Defensive armour experienced another change a little before the middle of the sixteenth century, viz., in the casting aside of fluted armour, for the reasons already stated, and the resumption of plain steel. Suits became generally lighter, and the form of the breastplate changed, with a hump over the stomach or the abdomen. During the second half of the century the cuisse and tasset tend to combine in a series of laminated plates to the knee, and sollerets were smaller and more the shape of the foot; indeed, greaves and sollerets began to be replaced by leather boots. This period was specially remarkable for profuse and artistic ornamentation. Armour was engraved by hand and manipulated with aquafortis, as well as embossed and damascened with gold, in a manner that has never been surpassed in any work of the kind whatever. There is a very fine suit of the period, 1550–60, at the Königliche Zeughaus, Berlin, made by the elder von Speyer; and though the armour is enriched, it has been described in this section by way of showing a typical harness of the period in its order. It was undoubtedly made by Peter von Speyer in 1560 for the Kurfürst Joachim II. of Brandenburg, and is thus historic. The letters P. V. S., with the year, appear several times on the armour, and the Brandenburg arms decorate the breast. The helmet is the burgonet, the cuirass is shorter than the fashion immediately preceding, while the rim of the breastplate stands out sharply beyond the tassets. The breastplate projects a little below the centre, and the shoulder-pieces and general pose, with the before-mentioned features, are all characteristic of the year of make. The ornamentation in repoussé work is very fine. This suit has been fully and ably described by Dr. Edgar von Ubisch in the Hohenzollern Jahrbuch of 1899. (See illustration, Fig. 26.) Descriptions in detail and illustrations are given of various suits of the second half of the sixteenth century. During this half century (sixteenth) defensive armour may be said in some respects to have reached its highest point of excellence; but towards its close unmistakable signs of decadence began to appear, and cap-à-pie suits fell gradually into disuse. This was caused by the inability of the armour to resist the then more penetrating firearms, or perhaps even still more, because the newer tactics demanded lighter cavalry and fighting more in masses, and less from individual efforts hand-to-hand. A style of demi-armour, called the “Allecret,” largely prevailed during the second half of the sixteenth century. The name is a corruption of “allekraft” (all strength). The peculiarities of this fashion will be shown in an example from the author’s collection (Fig. 27), which will be fully described later in these pages. This half-armour was often worn by light horsemen, household troops, and leaders of companies. It is very common to find, especially in family collections, some particular suit or suits ascribed to a great ancestor, but this is nearly always romance. It is an uncommon advantage to find a harness dated with the year, as some few are. There is a suit of this kind in the National Museum, Munich, with the date 1597 inscribed, and others at Nuremberg and Berlin. The more that is seen of armour, 1560–1600, the greater is the difficulty in many cases of fixing any approximate date, or arriving at any standard for suits covered by the period. Many suits were restored again and again, and this naturally gives rise to great perplexity. With this period closes the pre-eminence in the field of the knightly order, as such.

The decline of armour may be said to have already commenced contemporaneously with the period of its greatest elaboration, in the sense that half-armour began to be freely worn early in the second half of the sixteenth century, indeed, a figure of a Swiss halbardier, given in Holbein’s “Costumes Suisses,” of the first half of the century wears merely a light sallad, with cuirass and taces; and the rank and file of pikemen, billmen, and harquebusiers generally bore a similar equipment. Even the “Allecret” description, which is half-armour, was greatly used by the leaders of companies and mercenaries generally; while what might constitute a battalion or combined body of troops was often under the command of a captain belonging to the knightly order, still armed cap-à-pie. The fact is, that full armour could not be constantly worn during a long campaign as then conducted without injury to health, and its use became more and more restricted to the knightly order and men-at-arms, who were not generally exposed to the same hardships as the common soldier. The man-at-arms of the sixteenth century became the pistolier and cuirassier of the seventeenth, and then wore half-armour. The example of demi-armour (Fig. 27), sometimes called “Allecret,” dates from late in Queen Elizabeth’s reign; but a demi-harness, with other details, was worn much earlier, and notably by the German Landsknecht and the Swiss. The main features of this suit are that there are elbow gauntlets, a fashion adopted from the Asiatics; and that the gorget and épaulières are riveted together. The specimen under discussion is probably of English make. A shirt of mail was possibly worn beneath it, but this defence was generally dispensed with by the end of the sixteenth century. The “Triumph of Maximilian” shows leaders of footmen wearing half-armour. Black and white demi-armour was very common at this time, and an interesting example of this description is given in Fig. 28. Its general characteristics are as follows:—The burgonet is open, and the gorget, which is riveted to the épaulières, has two laminations at the neck, around the highest of which is a corded rim. The breastplate is short, with a projection over the navel. The taces are riveted to the tassets, which descend to the knee. There are no brassards, but short elbow gauntlets protect the hands and lower arms. The figure has jackboots, and is of early seventeenth century date.

Cap-à-pie harnesses tended to become lighter as time wore on, and in the last quarter of the century the tasset and cuisse became combined in a series of light overlapping plates, directly attached to the cuirass and riveted on to the genouillières; which in their turn become attachable to the jambs by an adjustable screw. A representation is given of a late suit of armour of this description in Fig. 29, where the helmet is the collared burgonet, which is characteristic of the end of the sixteenth and early in the seventeenth century. The cuirass has three horizontal laminations over the abdomen, while the upper leg and thigh armour is the combination already referred to. The elbow gauntlets of the suit are very characteristic of the period. The harness dates from very late in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, or possibly even later.

Many writers lay far too much stress on the use of firearms as the main cause of the gradual disuse of armour. Coming easy to hand, it was eagerly adopted by many writers on the subject, but like most generalisations it is misleading. That it was a potent factor in this direction is certain, but it was only one of the many causes which have been already touched upon in these pages. The general demand for cap-à-pie armour languished from the end of the sixteenth century forward, and with it vanished the taste and skill of making and decorating it; for we have very little more of the exquisite work of the “renaissance,” the vigour and force of which had spent itself. Here and there a fine suit is met with, usually made for royalty, but always lacking finish in the details; the majority are sadly inferior in material, workmanship, and decoration—indeed, the character of the work is coarse in every particular, and became more so as time moved on. The change in armour during the first half of the seventeenth century was very great. The breastplate became flat and very short, and open helms were much worn. The representation (Fig. 30) of a very early seventeenth century suit is from the armoury at Brancepeth Castle, Durham. This suit probably dates from very early in the seventeenth century. The helmet has an umbril over the eyes. Immediately under the peak is the ocularium of two very broad slits—the visor is grated. The suit is freely studded over with rather large-headed rivets, the gorget is pointed, cuirass short with lance-rest, but no garde-de-reine. To a broad rim at the bottom, tassets, consisting of nine lames, are attached by straps and buckles. The coudières are sharply pointed at the elbow. The most remarkable and distinctive feature in connection with this suit is the protection given to the inner arm by a series of small and very mobile laminated plates, attached to the rerebrace and vambrace by rivets; another example with a similar arrangement may be seen in the Tower. Cuisse and jamb have a high ridge running down the centre in front, the genouillières having a thicker projection, bevelled at the sides, in a line with the ridge on the other two pieces.

Plate armour fell into discredit during the seventeenth century and gradually disappeared, the pikeman being the last of the foot soldiers to use it. The cuirass was the last piece generally worn, and this in time gave place, except in the case of the cuirassiers, to the buff coat and jerkin.

Among the great armour-smiths who worked from 1540 to the end of the century may be mentioned Kunz Lochner of Nuremberg, who was perhaps the greatest artist in steel of the German “renaissance.” A suit made for Duke Johann Wilhelm of Weimar about 1560–65, at Dresden, is very typical of his time. The comb of the burgonet is high, the neck-piece consists of three lames; the breastplate is short and “peascod”; while the cuisses exhibit an early instance of coming to the knees. This suit is referred to under the heading “Enriched Armour.” Anton Peffenhauser of Augsburg began somewhat later, and worked up to the end of the century. A notable example of this master may be seen at Madrid, in an enriched harness made for Don Sebastian of Portugal in 1576 (Fig. 39); and there are others at Dresden. Sigmund Rockenberger of Wittenberg; the von Speyers of Annaberg in Saxony, and the two Wilhelms von Worms, and Heinrich Knopf of Nuremberg; Giovanni Battista Serabagio, and Lucio Piccinino of Milan, were all great artists of their time; and examples of their work may be seen at Vienna, Dresden, and Berlin. Mention of the work of Jakob Topf of Innsbruck first appears about 1575, and an attempt has been made to identify this armour-smith with the “Jacobe” of the South Kensington Album, but with very slender foundation in point of evidence, as it seems to us. Some further sifting of the matter would be interesting.