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 CHAPTER XXVI

ARMOUR TERMED "SPANISH"

We have now completed our enumeration of the more important examples of the school of classically fashioned and decorated armour that are extant. This has taken us rapidly through the XVIth century into the opening years of the next, with the result that we must perforce once more retrace our steps and concern ourselves with that very large class of plate armour which is known as "Spanish," and which is so called not because it was made in Spain, or was made by Spaniards, but because it was chiefly supplied to the Spanish Court under Charles V and Philip II, and so became commonly known as à la façon d'Espagne. German workmen were the artificers, Augsburg, Landshut, and Innsbrück being the chief towns from which these fine productions emanated; though, as we shall have to relate, the great armourers of Italy were likewise pressed into the service of these notable monarchs. Indeed, beyond reproach as is much of the armour produced in all countries early in the XVIth century, it is the opinion of the author that the fine proportions and wonderful fashion of the harnesses, which were made in the second and third quarters of the century, and which were commissioned to a great extent, though not exclusively, by the Court of Spain, well bear comparison with all others. The records show that the Kolmans of Augsburg and the Wolfs of Landshut were in the almost continuous employ of Charles V, Philip II, and the grandees of Spain; the Wolfs from their status being perhaps the more favoured armourers of this period; and though individual suits have been removed from Spain, and are to be seen to-day in some of the more important public and private collections of other countries, it is still to the old Imperial Armouries of Madrid and Vienna that armour enthusiasts must turn if they wish to see these so-called Spanish suits in their almost original state and completeness. It is indeed difficult for us to