Sounds like he was very lucky to survive.

Thanks :) :) :)

Quote:

Knocked out means to hit until stuff comes out. So to knock someone's brains out means to hit them in the head till all the organs in their head are on the ground (grissly stuff, very bad).

It is bloodcurdling scene... :wtf: :mad: :eek:
I think that it is hatred for the opponent nobles/knights...

Hi all :)

thanks Kurt :)


I looked for the detailed description of Battle of Pavia.
And I found this text. http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/pdfs/giono.pdf

Quote:

p155 The din of all this clashing ironmongery, the smell of blood, the smoke of gunpowder, the flash of swords whistling around their ears, maddens the horses. They are enormous creatures, themselves clad in armour that hangs to their knees. When one of these huge animals rears, half a ton of flesh and steel comes crashing back. The Bastard of Savoy, grand-master of France, is overthrown by one such encounter and stifled to death inside his armour; next day, when he is dragged from under a great heap of dead, his body is taken from that armour intact, but blue as a drowned man, his eyes starting from his head and his tongue protruding as if he had been hanged.

Perhaps "Bastard of Savoy" is "Rene of Savoy": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_of_Savoy
I do not know whether he is a Gendarme...
But he is a French nobleman. So I think that his armour is plate armour.
I have some questions about the description of his death. :?:
his body is taken from that armour intact, but blue as a drowned man, his eyes starting from his head and his tongue protruding as if he had been hanged.
Is this possible?

I look for the detailed description of Battle of Pavia.
Do you know other descriptions? Please tell me...

thanks

It sounds like the guy was sufficated or drowned.

With out knowing more I can't say for sure but he could have punctured a lung and drowned on his blood or pushed into the mud or the weight of a horse or armoured person on his body could have sufficated him

Hope that helps.

Hi all :)

Thanks Joel Minturn and William P :)

I misunderstood it! :(
I thought that "stifled = pressed". :!:
I thought that his (armoured) body was pressed by (knees of) armoured horse. :eek:
ummmmm... A English word has many means... It is too difficult to translation for me. :(

http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/pdfs/giono.pdf

Quote:

p155 The din of all this clashing ironmongery, the smell of blood, the smoke of gunpowder, the flash of swords whistling around their ears, maddens the horses. They are enormous creatures, themselves clad in armour that hangs to their knees. When one of these huge animals rears, half a ton of flesh and steel comes crashing back. The Bastard of Savoy, grand-master of France, is overthrown by one such encounter and stifled to death inside his armour; next day, when he is dragged from under a great heap of dead, his body is taken from that armour intact, but blue as a drowned man, his eyes starting from his head and his tongue protruding as if he had been hanged.

I look for the detailed description of "how to killed the Gendarme (in the Battle of Pavia)."

p.s.
I do not know whether I can trust this book. (Giono, Jean, The Battle of Pavia: 24th February 1525 (London, 1965) )

thanks ^^

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stifle

To be stifled to death inside your armour means that you cannot breathe properly and suffocate, usually because there are too many people around sucking up your air and the claustrophobic situation in your armour makes it too hard to breath, etc.

I think in this particular case it might be that he was pressed hard by his horse and his armor deformed and pressed his body too much to breathe. But he might also just be captured by horses body and by bodies of fallen men and he was suffocated.

Hi all :)

Thanks Michael & Luka :)

These armours are very famous.
[ Linked Image ]
We know that these armours are displayed in Metropolitan museum.
But I have very simple questions. :?:

Q1. Were these armours really used in battles?
Q2. Were these armours worn by gendarmes?
Q3. Are these armours(man's and Horse's) for parades? (These armours are great etched.)

[ Linked Image ]
I found a page of detailed explanation.
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/32.69

Quote:

The letters also include the year 1548, which indicate that this bard was made for the duke's attendance at the Imperial Diet in Augsburg that year, a form of summit conference of the ruling nobility and imperial cities of the Holy Roman Empire that was convened by the emperor Charles V. This particular Diet was known as the geharnischter Reichstag (armored congress) since the attending princes and leading military commanders presented themselves in their finest armor and accoutrements.

[ Linked Image ]

Quote:

Wolfgang Grosschedel (German, Landshut, recorded 1517-62) Date: man's armor about 1535; horse armor dated 1554 Culture: German, Landshut Medium: Etched steel Classification: Armor for Horse and Man Credit Line: Fletcher Fund, 1923 Accession Number: 23.261 Description: Wolfgang Grosschedel was the most famous Landshut armorer of his generation. Included among his patrons were the Holy Roman Emperor and Philip II of Spain. These armors for man and horse constitute superb examples of Grosschedel's work from different periods in his career. The man's armor, dating from about 1535, is stamped with Grosschedel's personal mark and that of Landshut. The etched decoration includes human figures and ornaments copied from engravings by the German printmaker Barthel Beham (1502-1540). The armor is part of a garniture that originally included exchange elements for use in battle and in the tourney, a mock combat fought with lances and swords. The horse armor, dated 1554, is complete and homogeneous and, though unmarked, can be attributed to Grosschedel on stylistic grounds. The escutcheon on the shaffron (defense for the horse's head) bears the arms of a member of the Bavarian family Freiberg von Aschau, possibly Pankraz von Freiberg (1508-1565). The armors for both man and horse were preserved together in the armory of Hohenaschau Castle, the historical seat of the Freibergs, until the mid-nineteenth century.

thanks ^^

Hello folks,

I hope to give my contribution (with my first post on myArmoury) to the Gendarme discussion with a image of the late French men-at-arms, during the reign of Henry IV. As someone affirms that the Henry's cavalry was lighter equipped than its Catholic adversaries; I have found this interest print of an anonymous contemporaneous of Henry's entry on Paris, on the 22th March 1594.



As you can see, the Henry’s cavalry, at least his closed entourage, was equipped with heavy three-quarter armors as the Dutch cuirassiers , and clearly more protected from the early reiters of the French Religions Wars.

This print was published on an old Italian book about Torquato Tasso (he has written three political scripts) published around the 1980, that I have found on my father’s bookshelves.

Nervermind, I have found the same image on the Henry IV description on English Wikipedia.... :\

Glad to see that the image has its helpfulness.

By the way, I have re-read the la Noue description of Henry IV gendarmes and, while the description of the armor is quite clear, I have failed to identify a surviving example, especially for the arms protections described. Here the text, that is especially interesting as it explains the thread of the armor decline as thickness and weight increased to protect from the firearms:

Now, if they (the French nobles) perhaps have had good reasons, because of the danger and force of the pistol and musket, to have their armor made stronger and of better material than previously, they have nevertheless so greatly exceed a reasonable measure in this that most of them have loaded on themselves, instead of armor, an entire anvil, so to speak. And with this the handsome aspect of an armored man on horseback has been changed into an ugly monster. For his helmet resemble an iron pot. In his left arm he wears a large iron glove that covered his arm up to the elbow. On his right arm he wears such a poor arm guard that only his shoulder is protected by it. And ordinarily he wears no cuisses. Instead of a blouse, he wears a small round bell jacket, and he carries no spear or lance. Our cuirassiers and light horsemen under King Henry in their times were much more handsome and pleasant to see. They wore their helmets, arm cuisses and greaves, and their blouses, and they carried spear and lance with a banner streaming from the top. This entire armor was so flexible and light that a man might easily wear it for twenty-four hours. But the armor that is commonly worn today is so uncomfortable and heavy that a nobleman thirty-five years old becomes paralyzed in the shoulders under such a heavy burden. In earlier days I have seen the Sire Eguilli and the knight Puigreffier, two honored and famous old men, ride along in front of their companies for a while day, armored from head to foot, whereas now a much younger captain is either unwilling or unable to remain in such situation for only two hours.

That text had little if anything to do with the Gendarmes of Henri IV. La Noue wrote it while a prisoner of the Spanish 1580-1585. It would thus be based on French nobles that La Noue had seen up to 1580 but tells us nothing about the equipment in later years.

You also need to keep in mind that La Noue like most period writers did hesitate to exaggerate to make point. His description is most likely truthfull but does not tell the whole truth. Other sources show that men went into battle both better and worse equipment.