I was wondering if any of the armouring guru's on the board have any source for some pictures. What I am interested in seeing is NOT the typically displayed knightly or princely harness in museums across the world, I'm interested in making a collection of photographs of munition harness that was likely worn by the lowly footsoldiers.

As a for instance, there are several high quality Flemish altarpieces depicting ordinary soldiers, showing iron bar & chain defences pointed onto the outside of the arms of a jack. They appear in mid 15th c. miniatures as well. Is there a single existing example of same? How about those cross strapped breastplates? Simple helmets?

I thought it might be a good thing to send in scanned pics of this sort of armour, and then post it on this board. That way people looking to join our respective companies as foot-soldiers would have a source to of appropriate armour to look at when considering having armour made for their impression.

The best book published so far for examples of simple pieces of 15th C armour all in the same publication is just now available from the Higgin's gift shop:

"The Medieval Armour from Rhodes"

I got it about a month ago, right after Dave Key told us it was published. It was $80 by mail from the museum.

Failing that book, there is no single book of munitions armour. Most curators and scholars don't seem to be interested in publishing about munitions armour. There are two Italian books that have stuff, but they're no longer available and one would cost $1500 if you could find a copy. I have both, but didn't pay that much.

Osprey books are good for a couple of pieces here and there.

There are no extant chain and bar defenses I'm aware of.

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Cheers,

Jeffrey

I happened to come across in the latest "Military Illustrated" a 15th c. munition harness (breast, I think back, faulds,tassets, splints, open faced sallet, and oddly enough, a very simple gorget) that is housed in Grandson, attributed to be Burgundian, and I would assume with it's provenance to be a relic of the battle of 1476.

I found it to be particularly interesting for two reasons. The arms defences (very simple but complete) are what I believe to be readily identifiable as 15th c. in form, and they buckle to the rest of the harness at the point of the shoulder.

The other interesting item is the primitive gorget, which seems to be a precurser to the arrangement so common in early 16th c. Maximillian harness. This gives some credence to the translation of the bit I've seen in the 1473 ordinance of CTB about a "gorgerin of plate". I assumed it to be a bevor.

What would one have to do to get permission to scan and post the picture? Are any of you familier with this particular harness - it seems to be an infantrymans half harness.

Could you scan the pic and send it to me privately?

I'm very interested and can probably shed light on if it's all real. Sometimes the stuff put in MI is dubious. The "real" armour in the Medieval Soldier book is heavily restored.

It's possible I have a pic of this armour in one of my books, but can't think of which it might be off the top of my head.

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Cheers,

I will try to have Jenn get the scanner up and running, and post a pic here. I look forward to hearing your opinion. The suit looks like the great grandaddy of an Almain Rivet (although of Italian origin), but of sturdier construction, The breastplate/back, and faulds/tassets are clearly from 1450 - 80 in my opinion, as is the sallet (of Italian form again). The one gauntlet surviving is an Italian Mitten gauntlet of simple form and the same time frame. The pic is of such a mediocre quality that I cannot tell if the arm defences are a splint - I can't see if the lower cannon is full or not. They look to me to probably be contemporary to the rest of the suit.

That previous URL is the website of a school project and each of the pages linked to it are that students version of pages displaying the photos. During the early 1990s the Landeszeughaus put part of their collection on tour in the USA and a book was prepared for the tour entitled Imperial Austria- Treasures of Art Arms & Armour from the State of Styria. ISBN 3-7913-1130-5

The Landeszeughaus doesn't yet have a website that I am aware of but there is a tourist info site at http://www.gcongress.com/armoury.htm

Thanks for your reply. I've seen photos of the Graz arsenal (a friend has "Shiney Shapes" - what lovely pictures, but what a difficult read seemingly unrelated to the picures themselves), and I've been to the website.

17th c. munition harness is very easy to get photo's of (heck, you can even buy the stuff pretty readily if you have about a grand or so). What I'm looking for is pictures of 15th c. munition harness. I partially solved my problem by buying "Medieval Armour from Rhodes" by Karcheski and Richardson, but what I'm interested in now is the armour of the footsoldier - specificaly limb armour and brigandines of lower quality.

In another thread Perer Johnsson has made me aware of the existance of a pair of 15th c. bucklers - I hadn't known of any extant ! What I'd love to see is a picture of any surviving "bar and chain" limb armour, like that pictured in Han's Memmelings "The Martyerdom of St. Ursula". Also, those simple skullcaps that show up in so many 15th c. miniatures with the rondels on the sides. I've seen a 15th c. Spanish one with earslits at the Higgins, and a 17th c. 'secret' is on display there as well.

Oh well, the search continues.