Leopold
Pan-European circa 1360-1420
Our Leopold armour is named after the Duke of Tyrol whose region would have included Churburg castle. The armoury at Churburg has some of the most famous pieces in the history of armour, instantly recognisable to everyone who has an interest in the medieval period, categorised by number.
Our Leopold set is made up of extant pieces, effigies and manuscripts from a broad period of the Hundred Years' War. Some of them are old familiars but we wanted to include some lesser-known items like composite gauntlets and three-piece arms with rondel spaulders in the Italian style.
Full set: £1,500
Breastplate
Based on the Churburg s.14, this is a globular breastplate with a stoprib. The style was ubiquitous during the late 14th and early 15th centuries. Due to its simplicity and elegance, versions of it (of varying quality) were worn by militia, men-at-arms and even French knights at Agincourt.
True to our company's values, this is a munition version. We have gone for an authentic finish - look closely and you can see fouling, the grain of the grind, file scratches near irregular rolled edges, even hammer marks here and there. On the inside, the breastplate is left rough from the hammer where you can see the armourer's skill and labour. There's true beauty in its utilitarian look.
Source:
Ruestkammer Schloss Churburg-Schluderns, s.14 [Extant]
Price: £350
Arm Harness
The 14th century saw the emergence of two schools of arm harness. The most visible in artwork of the time was the fully-articulated type with couters (elbows) riveted to lames which were, in turn, riveted to the upper and lower cannon.
The second type was the three-part construction. This saw the couters connected to the uppers and lowers with leathers. Although a simpler construction and not as well represented in extant pieces, this type of construction would go on to be the dominant arm harness of the 15th century.
Simple rondel spaulders complete this arm harness, most popular in Italy but seen in use throughout Europe in both the 14th and 15th centuries.
Sources:
Pistoia Cathedral altarpiece, Italy, 1376 [Effigy]
Child’s arm harness (1390), Chartres Cathedral [Extant]
Soldiers at the Holy Sepulchre, Église Saint-Nicolas, Haguenau, dép. Bas-Rhin, France, c1360 [Effigy]
Grave of Gerhard von Rieneck, 1382, Friedhof Grünsfeld, Main-Tauber-Kreis, Baden-Württemberg, Germany [Effigy]
Arms price: £390
Spaulders price: £85
Composite Gauntlets
Hourglass gauntlets were the most popular form of plate hand protection of the 14th and early 14th century. Dozens of extant pieces exist though there are much fewer pieces with the fingers still attached. Some plate fingers have survived and there are theories about leather 'training' gauntlets.
However, we were taken by the gauntlets on the Soldiers at the Holy Sepulchre with their mix of scale types. We've kept ours simple in the munition tradition - a demi-gauntlet with a maille glove. Our maille is 7mm wedge riveted with 6mm washers providing a fine weave to protect against slashing.
Sources:
Soldiers at the Holy Sepulchre, Église Saint-Nicolas, Haguenau, dép. Bas-Rhin, France, c1360 [Effigy]
Musee des Beaux Arts, Chartres [Extant]
Price: £350
Kettle Hat
The kettle hat has been around in one form or another since at least the 12th century and, arguably, still saw use in the 20th century.
Our version has the high, bascinet-style skull with a pointed, sloping brim most associated with French, English and Lithuanian troops of the period. These weren't just worn by militia - plenty of manuscripts show mounted men-at-arms and knights wearing them, usually combined with a maille or scale aventail and occasional proto-bevors.
Sources:
Bataille de Crécy, 1346, Grandes Chroniques de France, British Library, Cotton MS Nero E. II pt.2, f.152v c.1415 [Manuscript]
BNF Français 312 Speculum historiale 128r, Bibliothèque Nationale, France, 1396 [Manuscript]