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Jojo Zerach
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 Posted: Mon 29 Apr, 2013 9:04 am Post subject: Latest plausible date for limb armor in western Europe? |
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I'm trying to get an idea of how late 3/4 armor, or any form of limb armor, was used in western Europe.
Wikipedia says that full (3/4?) armor was still being worn by royalty and high ranking commanders at the beginning of the 18th century.
I found this portrait of Louis XIV wearing armor in a battle scene from 1701
-http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons...cinthe.jpg
I don't know if this is intended to be an accurate depiction, but he is wearing very similar armor in this 1692 painting of the siege of Namur.
-http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons...v_1692.jpg
This 1662 portrait of the Princes of Orange is one of the last serious depictions of greaves and sabatons I've seen.
-http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons...662%29.jpg
As for physical examples, this armor dated to 1712 seems to be one for the last known royal armors produced in France.
-http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-t...s/40003171
It is a child's armor, but it it possible similar armor was still being used around that time or slightly earlier?
I know armor portraits continued to be made into the late 18th century, but I'm interested in examples where the armor could have been used as something other than just a portrait prop.
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Jojo Zerach
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| Posted: Tue 30 Apr, 2013 7:11 pm Post subject: |
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Is this perhaps a difficult subject to find information on?
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Mark Griffin
Location: The Welsh Marches, in the hills above Newtown, Powys. Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 802
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| Posted: Wed 01 May, 2013 12:46 am Post subject: |
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I supppose if you include bridle gauntlets as protection for the lower left forearm then you might get a bit further into the early 18th cent. But only just.
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Lafayette C Curtis
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| Posted: Fri 24 May, 2013 11:23 am Post subject: |
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Yes, it isn't an easy subject to research. There's not that much information to help us pin down an exact date for when the more complete varieties of armour (three-quarters and cap-a-pie) ceased to be worn on the battlefield at all. However, I rather doubt Wikipedia's assertion that three-quarters armour was still worn on the battlefield into the beginning of the 18th century. Cuirasses and lobster pots, perhaps (the Danish heavy cavalry still wore them in the Marlburian period after all). But three-quarters harness sounds like a stretch.
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This is a standard topic