Armour & Weapons

PLATE ARMOUR CHAP. IV 70 ability of the makers. The breastplate is short, and consequently the taces are more numerous than when the breastplate is longer. They consist of five lames. From the taces hang four tassets, two bluntly pointed in front, and two much shorter, and more sharply pointed, over the hip-bones. The taces are hinged at the side for convenience in putting on and off. The coudes are large and of the butterfly-wing type, and the sollerets are of normal length. In many of the Gothic suits these sollerets, following the custom in civil dress, were extravagantly long and pointed. This form is called ‘ à la poulaine while the shorter kind are known as ‘ demi-poulaine Some writers are apt to confuse this term ‘ poulaine ’ with ‘ poleyne the knee-cop used in the earlier days of the Transition Period ; it is needless to point out that they are quite distinct. Baron de Cosson has put forward a most interesting theory in connexion with this effigy. He finds a close resemblance between the armour here portrayed and that shown in the picture of St. George, by Mantegna, in the Accademia at Venice. The Earl of Warwick, who is represented on this monument, is known to have been at Milan in his youth, and to have taken part in tourna- ments at Verona ; so it is more than probable that he ordered his armour from the Milanese armourers, of whom the famous Mis- saglia family were the chief craftsmen, and who made some fine suits of this Gothic style. The next distinctive style to be noticed is called the ‘ Maxi- milian It can hardly be said that this new design was evolved from the Gothic, though of necessity there must be a certain similarity between them, at least in constructional detail. It is more likely, when we consider the individuality of the young Maximilian, especially as recorded in Hans Burgkmair’s Weiss- kunig, and his interest in every art, craft, and trade, that it was a fashion made, so to speak, to order. The Maximilian Period of armour may be said to last from about 1500 to 1540. It is distinguished by the radiating fluted channels that spread from a central 'point in the breastpiece, closely resembling the