This class of armour was more for parade purposes than for actual service in the field, and it was much used in the lists. Most suits of the kind were provided with a set of reinforcing pieces for jousts and tourneying. These pieces have already been fully described under “The Tournament” heading, and illustrated in Figs. 10 and 11. The amount of artistic skill of the very highest order that was lavished on the ornamentation of armour in the later “middle ages,” and especially during the “renaissance,” was a remarkable feature of the times, and artists of the greatest repute found constant and lucrative employment in designing for this purpose. Suits were finely and delicately chased, engraved, russeted, and enriched with gold, embossed, damascened, appliqued, and decorated with repoussé work.
Italy and Germany were the workshops for the finest specimens, and Milan, Brescia, Nuremberg, Augsburg, Innsbruck, Venice, Florence, besides other places, vied with one another in the production of specimens of consummate skill and elegance. French examples were coarser and less artistic in every way, while there was but little of knightly armour made in England, and that little, excepting for a very brief period, was of a vastly inferior description. The number of artists and craftsmen, in widely different branches of art and manufacture, who were employed to design, turn out, and finish a suit of armour, or a weapon for war or for the chase, was simply legion; and, of course, in the case of enriched suits, or arms, still more were brought into requisition. There is the designer, modeller, steel, silver and gold smiths, carvers, enamellers, inlayers, engravers, repoussé or workers in hammered work, damasceners, polishers, and hosts of other craftsmen, each contributing his quota of industry and skill to one complete whole. Artists of the very highest celebrity, such as Donatello,33 Michael Angelo, Albrecht Dürer, Leonardo da Vinci, Benvenuto Cellini, and Hans Holbein, had no higher ideal than in designing for this kind of work, and some of them were engaged in engraving also. It is well known that many armour-smiths employed other artists for designing and ornamentation, while others, like Kunz Lochner of Nuremberg, did their own embellishing as well as the smith’s work. An illustration is given in Fig. 31 of two very fine suits by Jörg Seusenhofer of Innsbruck. They are both tastefully engraved, and appear to be of a somewhat earlier make than the archducal suit by the same master, referred to in a previous chapter, and differ from it, as well as from each other, in some rather important features, especially in the form of the cuirasses and tassets. Only one of the three has pikeguards. These suits were made about 1540.
There is a chastely enriched harness in the Kriegswaffen-Saal at Dresden attributed to Wilhelm von Worms. A drawing is given in Fig. 32 of the cuirass and tassets. On the left side of the breastplate is engraved a figure of a knight kneeling before the crucified Christ on the cross. The top of the breastplate is tastefully ornamented with a shield, with foliations on either side. This example is specially valuable, as it bears the date of make—1539.
An example in black and white may be seen at Berlin, the bright spaces being engraved. The breastplate is adorned with an engraved figure of Christ on the cross, and the gorget bears the legend: SOLVS SPES MEA CHRISTVS. A rondelle protects the right armpit. The left pauldron is a restoration. The suit dates about 1570.
There is a remarkable harness at Berlin, dating from about the middle of the sixteenth century. The cuirass, taces, and tassets are banded with an ornamentation of chevrons, which are bright and black alternately. Each row is defined with lines of brass, probably originally gilded. The cuisses are bright on the upper portions, which are enriched alternately with piping and small overlapping plates like shillings; the lower portions are black, and so also are the jambs. The sollerets are small and “bear-paw,” the extremities adorned with alternate bright and black flutings; the pauldrons are treated in the same manner. The rerebraces are ornamented with thick, circular coils to resemble puffs; there are no coudières, but the joint is rendered mobile by eleven narrow lames. There is a boy’s harness of similar make at Vienna, by Hans Seusenhofer, dating about 1511. This suit is obviously a copy of the civil dress of the time.
This is a very chaste and elegant Italian suit (Fig. 33), dating from the last quarter of the sixteenth century. It is ornamented in the banded Italian style; the ground of repoussé work, with its rich minute foliations in low relief, is gilded, while the rest of the steel remains bright. The general style of the ornamentation is alternate chevrons of bright steel and minute repoussé work. The decorative work on the pauldrons and genouillières is, however, much bolder in character than on the rest of the armour. A very similar style of ornamentation may be seen on a tilting suit given in Skelton, vol. i., Plate VIII., and dated by him 1543. The Alnwick harness is freely studded with brass-headed rivets which have been gilded.
The helmet is in four pieces, and highly characteristic of the Italian school of the period.
The gorget is comparatively modern, but conveys the idea that it was copied from the original piece owing to dilapidation, and but for the ornamentation it would pass even with close observers when the suit is set up.
The pauldrons are very beautiful, and laminated at the shoulders and upper arm. The rerebrace and vambrace are finely formed and ornamented; the former is laminated.
The coudières are pointed at the elbows, with side-guards which continue round the arms.
The gauntlets are articulated, with thumb-plates, and a salient ridge runs across the knuckles. One of them, like the gorget, is of a more recent date than the main portion of the suit.
The cuirass is specially long and handsome. A broad piping borders the top and arm-holes. A tapul runs down the centre, projecting in a hump towards the middle. On the right side is a lance-rest, and on the left are holes for affixing a grand-guard. The lower portion of the cuirass consists of three narrow laminated plates, running almost horizontally, and fastened together by brass-headed rivets, which were originally gilded. The tassets are riveted to the bottom rim of the cuirass. These pieces consist of ten lames, with gilded rivets. A special feature is that the tassets can be shortened or lengthened at pleasure, the last four lames being detachable—clearly an arrangement for fighting on foot or on horseback. Other examples of this kind have already been given. The upper section is complete in itself with an ornamental rim, as is the lower one. This is a contrivance often met with in the second half of the sixteenth century. The attachment is accomplished by a screw catch and sliding rivet.
The backplate, which terminates in a garde-de-reine, has a piped border round the top and shoulders, and there are two lames at the bottom.
The cuisse, like the tasset, is in two sections, with similar means of attachment. The genouillières are attachable to the jambs by catch and sliding rivets. The knee-guards are small. The jambs are banded down the centre, in a line with the genouillières and cuisses. The sollerets are the variety styled “bec-de-cane,” being almost the shape of the foot. Both jambs and sollerets must be classed with the gorget and one gauntlet as restorations; they are all most beautifully done. Some details will be clearly seen in Fig. 34.
The harness already referred to as having been worn by the Prince-Bishop of Salzburg about the year 1600, and illustrated in Fig. 35, is a beautiful suit by the celebrated Milan armour-smith, Lucio Piccinino. It is profusely inlaid with gold, and the ornamentation is most elegant. The sumptuous and elaborate decoration, which is in the banded Italian style in repoussé or hammered work, with arabesqued foliations, is interspersed with medallions encircling male and female figures. The helmet and suit throughout is closely in touch with the elegant Italian school of the end of the sixteenth century, which, however, already erred on the side of redundancy in ornamentation. The close of all great periods culminates with this great fault, sharply marking the beginning of the end; the waning vigour of the theme eked out by a profusion of detail. The prince-bishop’s arms are engraved on the cuirass, and the historic character of the suit invests it with special interest and importance. The series of reinforcing plates belonging to it may be referred to in Figs. 10 and 11. Lucio Piccinino’s style marked the last stage before the decline of art. He came of a family of artists; his father was the celebrated sword-smith, Antonio Piccinino. Other examples of Lucio’s handiwork may be seen in a richly decorated helmet and shield at Vienna.
This suit is very rich and handsome, being freely engraved and inlaid with gold—the gilding has, however, greatly worn off. The ornamentation is somewhat rude, both in character and in execution, and vastly inferior to either Italian or German work. The cuirass is ornamented with a “George” badge on either side, indicating a knight of the Garter, the execution of which is good. The genouillières are attachable to the jambs by reversible catches, which pass through the plate—they are the same catches as shown on the Osuna harness. There is a tapul and garde-de-reine. The sollerets are square-toed, but very narrow, not “bear-paw” like the “Maximilian.” The Earl of Carlisle suggests the possibility that the harness may have belonged to the last Lord Dacre, who died in 1566. This would, of course, point to an even earlier date of make, but this seems incompatible with the general aspect of the suit, which would appear to date from late in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
This beautiful suit (Fig. 36), decorated in repoussé work in very high relief, dates about the close of the sixteenth century, and the ornamentation is instructive as well as artistic in the classical battle-scene and details it depicts. The mitten gauntlet, with expanded cuff, is very fine. The ridge over the knuckles is bold, and smaller ridges continue to the finger tips.
This is highly characteristic of the period it represents. The armour is freely ornamented in repoussé or hammered work, and bears traces of gilding. The suit was probably made in Italy, is very handsome, and has seen much service. Being well authenticated, it has a special interest. The suit belonged to Don Pedro Fellez de Giron, Duke of Osuna and Infantado, Knight of the Black Eagle Order, etc., Viceroy of Sicily about 1600, and later of Naples (about 1610). It was saved from the fire at the old De Giron family seat in Belgium—the castle of Beauraing, in the Province of Namur, not far from Dinant. The place was burnt on the 3rd December, 1890.
The whole suit (Fig. 37) is freely ornamented with arabesqued foliations on a ground of fine vertical lines, banded in the Italian style, interspersed with human heads, some of them grotesque, and enclosed in medallions; and a series of armed figures, which would richly repay a close examination. The helmet is a remarkable piece of workmanship, and forged in a single piece; it weighs seven pounds. It is an Italian casque of a most graceful and classic form. The repoussé ornamentation on it is banded like the rest of the armour. The comb is very high, and fluted all over the crest. There are remains of a leather lining inside, fastened all round with gilded rivets. The plume socket has two holes for adjustment, and there is another hole in the comb for firmly securing the plume of feathers. The oreillettes are provided with six holes on one side, and three on the other, for hearing; and have each a round projecting eye, with fluted edges, presumably an attachment for keeping the flaps up when not required, or for fastening them across the throat. Both peaks are of overlapping plates, with fluted borders. A very similar helmet, formerly in the possession of Baron de Cosson, was ascribed by him to 1530–40. He writes concerning it: “Many rich suits had one of these light open helmets as well as a close helmet,” a fact proved by existing examples at Madrid and elsewhere. We have already quoted an example in the description of the suit of the Prince-Bishop of Salzburg, which has a close helmet and a cabasset. The cuirass has a tapul, with a projection near the bottom; this particular form was termed the “peascod” in England. Both these pieces are bordered round the chest and arms with a thick ridged piping. This piping was a contrivance to stop a stroke from penetrating beneath the gorget. The tassets consist of six lames, and are attached to the tace, which is in one piece, by straps and buckles; all the rivets have gilded heads. The lower body is protected by chain-mail. The left pauldron is the larger; both have free laminations at the shoulder and upper arm. The coudières are cup-formed over the elbows, and go round the arm. The gauntlets have highly-rounded articulations for the fingers, with a separate thumb plate. Both leg armour and sollerets are freely decorated in “banded” ornamentations, with enclosed medallions, besides gilded rivets. A sharp ridge runs down the front of the cuisse, genouillière, and jamb. The genouillières are fastened round the back of the knee by straps, and on to the jambs by a reversible turning pin on the latter, passing through a hole in the former; and a turn of the screw secures the attachment. Jambs, which are hinged, and sollerets are riveted together, with lames above the ankle. The sollerets are “bear-paw.” All these pieces are held together by gilded rivets. The suit was probably made in the third quarter of the sixteenth century, or possibly as late as the fourth quarter, though the shape of the sollerets would point to a somewhat earlier period. Fig. 38 exhibits some details of the suit. The stand on which the armour is hung is very old, and has probably stood in the armoury of the castle of Beauraing for centuries; and the face is very possibly a portrait of the Duke d’Osuna.
The beautifully embossed harness at Vienna, made for the Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol, about 1560, is the work of the Milanese master, Battista Serabaglio. The casque is of classic form.
An embossed suit (Fig. 39), made by Anton Peffenhauser of Augsburg, about 1570, for Don Sebastian of Portugal, is in the Armeria Real at Madrid (Catálogo, page 94, No. A290); it is a notable example of the time.
The collection in the hall set apart for enriched armour at Dresden is especially valuable in exhibiting a remarkable series of fourteen historic suits, blazing with ornamentation, and covering a period of from something like the second quarter of the sixteenth to the end of the first quarter in the seventeenth century. All these suits are royal specimens of their school. The earliest is the harness of Kurfürst Moritz of Saxony, 1521–53. The rider sits on horseback in his field-harness, which is freely decorated with gold arabesques on blue bands. The Kurfürst bore this armour on his entry into the conquered city of Magdeburg in 1551. The bards are enriched in the same manner as the armour borne by the Kurfürst. Another suit is that of Duke (afterwards Kurfürst) August, 1526–86. It is fluted and richly ornamented, bearing the Saxon arms inlaid. This harness was the gift of the Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol, and is probably the work of Jörg Seusenhofer of Innsbruck. The figure holds a field-marshal’s baton in the right hand. The legend, “Semper suave,” is inlaid on the bards. Another suit of this Duke’s is a specimen of blackened harness with white bands; a description much worn in campaigning in the second half of the sixteenth century and later, because it was easily kept clean in all weathers. It is a fine piece of work, and is inscribed with the date 1546. The Duke bore this suit at the battle of Mühlberg in the year following. A harness of Duke Johann Wilhelm of Weimar, bearing the mark of Kunz Lochner of Nuremberg, date about 1560. A suit for man and horse of Kurfürst Christian I., 1560–91. Tournament reinforcing pieces stand by it—a tilting helm, grand-guard, garde-de-bras, etc. The harness for man and horse of Kurfürst Christian II. (1583–1611), a masterpiece of the armour-smith’s art, is by Heinrich Knopf of Nuremberg, and cost £1,750. The ornamentation consists of arabesques on a gold ground with enclosed medallions. A rapier by Andreis Munsten of Solingen is with the suit. There is a second suit that belonged to this prince—the ground is a dull green, with chasings. This harness, according to an inventory of 1606, was bought at Augsburg in 1602—it bears no mark. The latest harness of the series is that of Kurfürst Johann Georg I., and the date is 1622; it is the work of Hieronymus Ringler of Augsburg, and though very richly decorated exhibits unmistakable signs of the decline of art.
This remarkable series is as valuable from an educational as from an æsthetic point of view; still, though the differences in points of detail, over the various periods, stand before you, it must not be forgotten that fashions were far from being contemporaneous over northern and central Europe, and that new departures of fashion in armour, as in dress, took long to travel and get generally assimilated—far longer in the sixteenth century than to-day,—hence one or two salient features cannot always date a suit, even within a couple of decades. There is a fine series of plain gilded suits at Dresden, which were worn with boots.
To give a completer series of examples of late sixteenth and early seventeenth century forms and fashions would make this work far too voluminous. Examples of pikemen’s later suits, etc., would make the chain more complete, but the varieties are so very numerous that it would be impossible reasonably to cover them without largely extending the size and scope of the work. Practically the illustrations close with the end of the sixteenth century; after which the general use of armour, from causes already referred to, rapidly declined. The interest in the later forms is comparatively far less to the student or collector, whether looked at from an artistic or historic point of view, than the grand period which has been imperfectly covered here.