I had trouble with our email. Pipe's clogged, so I thought I would post it here.

Jenn

Thanks for the pic. Nice detail.

Just about every man and his dog has got one of these down my way.

Seriously though, that is exactly what it looks like. The saddler that made my war saddle makes pretty well nothing else but these half breeds.

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Either this is the example in the museum of london, or they have a very similar example.

My memory of the MoL one is that it's more complete and doesn't have such a prominent horn, but I don't gaurantee my memory on those points.

Does the photo credit give any clues?

BTW - the Wallace collection has just finished restoring a German war saddle of 1549.

Jeff, I am currently looking for a specific date in the book I have. I have looked at the photo credits and have come up empty handed.

Because of the shape of the saddle, I think it is 15th c or early 16th. The Tudor reign began with Henry VII in 1485 *growl*, but I think that it looks similar to a lot of those found in contemporary artwork throughout the 15th c. and bare a passing resemblance to the horn saddles or the early part of that century.

I will post any further info I get on this Southwark find.

We must have performed a simultaneous post.
I didn't see your commentary before.

I believe that this saddle is in the materials held by the Saddler's Hall.

I have not seen the one in the MoL. Is it in
the finds book or are you talking an actual
current display? Do you have a pic?

Jeff, I have submitted an inquery to see if I can get more info. Will keep everyone up to date.

Jenn

The saddle in the MoL is on display in the Tudor/Stuart section, or at least it was last time I was there.

If I recall correctly (usual caveats about memory apply) it was recovered from some waterlogged context in an innyard, and was very sketchily dated as late tudor.

I'm not aware of it being published anywhere, but to be honest it was a little late for me to have really looked.

I can try for a photo next time I'm there, but it won't be for a while, and I don't gaurantee results as I'll be shooting through glass.

You are correct. I just received a response back from Mr. Martin, Clerk of the Worshipful Company of Saddlers. He informed me that the saddle was not in the Company's holdings but was in fact, the last he knew, in the collection of the MoL. He has no other data on the saddle.

Jenn

FYI to all: I reduced the image size so that it would quit pushing the browser window to the point of no return.