An integral part of Renaissance culture, the horse was not only a beast of burden and means of transportation but also a sign of rank and status. For the nobility, horsemanship was an essential skill, both militarily and socially. Since horses played a pivotal role in warfare, tournaments, and ceremonies, they often wore armor as elaborate and expensive as that of their riders. From the late 1400s to the late 1500s, European horse armor became so technically and artistically sophisticated that its finest productions now rank among the greatest achievements of Renaissance decorative arts. The forty objects presented in this volume comprise all the main types of horse defense, each intended to protect a different part of the animal's body. Their range is broad—from a set of rudimentary peytral and crupper plates made of leather (the only examples of this kind in the United States) to an elaborately decorated steel shaffron produced for the Polish prince Nikolaus "the Black" Radziwill. Placing these objects in context is an essay tracing the history of European horse armor from its revival in the twelfth century (after its disappearance with the fall of Rome) through its flowering in the Renaissance to its eventual obsolescence in the early 1600s.

80 pages, 99 illustrations (37 in full color), 8 3/4 in. x 11 in. Paper.

The Armored Horse in Europe, 1480–1620
05-011051
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Non-Member Price: $14.95 each


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