The previous material about armor for knightly tournaments aroused considerable interest among the VO audience, and many asked me to continue it. However, this topic is so vast that … it is worthy of a whole serious book or a series of articles. But it just so happened that within the framework of the author's scientific interests, she was always somewhere "in the last ranks", therefore, I have very little material worthy of the discerning readers of our site. But fortunately, I managed to find an interesting source in the funds of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and here he just can serve as the basis for continuing the topic that interested everyone. The "Nuremberg Tournament and Parade Album", the pictures from which will be shown here as illustrations, is a very valuable historical source. Few of the armor survived, but even fewer - helmet-mounted ornaments, blankets, that is, these "pictures" give us the opportunity to look at that time and imagine how everything was exactly then.
This is what a typical fight in 1470 looked like. Jean de Santre fights a Spanish knight in Jostre. (British Library)
Let's start by recalling that the rules of single and group tournament battles at different times and in different countries were not constant, but their general scheme has always remained almost the same. Initially, the opponents attacked each other with spears at the ready, after which they switched to fighting with swords, maces, or using other weapons permitted by the tournament rules. Since there were specialized types of tournament fights, for example, a "tournament with clubs", for such competitions the armor, in which the "tournament on spears" was held, was not suitable. Here different equipment was required, although they tried not to make especially specialized armor, considering them an excess. For this purpose, ordinary combat armor with some reinforcement was also quite suitable. This primarily concerned the helmet and additional protective plates. Well, if the armor was specially created for the tournament, it could have been made not of metal, but of leather, although their shape was almost an exact copy of the combat.
And here are illustrations from the "Album of tournaments and parades in Nuremberg". Late 16th - early 17th century (Metropolitan Museum, New York). Here we see two knights in typical outfit for that time. The cloth skirt or "base" was a very popular costume item in England during the reign of Henry VIII. Both have arme helmets and massive bibs combined with a chin. That is, it is quite a battle armor, supplemented by tournament details.
All this was typical, at least for the middle of the XIV century. Images of that time clearly show that tournament armor for group combat was not much different from combat. High quality armor, intended for wealthy customers, could be used in war and during tournaments. The difference was again in the presence of individual parts. For example, it is known that at the tournament in Shavensey the knights had standard cuffs and leggings, as well as additional iron collars to protect the neck, the need for which was already quite obvious. So, the famous German knight and lover of women Ulrich von Lichtenstein, who fought in many tournaments and made them a source of his income, describes fights during which blows of spears pierced the neck plate. They either split in half, or pierced through with a spear. In one of the fights, Ulrich knocked the enemy out of the saddle, piercing first his shield and chain mail, and then the plate collar. The knight was knocked out of the saddle and flew a fair distance from his horse.
The squires of the knights could be very wealthy and also wear knightly armor.
A list of purchases made for the 1278 tournament held in Windsor Park is preserved. It follows from it that the armor and helmets for him were made of leather, and the swords were made of wood, but their blades were silver-plated so that they looked like real ones. In the inventory of tournament equipment in 1302, whalebone shoulder pads are indicated and, apparently, had a lining of chain mail. And already in the inventory of 1337-1341. for the first time a plate gauntlet is mentioned to protect the left hand.
These fighters have their armor covered with luxuriant clothes, but they don't even have helmets on their heads. There is no armor on the legs either. The hips cover the saddle plates.
The shield could be tied to the shoulder. But the leggings to facilitate the fate of the fighter very often served as high backward-curved plates attached to the saddle. That is, the legs did not have any plate cover at all, and why should they, if the purpose of the duel was one single spear blow to the shield or to the head, that is, to the helmet. Well, someone also knew how to get into the throat, but, for example, if a person was wearing a "toad helmet", then it did not play any role. But the spear now without fail was supplied with a large round shield that protected the right hand.
Here on the heads of the horsemen are salade helmets.
From the second half of the XIV century, armor of combined chain-plate armor was spread, which had already turned into solid plate armor by 1400. And immediately additional plates appeared, which were attached to the main battle armor to protect the knight's head and chest, as well as the left shoulder, left arm and left thigh.
These "knights" do not have armor as such, although, most likely, some kind of armor is hidden by clothing. The main thing is to skillfully hit the chest plate.
Additional protection of the torso was carried out by a patch plate, which was either pressed against the breastplate of the cuirass with belts, or was attached to it with screws. On some battle suits, in the upper part and on the sides of the cuirass, you can see holes for fastening screws. Such a plate in German was called the "double breastplate" (doppelbrust), and the British called the grangarda. Attached to it was a passguard to protect the elbow and a manifold that protected the forearm and hand. On the right side there could be a cutout for a lance hook - a forehead, and in some cases it was attached to the plate itself. In addition, additional hip guards could be suspended from below. Such a breastplate of the second half of the 15th - and in the first half of the 16th century in the upper part, adjacent to the shoulder, also had a special flange, which deflected the blows of the spear to the side. So, on the blued and gilded armor of the third Earl of Cumberland, made in Greenwich and currently in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, a grand guard of complex shape covers the entire left part of the helmet (and even part of the right), the entire left shoulder and part of the chest. Fastening - a buckle on the helmet and paired slots at the bottom of the cuirass, under two protrusions fixed with a check. Pasgarda was attached to the elbow plate with a cotter pin and was pulled to the granguarda with a leather strap. Manefer was fixed on a plate gauntlet with straps.
And here we see helmets "toad's head", and full armor, and even shields covered with cloth. The strange box structure on their horses most likely completely protected them from impact.
Here we also see full knightly armor, salade helmets, and bouvier chins.
But the unrestrained imagination of the owners of these armor is simply amazing. The rake on the helmet is generally something from the tradition of the Japanese samurai, who even wore pestles for crushing rice, anchors and sacred lanterns as shishimono. All this was done, of course, from paper and papier-mâché.
Of course, in order to give the knights the opportunity to show off with such armor, corresponding magnificent competitions were also arranged. For example, in London, the lists were regularly held in Westminster, until in 1512 a fire destroyed the stands and all other premises built there, after which for twenty years all tournaments in England were held near the Palace of Plasence in Greenwich. After the royal residence in 1533 was moved to Whitehall, tournaments in Greenwich became a rarity, but they began to be held in the palace in Richmond, and even in the Tower of London (although the tournament was held there only once in 1501), then as during the reign of Queen Mary some of them passed at Hampton Court. Interestingly, on December 29, 1557, some of the participants were dressed in the costumes of "Aleman" (Germans), and the other was dressed up by the Spaniards.
Well, how can there be a knight without a shield and without horns?
King Henry VIII became famous as an inveterate lover of tournaments, because everyone who wanted to win his favor tried with all their might to please their sovereign in this "hobby" and strive to keep up with him in nothing. Queen Elizabeth also loved to attend tournaments, especially those that were held in honor of the Day of accession to the throne, that is, every November, so, again, those who wanted to win the favor of their empress had to constantly train and … spend money on armor and equipment.
Attention is drawn to horse armor, clearly made of the so-called "boiled leather" with embossing.
It was believed that now foot combat was less dangerous than in past centuries, since now the fighters were separated by a barrier, which means that armor for the legs was no longer needed, since strikes below the barrier were prohibited. On the other hand, the weapons used by the foot soldiers were much more varied. By the way, in the world's museum collections, there are many plate armor, which have no foreskin on their cuirass. Judging by the quality of the finish, they belonged to knights, not infantrymen, which means they were not intended for equestrian combat, but for foot tournaments. Not only swords and long spears (!) Were used, but also maces, war hammers, alshpis, axes, halberds and even battle flails. And it required the ability to own all of this, and besides, despite the barrier, it was still a serious fight, which means that accidents took place, as before. The same Henry VIII, for example, once forgot to close the visor of his helmet, and a rain of small pieces of wood from the broken spear of his opponent hit the king in the face. The fragments could blind him, or even kill (and, by the way, one such incident with the king, as you know, took place), but, fortunately for himself and fortunately for his opponent, Henry did not suffer and even showed his heart goodwill.
Since any tournament was a sight to behold, the album advises how to make it possibly more entertaining in winter. For example, to arrange not only the defile of the participating knights, but also the passage of squires, drummers, trumpeters and … such sledges with … "mummers"!
… Or such!
However, at the tournament, knowledge of poetry, mastery of poetry and the ability to praise your monarch combining flattery with believability were no less important at the tournament, which for the courtiers was even more important than the best military training. For example, in 1575 in Woodstock, Sir Henry Lee organized a tournament specially for Queen Elizabeth, in which two equestrian knights fought for the honor of their ladies according to … a prepared scenario.
The album is arranged very modern: well, the flag did not fit on the page, we will make an opening insert, which is now often used by publishers of children's books in landscape format.
Well, this is the text. By the way, there is not much of it in the album.
The album cover looks just gorgeous, although a lot has passed since its publication.
Tournament helmet 1450-1500 for a duel with clubs. Weight 5727 Germany. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
Grand bascinet for foot combat. Perhaps England. Around 1510Weight 6123 g (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
By the way, it is very easy to distinguish some specialized armor for foot duels from others. For example, a helmet for mace fighting had a visor in the form of a lattice of rods, which gave an excellent view, and the helmet itself had a spherical shape. But if the helmet was intended for a duel with piercing weapons, the visor was always solid, but had many small holes for breathing and viewing.
Another remarkable miniature XV depicting a duel of knights on blunted, and perhaps even wooden, but silvered swords. (National Library of France)
