PART X.
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.

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.

Fig. 21.—Fluted Maximilian Suit at Munich.
Fig. 22.—Fluted Maximilian Suit, with Grotesque Helmet.
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.

Fig. 24.—Mounted Maximilian Suit, with Bards.