become at least highly probable that the use of fire-arms would drive it
altogether from the field. Yet the armour-smith’s craft, so far from
languishing, seemed to renew its youth, and flourished exceedingly in
the early sixteenth century. That was an age of mighty Kings--of
Maximilian and Charles V. of Germany, of Henry VIII. of England, of
Francis I. of France, and of Ferdinand of Aragon--Sovereigns who loved
“the pomp and panoply of glorious war,” and who were keenly alive to the
potentialities of the knightly harness as a medium for display and
ostentation. This, too, was the age of the Renaissance, when the setting
of a gem or the moulding of a goblet was a matter that would occupy a
grave potentate to the exclusion of affairs of state. The armourer’s art
came in for a large share of the interest taken in all the applied arts.
But as in the latter half of the fifteenth century, armour had already
arrived at a purity of line and adaptability to its purpose which could
not be improved upon, the energies of the Renaissance artists were
perforce expended upon ornamentation and enrichment. This tendency was
naturally the more freely indulged as the inefficiency of armour as a
defence for life and limb became more generally recognized.
The “Maximilian” style of armour, which superseded the “Gothic” or late
fifteenth century style, seems to have originated at Milan, probably in
the workshop of the Negrolis of Missaglia. It was modelled on--or
suggested by--the civil costume of the time, and derives its name from
the approval it received from the Emperor Maximilian (1493-1519). That
monarch was distinguished above all the princes of his age for his
fondness for warlike exercises, and for his skill and courage in the
lists. The armour named after him is fluted, and is usually
characterised by heavy-shoulder defences, and skirts of plate or
lamboys.
The earliest pieces introduced into Spain by the Emperor’s son, Philip
I., do not belong to this style; nor does the handsome suit (A16--plate
15), believed to be of Spanish make, and worn by the Prince, possibly at
the tilt organised in his honour in the Zocodover in 1502. Of the heavy
tilting heaulme forming part of the harness, the Conde de Valencia
says:
“This handsome helm, to judge by the dimensions of the shutter, might be
thought either Spanish or Italian; but in forming a definite opinion it
must be remembered that it is marked with a _fleur-de-lys_, very similar
to that of a _Chapeau de Montauban_, which we have seen in the Hefner
collection at Munich.”
The cuirass, decorated with gold brocade, is composed of two stout
plates of steel, tin-plated to prevent oxidation, the lower defending
the body to the waist, and the upper or over-breastplate only protecting
the breast down to a horizontal line of gilded nails. They are fastened
together by a screw in the centre of a rosette of gilded and engraved
metal. The cuirass is completed by a third plate, which covers the
shoulder-blades, connecting with the backplate, and protects the
shoulders from the pressure of the helm. It is all lined with brocade
over strong canvas, and fits close with cords and tags like a corset.
“This remarkable breastplate for tilting is evidently Spanish. In
addition to the Moorish character of the engraving and openwork adorning
the central rosette, inside the plates is a mark which shows its
Valencian origin. It is the tetragon with the Aragon bars, given as a
shield of arms by James I. to the city he had conquered.”
The lance-rest is of the hollow kind, peculiar to Spain and Italy. Note
on the right hip the pocket, cork-lined, on which the butt-end of the
lance was rested before being couched. Above the left breast is a large
ring, to which, by means of a bolt, the target was fastened and held in
position. The leather ball, filled with tow, hanging to this ring, was
to deaden the effect of a blow on the shield. We are ignorant of the use
of the four rings hanging from the central ridge of the breastplate. The
tassets are of three laminæ. The left hip is protected by a strong
reinforcing piece in two plates. The left arm being defended by the
target has no espalier or pauldron, but only coude, vambraces, and
gauntlets. The right arm, in addition to these pieces, has a sort of
espalier-pauldron, called _épaule-de-mouton_, with a fluted pikeguard.
The lance is of pine-wood, and has the point blunted. The next suit
(A17) differs only in a few unimportant particulars from the one just
described.
The body-armour (C11) may have been brought to Spain by Philip. It is
the work of a Milanese armourer, Bernardino Cantoni (who lived in 1492),
and consists of a brigantine with tassets and sleeves, “Greek breeches”
or chausses for the thigh, and brayette. These pieces are composed of
scale armour, overlaid with canvas and crimson silk. The borders and
joints are garnished with fine steel mail. On the rivets is stamped the
Imperial eagle, which goes to prove that the armour belonged to
Maximilian. No less than 3,827 pieces of plate and more than 7,000
rivets have been used to make this wonderful harness. The armourer’s
mark, the heraldic devices of Austria and Burgundy, and the plates cut
in the form of dolphins on the backplate, are worthy of attentive
inspection (see plates 79 and 79A).
Attached to the salade shown with this body-armour, are beautiful wings
of steel, inlaid with gold and other decorations, which could be assumed
or removed according as the helmet was required for war or tilting
(plate 141).
The most remarkable exhibits in the Armoury are the eighteen superb
suits that belonged to the Emperor Charles V. They are the work of the
greatest armourers of that or any age, and illustrate the transition
from the “Gothic” to the more elaborate style of Maximilian.
The suit A19 (plate 20) was made for Charles when he was a youth by
Koloman Colman, surnamed Helmschmied, the famous armour-smith of
Augsburg. It is known as the K. D. suit from the enormous monogram
stamped on the pike-guard of the left-shoulder. The letters stand for
Karolus Dux, Charles being at that time (about 1514) only Duke of
Burgundy and Prince of the Spains. The whole suit conforms to the
elegant simplicity of the earlier fashion, but the size of the left
pauldron or shoulder-guard and the shape of the sollerets show the
influence of the new.
The armour is of burnished steel, “soberly gilded and engraved.” The
borders are adorned by diamond-shaped reliefs. The armet is of the
pattern described under A1, but the side-pieces close in front of the
chin; the visor has five rows of holes and slits for ventilation. There
is no gorget, the interval between the helmet and the upper edge of the
breastplate being defended by chain-mail. The breastplate has a ridge or
tapul down the middle; it is roped at the edges, and decorated with the
Collar of the Golden Fleece. Strong lance-rest, with the Imperial eagle
and armourer’s mark. Attached to the taces are tassets of three plates.
The space between them is incompletely defended by a narrow skirt of
mail. At the armpits are gussets of mail. The right arm has an espalier,
palette, rere-braces, coude, vambrace, and gauntlet; the left, the four
last pieces, but instead of espalier and palette, a large pauldron with
pike-guard, on which is engraved the monogram K. D. The coudes are very
beautiful. The remaining pieces are: backplate, open cuisses,
genouillères, jambs, and laminated sollerets, approximating to the
bear’s-paw pattern that afterwards became fashionable.
This harness belongs to the best period of armour. The decoration is
chaste and tasteful, and there is nothing superfluous or exaggerated in
the whole suit. The armet could be strengthened by the usual reinforcing
pieces. The other tilting-pieces, which might have been worn with this
suit, are shown separately on the equestrian figure A26 (plate 21). Here
we notice the armet with cheek-pieces opening at the sides, according to
the system which now became general; laminated gorget; the enormous
pauldron, elbow-guard, and gauntlet of the right arm; and the handsome
garde-de-rein attached to the backplate. The cuisses have a fringe of
mail at the knee, and the houghs are defended by decorated shields or
rondels. The junction of the jambs and sollerets is similarly
strengthened by mail.
The horse’s barding appears to have been the work of Daniel Hopfer of
Augsburg, who co-operated in many instances with Colman. All the
component parts are gilded, and etched by means of aqua-fortis, the
decoration consisting of imbrications or overlapping of festoons, in
open-work or relief.
Each imbrication encloses two cherubim in the attitude of striking with
sparkling flint bars, and in each festoon is a rose and three
pomegranates surrounding it. The first are emblems of the Golden Fleece;
the rose alludes to one of the seigneuries of the Emperor; and the
pomegranates are a favourite device adopted by the children and
grandchildren of Ferdinand and Isabel, in memory of the triumph over the
Moors at Granada.
The iron borne by the horseman weighs thirty-six kilos., and the horse’s
bard and saddle as much more: if the weight of an average man be added
the result is about 150 kilos, carried by the horse.
The most notable features of the suit A27 (plates 22, 98, 143), which is
mainly composed of extra or reinforcing pieces, are the helmet, called
celada de infante, with serrated comb, decorative bands, deep pointed
visor forming a strong reinforcing piece, beavor “bellows-pattern” with
alternate ridges and rows of perforations, and laminated gorget plates;
and the target screwed to the left shoulder. This defence was only used
at tilts and tournaments. It is concave and trellised, and is
beautifully engraved by Daniel Hopfer.
On it may be seen several birds of the same kind (herons?) in the act of
attacking an eagle in the centre, which has one of them a prisoner in
its talons--possibly an allusion to the alliances promoted by Francis I.
of France against Charles V., after the former refused to comply with
the Treaty of Madrid.
The suit A37-42 (plate 23) is a tilting harness of burnished steel,
probably that in which the Prince appeared in the lists at Valladolid in
1518. The most important piece is the tilting-helm, which weighs more
than nineteen kilogrammes. Divided vertically at the sides in two
halves, which are joined by means of six sliding springs, it was put on
by screwing the back part to the backplate and the front part to the
over-breastplate, the tilter remaining thus between walls of steel, with
the weight shared between the shoulders and the waist.
The lance is of the kind called Bordonasa, hollow and fluted. The larger
variety was used to mark the limits of the lists at tournaments. In an
account of Charles’s doings (1523) we read, “Le jour que sa dite Majesté
jousta à la targette, qui’il courut par diverses fois armé à la
bourdonasse.”
The heavy bard that covers the horse, like the suit, comes from the
Imperial Armoury. It is of German make; but has no mark to show its
origin. Its make and size remind us of those of the _Triunfo de
Maximiliano I._, and the beautiful etchings are in the style of the
celebrated engravers Burgmair, father and son; the latter, as is known,
worked with the armourers of the Imperial House of Austria.
It includes: large chanfron with arched outline, lateral plates,
ear-coverings like sheeps’ horns, and on the crown a small shield with
the two-headed eagle; collar of steel scales; poitrel with sliding
embossed hinges, in the shape of lions’ heads; flechières and croupière,
all covered with pearls, pendants, and reliefs. On the croupière, which
finishes at the crupper in a sheep’s head, Biblical subjects are
engraved: David with the sling, and Samson fighting the Philistines. The
whole is one of the most beautiful bardings known.
The horse armour at A38 is also remarkable, and probably belonged to the
Emperor Maximilian. Note the double-headed eagle on the chanfron, the
motto, “Plus Oultre” on the forehead, and the St. Andrew’s crosses and
bars of the Golden Fleece on the collar.
At A43 the upper limbs are defended by “a pair of narrow armlets to be
used with sleeves of mail” (Valladolid Inventory). “They are specially
worthy of mention as they are very rare, there being none like them in
any other Museum, while in the collection at Madrid there are four sets
belonging to as many suits of armour of the Emperor. On tapestries and
some sepulchral effigies of the fifteenth century they are worn over the
sleeves of the coat of mail, to defend the outside part of the arm from
the shoulder to the hand, being divided in articulated laminæ. Those of
Charles V. have their own garniture of mail and straps to go round the
arm.”
Between 1519 and 1539, five complete suits, almost identical in design,
were made for Charles by the Colmans of Augsburg. They are all decorated
with ornamental vertical bands, and differ mainly in the distances
between these and in dimensions. Two are distinguished, however, by
lamboys or bases, the ugly kilting of armour added to the harness about
this time to gratify the craze for novelty and ornamentation. It may
also have been suggested by the prevailing fashion in civil dress.
The most ancient of these suits is that known as the oak-leaf harness
(_tonelete de hojas de roble_) [A49-64]. It could not have been made
earlier than 1519, the year in which Charles ascended the throne of the
Holy Roman Empire, as the Imperial Eagle is engraved on the coudes. It
was made by Colman Helmschmied.
The armour is shown on three separate figures. The first (A49--plate 24)
is a harness for jousting on foot, with the two-handed sword, mace, or
half-pike. The helmet, of the kind Spanish writers call the _celada de
engole_, has a serrated comb and pointed visor ridged horizontally; the
cheek-pieces open at the sides; and the nape covering or _colodrillo_ is
forged separately from the helmet, and fastened with rivets. This
headpiece has six reinforcing pieces, which are placed at the side of
the figure. Among these is a curious beavor, composed of two plates,
nailed on leather, which clasp on the helmet and close at the chin. The
rest of the suit consists of: laminated gorget; globose breastplate,
roped at the edges, and decorated with ornamental lengths; taces, to the
lower edge of which is attached the lamboy, composed of two bell-shaped
halves, each of eight semi-circular plates, across which the lengths are
continued, and the lowest or outermost of which is decorated all round
with embossed oak-leaves intertwined round a trunk. The espaliers are
small and beautifully decorated with the device of the Golden Fleece in
relief. The coudes show the Imperial Eagle embossed on a gold ground.
The leg-armour does not properly belong to this suit.
(A56). The second figure (plates 25, 99) has a helmet for jousting on
foot, which opens at the sides, and has a large visor in one
semi-spherical piece perforated; slight crest, and stripes of gold which
unite at the back to form two fantastic figures, and, lastly, eight
holes on each side, guarded with metal, for hearing. Undoubtedly it was
altered at a very remote period by cutting horizontally at the neck, at
the back of which the Golden Fleece is engraved; and doubtless it was
cut in order to add the neck-plates, which, screwed on to the cuirass,
serve instead of a gorget.
Note the heavy tilting elbow-guards and gauntlets; the brayette, rarely
shown in English pieces of armour; and the close-fitting tassets,
resembling breeches, in which we may recognise the beginnings of the
lobster-tail armour, worn so much during the seventeenth century. The
back of the espaliers is beautifully designed to resemble the wings of
an eagle.
(A57.) The third figure has tilting pieces of the same armour. The helm
in two pieces, united at the side by means of seven sliding rivets, is
magnificent, with pointed visor, very stout at the edges; it has a
shutter on the right side; two groups of perforations for breathing, and
eight others, guarded with metal, for hearing; in front the decoration
only consists of lightly engraved feathers, on the crest, of a centaur
fighting a serpent, in relief, on a gold ground (plate 100).
The superb shield (plate 143A), screwed to the over-breastplate, bears
the signature of Daniel Hopfer, and the date 1536. Its surface is
divided into twenty-eight compartments of different sizes, in each of
which are engraved groups of nymphs, satyrs, amorini, winged horses,
griffins, and other fanciful creations on a gold ground. The groups are
all different. Some of the female figures appear to have been
intentionally made grotesque. The whole design reminds one of Albrecht
Durer’s school and the German Renaissance.
The beautiful burgonet or helmet (A59--plate 101), shaped like a
dolphin’s head, was made in the workshops of Colman, and almost
certainly designed by Daniel Hopfer. The scales are damascened on a
black ground, and the visor is formed by the snout above the open jaw.
We come now to the harness made for Charles V. at Augsburg about 1521,
and distributed like the last suit among three figures. It presents no
very interesting points of difference from the armour just described
(plate 26). The barding of the horse (A65) is exquisitely engraved with
fanciful figures, in which we recognise the hand of Daniel Hopfer. The
armet of the third figure (A75--plate 102) is of the shape already shown
at A19. The reinforcing piece over the crown is cut to resemble an
eagle, and bears such devices as the Golden Fleece and Pillars of
Hercules, and the motto “Plus Oultre.” It has also the most complete set
of reinforcing pieces in the Armoury. These are shown on plate 97.
The harness numbered A93-107 is the third of the suits decorated with
vertical bands and the second with lamboys made for Charles by Colman
Helmschmied. The Conde de Valencia fixes its date at 1526, and has
elicited from various archives the following interesting historical
details concerning it:
“So long as the young Prince Charles resided in Flanders under the
tutelage of his grandfather, the Emperor Maximilian I., it would be easy
for the armourer Colman Helmschmied to take and certify personally his
measurements, without neglecting the large clientèle that came to his
workshops; but when his patron was obliged to go to Spain, he wished,
and expressed this wish through his agents, that the armourer should
remove to Toledo. Colman demurred, alleging that he was fully occupied,
and from this it has been inferred that he never crossed the Pyrenees.
We, more fortunately, are able to assert that the celebrated artificer,
at last obeying the express command of his Sovereign, went to Toledo in
December, 1525, and returned to Germany the following month.
“A bill ordering the payment of the expenses of his journey, found in
Simancas, states, among other curious details, that he left Augsburg in
December, accompanied by Ludovico Taxis, an official of the Imperial
Post, and two servants, and passed through Lyon in France. He was
summoned to Court chiefly to rectify measurements, before executing
fresh orders, as may be gathered from the extremely curious charge in an
ancient account of the Emperor’s Armoury, the date of which coincides
with the artificer’s stay in Toledo. The French text begins thus: ‘Pour
trois livres de cire et de plomb pour faire les patrons que maitre
Colman, armoyeur, a fait,’ &c.
“The Emperor’s bill, dated Toledo, January 15th, 1526, arranging for the
payment of expenses from and to Augsburg to Colman and his companions is
so interesting in its details that it ought to be known. It runs thus:
“‘Notre Secretaire M. Jehan Lalemand, depechez nos lettres patentes par
les quelles soient mandé a notre Argentier Jehan d’ Adurza et des
deniers de son entremise payer, bailler et delivrer comptant à ...,
Colman maître armoyeur de notre cité d’ Augsbourg en Allemaignes et à
Ludovico de Taxis serviteur du maître des postes estant au dit Augsbourg
la somme de 1,125 ducats d’or de XXXVII. s. VI. d. pièce, à savoir; au
dit Colman 735, les 500 en don gratuit pour une fois pour aucunement des
peines et travaux qu’il a eu et supporté venant par notre expresse
ordonnance au mois de decembre dernier en poste dés sa maison etant au
dit Augsbourg, jusque par devers notre dite majesté en notre cité de
Tolede; les 150 pour ses depenses tant de venir que de retourner en sa
dite maison; les 30 ducats pour convertir et employer en ung
acoustrement pour sa personne, de nos couleurs et livrées et les 55
autres ducats pour une mulle que lui avons fait ce jourd-huy acheter et
presenter aussi en don de par nous; et au dit Ludovico de Taxis 380
semblables ducats, les 200 pour ses peines et frais par lui payés d’etre
aussi par notre dite ordonnance venu accompagner par poste le dit
Colman, dés le dit Augsbourg à quatre chevaux jusqu’ à Lyon sur Rhone en
France et dés le dit Lyon jusqu’ en notre cité de Tolede à trois
chevaux, a cause qu’ un serviteur d’ icelle Colman était demeuré malade
par chemin; les 150 ducats aussi pour ses dépenses et autres frais que
lui conviendra faire accompagnant le dit Colman et portant une montre de
harnais pour notre personne dés le dit Tolede jusqu’ au dit Augsbourg et
les autres 30 ducats aussi en don gratuit pour un acoutrement pour sa
personne aussi de notre dite livrée; revenant ensemble toutes les dites
parties à la dite somme de 1,125 ducats d’or,’” &c. (Simancas. Casa
Real).
The figure A93 (plate 27) shows the armour as worn for combat on foot in
_champ-clos_. The helmet has a complete set of reinforcing pieces. The
roped edge of the breastplate is placed over the gorget. The pauldrons
are large, and furnished with pike-guards. The lamboys are in
bell-shaped halves, joined by sliding rivets. The lowest or outermost
plate can be detached at will, and is decorated with bas-reliefs of
bears and deer pursued by dogs on a gilded ground. Beneath is a
“baticol,” or kind of breeches, of burnished steel, “articulated with
great skill and precision, so as to defend the body without hindering
its movements.” Cuisses, genouillères, and jambs complete the suit.
The tilting pieces attached to the harness are shown on the second
figure (A101--plate 20). The helm, similar to that of A37, is decorated
with gold bands, and is fifteen millimetres thick at the visor. It is
screwed on to the over-breastplate. The arm defences are very handsome,
being gilded, embossed, and engraved so as to resemble the civil dress
of the period. The right coude bears the emblem of the Golden Fleece,
and would appear from the Relacion de Valladolid to have been a prize
won or competed for at tournaments. The armour on the left arm will only
permit the arm to be bent towards the pommel of the saddle.
The cuisses are laminated, and the influence of the civil dress is seen
once more in the genouillères which are composed of strips of metal
placed vertically, so as to give the “slashed” appearance common to the
trunk-hose and sleeves of the period. The jambs are engraved with floral
devices. The sollerets are of mail.
The third figure (A103), described as including the pieces necessary for
war or hunting, does not call for special notice.
A108 is a light harness for war, made by Colman Helmschmied. The emblem
of the Golden Fleece predominates in the scheme of its decoration. Of
this suit the Conde de Valencia says:
“Time has dimmed the effect of its sober and severe ornamentation of
gold on a black ground, confined to a few narrow longitudinal stripes
engraved and gilded. It has the ‘bars’ of the Golden Fleece on the
helmet, the guards, and the shield; two winged griffins, supporting the
Pillars of Hercules on the backplates of the pauldrons, and the image of
Our Lady on the breastplate. According to the Emperor’s inventory, the
backplate, which does not exist, bore the image of St. Barbara.
“It is the last armour the famous Colman made for Charles V. This is
easily proved by the date (1531), engraved on the left tassets--a date
which agrees with that given us some years ago by the learned German
professor, Carl Justi, to whom it was communicated by Canon Braghirolli
on his finding it in the Mantua archives. It is contained in a letter
from Duke Federigo di Gonzaga to the Duke of Urbino on the 9th November,
1532, in which he says that _the Emperor had shown him his armour, among
which was a beautiful suit by Colman, the last one he made for him, for
shortly after he had died_. The statement was confirmed by the payment
lists of the Municipality of Augsburg, from which the name of the
armourer disappeared in the year 1532.”