Eric and Frank

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www.armuredube.com

Cheers,

Gordon

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Very nice work. A question and a comment.

Is there any particular reason for the greaves not being cased greaves, or was this at the request of the customer?

In most of the mid 15th century English effigies I am aware of (that have armour attributed to not be Italian), there are multiples sets of tassets, often of uniform length, and they sit higher up on the fauld of lames.

Keep up the good work, I am glad to see so many tallented armourers working on 15th century armour that is out of the ordinary for the usual mid 15th century Italian export, or late 15th century German harness so often replicated.

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Eric

[ 04-12-2005: Message edited by: Eric Dube ]

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www.armuredube.com

Unfortunately, there is no positively identified 15th century English armour extant, just a couple of famous helmets that might be English, have an English association, but could equally have been produced in the Low Countries (I think this more likely in some examples) or Milan to English customers tastes, and exported.

So, the question arises, is it English style armour you are falling in love with, or is it from the pay-bas? What we do know is that features on the armour appear in English effigies that appear nowhere else, so there was a definite Englsih style, if not a large production of harnois-blanc in England itself. Typical exclusively English features are the deep fauld, the large sets of tassets, sometimes of the same length, both in front, on the sides, and presumably behind, the symmetrical arms that appear in Flemish sources as well, and the fluting which is heavier and not as numerous on a harness as in later German examples.

We do have one positively identified Cuirasse from the pay-bas, founs in an archaeological context of the country, and with a makers mark still evident traceable to Liege - it was found in an excavation of the old outer fosse at Tongres in 1954. Since then, in more recent years, one was excavated accidentally by a tunnel excavator in Dordrecht, that is identical in style (unfortuanately the method of the find precludes an archaeological context), and I have recently found another example in a collection in the States that seems to be genuine as well. There are also several Italian export items in Swiss museums captured in a Burgundian context, and one helmet that is believed to have been manufactured in the pay-bas in the same context.

So I can give you a few extant Low Countries items, but nothing positively identifiable as English outside of famous effigies and brasses.

When you look at effigies, I have always been partial to the Fitzherbert effigy.

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