The armourer and his craft from the XIth to the XVIth century

Charles John Ffoulkes

The armourer and his craft from the XIth to the XVIth century

Published by Good Press, 2022

goodpress@okpublishing.info

EAN 4066338069160

Table of Contents

PREFACE

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT

LIST OF PLATES

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

WORKS OF REFERENCE

THE ARMOURER

TOOLS, APPLIANCES, ETC.

IRON AND STEEL

THE CRAFT OF THE ARMOURER

THE PROOF OF ARMOUR

THE DECORATION OF ARMOUR

THE CLEANING OF ARMOUR

THE USE OF FABRICS AND LINEN

THE USE OF LEATHER

THE WEARING OF ARMOUR

THE ARMOURERS’ COMPANY OF THE CITY OF LONDON, ARMOURERS’ HALL, COLEMAN STREET, E.C.

LISTS OF EUROPEAN ARMOURERS

SHORT BIOGRAPHIES OF NOTABLE ARMOURERS

LIST OF ARMOURERS’ MARKS

POLYGLOT GLOSSARY OF WORDS DEALING WITH ARMOUR AND WEAPONS

APPENDIX A

APPENDIX B

APPENDIX C

APPENDIX D

APPENDIX E

APPENDIX F

APPENDIX G

APPENDIX H

APPENDIX I

APPENDIX J

APPENDIX K

APPENDIX L

APPENDIX M

INDEX

PREFACE

Table of Contents

I do not propose, in this work, to consider the history or development of defensive armour, for this has been more or less fully discussed in works which deal with the subject from the historical side of the question. I have rather endeavoured to compile a work which will, in some measure, fill up a gap in the subject, by collecting all the records and references, especially in English documents, which relate to the actual making of armour and the regulations which controlled the Armourer and his Craft. At the same time it is impossible to discuss this branch of the subject without overlapping in some details the existing works on Arms and Armour, but such repetition has only been included because it bears directly on the making, selling, or wearing of armour.

I have intentionally omitted all reference to the sword and other weapons of offence, for this would have unduly increased the size of the present work, and the subject is of such importance that it deserves a full consideration in a separate volume.

The original limits of this work have been considerably enlarged since it was offered as a thesis for the Degree of Bachelor of Letters in the University of Oxford in the Michaelmas Term, 1911. A polyglot glossary has been included, as this is a detail which has been practically overlooked by all English writers. The subject of Arms and Armour has not, up to the present time, received the attention in England that it deserves, but I would be the first to admit the value of the works of Meyrick and Hewitt, which are the foundations upon which German and French as well as all English authors have based their investigations. At the same time it should be remembered that these two authors were pioneers, and statements which they made have been contradicted or modified by more recent research. Two examples of this will suffice. Meyrick named the upstanding neck-guards on the pauldron the passguards and the neck-armour of the horse the mainfaire. From the researches of Viscount Dillon we learn that the passguard was a reinforcing piece for the joust and the mainfaire was a gauntlet (main de fer.) Both these mistakes are still perpetuated in foreign works on the subject, which shows the influence of Meyrick’s work even at the present day.

The subject of the Armourer and his Craft has never received much attention in England, even at the hands of Meyrick and Hewitt. On the Continent, however, writers like the late Dr. Wendelin Boeheim, Gurlitt, Buff, and Angellucci have all added greatly to our store of information on the subject. Boeheim’s work on the Armourers of Europe (Meister der Waffenschmiedekunst) is the only work in any language which has given us some account of the armour craftsmen of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and I should be indeed remiss if I did not take this opportunity of acknowledging the assistance which this collection of biographies has been in the preparation of the present work. Signori Gelli and Moretti have collected interesting documents relating to the Missaglia family, but apart from this no other writers have made a study of the Armourer.

Gay’s Encyclopædia, which unfortunately was cut short after the letter G by the death of the author, is also invaluable as far as it goes, in that it gives in every case contemporary references relating to the use of each word. The late J. B. Giraud published certain records dealing with the Armourer in various French archæological journals, and M. Charles Buttin has placed all those interested in the subject under a deep obligation for his minute researches on the subject of the proving of armour.

Of living English writers I would express the indebtedness not only of myself, but also of all those who are true amateurs d’armes, to Baron de Cosson, who, with the late J. Burges, A.R.A., compiled the Catalogue of Helmets and Mail which is to this day the standard work on the subject. Last of all I would offer my sincere thanks to Viscount Dillon, Curator of the Tower Armouries, not only for his minute researches printed in the Archæologia and Archæological Journal, which have brought to light much valuable information respecting the Armourer and his Craft in English records, but also for very great personal interest and assistance in the compilation of this work.

CHARLES FFOULKES

S. John’s College,

Oxford

, 1912

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT

Table of Contents

LIST OF PLATES

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

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The author desires to express his thanks for permission to reproduce illustrations contained in this work to the following:—

Viscount Dillon, Curator of the Tower Armouries; Mr. Guy Laking, M.V.O., King’s Armourer; M. Charles Buttin, Paris; Mr. Albert Calvert, London; The Society of Antiquaries; The Archæological Institute; The Burlington Fine Arts Club; The Curators of the Musée d’Artillerie, Paris; and of the Johanneum, Dresden; Messrs. Mansell and Co., Hanfstaengl, Griggs and Co., London; Sgi. Fratelli Alinari, Florence; Sig. Anderson, Rome; Herren Teufel, Munich; Löwy, Vienna (publishers of Boeheim’s Waffensammlungen); Moeser, Berlin (publishers of Boeheim’s Meister der Waffenschmiedkunst); Christof Müller, Nuremberg; Seeman, Leipzig (publishers of Boeheim’s Waffenkunde); and Sen. Hauser and Menet, Madrid.

WORKS OF REFERENCE

Table of Contents

Allgemeine Zeitung. Various vols.

Angellucci. Doccumenti inediti.

Antiquarian Repertory.

Archæologia. Various vols.

Archæological Journal. Various vols.

Archives Civiques de Lille.

Archives Camerales di Torino.

Armourers’ Company, London, Records of.

Beckman. History of Inventions. 1846.

Belleval, Marquis de. Costume Militaire Français de 1445.

Boeheim. Waffenkunde. 1890.

" Meister der Waffenschmiedekunst. 1897.

" Articles in Jahrbuch des Kunsthist. Sammlungen.

Boileau, Étienne. Livres des Métiers. Edit. 1837.

Buff, A. Augsburger Platner Allge. Zeit. 1892.

Buttin. Notes sur l’Épreuve. (Rev. Savoisienne, 1906, fasc. 4.)

" Le Guet de Genève. 1910.

Calendar of State Papers. Various entries.

Carteggio ined. artisti.

Cellini, Benvenuto. Arte Fabrile, Plon. 1883.

Life, Cust. 1910.

Chambres des Comptes, Paris. Various entries, 1765.

Chronique de Bertrand du Guesclin. Edit. 1837.

City of London Letter Books.

Cosson, Baron de:—

Arch. Journ., XXXVII. Catalogue of Helmets and Mail.

XLI. Gauntlets.

XLVIII. Arsenals and Armouries of Southern Germany.

Catalogue of the Duc de Dino’s Collection.

Daniele, Père Gabriel. Hist. de la Milice Français. 1721.

Demmin. Guide des Amateurs d’Armes.

Dillon, Viscount:—

Archæologia, LI. Arms and Armour at Westminster, the Tower, and Greenwich. 1547.

" LI. Trial of Armour. 1590.

" LVII. Ordinances of Chivalry, XV cent.

Arch. Journ., XLIV. The Besague or Moton.

XLVI. The Pasguard and the Volant Piece.

LI. An Elizabethan Armourer’s Album, 1590.

LV. Tilting in Tudor Times.

LX. Armour Notes.

LXV. Armour and Arms in Shakespeare.

LXIX. Horse Armour.

An Almain Armourer’s Album, Introduction and Notes. 1905.

Dudley, Dud. Metallum Martis. 1665.

Essenwein. Die Helm. 1892.

Fauchet, Claude. Origines des Chevaliers, etc. 1610.

ffoulkes, Charles:—

Armour and Weapons. 1909.

Gaya’s Traité des Armes. 1911.

Arms and Armour at Oxford. 1912.

Archæologia, LXII, LXIII.

Arch. Journ., LXVIII.

Burlington Mag. April, 1911.

Connoisseur. June, Sept., Nov., 1909.

Zeitschrift für Historische Waffenkunde, V. 10.

Forestie. Livres des Comptes des Frères Bonis.

Garnier. L’Artillerie des Ducs de Bourgogne.

Gay. Glossaire Archéologique.

Gaya. Traité des Armes, 1687. (Edit. by C. ffoulkes.) 1911.

Gazette de Beaux Arts. Various articles.

Gelli, J. Guida del Amatore di Armi Antiche. 1900.

Gelli and Moretti. I Missaglia. 1903.

Giraud. Les Armuriers Français et Étrangers, 1898.

Gurlitt. Deutschen Turniere, Rüstungen und Plattner. 1889.

Gwynne, John. Memoirs of the Great Civil War. 1822 edit.

Hastings MS. Ordinances of Chivalry. (Archæologia, LVII.)

Hefner-Altneck. Tracten des Christlichen Mittelalters. 1840.

Herbert, William. Hist. of 12 Livery Companies of London. 1834–7.

Hewitt. Ancient Armour. 1855.

Holinshed, R. Chronicles

Jahrbuch des Kunsthistorische Sammlungen des Allerhöchster Kaiserhause. Various vols.

Langey. Discipline Militaire.

La Noue. Discours Politiques et Militaires, trans. by E. A. 1587.

Letters and Papers Foreign and Domestic, Record Office. Various entries.

Markham, G. Decades of Epistles of War. 1662. Souldiers’ Accidence. 1643.

Memorials of the Verney Family.

Mémoires de la Soc. Arch. de Touraine.

Meyrick. Antient Armour.

Montgomery. Milice Français.

Morigia. Hist. dell’ Antichita di Milano.

Oliver de la Marche. Memoirs, etc. 1616 edit.

Ordonnances des Métiers de Paris.

Ordonnances des Rois.

Patent Office, London, Records of.

Pennant. History of London.

Pelegrini. Di un Armajuolo Bellunese. Arch. Venez., X.

René. Traicté d’un Tournoi.

Revue Savoisienne. Various vols.

Rogers, J. Thorold. History of Agriculture and Prices. 1866.

Rymer. Fœdera. Various entries.

Saulx-Tavannes. Mém. rel. à l’hist. de France, Vol. VIII. 1866.

Saxe, Marshal. Rêveries. Edit. 1756.

Scott, Sir S. History of the British Army.

Speculum Regale. Edit. 1768.

Smith, Sir John. Instructions and Orders Militarie. 1593. Discourses. 1590.

Sussex Archæological Journal. Various articles.

Walsingham. Historia Anglicana, Rolls Series.

Wardroom Accounts of Edward I. Soc. of Ant.

Zeitschrift für Historische Waffenkunde. Various articles.

Catalogues of Windsor Castle; the Tower; Wallace Collection; Rotunda, Woolwich; Musée d’Artillerie, Paris; Armeria Reale, Turin; Real Armeria, Madrid; Waffensammlung, Vienna; Zeughaus, Berlin; Porte de Hal, Brussels; Historische Museum, Dresden; Ashmolean and Pitt-Rivers Museums, Oxford; British Museum; etc. etc.

Articles in various Journals and Periodicals by Viscount Dillon, Baron de Cosson, Burgess, Waller, Way, Meyrick, Hewitt, ffoulkes, Boeheim, Angellucci, Beaumont, Buttin, Yriarte, Giraud.

Various MSS. from the British Museum; Bib. Nat., Paris; Königl. Bibliothek, Berlin; Bodleian Library; etc. etc.

So yff hit stoode than no wer ware

Lost were the craffte of Armoreres

Lydgate

, The hors, the shepe & the gosse, line 127

THE ARMOURER

AND HIS CRAFT

THE ARMOURER

Table of Contents

The importance of the craft of the armourer in the Middle Ages can hardly be overestimated, for it is, to a large extent, to the excellence of defensive armour and weapons that we owe much of the development of art and craftsmanship all over Europe. The reason for this somewhat sweeping statement is to be found in the fact that up to the sixteenth century the individual and the personal factor were of supreme importance in war, and it was the individual whose needs the armourer studied. In the days when military organization was in