European Armour Parts
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of approximately 50 armour parts which date from about 1430 to the 19th century. This collection includes a range of items from a German cuirass with a breastplate called a kastenbrust, or 'box-breast', dating from about 1430 to a pauldron (shoulder defence) made up of elements from the 15th, 16th, and 19th centuries. From the 15th century there is a breastplate, possibly from Brescia, Italy which date to about 1480, a German bevor (lower face and throat defence) of similar date and a pauldron of around a decade later with a rare, and unidentified, maker's mark. The English Royal Workshop founded at Greenwich by Henry VIII provided the vambraces (arm defences) and pauldrons from an armour of Sir William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, about 1550–5 as well as a cuirass of around 1600. In addition to armour parts for war there are pieces designed specifically for the joust. These include a German thigh defence or 'streiftartsche', of around 1500 and a grandguard that protects the left side of the jouster's body, made about 1560. Of the four partial armours two are designed for jousting and date to between about 1500 and 1560. The other two are from the first half of the 16th century and are products of the renowned armour-making centre of Nuremberg.
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