👑⚔️Etched & Gilt Half Armor of Emperor Charles V (1500-1558) Made in Augsburg by Desiderius Helmschid (1513-1579) ca. 1543 This was a realtively “light” cavalry armor, and one of MANY harnesses owned by Charles. Big fan of the helmet on this one Weight: 15.1 kg

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿⚔️Greenwich Armor Garniture of George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland (1558-1605) Made at the Royal Workshops at Greenwich, London under the direction of Jacob Halder ca. 1586. George Clifford (1558–1605) was appointed Queen’s Champion in 1590 and was made a Knight of the Garter two years later. A favorite of Queen Elizabeth I (reigned 1558–1603), he chose for the decoration of this armor the Tudor rose, the French fleur-de-lis (then part of the English arms), and the cipher of Elizabeth, two E’s back to back. The Cumberland armor is part of a garniture for field and tournament use. It was made in the royal workshops at Greenwich under the direction of the master armorer Jacob Halder (documented in England 1558–1608). The complete garniture is illustrated in the Jacobe Album, a late sixteenth-century manuscript of pen-and-wash drawings that records the decorated armors produced in the Greenwich workshops. The surviving pieces are the man’s armor and several exchange or reinforcing elements––a grandguard (defense for the lower face and upper left torso), passguard (defense for the left elbow), and four vamplates (hand defenses affixed to the lance) for the tilt; a close helmet with detachable visor reinforce for the tournament fought on foot––and horse armor, consisting of a shaffron (head defense) and saddle plates. The Cumberland armor is the best preserved armor garniture from the royal workshops at Greenwich. It represents a technical and decorative high point of the Greenwich school. •Medium: Steel, gold, leather, textile •Dimensions: H. 69 1/2 in. (176.5 cm); Wt. 60 lb. (27.2 kg

🇩🇪⚔️Etched & Gilt Field & Tourney Garniture of Johann Wilhelm (1530-1573) Duke of Saxe-Weimar Made in Augsburg ca. 1565 by one of the last great Master Armorers of Augsburg Anton Peffenhauser (1525-1603) This armor consists of a mixture of pieces from a large and complex garniture for use in the field and in various forms of tournament. Its principal parts are now divided between the Historisches Museum, Dresden, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. As presently assembled, this armor is made up of elements designed for the field, joust, and foot combat tournament. It includes a close helmet, pauldrons (shoulder defenses), tassets (upper thigh defenses), and gauntlets for the field; a breastplate for the tilt (a joust in which a barrier separated two mounted contestants); and arm and leg defenses with closed joints for foot combat. The armor is attributed to Anton Peffenhauser (1525–1603), the leading armorer in Augsburg, and the etched decoration to Jörg Sorg the Younger (ca. 1522–1603). •Dimensions: Wt. 61 lb. 1 oz. (27.7 kg)

🇦🇱⚔️So awesome, this helmet is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria. I recommend everyone learn about Skanderbeg aka Gjergj Kastrioti, Hero of Albania (1404-1468). His resistance against the Ottoman Empire was legendary. The helmet was first documented in 1593 in the collection of Archduke Ferdinand II of Tyrol at Ambras Castle near Innsbruck, where it remained until it was acquired by the Museum.

🇩🇪Etched German Close Helmet made in Lanshut by Wolfgang Grosschedel ca. 1560 Grosschedel, Landshut’s most renowned armorer of the mid-sixteenth century, fulfilled many commissions for both the German and the Spanish branches of the Habsburg family. The decoration of this helmet is very similar to that of a large garniture made by Grosschedel for King Philip II of Spain (1513–1579) about 1560. It also resembles the decoration on a large series of armors that Grosschedel and others made for Emperor Ferdinand I (1503–1564) and his son, Maximilian II (1527–1576, Emperor from 1564) for use in a large tournament held in Vienna in 1560. It It is not known to which commission the helmet originally belonged. •Dimensions: H. 14 3/4 in. (37.5 cm); W. 9 1/8 in. (23.2 cm); D. 13 1/4 in. (33.7 cm); Wt. 11 lb. 3.1 oz. (5077.4 g)

🇫🇷👑Gilt & Silvered Cavalry Mace of King Henry II of France (1519-1559) made ca. 1540. This mace bears the emblems and mottoes of Henry II (reigned 1547–59) and the signature of the Spanish-born swordsmith and damascener Diego de Çaias, who worked for the French court from 1535 to 1542 and then in England at the court of Henry VIII. The mace appears to have been made for Henry between the time he became dauphin (heir apparent) in 1539 and de Çaias's departure for England in 1542. The tiny multifigured battle scenes in gold and silver are characteristic of de Çaias's work. •Dimensions: L. 24 in. (60.9 cm); W. 4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm); Wt. 3 lb. 8 oz. (1588 g)

🇩🇪⚔️Gilt, Etched & Engraved Tourney Armor (Rennzeug) for the Joust “with sharpened lances” (Scharfrennen or Schweifrennen). This was a very popular form of joust in Germanic lands, and the sharpened lances used required extremely protective Armor like this… This jousting armour with a weight of 70 kilograms is decorated with moulded, etched, and goldplated stripes. The complete crest of the Archduke is engraved on a reinforced part of the helmet, termed »racing beard«. This tournament armour shows no signs of use. It belongs to the latest ones of this type and was a gift in return for a suit of armour, which Ferdinand II had presented to the Prince August of Sachsen the previous year. The inventory of the collection of Archduke Ferdinand II, dating from the year 1583, lists the tournament armour as being a part of the Court Armoury (Leibrüstkammer) at Ambras Castle.

🇩🇪🇮🇹Another Composite “Gothic” Harness representing a German Knight or Man at Arms ca. 1470-1490. Compiled with German & Italian armor pieces by Bashford Dean of The Metropolitan Museum. In this instance, Dean’s goal was to create a late German Gothic armor, a type often considered the pinnacle of armor-making. Complete and homogeneous examples were nonexistent on the art market by Dean’s time. Taking a superb late XV c. helmet by the Landshut armorer Matthes Deutsch, and a nucleus of genuine torso, arm, and leg pieces, Dean’s craftsmen made this truly impressive and historically accurate representation of a German Gothic armor. As a result, about fifty percent of it is restoration. The plates are not signed, but we know from letters written at the time that some of the work was done by Leonard Hugel (1877–about 1935) and Harvey Murton (1907–2004) in about 1926. However, because of the extent of the restorations, only the helmet is regularly on permanent display today. Weight: 54 lb. 7 oz. (24.7 kg)