Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 1).djvu/58

 In the XVth century Milan first claims our attention, for all through the century it maintains its supremacy, and its activity in the industry of arms is immense. Not only did it supply the whole of Italy with its best armour, but it furnished other countries, France especially, with its productions and with its armourers. Of about fifty-five Milanese armourers of the XVth century whose names I possess, twenty-four were settled in France. Some idea of the position held by the great armourers at Milan may be gathered from the few facts we know concerning the Missaglias, who were pre-eminent amongst them. In 1435 Tomaso Missaglia is knighted by Filippo-Maria Visconti, and Francesco Sforza exempts him from certain taxes in 1450. In 1466 we have a curious relation of Francesco Missaglia's visit to the French King Louis XI, addressed to the Duke of Milan by his agent in France, Giovanni Pietro Panicharola. It states that in the previous month Francesco Missaglia had arrived to arm his majesty according to his taste, and that many times the King had caused him to go into his room by day and by night, even when he was going to bed, so that he might study his person and know his desires, and in what way his armour should be constructed so that it might not hurt him in any way, as his body was very delicate. The said Francesco was departing that day (27th April), and was to return with the suit of armour when made. In 1492 the Venetian ambassadors, Contarini and Pisani, visited the house of Antonio Missaglia, son of Tomaso, and that visit is described by their coadjutor, Andrea de' Franceschi, in his Itinerario di Germania. "The aforesaid ambassadors then went to see the house of an armourer called Antonio Missaglia, a rich man, who continually employs many men at great expense, who make suits of armour in his house. All over his house are suits of armour of every kind to the value of many thousand ducats. He furnishes almost every one with these arms." Towards the end of the century, when fire broke out in this house, Duke Ludovico il Moro himself directed the firemen who went to extinguish it. That house I saw just before it was pulled down, and when, many modern additions having been removed, the beautiful pillars of its court with the Missaglia mark sculptured on them and the delicate terra-cotta decoration of its façade came to light, alas! only for a brief space of time. As before mentioned, we know of twenty-four Milanese armourers established in France in the XVth century. This immigration was not brought about, as might at first thought be supposed, by the Italian expedition of Charles VIII, for with the exception of a single armourer known to have been brought back by him, all were settled in France before that campaign. It would appear rather that this influx of Italian armourers was due to the initiative of Louis XI. We have seen him employing Francesco Missaglia to arm him in the spring of 1466. At that period Galeazzo Maria Sforza