Spanish Arms and Armour / Being a Historical and Descriptive Account of the Royal Armoury of Madrid

by Albert Frederick Calvert

The suit appears to have been originally blued and richly damascened in gold. Most of the decoration and the bluish hue have now disappeared. Gold palms in relief still remain on certain of the pieces. The extreme delicacy of the azziminia, imitating cufic inscriptions, testifies to the extraordinary skill of Caremolo Mondrone. It will be noted that many of the most important pieces are missing from the suit.

The harness A115-A127 is known as the Cornucopia Suit, from the emblem which predominates in the scheme of decoration. The Conde de Valencia is of opinion that it is the work of Desiderius Colman, and was made about 1534. The steel was originally blackened, and the ridges, which correspond to the bands in the other suits, were engraved and gilded. Excessive cleaning has greatly marred the beauty of this armour.

The first and fourth figures display the blazoned surcoat, similar to those shown on the seals of Charles V. as Count of Flanders. Attached to the fourth figure is a curious burgonet or helmet. The visor is embossed and gilded in the likeness of a grotesque face, according to the debased taste of the age. The beavor does not belong to the headpiece. The helmet A120, which bears Colman’s mark, is similarly embossed with a gargoyle-like design (plates 30, 103A).

The fifth suit, with vertical bands, made at Augsburg (A128-138), is known as the Harness of Close Bands to distinguish it from the four others. It is probably the work of Desiderius Colman. The second figure (A129—plate 31) is a graceful suit, composed of: armet, with visor and beavor in one piece (eight reinforcing pieces); gorget; breastplate and backplate, the former engraved with the image of the Blessed Virgin, the latter with that of St. Barbara, the two plates united by straps over the shoulders; espaliers of eight plates; rondel over left armpit; rere-braces, vambraces, coudes, and gauntlets; close-fitting tassets of many plates; cuisses, jambs, and chaussettes of mail for the ankles. The whole suit, everywhere striped or banded, is singularly beautiful and dignified.

We come now to the work of the great rivals of the Colmans—the Negrolis of Milan. The suit A139 (plate 31) was made for the Emperor in 1539, and is at once distinguished from the German suits by the bands crossing the body horizontally instead of vertically. It was originally blackened, so as to show up the gold and silver of the decoration.

The morion is beautifully decorated. Over the skull-piece, and parallel with a beautiful laurelled comb, run two wide bands of gold damascening that meet over the brow in a fantastic face in relief, surrounded by acanthus leaves and volutes; the visor is also damascened. The borders of the helmet are similarly enriched. In gold relief are the letters, PHILIPPVS IACOBI ET FRATR NEGROLI FACIEBANT MDXXXIX. The cheek-pieces are decorated with small lions’ heads.

The breast and backplates were adorned with images of the Virgin and St. Barbara—the latter now missing. The pauldrons, coudes, and genouillères are very tastefully embossed, and inlaid with lions’ heads, scrolls, and beautiful foliations, the decoration showing up well on the plain ground.

The helmet has a reinforcing piece or coif (A140) shaped like a serpent with scales of gold, and with damascened rosettes—a fine piece of work.

Another fine specimen of Italian make, the artificer of which is unknown, is the Foot Armour, A147. This was erroneously attributed at one time to the Marques de Villafranca. It exhibits exquisite designs in gold azziminia. “Its original style,” remarks the Conde de Valencia, “partakes at once of the classic Pompeian and the Oriental, and does not follow the plateresco, prevalent at that time; and the whole suit is distinguished from the makes of Milan and Augsburg by uniting the richness of parade armour with the smoothness and toughness required for war.” Note the elegant plume-holder in the shape of an Imperial Eagle, with the arms of Castile inlaid; and the light backplate, in the form of a St. Andrew’s Cross, to be worn over a coat of mail.

The armour worn by Charles V. in the unfortunate expedition to Algiers is shown under the numbers A149-A156. Many pieces are missing. The pieces composing the first suit do not call for special description. Jambs, with coverings of mail for the feet, are worn according to the fashion common in Spain. As in the preceding suits of the same epoch, the genouillères can hardly be considered as separate pieces, the laminated cuisses being continued down to the jambs (plate 33).