Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 3).djvu/244

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the horse to stumble or the rider to be struck by the lance. The saddle we illustrate (Fig. 1011) is formed of wood covered with hide, and partially with canvas; on the canvas is a coat of gesso upon which there has been painting; the front measures, in its greatest length, 3 ft. 11 in.; the lower portion, lying over the horse's shoulders, formed a shield for the legs of the knight; there is a distance of 10 inches from the saddle-tree itself to the seat of the rider, who, when fixed for the encounter, would be carried forward rather in a standing than a sitting posture. Despite the fact that the rider has his legs protected by the enormous wooden and parchment coated burr plates, the arrangement of sitting down in the saddle with the strong bar crossing the thighs quite prevents him from falling clear, and would probably ensure him a broken back. On the burr plates of such a saddle as this, the stechkissen would fit quite satisfactorily. We can record four other saddles exactly of this type, namely, one in the arsenal of Schaffhausen, one in the museum of Ratisbon, a third in the Renné Collection at Constance, and a fourth in the National Germanic Museum of Nuremberg.

Fig. 1012. Equestrian armour made for Maximilian I, the Emperor, probably in Nuremberg about the year 1508

Imperial Armoury, Vienna

Throughout the XVIth century armaments for the horse continued to be