Posts: 250 Location: Irvine Spectrum, CA
Sat 03 May, 2008 9:33 pm
Well, not to throw a wrench in the machine, so to speak, but upon further searching I came across a photo of what reasonably seemed to be a 1540's Southern German "Tapul Brust" harness in the castle of Brescia posessing couters with features very similar to the excavated one in this topic: Small circumferentially roped couters with smooth wing transitions, asymmetry between the inner and outer wing sections, elbow cusp roping, recessed bordering all the way around, and strapped by leathers. And did I mention it was most likely German? (sorry, I couldn't resist, Russ :) )
This could make it a completely different style of suit, and have given it enough time to fall apart by the latter part of the sixteenth century! What do you guys think? Here is the link, look at the photo seventeenth from the top...
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=11282
Btw, this is one of my all-time favorite style of harness. It invokes a somewhat forboding, awkward eloquence...