Armor for children and swords for Vikings: the military history museum in the city of Brussels
Children's knightly armor by Anton Pfeffenhauser. Here and below - photographs of the Royal Museum of the Army and War stories Belgium
... you will only look with your eyes.
Psalms 90:8
Gird yourself up to your thighs with your sword...
Your glory and Your beauty.
Psalms 44:4
Psalms 90:8
Gird yourself up to your thighs with your sword...
Your glory and Your beauty.
Psalms 44:4
Military museums of the world. We continue to get acquainted with the museums of different countries of the world, where weapon and, first of all, knightly armor is an interesting topic for many VO readers. Today we are next in line with the Royal Museum of the Army and Military History of Belgium (French - Musée Royal de l'Armée, Dutch - Koninklijk Legermuseum) - a military history museum in the city of Brussels. This place is very interesting in every way.
"Russian Section"
It has a huge exhibition hall, where life-size aircraft are exhibited in many, as well as helicopters, and rockets, artillery pieces, Tanks - in a word, what is there just not. There is even a completely unique exhibit there - the German three-engine transport Junkers-52, probably the only surviving specimen! There is a "Tank Yard", and all the tanks there look like new.
It is also interesting for us, Russians, to visit it because there is a whole “Russian Section” there. It presents the richest collection from the regimental museum of the Consolidated Cossack Life Guards Regiment, and among them artifacts belonging to the Life Guards Cossack Regiment, Her Majesty's Cuirassier and His Majesty's Lancers regiments.
Moreover, here you can see the uniforms of Nicholas I, Alexander II, Alexander III, once taken by immigrants from St. Petersburg. The "Russian Section" was founded by the major of the Belgian army, the director of the museum, L. Leconte.
But again, today we will not consider all this wealth, although it would be worth it, but there are no photographs, which means there is no text either.
But what is there are photographs of children's knightly armor, tournament and horse equipment and ... a sword from the Viking era. There is also information about all this, so our today's story will go about all this.
Children's armor
By the way, not so much is known about children's armor.
For example, they are in the collection of the Dresden Armory, but ... there is offensively little information on them. There is children's armor in the collection of the Vienna Imperial Arsenal, but their photographs are taboo today due to a special operation in Ukraine, they are also in the Army Museum in Paris, but also ... except for signatures (short!) In French, information about them is simply missing .
The Belgian Museum, in general, also does not provide detailed information about the children's knightly armor it has, but this is at least something ...
So, we have children's knightly armor made in Augsburg by the famous gunsmith Anton Pfeffenhauser between 1545 and 1603. He was a renowned craftsman and worked for many royalty.
Surprisingly, this is not knightly armor, by no means. In fact, these are three-quarter cavalry armor (to the knee), which at that time could be used by reytars, spearmen, and cuirassiers. It was made for a 5-6 year old boy. The helmet - burgignot, like the armor itself, is richly decorated.
It is believed that they made it for the coronation of Maximilian II in 1564, and it was intended for his son Albert, who was born in 1559. It is said that the crown prince of Bavaria, Joseph-Ferdinand (1692–1699), son of Maximilian-Emmanuel (viceroy of the Spanish Netherlands from 1691 to 1706), also wore this armor. He was heir to the Spanish throne, and it was his premature death that sparked the War of the Spanish Succession.
As for this armor, it was one of the items taken out by the Austrians from the Coudenberg Palace in 1794. However, later the Belgian government agreed to return it to the museum's collection, however, after the First World War in 1922.
Cuirass and pauldron of armor
The armor, as you can see, is quite richly, although very succinctly, decorated. Moreover, the fact that, in fact, he was supposed to wear it, just a baby, suggests that children began to be prepared for military service in heavy cavalry from early childhood.
And since it was the armor of a pistol-pistol, it must be assumed that he learned to shoot from a pistol from the same time, and by the time he grew up he wore such armor, not noticing weight, and he knew how to shoot exceptionally accurately!
Carolingian sword
Carolingian sword, also known as the Viking sword, Northwestern Europe, 750-850.
Similar swords were produced throughout the Frankish Empire during the Carolingian period (800-1000 AD).
Also, such swords are also called "Viking swords", as many of them are found in Scandinavian burials. The Vikings probably really owned these swords, but they got them as a result of trade, robbery or ransom.
The Carolingian sword is an evolution of the sword of the Merovingian era, which in turn became the "knight's sword" in the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries.
This is a very expensive and high-quality item, which, however, is found throughout Europe and even in Kazan in Tatarstan. The sale of these swords became increasingly regulated over time. So, in the second half of the XNUMXth century, the sale of such a sword to non-Franks was punishable by death.
Although this type of weapon was less elitist than its predecessor, the Merovingian sword, it was still very expensive and not widely available. The ax and spear were the weapons of choice for most of the warriors of this period.
Not as often as this time, it is possible to view such exhibits up close. And ... it is clear that this sword is made of "Damascus steel", by repeatedly forging several metal bars!
Top of the handle. Richly decorated with gilding and a notch of gold wire. Its weight balanced the weight of the blade
And here we see both the crosshair and the pommel at the same time. Well, it's very beautiful, isn't it!
saffron
Saffron - a horse mask, is another very interesting exhibit of the museum. Side view
These are parts of a horse armor made in Germany in the third quarter of the 1400th century and finished with engraving and blackening. Such horse masks appeared on horse armor around XNUMX. They were in use before, but usually leather or chain mail, with a leather lining.
At that time, the armor of the horse was very similar to the armor of the rider, but much heavier. Therefore, they were difficult to wear and more expensive to produce. This type of protection was used until the middle of the XNUMXth century ...
Such armor, both for the gunsmith and for their owner, was of great value, because they judged the skill of the first, and the wealth of the second ...
Three coats of arms on the forehead suggest that this chaffron was produced in the Palatinate or Bavaria, or was intended for a rider from the same places.
tournament armor
And here the coats of arms are clearly visible ...
The real pearl of the knight's collection of this museum: the famous tournament armor attributed to Philip II, 1560.
It is said that this armor belonged to the Habsburg king Philip II. It was made under the direction of Wolfgang Grosschedel, a famous Bavarian gunsmith active between 1517 and 1562, who for many years carried out the orders of this Spanish monarch.
This armor has been confirmed to bear a strong resemblance to the armor designed for Philip II by Wolfgang and Franz Grossschedel from the Royal Armory of Madrid (Real Armería).
Helmet from this armor. The photo clearly shows the screw that connected the grand guard with the helmet visor, which is why it acquired all the protective properties of the "toad's head"
It was made in Landshut (Duchy of Bavaria) around 1550-1560, and it was intended for the Geschtech, a German equestrian tournament popular in the XNUMXth century, in which the participants were separated by a fence. This type of armor is characterized by a reinforcement on the left side, which was supposed to withstand most of the blows and hits in battle.
The shield, attached to the breastplate (or the so-called "granguard") and covering the chest and left shoulder, was equipped with metal fittings in the form of a grid, the purpose of which was to prevent the spear from sliding up and hitting the neck or helmet.
Although the neck, and elbow, and forearm, and the left hand were also equipped with additional reinforcements. The tassets protecting the thighs were similarly reinforced. They were forged from a single piece of metal, but the one on the right was somewhat shorter than the one on the left.
Spear hook - fokr, and the pin with which he was attached to the cuirass
Knee pad with "shell" right
engraving sample
"Sink" of the kneecap. Usually such patterns in that era were made by etching. The metal was covered with wax, then the patterns were scratched with a needle, and then the details were immersed in acid. After that, the product was washed, the wax was removed from it, if necessary, the pattern was finalized with chisels and the recesses were filled with niello, which, upon subsequent heating, was sintered with the metal.
Knee pad with "shell" left
Interestingly, the strength and monumentality of this armor does not detract from its ... gracefulness, although tournament armor, as a rule, was heavier than armor intended for the battlefield, due to many additional reinforcements.
In total, this armor weighs about 40 kilograms, which is about twice as much as armor designed for war. This weight may seem excessive, but it approximates the load that a modern soldier carries.
A plate glove, wearing which, it was easy to shoot a pistol!
Bourguignot helmets decorated in the museum for Halloween
Crossbow decorated with bone inlays
A powder flask made of a horn, and what an “indecent” one too ...
Our virtual tour of the Royal Museum of the Army and Military History of Belgium is over. Well, which of us will be able to visit there live, this, as they say, only God knows!
Information