More photos of the armour of Archduke Sigmund of Tyrol - with some details and discussion!

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Excellent details to note here. Check out the brass trim work, and the heavy fluting. Look a little closer, and all the edgework and piercing comes into play. Even the bevor is quite ornate!

And a detail shot of the latch joining the bevor to the breastplate here:
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And one of the left upper leg and left gauntlet:
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Even on the thumb of the gauntlet, the piercing work is done at the base and on the lame - and it matches wonderfully with the decorative work on the lames of the leg.

This harness is one of the most ornate. Honestly, for my personal tastes, it would be a bit over the top - maybe not so much fluting. The smaller details, though... I'm blown away.

Aaron;

Thanks for the picts: That looks fantastic in both senses of the word !

The Gothic style is my favorite also. I've alwayse thought that style of armouring looked to be the most mobile of 'heavy armours', as compared to other styles such as Italian. Perhaps it is only a visual thing, and not a real feature, but that is what attracts me most to the Gothic suits.


Regarding hearts, perhaps the heart has a different meaning in germanic (central European) areas even today. For example, during World War II the 'Green Hearts' of JG54 were one of the most successful air combat squadrons ever, and their symbol was most likely associated to the aspect of chivalry and combat, surely not the aspect of love.

Well there is no squeezing into that Maximillian armour for me unless I lost 100 pounds and 20" around the waist and had my floating ribs surgically removed, almost as challenging as Victorian corsets for women with 18" waists. :eek:

Obviously this was before the invention of the BIG MAC. :p Also not usable by Henry VIII !

But jokes aside, again, very nice pictures.

Actually, do you know what size waist one would need to get into this armour ???

As for gauntlets, Beathan at Armour and Castings, makes great gaunts and does do gothic mitten ones:

here

Briefly revisiting this thread because I had found some more hearts. Later than the gothic era but still armour related.

I had been rereading the Winged Hussars feature article and there is this photo there

http://www.myArmoury.com/images/features/pic_hussar18_s.jpg

Lots of hearts;)

Cheers

Glen

Well, it seems that it was not unknown for one to use armour decoration to make a specific, explicit point. Visit this page and scroll down to the Maximillian armour from the so-called "Fico-Group" (near the bottom of the page).

http://www.truefork.org/Photography/Burgundian_Armour_3.php

It's decorated with rude gestures! Now that's a harness! Can't you just imagine the conversation between the armourer and the young rooster who commissioned it?

Hey Aaron,

Check out Armour and Castings again - Beathan now has a suit of Gothic armour for sale (at an extremely reasonable price!). From dealing with Beathan, you can customize to your hearts content as well for pretty much the same price.

www.armourandcastings.com

I would kill for such a nice lil' suit :D

Strange that they use the French (?) term "Salade" for the helmets instead of calling them "Schaller" or "Rennhut".


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