Medieval & Armor Court

Weapon

	Halberd Germany (?), early 16th Century Medium: steel, quatrefoil piercing; wood haft (rectangular with planed corners) Measurements: Overall: 217.4cm, Blade: 21.9cm x 30.5cm Date: c. 1500-1525 Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance 1916.1561 Location: Armor Court
	Halberd Switzerland, late 15th Century Medium: steel; wood haft (rectangular with planed corners) Measurements: Overall: 205.7cm, Blade: 20.3cm x 41.9cm Date: c. 1480-1500 Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance 1916.1556 Location: Armor Court
	Bill Italy, 15th Century Medium: steel, wood Measurements: Overall: 184.8cm, Blade: 11.4cm x 77.5cm Date: c. 1480 Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance 1916.1835 Location: Armor Court This weapon known as the "bill" was developed from an agricultural tool. Used throughout Western Europe, it was particularly popular in Italy and England where it served as an equivalent to the Central European halberd.
	Battle Axe Scandinavia (?), 15th century Medium: Steel and wood Measurements: Overall: 93.3cm, Blade: 18.7cm Date: 1400s Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance 1916.1601 Location: Armor Court
	Sword European (unassigned), 15th Century Medium: steel Measurements: Overall: 103.5cm, Quillions: 19.1cm Date: 1400s Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance 1919.69 Location: Armor Court
	Hand-and-a-Half Sword South Germany, early 16th Century Medium: steel, wood, leather; quillions and spirally fluted pommel of blackened steel Measurements: Overall: 117.5cm, Blade: 90.2cm, Quillions: 26.4cm, Grip: 21.cm Date: c. 1500 Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance 1921.1253 Location: Armor Court

Armor

	War Hat (Kettle Hat) Italy, 15th Century Medium: steel Measurements: Overall: 30.3cm x 25.9cm x 17.5cm Date: c. 1460 Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance 1916.1919 Location: Armor Court Open helmets like this one were used by medieval infantries. The helmet weighs 12-1/2 pounds. This unusual weight was required for siege purposes--such helmets were worn by the men who attempted to scale the walls of an armed town. The rivet holes along the ridge were for the attachment of the liner.
	War Hat (or Kettle Hat) workshop of Antonio Missaglia (Italian, 1416/17 - 1495/96) Medium: steel Measurements: Overall: 36.cm x 22.cm x 26.6cm Date: c. 1475-1500 Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance 1916.1565 Location: Armor Court
	Gothic Bevor Spain (Hispano-Flemish), 15th Century Medium: steel Measurements: Overall: 27.4cm x 16.3cm Date: c. 1480 Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance 1916.1920 Location: Armor Court This element was intended to protect the chin and upper throat. It normally supplemented an open helmet like the sallet.
	Brayette European, 15th century Medium: riveted steel rings; strongly reinforced Measurements: Diameter: 1.cm, Overall: 47.7cm x 31.8cm Date: 1400s Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance 1916.1574 Location: Not on display
	Gothic Breastplate (lower plate surmounted with fleur-de-lys) South Germany or Austria, Innsbruck, late 15th century Medium: steel Measurements: Overall: 53.2cm x 35.21cm x 16.3cm Date: c. 1475-1500 Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance 1916.1720 Location: Armor Court This elegantly constructed breastplate consists of two primary plates of steel fastened at center by a rivet. The lower plate is embellished with a border of embossed flutes which converge upwards and terminate in a fleur-de-lys. The pair of rivet holes in the upper right breast were to accommodate a lance rest, now lost.
	Gothic Backplate Germany, late 15th Century Medium: steel, modern leather straps Measurements: Overall: 44.5cm x 34.5cm x 16.5cm Date: c. 1475-1500 Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance 1916.1613 Location: Armor Court
	Gothic Breastplate and Taces North Italy, late 15th Century Medium: steel with brass rosette rivets Measurements: Overall: 41.cm x 31.7cm x 14.cm Date: c. 1475-1500 Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance 1919.63 Location: Armor Court
	Gothic Breastplate South Germany or Austria, 15th Century Medium: steel Measurements: Overall: 50.5cm x 35.8cm x 15.8cm Date: c. 1485 Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance 1916.29 Location: Armor Court Individual armor elements, like this breastplate, were shaped in ways that would make their surfaces as deflecting as possible. The contours of this breastplate, along with the pronounced vertical ridge down its center, were for precisely this purpose.
	Gothic Breastplate (with Lance Rest Mount) Italy, late 15th Century Medium: steel Measurements: Overall: 45.cm x 35.2cm Date: c. 1490-1500 Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance 1916.1566 Location: Armor Court
	Brigandine (front panel) Italy (?), early 16th Century Medium: linen, yellow velvet; steel plates and brass rivets Measurements: Overall: 56.5cm x 47.6cm Date: c. 1500-1525 Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance 1921.1250 Location: Armor Court The brigandine is a light, vestlike body defense popular with both knights and infantry from the 1400s through about 1550. It is constructed of multiple small plates attached to a cloth covering. Finer examples, like this one, are faced in velvet or fabric made of gold thread. The lightweight brigandine provided pro-tection from the weather, and was extremely flexible.
	Collar European, 15th century Medium: riveted steel rings Measurements: Diameter: 0.5cm, Overall: 61.5cm x 25.7cm Date: 1400s Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance 1916.1584 Location: Armor Court
	Hauberk European, 15th century Medium: riveted steel rings Measurements: Overall: 121.3cm x 85.7cm Date: 1400s Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance 1916.1543 Location: Armor Court
	Hauberk European, 15th century Medium: fine steel rings; leather collar Measurements: Overall: 124.5cm x 127.cm Date: 1400s Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance 1916.1567 Location: Not on display
	Hauberk European, 15th century Medium: steel and brass rings Measurements: Diameter: 0.55cm, Overall: 52.1cm x 78.2cm Date: 1400s Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance 1916.1918 Location: Not on display
	Hauberk European, 15th century Medium: riveted steel rings Measurements: Diameter: 1.1cm, Overall: 128.3cm x 91.4cm Date: 1400s Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance 1916.1817 Location: Armor Court
	Hauberk Europe, 15th century Medium: very fine rings; border of brass rings at bottom edge Measurements: Diameter: 0.25cm, Overall: 145.5cm x 74.3cm Date: 1400s Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance 1916.1897 Location: Not on display

Misc.

	Jug with Scale Pattern Italy, Siena, 14th century Medium: tin-glazed earthenware (majolica) Measurements: Overall: 26.85cm x 10.cm Date: c. 1350 Seventy-fifth anniversary gift of Rainer Zietz 1991.112 Location: Not on display The distinctive shape of this jug and its decorative glazes point to a kiln in Siena. The body of the vessel is painted in green and manganese to create an unusual scale pattern. Distinctive regional shapes and styles developed in medieval Italy making it possible to assign vessels such as this to a particular region.
	Belt for a Lady's Dress Italy, Siena (?), 14th century Medium: basse-taille enamel and gilding on silver, silver thread, gilt-silver buckle, cast and chased Measurements: Overall: 236.5cm x 2.9cm x 0.6cm Date: c. 1375-1400 Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust 1930.742 Location: Gallery 214 Because of its extraordinary richness, this belt (known as a girdle) would have been considered by its owner to be both a sumptuous ornament for the body and an object of great personal luxury. Almost eight feet in length, belts like this were at the height of fashion for both men and women. After being passed around the waist and through the buckle, one end of the belt would fall to the hem of the garment. The belt's many colorful enamel plaques are worked in translucent enamel over decoration engraved into the silver beneath (an enameler's technique known as basse-taille). Within the plaques and cast into the buckle are scenes of courtly love, musicians, and fantastic animals. A large number of translucent enamels were made for domestic use during the late Middle Ages--for use on jewelry, cups, wine fountains, and similar objects. This belt is a rare survival among these now scarce objects.
	Chalice Hungary, 15th century Medium: gilt silver and filigree enamel Measurements: Overall: 24.6cm Date: c. 1450-1500 John L. Severance Fund 1990.3.1-2 Location: Rotunda
	Initial Tfrom a Choral Book with Isaac and Esau Bartolomeo da Gallarate Medium: ink, tempera, and gold on vellum Measurements: Sheet: 18.cm x 16.cm Date: c. 1460-1470 Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1949.535 Location: Not on display The subject of this initial recounts the biblical story of the "stolen" blessing of Esau. The dying Isaac, old and blind, is approached by his son Esau, who seeks his blessing. Esau discovers that his twin brother, Jacob, had already obtained the irrevocable blessing through deception.