The Gothic armour at the Rotunda, Woolwich, is especially valuable from its direct association with the Knights of Rhodes. It is fragmentary in character, consisting mainly of isolated plates and portions of plates. There are several sallads of the Italian type, a beautiful breastplate in two plates, a backplate, some gardes-de-reine, a cuisse with a small butterfly genouillière guard, rounded flutings radiating from the centre of the upper thigh, several broken gauntlets, besides other fragments, and a tilting helm of the end of the fifteenth century, on which fifteen of the staples remain; the helm is perforated on one side only.
The last Gothic suit given is one in the author’s collection, and an illustration of it is here given ([Fig. 19]).
GOTHIC SUIT IN THE AUTHOR’S COLLECTION, 1460–1500.
This suit, like so many of its period, is incomplete. The armet with it, when acquired, never belonged to the suit, and there is no mentonnière. The sallad, shown on the figure, was made recently to give the general effect of the period. The suit is otherwise complete, and of fine material, proportions, and workmanship. The steel of this period is of excellent quality. The details, with a few exceptions, somewhat closely resemble those of the Sigmaringen suit. There are rondelles at the armpits on this suit which are ornamented with radiations, and these, together with the elbow-guards, are beautifully ridged and bevelled. The tuilles are larger and squarer than those on the Sigmaringen suit, and the sollerets not so long in the tips. The cuirass is in two plates, with a rim across the chest, as shown on the Berlin suit ([Fig. 18])—the mentonnière therefore went partly below the cuirass. The general details greatly resemble those of a suit at Vienna, attributed to Sigismund of Tyrol, which is also an incomplete suit. As the gauntlets of this suit are distinctly typical, it may be well perhaps to go somewhat into detail concerning them. They are of fine workmanship and material, as well as light and graceful. The surface of the steel is very hard. The cuff is sharply pointed, and deep flutings run in parallel lines towards the extremity; while similar perpendicular flutings join the lowest of these lines. Three supple articulations lend flexibility to the gauntlet, and connect the knuckle-plate with the cuff. The last-mentioned plate and four finger plates all work in slots, and are beaten into ridges for fitting over the knuckles and fingers. The thumb-guard is also articulated. An illustration is given in [Fig. 19].
Transitional Gothic, where laminated tassets replace tuilles and merge into the next stage in various ways, is also very beautiful. In both varieties you have lovely escalloped and fluted rondelles, often charged with a heraldic rose. A fine example of this description may be seen in the National Museum at Munich, and an illustration is given of it (Frontispiece), because of the beautiful details. The rondelles are especially fine, and the mentonnière and breastplate, which latter is in two plates, are clearly shown.
Fig. 19.—Gothic Suit in the Author’s Collection.
PART X.
MAXIMILIAN ARMOUR, 1500–1540.
The strong military tone lent to this period by the bent and character of the three great monarchs who then ruled the destinies of Europe, had great influence on armour, civil dress, art, and display generally. The tendency, as in architecture, was towards redundancy of detail, and the abandonment of simpler and more truly artistic forms for something more ornate. This tendency found expression more in the details and ornamentation of armour than in the intrinsic beauty of the form itself. The third estate emerged more and more from its long vassalage, bringing trade and opulence in its train; besides a corresponding diminution in the power and prestige of extreme feudalism. The imagination was cultivated, as it had not been before, and luxury, with the means of gratifying it, had correspondingly increased; indeed, the society of the time had already passed the threshold of the “renaissance”—one of those periods of revival, in long course of incubation, suddenly bursting into life. Harnesses were more solid and altogether less mobile than in the “Gothic” form.