2 - Material Source-Types

Summary

Choice of Images

This is undoubtedly a period with a far greater number of surviving artefacts as well as a vast array of highly-detailed depictions in stunning artworks. It would have been greatly remiss of this author had his selection of illustrations failed to highlight the wealth and breadth of Glasgow Museums’ collections; for instance, details of paintings by world-renowned artists (Figure 18 and Figure 30). Thus, there may be some examples provided from slightly outwith the period but they are, nevertheless, more than satisfactory for the purposes of our study.

Armour and Weapons

It simply cannot be stressed enough that to properly learn from material culture we must examine objects in hand whenever the opportunity arises. The use of photographs can only be considered a poor relation but remains a necessity for a sourcebook of this type. The date-range of this volume allows the inclusion of an elegant cuirass of the vigorous kastenbrust type (Figure 31). Best of all, it provides the perfect stage to showcase the world-famous ‘Avant’ harness in the care of Glasgow Museums (Figure 7). It was generously bequeathed by R. L. Scott to the people of the City of Glasgow in 1939. It is the earliest near-complete plate harness. The helmet mounted with it is of a slightly later date (Figure 20), as is the right gauntlet (Figure 3). The left is a – somewhat inaccurate – twentieth-century reproduction. With detailed photography we can inspect several of its components and the makers’ marks thereon (Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6). Individual views of the cuirass (Figure 32) and additional reinforcing plates (Figure 35) are also instructive.

Whilst we are fortunate to have armets from this time (Figure 13 and Figure 14), we have no sallets of the types referred to in the sources from the first half of the century. We are thus reliant on artists’ representations (Figures 24, 42, and 45) and pieces made later in the century (Figure 43 and Figure 44).

The pollaxe (Figure 17) had been in use from the previous century and was almost certainly an elder sibling of the bec de faucon (Figure 21).