| Eitel Frederick I. | reigned | 1426–1439. |
| Jost Nicolaus I. | ” | 1439–1488. |
| Eitel Frederick II. | ” | 1488–1512. |
And the character of the armour conforms closely to the early portion of the reign of the last-named. There was no later “Eitel Frederick.” A later suit, made for this Eitel Frederick about 1510, is now at Vienna. It is “Maximilian” and partly fluted, and very possibly by the same master; for we see by the Berne example, referred to somewhat later in these pages, that Lorenz Kolman turned out Maximilian armour after that fashion had superseded the “Gothic.”
Fig. 17.—Gothic Suit at Sigmaringen.
The sallad ([Fig. 17]) is very heavy, and of the usual German form. There are traces of a leather lining, and besides the ocularium there are two small holes above the forehead. The mentonnière is fastened to the breastplate by a cusped clasp; the neck and chin-piece can be raised or lowered at pleasure, and there is a spring catch for the purpose. The cuirass is most elegant in shape, and being much longer than that on the Beauchamp effigy brings out clearly its later date. It consists of three plates, the two lower slightly overlapping, leaving decorative margins, and they converge to points along the tapul at the breastbone and below. The lower plates are riveted, and add both strength and elasticity to the piece. There are holes on the right breast for fixing a lance-rest, and on the left are two holes for fastening on a grand-guard for tilting. The taces consist of three lames, and to these the tuilles are attached by straps and buckles. The tuilles are very graceful, with angular flutings, and terminate in a point. The cuisses are decorative, while the genouillières are small, with bivalve guards. The épaulières and rerebraces are laminated, the coudières pointed, and held in their places by straps. The rondelles are unfortunately missing. The gauntlets are articulated, with sharp gadlings over the knuckles and first finger joints. The garde-de-reine consists of three lames. The sollerets are “à la poulaine” in an extreme form, but the tips can be disconnected at pleasure for foot fighting, like those on the effigy of the Black Prince. The lower part of the body is protected by a skirt of mail.
The Sigmaringen harness exhibits many points of contact with a beautiful suit recently acquired by Prince Ernst of Windisch-Graetz, which is a glorious specimen of the armourer’s art at his very best. The tuilles of this example are not pointed, as is the case on the Sigmaringen suit.
A “Gothic” suit from the collection of Prince Carl of Prussia now in the Zeughaus at Berlin, of which an illustration is given in [Fig. 18], is very beautiful. The finely modelled breastplate has a fluted rim across the upper chest, a feature that is uncommon in Gothic armour, but of which other examples are given under the heading “The Cuirass.” The rondelles are ornamented with curved radiating flutings, in the matrix of which a projecting spike is fixed. The coudières are sharply pointed at the elbow, while the tuilles are large, with a shape not unlike that of the larger pair on the “Beauchamp” effigy, though bevelled and pointed. The sollerets are “à la poulaine,” in the extreme form.
The remarkable armour-smith family of Kolman of Augsburg occupied a similar position in Germany, during the reign of the Emperor Maximilian I., to that held by Antonio da Missaglia in Italy. Lorenz, surnamed Helmschmied, is perhaps best known to-day for the beautiful “Gothic” harness, made about 1490 for the Emperor Max, which now adorns the collection at Vienna. It resembles the Sigmaringen example somewhat closely, the points of difference lying mainly in the form of the sallad, the shape of the tuilles (square-cut at the bottom in the Vienna example), and the Vienna harness has an extra plate on the breastplate. That Lorenz Kolman was employed during the later portion of his career as Court armour-smith to Maximilian in making fluted armour, as he had been engaged earlier in turning out “Gothic,” is shown by an early and interesting example of fluted “Maximilian” armour at Berne. This harness compares closely with that represented in [Fig. 24], though the Swiss example shows pikeguards, which the other one does not. The early character of both suits is shown by the swelling out of the breastplate over the abdomen. The figure sits on horseback, and the horse is fully barded contemporaneously with the figure. The saddle has the deep seat of the “renaissance.” Lorenz Kolman died in 1515. The armourer’s mark of this family is a helmet surmounted by a cross. The mark of Hans Grünewalt of Nuremberg has not been fully determined, so that his work cannot be identified with absolute certainty; but a breastplate that belonged to Philip the Fair, and a shield at Vienna, have been attributed to him. They are of exquisite workmanship, and the mark on these specimens is a stag on a shield, which clearly refers to the “greenwood.” He was the great rival of Tomaso da Missaglia, and died in 1503.
Fig. 18.—Gothic Suit at Berlin.