I was reading Osprey's Granada 1492 and something that had drawn my attention was the statement of an "traditional local style" of plate armor by that time, ie. "fish tail" style of plackart. According to "The Knight and The Blast Furnace", Spain held many ancient workshops in his domains, and I believe that wasn't impossible for them to make their own armor instead of simply importing all from Italy. In any case, King Ferdinand I of Aragon had his armor made in Italy and also fashion such style, as you can see:

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Better drawing details:
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I renewed my interest after I saw this reproduction made by Read Hart:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1278771868856046&id=106041346129110

My question is: there is such basis for a traditional "fish-tail" style of plate armor in Spain? Could we find these at Aragone Sicily and Portugal as well?

Hi,

some years ago I started a thread on spanish armour in the AAF. There are a lot of great effigies in Spain. Mostly from the 14th century but also from the 15th century. Here is the Link:

http://www.armsandarmourforum.com/forum/index...e-spanish/

And attached below a foto of an effigy in Zafra which might depict the style of armour you are looking for.

Cheers, Timm

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Thanks for the link, Timm. Also, although that's not exactly the I was looking for, its style looks something more than an untraditional german gothic (perhaps a local trend).

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Mark Lewis wrote:

Pedro Paulo Gaião wrote: I was reading Osprey's Granada 1492 and something that had drawn my attention was the statement of an "traditional local style" of plate by that time, ie. "fish tail" style of plackart... The illustration B you have shared is the breastplate of Duarte de Almeida, deposited in Toledo after the battle of Toro in 1476. It bears a set of very conventional Milanese-style maker's marks, with some possible matches on pieces in several s. Ferdinand's has a mark of quite different style, opening the possibility that it isn't just a typical Italian export piece... The differences in the plackart between the supposed Spanish style and contemporary Italian examples don't seem very large, and there are so few extant examples, so it seems very difficult to draw any conclusions one way or the other... I'm not familiar enough with Spanish effigies to say if they show any consistent differences or trends in style, so that might be interesting to look into.

That's a good eye of yours to remind you had (I realize that I missed such identification in the book). The italian influence is indeed very strong, but one danish er claims that:

Quote:

"The cuirass is a close copy of the important Italian export of Duarte of Almeida, a Portuguese knight who served as standard bearer at the Battle of Toro (War of the Castilian Succession, 1476), now in Toledo Cathedral. This is a striking example of how Italian ers adjusted their own style of design to reflect the fashionable tastes of their foreign clients. Here the smooth, rounded lines of the Milanese fashion are combined with the sharp cusps and points typical of the preferred by Iberian men-at-arms." Source: <http://www.ageofarmour.com/instock/italian-export-.html>

He claims that there was indeed a local trend in Iberian Peninsula, so that explains the more unconventional style. But are right about Ferdinand's , the style is purely italian, as you can see in other italian late 15th century :
[ Linked Image ]

So much work still to be done here :(
For those interested in Castilian equipment, the artist Alfredo Eiras has a nice collection of drawings of effigies of Galician knights from the XIVth, XVth and early XVIth centuries...

More pictures of his knight related works here:
http://espaciocusachs.blogspot.com.es/2009/09...erias.html

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The King Ferdinand armour is very Italian, but has some features that would be unusual for an Italian armour of that date. The huge gilded rivets are something I don't recall seeing on Italian armour (including artwork), and the engineering of the pauldrons is utterly unlike anything else I know of, downright mindblowing. Their internal workings show that engineering solutions to the problem of articulation can be very different than what we are used to.

Are you able to elaborate on the articulation differences? Is it a uniquely Spanish or Iberian thing?

If you are willing to wade through the photographs in Goll's thesis, you can find pictures of the inside workings of the pauldrons. I remember a thread on the Armour Archive that showed them.