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.