As an aspiring digital painter and a 16th and 17th century enthusiast, I wanted to create a historically accurate conquistador of the time periods of the conquest of the Aztec empire.

Based on some research (digging through equipment lists, and trying to find matching period artwork and photos of archaeological examples), I found that the commonly associated Morion (moros) helmet wouldn't be used until later, the basket hilted rapier wasn't a thing yet, and they also didn't wear the billowing pantaloons so common in popular cultural depictions.

Being that he's either an officer, well provided for retainer, or very fortunate veteran of the Italian Wars, I decided to give him what I hope depicts an early 16th century burgonet (burgonata) and cuirass. Mail was apparently very popular for those who could afford it, and armor on the arms and legs was often shunned due to the tropical humidity which gave even those from southern Spain a hard time. For weapons, I gave him either a lance or halberd (perhaps he's intending to fight on foot), and a side sword with a basic hand guard.

A few nagging questions I have:

1. I'm pulling my hair out deciding how to portray the finish, or lack thereof, on the helmet and torso armor. I've seen some heated arguments over the use of blueing or blackening for armor, and claims that the silver-white polish on most reproductions is based on the flawed understanding of Victorian-era museums. Would blued, blackened, or even painted armor be more likely?

2. I know based on his kit he would be able to afford a horse and have leather riding boots and leather gloves (at least) for hand protection. Based on the heat, would it make sense to forgo the gloves?


I would appreciate any corrections or suggestions!

Paul

---

 Attachment: 625.35 KB

There have been several discussions, that lead to other threads.

http://myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=21883

http://myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=18755

http://myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=13755

http://myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=11915

I am not remembering my own notes and findings very well but one of the ship's manifest described the arms and armor as fairly varied, the armor especially run what they brung without an absolute uniformity.

Pikes, lances, shields and firearms perhaps the most uniform arms of the Tercio and cavalry.

It is really not something I had studied much aside from the various uses of the rodeleros and their being largely replaced by firearms.

There are a lot of accounts and journals with lots of articles and some art.

Good luck
GC

Yep. There was no uniformity until the Spanish had been there for a while and started to replace the original gear with locally-produced stuff.

Hi,

You might want to take a look at Arms and Armor in Colonial America, 1526-1783, by Harold L. Peterson. Published in 2000(?), it has about 300 illustrations. Haven't looked at it for years, but as I recall it was pretty informative. It probably doesn't cover the early period Dan Howard mentioned, of not much uniformity, just whatever equipment came to hand.

Regards,
Dan

Cortez had a motley bunch of merc's; there was even a woman among them who was NOT a camp-follower but a fighter, IIRC. Very exotic, that. For those who were actually from the Iberian peninsula, these helmets would have been very normal (minus the bling); these are on display in Toledo. They had a thing about bevors and gorgets, too, as though the Aztecs made a point of attacking the neck, IIRC.

---

 Attachment: 211.88 KB



 Attachment: 109.16 KB
[ Download ]

so, essentially, most light early 16th century armours used in the iberian peninsula would do for an early conquestador.

meaning, any reasonable combination of jacks, brigandines, bresatplates, and any amount of mail armour would be just fine?

i am vaguely curious as well.

Interesting to see how much quilted armour there is by this stage. How quickly did this transformation take place (or indeed, did the Spanish turn up mainly fabric armours from the off?)

3 sets of mail for the legs... I had forgotten about that!