From what I know of your persona development, it would not be appropriate for you. The morion with the high comb is a mid 16th c. development I believe, but it does evolve out of a Spanish preference throughout the 15th & early 16th centuries for deep kettle hats/cabassets worn with bevors of varying height -this would be appropriate for a Spaniard of the late 15th c (1477 or 79 I believe?).

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Bob R.

Thanks, Chef! I received some photos of that sort, they look like a cross between a morion and a kettle helm, and will probably be what I will go for. As soon as I can throw them up online, I will post them, since they are what I will be going for, if appropriate. And yes, I am looking at portraying a Spaniard/Aragonesa of the year 1479, so your help is much appreciated!

Here's the first images: http://members.tripod.com/montecrist0/halberdier1.jpg? http://members.tripod.com/montecrist0/halberdier2.jpg? http://members.tripod.com/montecrist0/man-at-arms1.jpg? http://members.tripod.com/montecrist0/man-at-arms2.jpg?

with a breastplate/upper body kit like this one:
http://www.varmouries.com/eng_12.html

BTW obviously none of these images are mine, they belong to their respective armourers/armouries...if anyone has a problem with them being posted please let me know and I will remove them immediately, I mean no disrespect. I'm just trying to find something to match my period of interest.

Thanks again all!

Marcus/Woeg

Sorry to dissapoint, but a peascod breastplate is 100 years past the date you are portraying. If you are looking for a white harness, then Italian is the style of coinstruction, with Italy being the primary source and a small native industry.

Certain features are characteristic of Spanish harness of the 1470's to the turn of the century, including a "fishtail" point to the placart, those bevor/large kettlehat combinations, and Armets seemed to gain a chin fairly early on in Spain. Unfortunately for you, brigandines were enormously popular (and proper ones, not odd looking coats of plates). Their protection vs comfort level was hard to beat, and considering the heat in Spain for the course of the Summer and Autumn, I gather a full white harness could be near unbearable.

Jeffrey of course is more expert than I, and can no doubt correct me if I fall into error.

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Bob R.

P.S. - your links don't work.

I know it's off topic, but Tripod doesn't allow remote downloading so as a result the images can't be displayed. If you can give us the regular URL, we can probably work our way through the site to see if it passes muster.

Chef and I just checked out the links "in our own way".

Here are our thoughts...

Both man@arms and the halberdier are wearing harness appropriate to your time and place. The man@arms greaves appear to be early 16th c. from the slot for the spurs at the back of the greaves.

The Valentine breastplate, morion, and arms are right out. Those are 1560-80.

Here is an image of King Ferdnando of Aragon's harness (Inv. G.31, Real Armeria, Madrid).

Cheers

J & B

Then I'll build the peascod suit just for the hell of it! It'll look nice standing in a corner somewhere...

One last question, then I'll quit bugging ya! Are there any shoulder defenses that would be accurate for this kit? I do fight and like to keep myself as well defended as possible...

here's something i found thumbing through one of my osprey books, "knights of christ".

on page 14: "Note mail protection for for upper arms and torso, popular in Italy-and perhaps in Rhodes- in the late 15th c. because it was cooler to wear than plate."

has ther been any other evidence of this? i know that i've come across paintings/minatures that had no breast or shoulder protectection yet had the rest of the harness in place and i thought that was odd. however i cant seem to find any right now.

what is your take on it's appropriateness for a spanish rig?

here's something else... idon't know if he is not wearing a breast plate, but he is spanish circa 1450.
http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/art/a/andrea/castagno/2_famous/1pippo.jpg

have fun,

Actually, those heavy infantry harnesses you have photographs of are perfectly valid for Spanish infantry right up to Cortez (although if you read Bernal Diaz's "Conquest of New Spain", after the first few engagements Cortez's soldiers gave up their brigandines and mail in favor of Quilted defences 'all save those with a full white harness', as the obsidian arrowheads used by the Aztecs had a tendancy to shatter on impact on the European armour and inflict painful debilitating wounds from what is basically glass splinters...)

Regarding shoulder defences, what is typically pictured in Spanish art is the Brigandine over either a light mail shirt, or mail sleeves and skirt. The arms themselves being protected by full upper and lower cannons of the vambrace - just as in those picture you have on your website. There isn't any reason why you mightn't have spaulders in place of the sleeves, I'll try to poke around and find out.

Daniel, the picture you link to is a full Italian white harness, being worn in Italian fashion with a light mail shirt with the sleeves poking out from under the pauldrons but over the rebrace. From the look of his fabric cover, that is definately a breastplate and faulds underneath. The fashion is commonly depicted in Italian art from the 1440s - 1500.

I am aware of a funerary monument of a Grand Master of the Hospitalers from the late 15th c. where he is wearing full plate arm and leg defences, but a scale hauberk for lack of a better term. I've never seen that sort of thing with mail, but it was very common in northern Europe for a man at arms being 'half armed', wearing a light brigandine with plate arms - at least there is a fair number of illustrations of this sort of defence, presumably more comfortable on the march in hostile territory but without action immenent than wearing a full harness would be.

Hope this helps.

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Bob R.