MEDIEVAL ARMOR IN A PRAYER BOOK

MEDIEVAL ARMOR PRAYER IN A BOOK BY STEPHEN V. GRANCSAY Curatorof Arms and Armor Myths die hard, so we are often told, in every realm of thoug...
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MEDIEVAL

ARMOR

PRAYER

IN

A

BOOK

BY STEPHEN

V. GRANCSAY

Curatorof Arms and Armor

Myths die hard, so we are often told, in every realm of thought. Apparently because the age of chivalry and the literature it inspired belonged to the Middle Ages most visitors to the Museum associate the major part of the armor collection with that period. Actually medieval armor is so rare that only a small fraction of the extant armor is as early as the fourteenthcentury. Early ..c medieval armor, in fact, with the exception of the steel helmet, was chiefly of mail, a type of defense, worn in the East until \ modern times, which it is extraordinarily difficult to date accurately. Complete plate armor was not fully developed *. much before the middle ' of the fourteenth century. It is true that the

settings. The Resurrection scene (p. 289) follows a traditional rendering with three soldiers shown more or less in their customary attitudes. Their military equipment includes two types of helmet (the chapel-de-fer and the basinet with latten ornamentation), two types of shield (heatershaped and fist buckler), mail, including the coif, and the sword with shoulder belt. The chapel-

de-fer is a normal example, with rounded bowl and prominent mid-ri dge and wide brim. Mont-

auban in France was renowned for the manufacture of this type of which for headpiece,

centuries has been referred to in documents as "chapel de Montauban." The basinets are

apparently

enriched

7 helm and arm defense with latten ornaments Metropolitan Museum's Figure wearing ajoustinm of armor exhibitionincludes plate. Few examplesof siucchdefenseshave survived. not unlike the silver-gilt a generous share of the borders that appear on precious few fourteenth-century elements of ex- the sabaton of the armor of Charles IV of France tant armor. Nevertheless, this armor has, by fair (p. 288), which was, according to tradition, a wear and tear, lost its original polished or colored votive offering in the cathedral of Chartres, and surface, or the original fabric with which it was is now in the Mus&ede Chartres. The shield of one of the soldiers is of particular covered, and the accessories worn with it: the sword belt and the surcoat with colored heraldic interest, for it bears a lion's face. This badge is used with some license; instead of representing bearings have long since disappeared. Knowledge of the appearance of armor as it was worn a Roman soldier the artist has shown soldiers in the Middle Ages must therefore come largely wearing contemporary arms and armor, though from contemporary sculpture, painting, and il- he would obviously not attempt to identify a luminated manuscripts. The present article is guardian at the tomb of Christ. But the lion's concerned with the representation of arms and face as a personal badge is of some significance armor in the Book of Hours illustrated by Jean in our present study; it also appears on the sword Pucelle for Jeanne d'Evreux, as a gift from her belt of the effigy of Charles, Comte d'Etampes, in the royal abbey of Saint-Denis (p. 288), and husband, Charles IV of France. The artist placed Biblical scenes in medieval Charles was the brother of Jeanne d' Evreux, for

287

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ABOVE:

Two viewsof a basinet;the bowlhad eightapplied

fleurs-de-lis,as in thedrawing,belowleft, of a stonesculpture in ChartresCathedral.Right, sabatonfrom a boy'sarmor, Museede Chartres.LEFT: with appliedsilver-giltornaments. the sword Detail, beltfrom effigyof Charlesd'Evreux,Comte in d'Etampes, the Royal Abbeyat Saint-Denis. The lion's face was the badgeof this brotherof Jeanne d'Evreux;lions' faces appearonseveralpagesof theBookof Hours,as opposite. 288

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The Resurrection page. At the bottomare threesoldierswith helmets(basinetsand a chapel-deand theothera buckler). fer) mail, bearingswordsand shields(theleft-handshieldheater-shaped, 289

whom our Book of Hours was made. The artist and small, and the contour of the crown is clearly was no doubt familiar with the lion's face as the visible. It is of more than passing interest to note personal badge of the queen's brother, worn by that the basinet on a stone head in Chartres his retainers. Cathedral (p. 288), carved late in the thirteenth The sword and buckler appear frequently in century, also shows an applied border and a the manuscript. Foot soldiers, who were accus- prominent frontal fleur-de-lis. Although the tomed to use the sword without armor, neces- stone sculpture has a visorless basinet it is known sarily developed skill in fencing. The "Eskirmye that bascineza visiereswere also used in the thirde Bokyler" or sword and buckler contest was teenth century. This remarkable sculpture gives already popular in the thirteenth century. The credence to the attribution to Philip the Fair. detail illustrated on this page shows the inside of The Chartres basinet may, of course, date the buckler, with grip and hollow for the hand, later in the fourteenth century, but in any event and the outside, with the embossed umbo. When its original ornamentation and its provenance not in use the buckler was carried at the side, indicate that it was made for a king of France. We should note that it probably by passing the retains its pivoted and grip over the sword hilt. One of the soldiers in hinged visor, and it is this scene also carries precisely the type of vishis from waist ored basinet that is clearsuspended . belt a pair of fingered ly shown in the Book of Hours of Jeanne d'Evgauntlets. The hand was of necessity given much reux. No extant basinets attention by the early have been dated in the a who first quarter of the fourarmorer, designed _ defense with ingeniously teenth century, but it would be difficult to articulated plates of steel to protect the wrist, prove that the Chartres basinet could not be so metacarpus, knuckles, two dated. and fingers.The quillons Sceneshowing soldi,er.s with a basinet,swords, The Chartres basinet alone form the guard of bucklers,fingered gau\nt!lets, and a guisarme owes its survival to the the early sword, so the knight had to rely mainly upon the gauntlet to custom of suspending armor high up out of reach in a church. The knight was invested with protect his hand. The visored basinet shown in the illustration his rank in the church from which he received of the Betrayal of Christ brings to mind a basi- his armor. His military activities were often in net in the Musee de Chartres (p. 288). This the interests of the church, and when he was headpiece was long believed to have belonged victorious his armor was sometimes placed above to Philip IV, called the Fair (reigned I285- an altar as a votive offering. After his death the 1314), King of France and father of Charles IV. knight's armor was returned to the church, and It came from the cathedral of Chartres, where the knight himself was buried there. It is mainly it is said to have been placed by the French king for these reasons that at least a little of the early as an offering to the Virgin Mary after the battle armor has survived. Also from the cathedral of at Mons-en-Puelle, which he won over the Flem- Chartres and now in the Chartres museum are ings on August 18, 1304. The helmet was origi- some other elements of fourteenth-century arnally enriched with applied borders and a crown, mor; these comprise a pair of short-cuffed gauntboth of gold, which were removed during the lets, a right leg defense (the cuish and the knee French Revolution. The patination of the bowl cop of one plate with the wing), a right vambrace shows where the crown and border were applied. with the elbow cop, and the left sabaton for a There were eight fleurs-de-lis, alternately large boy, which we have already mentioned. Tradi290

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