Showing posts with label helms. Show all posts
Showing posts with label helms. Show all posts

Monday, 11 November 2013

Crests 1370s: Part 2




A beautiful collection of 14th century crests and heraldic shields. My favourites are the floppy ear happy/snappy dog, the white eared, blue donkey and the the bent seahorse cannon horn. 

Interestingly, the helms are shown in a few different positions. 
There are 
* 4 helms depicted facing directly front on, 
* 5 more depicted slightly forward of profile 
* 14 shown side on, in profile
* 4 helms are absent

Ornate helms

https://www.pinterest.com/dianebriegleb/protective-head-gear/

This pin board has a collection of images of interesting decorated helms. No helm crests, though :(

Extant Crest: The Black Prince

When Edward III died in 1376, several items of heraldic display were arranged adorning his tomb. Among them, is a crest. It is a leather formed leopard, covered in gesso and gilt. This is one of the extant items I looked at when planning how to make

Here is the website that gives a bit more history and shows a reproduction.
http://www.myarmoury.com/feature_mow_bp.html

Here is a discussion where the author of the above page shows his reproduction crest and talks with Armour Archive members about armour mirroring contemporary fashions and people's interest in wearing crests in combat now.
http://www.myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=5265

This page shows some photographs of the original items in the wall case of Canterbury Cathedral.
http://piersperrotgaveston.blogspot.com.au/2011/01/canterbury-cathedral.html


Crests in Saint Georges chapel

This chapel has a long history, and many kinds of heraldic display. The website states that some of the stall plates below are from as early as 1348 or as recent as a few years ago.

A selection of Stall Plates in the Quire

Sunday, 10 November 2013

What a crest can tell us about its original owner

I have stumbled across this webpage which seeks to explore and educate people on the history of supposed 'mono-ethnic' societies. The intro says
"Throughout Britain, the history of the Atlantic slave trade is generally known, but the history of black people before and after slavery is unknown."

Sir John Hawkins coat of arms.BMP (1634250 bytes)
One of the images used shows a helm crest of Sir John Hawkins. It shows an image of a man who could be one of the African's his father traded with, or a man who was later brought to England, freely or, bought or kidnapped for human trade. This blog uses some terminology that is not considered culturally appropriate for Australian readers, though the sentiment is sound. Remember the past and learn from it in the future.

Spanish heraldic blog

http://heraldistas.blogspot.com.au/2010/02/libro-de-la-cofradia-de-los-caballeros.html

Wow. This blog is written by a Spanish man, Fernando Martinez Larranaga, and is full of great images of crests, barding, trappings and other heraldic items.

The following images were from the post labelled, 'Book of the brotherhood of the Knights of Santiago'also known as 'Libro de los Caballeros de Santiago'. http://www.facsimilefinder.com/export/pdf/446 lists the book as being created in 1388 and completed by 1600. You can order a copy and see previews of this and other manuscripts for sale, here.


A mixed colour feather plume on a horses brow, matching his rider's hat trim. There is also another horse with a more modest feathered plume.


I think those are bells on the caparison, along the spine.


It is the feathers I am noticing, here.





Helm crests in stock photos

Who would ever have thought a stock photo webpage would have images we could use for this project! In future, I would seriously consider going to a page like this for a new project and having a look for image names and other resources that could be useful.

http://www.superstock.com/stock-photography/Medieval%20Coat%20Of%20Arms

Extant crests on Flickr

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2F98015679%40N04%2Fsets%2F72157634696214366%2F&h=wAQFunah3

This guy has heaps of albums that show museums and collections of all sorts of crests, armour, weapons, shields and other medieval objects. I especially like the crest with 2 horns and hanging leafs on a series of branches.

The main album page can be found here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/98015679@N04/sets/

Well worth a look.

Thursday, 15 August 2013

Crests in 1450s: Part 3

BAV Pal.lat. 413 Speculam humane salvacionis
1400-1450 Austria

Crests in 1440s: Part 5

KBR Ms.14697 Tristan und Isolde
1447-1449 France

Crests in 1400

Morgan M.766 Speculum humanae salvationis
1400 England
3 headed beast sprouting from the top of a helm. The drawings in this manuscript are quite simplistic, making it hard to judge where the items sit in regard to each other. Perhaps this is just a misrepresentation of a helm crest mounted in the normal way.


Morgan M.766 Speculum humanae salvationis
1400 England


BNF Français 12559 Le Chevalier errant
1400 France
White swan, red clawed foot and angry blue animal crests. An interesting array of horse armour


 Missale Hervoiae Ducis Spalatensis croatico-glagoliticum
1403 Italy



Göttinger MS Philos. 63 Bellifortis
1405 Germany

Crests in 1380s

1370-1380 France
This knight appears to have a large wooshy hook on his helm. It could be the bottom of a swan, I suppose, but the top doesn't seem to have an animal head.



1370-1380 Italy
These adornments look like boat anchors? Grappling hooks? The sharp end of some type of weaponry?



1370-1380 Italy



1370-1380 Italy
A basket, a wing, flames, a small standard banner, what looks like a blue lumpy hen and a mystery item that looks a bit like a dummy with spikey quillions. I'm sure they are all heraldic charges or symbolic items. There are some really interesting models on helms.



1370-1380 Italy
Floral wreath



1370-1380 Italy
Unfortunately it is difficult to see these crests. The only one clear is a pair of wings.



1370-1380 Italy



BNF Français 343 Queste del Saint Graal / Tristan de Léonois
1380-1385 Italy
Skewered fish, religious infant face with wings, or is it a cherub, double wings in a different position, two gold plain symbols and a ridged protrusion with a hooded face.



BNF Français 343 Queste del Saint Graal / Tristan de Léonois
1380-1385 Italy
A clearer image showing the religious infant with wings.



ONB Cod. Vindobonensis 2762 Wenzel Bible
1389 Germany

Crests in 1370s

As always, I am collecting resource images in decade groups. If an image has an uncertain time of creation, I have chosen to catalogue it based on the latest date. Here are some helm adornments from 1350-1359.
I have attempted to include correct references. Please contact me if you have any comments or queries. 


HAB Cod. Guelf. 3.1 Aug. 2° Der Sachsenspiegel
1350-1375 Germany
I like the realistic way the tunic is caught up on the saddle as he sits on it - it is a refreshing change from so many images where everyone's clothing sits perfectly, even as they fly off their horse to their death. Also, banana hat. Bowl-cut fringe horse. That is all. 


UBL LTK 537 Wigalois
1372 Germany
Possibly the wheel of life or some other wheel reference vs a sun moon, day night representation. Interesting plain, single tailed mantling, too. Great colours!


Bodmer 78 Historia destructionis Troiae
1370 Italy
Are these letters on their helms? Or some other kind of symbol?



Saturday, 3 August 2013

Crests in 1450s: Part 2

Tours BM MS.218 Hours of Charles V
2 red bourelets over helms. Both have gold details. This seems to be the most common way to wear a bourelet in this decade.


Morgan M.385 Speculum humanae salvationis
Peacock plume rises from the centre top of a helm, without visible attachment.

Lyon BM MS.439 Apocalypsis figurata
2 different slender feathers rising from the top of the crown of a helm, without and obvious attachment. A red and gold bourelet is worn in the foreground.


UBH Cod. Pal. germ. 149 Historia septem sapientum; Chronicon pontificum et imperatorum
Single feather coming from the centre front. Double-decker crown, too.


MMW 10 B 34 Speculum humanae salvationis
Crossed over string of beads on the far right helm?


UBH Cod. Pal. germ. 149 Historia septem sapientum; Chronicon pontificum et imperatorum
2 tails from a ribbon or torse are seen top left. 3 slim feather coming out of a gold and silver brooch/mounting point on the front of the second man's helm.


UBH Cod. Pal. germ. 149 Historia septem sapientum; Chronicon pontificum et imperatorum
Angry horses. Huge flower pauldrons. A massive crown. a single ostrich feather attached by a gold brooch to the centre front of a helm, or maybe a silver bourelet on a helm. The artist uses different brush strikes on the item that could be a silver bourelet to the red bourelet that is worn by the rider on the left, though.


UBH Cod. Pal. germ. 149 Historia septem sapientum; Chronicon pontificum et imperatorum
Blob crest? Short, curly feathers? Short, extra dagged mantle? 


MMW 10 B 34 Speculum humanae salvationis
2 thin feathers attached to the right side beneath the ear roundel. Note the man with the sleeveless arming jack. It could also be argued that this jack simply has different coloured sleeves, and is made in the grand aissette style. 


MMW 10 B 34 Speculum humanae salvationis
2 slender feathers attached to the centre front join in the crown and the brim/fixed visor on the helm. There is what could be a gold torse, though it is more likely to be part of the helm. And another man in a sleeveless jack.


UBH Cod. Pal. germ. 149 Historia septem sapientum; Chronicon pontificum et imperatorum
You rarely see hair from under a helm, so I will guess this is the artists rendition of a thick bourelet with a slim torse and free tails on top.


arundel
multi-tail mantling under a crown. There is a black tall cylindrical plume rising from the crown, between 2 horns that seem to be tipped in blood. There also seems to be a small flag on top of each horn. Extravagant. 


burney
I believe this was on the cover of a book. There is a small torse, and some other crest items, though they are hard to see.


The Gorrevod Armorial 1456-1459

Helm types

It turns out I have been using all sorts of incorrect names for helms I am seeing in resources. This image comes from Helmets and Body Armor in Modern Warfare, (Dean, Bashford, 1867-1930). It was accessed at this blog, which also has some interesting discussion on the constants in the concept of evolution as applied to both biological and non-living things.
 http://www.lucasbrouwers.nl/blog/2010/10/bashford-dean-bridging-medieval-armor-and-devonian-fish/




I apologise, unreservedly, to any armets that I publicly labelled as bascinets, every later-stage heaume that I slanderously called a frog mouth bascinet, and all unrecognised sallets. I vow to attempt to rectify this injustice and make an concious effort to improve this cause.

Also, why is there not a line from the second evolution of the bascinet up to the beginning of the armets? Is the rear neck guard from the sallet line the only link to the armets? They seem so much closer to bascinets.

I will use this when muddling through labelling helms now.