful épaulières change
into pauldrons, often of unequal size, and the pretty rondelles become
unnecessary for the time being; but they were resumed at a later
period. Coudières and genouillières are smaller, while tuilles are
replaced by tassets of laminated plates. Sollerets became very broad
and clumsy, in absolute contrast to the “souliers à la poulaine.” It
seems in every way probable that this style of armour, though like
the “Gothic,” so closely associated with Germany, may have had its
origin in Italy; for the Germans in contemporary writings call it
“Milanese.” Henry VIII. ordered many suits at Florence. The helmet, the
armet, and a little later the burgonet, are nearly as much associated
with “Maximilian” armour as the sallad is with the “Gothic”; and the
gorget proper replaces the mentonnière, or in other words, the bavier
of the armet took the place of the neck and chin-piece.[32] Another
prominent feature is the general use of pikeguards, which stand out at
the head of the pauldrons to protect the neck of the wearer from
pike thrusts. There are some fine suits of this armour in the Tower of
London, presented by the Emperor Maximilian to our Harry the Eighth. An
illustration is given in Fig. 20 of a typical suit in the collection
of Prince Carl of Prussia, now in the Zeughaus, Berlin. The details
are as follow, and bear out the general descriptions of the class
already given in these notes:--The suit is fluted throughout, except
the jambs, which are nearly always plain. The helmet is the armet, and
this example sufficiently indicates the date of the armour; both form
and workmanship are good. Instead of the large “Gothic” mentonnière,
there is a gorget and the bavier. The pauldrons, which are uneven in
size, are surmounted by pikeguards; the left pauldron is the larger.
These pieces consist of front and back plates, an innovation of the
sixteenth century. The cuirass is shorter than the later Gothic form,
more globular, and cut straight at the top with a rope-like rim. The
backplate terminates in a garde-de-reine of three lames. Gauntlets are
of the mitten type, with narrower lames than in the form immediately
preceding, and there is a twisted ridge across the knuckles. The
coudières are sharply rounded over the elbow joint with bivalve guards.
The taces are in four lames, and the tassets buckled on; there is the
usual arrangement in the centre for the insertion of the brayette or
cod-piece, which is missing. The armet-collar is laminated behind. The
sollerets are of the “bear-paw” form.
[Illustration: Fig. 20.--Fluted Maximilian Suit at Berlin.]
There is a remarkably fine suit of Maximilian armour in the Königl.
Bayer Armée Museum at Munich. It is not, however, quite such a
characteristic example as the ones already given, inasmuch as the
pauldrons, besides not being winged, are without pikeguards. The
armpits are protected by spiked rondelles. In all other respects this
suit is identical with the one preceding.
A suit at the National Museum, Munich, of which a drawing is given
in Fig. 21, is more shapely than the one preceding, and differs in
some rather essential particulars. The armet has a very projecting and
grated visor. The pauldrons are more comprehensive; the cuirass more
globose. The mitten gauntlets with fluted cuffs are very beautiful, and
the finger plates are wonderfully flexible. This is rather an early
form of the “Maximilian” gauntlet, and would date the suit between 1505
and 1510.
Armour was often worn at this period with helmets of a grotesque
character. A drawing is given in Fig. 22 of a suit at Nuremberg, badly
set up, with an armet of this character. The armour is fluted. There
are some of these grotesque helmets, of the same period, at Vienna, and
the author has a couple of a later time in his own collection.
Although armour of the Maximilian period is usually fluted this is
by no means always the case, and a smooth suit of that school in the
author’s collection is now described, and a drawing of it follows in
Fig. 23, which somewhat incongruously exhibits the knight as holding a
flamberge, which is a footman’s weapon.
[Illustration: Fig. 21.--Fluted Maximilian Suit at Munich.]
[Illustration: Fig. 22.--Fluted Maximilian Suit, with Grotesque Helmet.]
[Illustration: Fig. 23.--Plain Maximilian Suit, in the Author’s
Collection.]
Though not fluted, this suit belongs to the style and period of fluted
armour. It is of noble form and fine workmanship. The armet is graceful
in outline, with a twisted comb, and there are twin perforations on
each side of the crown-piece. The visor exhibits the series of ridges
so characteristic of the period, and there is a projecting peg on the
right side to work it, and a spring catch on the same side to close
it, while a similar catch connects the bavier with the crown-piece.
The collar terminates in a grooved rim, which is articulated behind.
The gorget is strengthened by an extra inner plate in the centre,
riveted on to the outer; and a lamination towards each shoulder lends
elasticity to the piece. The cuirass differs radically from the
Gothic form. It is globular without a tapul ridge, and is shorter in
the waist. The “movement” below the breastplate is a combination
of taces and tassets. The former consist of three lames over the
abdomen joined on to the rim of the cuirass; and the latter are in
five lames, being riveted on to the lowest rim of the former. The
breastplate is cut short at the top, along which runs a thick twisted
projecting rim, and just below this are two small perforations in the
centre. This rim is continued round the armpits on the outside edge
of a laminar plate attached to the breastplate. A lance-rest is on
the right side. The brassards are apparently of a somewhat later date
than the rest of the suit, the pauldrons being exactly the same in
form as those on a suit, of German origin, made for King Philip II.
of Spain about 1540. The gauntlets are of the mitten type, and finely
wrought. The knuckle-piece has a twisted ridge, and a smaller piping
decorates the edge of the cuff and the last plate over the fingers. The
cuffs are hinged, and clasp with a hole and peg. The cuisses have one
lamination at the top, on which is a narrow twisted rim, and below it a
very thick twisted ridge. The genouillières are small and “butterfly,”
while the sollerets are bear-paw, thickly ridged over the toes, and
very handsome. This suit presents many points of contact with a harness
made by Koloman Kolman for Count Andreas von Sonnenberg, about 1506.
There is another fine unfluted suit of about this period in the Tower
collection, said to have been made for Henry VIII. The visor of the
armet is grated, and the tapulled breastplate is rendered more mobile
by two laminated plates at the bottom. The taces and tassets are
riveted together, the former consisting of four lames, and the latter
of seven. The pauldrons are a pair, and there is only a pikeguard on
the left side, but whether the other shoulder was holed or not for a
fellow, as is generally the case when only one, the author does not
remember. Viscount Dillon states that the suit is composed of 235
interlocking pieces, and weighs about 93 pounds. It was specially made
for foot fighting.
We will close the “Maximilian” examples pure and simple by briefly
referring to a fine fluted suit on horseback formerly in the collection
at the Chateau De Heeswijk, near Bois-le-Duc. This suit (Fig. 24) is
almost identical with that already referred to in the Königl. Bayer
Armée Museum at Munich, and the figure carries a tournament lance, with
the coronal. The bards are contemporaneous with the armed figure, and
the same theme of repoussé ornamentation runs throughout the entire
armament.
[Illustration: Fig. 24.--Mounted Maximilian Suit, with Bards.]