Fig. 22.—Fluted Maximilian Suit, with Grotesque Helmet.
Fig. 23.—Plain Maximilian Suit, in the Author’s Collection.
Though not fluted, this suit belongs to the style and period of fluted armour. It is of noble form and fine workmanship. The armet is graceful in outline, with a twisted comb, and there are twin perforations on each side of the crown-piece. The visor exhibits the series of ridges so characteristic of the period, and there is a projecting peg on the right side to work it, and a spring catch on the same side to close it, while a similar catch connects the bavier with the crown-piece. The collar terminates in a grooved rim, which is articulated behind. The gorget is strengthened by an extra inner plate in the centre, riveted on to the outer; and a lamination towards each shoulder lends elasticity to the piece. The cuirass differs radically from the Gothic form. It is globular without a tapul ridge, and is shorter in the waist. The “movement” below the breastplate is a combination of taces and tassets. The former consist of three lames over the abdomen joined on to the rim of the cuirass; and the latter are in five lames, being riveted on to the lowest rim of the former. The breastplate is cut short at the top, along which runs a thick twisted projecting rim, and just below this are two small perforations in the centre. This rim is continued round the armpits on the outside edge of a laminar plate attached to the breastplate. A lance-rest is on the right side. The brassards are apparently of a somewhat later date than the rest of the suit, the pauldrons being exactly the same in form as those on a suit, of German origin, made for King Philip II. of Spain about 1540. The gauntlets are of the mitten type, and finely wrought. The knuckle-piece has a twisted ridge, and a smaller piping decorates the edge of the cuff and the last plate over the fingers. The cuffs are hinged, and clasp with a hole and peg. The cuisses have one lamination at the top, on which is a narrow twisted rim, and below it a very thick twisted ridge. The genouillières are small and “butterfly,” while the sollerets are bear-paw, thickly ridged over the toes, and very handsome. This suit presents many points of contact with a harness made by Koloman Kolman for Count Andreas von Sonnenberg, about 1506. There is another fine unfluted suit of about this period in the Tower collection, said to have been made for Henry VIII. The visor of the armet is grated, and the tapulled breastplate is rendered more mobile by two laminated plates at the bottom. The taces and tassets are riveted together, the former consisting of four lames, and the latter of seven. The pauldrons are a pair, and there is only a pikeguard on the left side, but whether the other shoulder was holed or not for a fellow, as is generally the case when only one, the author does not remember. Viscount Dillon states that the suit is composed of 235 interlocking pieces, and weighs about 93 pounds. It was specially made for foot fighting.
We will close the “Maximilian” examples pure and simple by briefly referring to a fine fluted suit on horseback formerly in the collection at the Chateau De Heeswijk, near Bois-le-Duc. This suit ([Fig. 24]) is almost identical with that already referred to in the Königl. Bayer Armée Museum at Munich, and the figure carries a tournament lance, with the coronal. The bards are contemporaneous with the armed figure, and the same theme of repoussé ornamentation runs throughout the entire armament.
Fig. 24.—Mounted Maximilian Suit, with Bards.