Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 1).djvu/282

 admirably shaped and appropriate to the contours of the limbs. The dexter leg-piece and both the sollerets are of modern manufacture.

Made for Claude de Vaudrey by the Brothers Merate of Arbois in about 1490-5

Imperial Armoury, Vienna

Before we describe another entire harness that we will accept as being of French nationality or at least made for France, let us as a final proof of the Baron de Cosson's admirable argument as to the extreme difficulty of distinguishing the nationality of a late XVth century suit merely by virtue of its style, illustrate parts of a suit of armour that were found in the moat of a castle near Besançon in France (Fig. 241). Shown the plates that constitute the portions of this suit, we should unhesitatingly pronounce them to be Milanese of about 1470. This is so, for they bear the armourer's mark ARBOIS, showing that they are the work of Gabrielle and Francesco Merate, who were Milanese by birth, but who worked at Arbois. In 1494 the Merate were appointed armourers to Maximilian I. From 1494 until 1509 the Emperor Maximilian retained Merate's factory at Arbois. So here we have Milanese armourers working in France and appointed to a German Court, though in their productions—only two others are known beside the remains of this suit, the suit said to be made for Claude de Vaudrey, chamberlain to Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and worn by him at a foot tournament held on the occasion of the meeting of the Diet of Worms in 1495 (Fig. 242), now preserved in the Imperial Armoury, Vienna, and another suit in the same collection—they retain all the characteristic features of Milanese-made armour. Whether, however, their later work was influenced by the demand of the German