Sir John Scudamore (1541 or 1542–1623) was appointed a Gentleman Pensioner by Queen Elizabeth I (reigned 1558–1603) in 1571 or 1572 and knighted in 1592. This foot defense belongs to an armor (acc. no. 11.128.1) that was probably commissioned by him in preparation for the threatened Spanish invasion of England in 1588. It was made in the royal workshops at Greenwich during the tenure of Jacob Halder (documented in England 1558–1608) as master armorer.
The remains of this and the later Scudamore armor for his son James in the adjacent case were found, badly damaged and incomplete, in 1909, in Holme Lacy, the ancestral home of the Scudamores. The armors were restored and completed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1915, by the armorer Daniel Tachaux. The parts made by Tachaux include the helmet, left pauldron (shoulder defense), gauntlets, and right sabaton (foot defense).
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Title:Rear Plates of the Left Foot Defense from a Field Armor Probably of Sir John Scudamore (1541 or 1542–1623)
Date:ca. 1587
Geography:Greenwich
Culture:British, Greenwich
Medium:Steel, gold, leather
Dimensions:L. 6 3/8 in. (16.18 cm); W. 3 3/4 in. (9.53 cm)
Classification:Armor Parts
Credit Line:Fletcher Fund, 1922
Object Number:22.147.11
London. H. M. Tower of London. "Exhibition of Armour Made in the Royal Workshops at Greenwich," May 22–September 29, 1951, no. 14.
Los Angeles. Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Loan Exhibition of Mediaeval and Renaissance Arms and Armor from the Metropolitan Museum of Art," January 15–March 18, 1953, no. 10.
San Francisco. California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "Loan Exhibition of Mediaeval and Renaissance Arms and Armor from the Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 18–June 7, 1953, no. 10.
Pittsburgh. Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute. "Loan Exhibition of Mediaeval and Renaissance Arms and Armor from the Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 1953–April 1954, no. 10.
Meyrick, William Esq. Dr. An Illustrated Catalogue of Weapons and Detached Specimens of Armour, from the Collection of William Meyrick, Esq.. London: Joseph Clayton, 1861. no. 118, ill.
Christie, Manson & Woods. Meyrick Arms and Armour Being the Collection Formed About the Middle of the 19th Century by the Late Dr. William Meyrick. London: Christie, Manson & Woods, February 21, 1922. no. 148.
Beard, Charles R. "Missing Armours: A National Portrait Gallery Discovery." The Connoisseur (1924), pp. 176–77, 181 (a similarly decorated armor depicted in a painting).
Grancsay, Stephen V. "Swords from the Dresden Armory." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (February 1929), p. 90.
Dean, Bashford, and Robert T. Nichol. Handbook of Arms and Armor : European and Oriental, edited by Stephen V. Grancsay. 4th ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 1930. p. 142, fig. 94.
Cripps-Day, Francis Henry. "An Introduction to the Study of Greenwich Armour." Fragmenta Armamentaria (1934), pp. 88–89 (Scudamore armors discussed).
Tower of London Armouries. Exhibition of Armour Made in the Royal Workshops at Greenwich, 22nd May–29th September, 1951. London: H. M. Stationery Office, 1951. no. 14, pl. XVIII.
Grancsay, Stephen V. Loan Exhibition of Mediaeval and Renaissance Arms and Armor from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1953. p. 11, no. 10, ill.
Cornforth, John. "Kent Church Court, Heredfordshire, II, The House of Mr. J. H. S. and Lady Patricia Lucas-Scudamore." Country Life (December 22, 1966), pp. 1688–91 (Scudamore family discussed).
Williams, Alan, and Anthony de Reuck. The Royal Armoury at Greenwich 1515–1649: A History of Its Technology. Royal Armouries Monograph, Vol. 4. Leeds: Trustees of the Royal Armouries, 1995. pp. 106–107, ill.
Reuck, Anthony de. "Greenwich Revisited: or Gunpowder and the Obsolescence of Armour." The Journal of the Arms and Armour Society 15, no. 7 pp. 426–43.
Williams, Alan. The Knight and the Blast Furnace: A History of the Metallurgy of Armour in the Middle Ages & the Early Modern Period. History of Warfare, Vol. 12. Leiden: Brill, 2002. pp. 794–95.
Made under the direction of Jacob Halder (British, master armorer at the royal workshops at Greenwich, documented in England 1558–1608)
ca. 1595–96; restored and completed, 1915
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