The study of medieval armour uses many sources, amongst the most informative for fifteenth century armour are principally the sculptured and latten (brass) representations on tombs across Europe. We are also fortunate to have a small number of surviving examples of armour (principally helmets) from the period, many deposited in churches connected to monuments as heraldic achievements or as votive offerings. However, a further highly significant resource are the references to and depiction of armour in contemporary manuscript sources. These have long been used to good effect by writers on armour, a pioneer of this being John Hewitt in the nineteenth century(1). Also from the fifteenth century we are fortunate to have finely detailed examples of manuscript illustrations depicting armour in some intricate detail. Some of these will be briefly discussed below.
The particular subject of this note is a previously un-noted, delicately executed illustration on parchment, showing Gideon and his fleece (sheep-skin), in a small oval topped miniature, surviving from the corner piece of a decorated border of a large choir book or Gradual, a chant or hymn in the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist. It has been cut from the volume in the 19th century and trimmed down. It shows Gideon dressed as a young man in a detailed and correct representation of late 15th century armour. He is kneeling and gazing at the sky as a blue-winged angel descends towards him holding a ribbon shaped scroll, his fleece, helm and shield lie before him, behind is a landscape. The fragment now has a thin wooden frame, is rubbed, with small tear to lower left hand edge, six small pinpricks can be seen to the reverse around the angel. The size is small, 134mm by 80mm.
The original substantial manuscript was illuminated for Ferdinand of Aragon (1452-1516) and his wife Isabella of Castile (1451-1504), joint rulers of a united Spain, the ‘Catholic Monarchs’, patrons of Christopher Columbus, founders of the Inquisition. Based on the heraldry on other surviving pieces, the manuscript can be dated to before the conquest of Granada in 1492 and from the style of the armour and by comparison with other objects a date to the late 1470s to mid 1480s appears likely. The original choir book was presented by Ferdinand and Isabella to the Dominican convent of Santo Tomás Aquino, in Ávila, in Old Castile, founded in 1478 and still in existence. Ferdinand and Isabella endowed it massively and paid for the construction of the convent’s chapel, built between 1482 and 1493. Their only son, Prince Juan, was buried there and has a splendid effigial tomb, the first Grand Inquisitor, Tomás de Torquemada (d.1498) was also buried within the chapel. The enormous royal Gradual created at this time, probably for the chapel remained on view for almost 400 years at the building.
In the nineteenth century the Gradual came into the possession of Manuel Rico y Sinobias, (1819-1898), Doctor of Medicine and Physical Sciences at the Central University of Madrid and something of a manuscript collector, who dismembered it, cutting out miniatures and distributing leaves. Some cuttings are in the Museo Arqueológico in Madrid (2) Two were acquired in 1918 by the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, MS.293 a-b. (3) Another has been acquired by the Pierpont Morgan Library from Professor J.J.G. Alexander, now their M. 1141. Finally, two leaves appeared in Pirages, Cat.51 (2004), no.72, illustrated in colour, sold and cut up by the buyer into smaller pieces. Others pieces have come on to the market at various times and some can be traced in the Museo Arqueológico in Madrid. (4) Bordona, (5) describes the manuscript as “one of the most sumptuous and artistic series of choir-books in all Spain”, and he tentatively ascribes them to the royal illuminator Juan de Carrion, documented in Ávila from the 1470s. Although the present image is rather rubbed and mutilated, the detail of the illumination and the quality of its execution are abundantly clear.
The known provenance of the “Gideon” fragment is as follows:
1 Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile c1482.
2 The Dominican Convent of Santo Thomas Aquino , Avila c 1490.
3 Bought by Manuel Rico y Sinobias 1819-1898 (scientist and bibliophile) who cut up the manuscript.
4 This particular cutting, Pirages Auction House 2004 bought by Bruce Ferrini (dealer of Medieval and Rennaissance Manuscripts, Ohio USA).
5 Auction in the UK to private collector.
The story of Gideon and the fleece comes from the Old Testament, Judges 6,7;
“And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said, Behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said. And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.” Judges 6:36-40.
In the image we can see Gideon kneeling in prayer, looking more like a knight from an Arthurian quest by Malory than an Old Testament military leader and prophet. He is shown clad in full armour, possibly of an Italianate style, although this is obviously a Spanish depiction of the subject matter. In his article on Spanish armour, Mann (6) says that from the mid-15th century “the tombs of the wealthy show Milanese armours”. Although it must be said that armour in the 15th century was developed across Europe with much cross fertilisation of styles. Here it is finely shown with pauldrons protecting the shoulders and elaborate couters at the elbow, his neck protected by a dagged edged standard of mail with a further dagged pattern on the mail depending from the bottom of the lower lames of his body armour. These features bear comparison to effigial monuments in England and the continent (7). His hands, which are in prayer are bare although his armoured gauntlets may just possibly be seen on the shield next to the helm. His legs are fully armoured although his feet appear to be clad in soft shoes rather than armoured sabatons. At his belt he wears a sword, rather corresponding to Oakeshott’s (8) Type XVIIIa, especially 6 &7. His helm is a form of sallet with raised visor and small feathered plume, this is placed on the floor before him. He has cast his shield, which is a‘bouché (that is with the cut out for a lance rest), to one side and it lies face down showing the carrying straps to the inside. His Fleece is laid upon the grass as indicated in the account in the Bible. The landscape in which he kneels is surrounded by greenery with a wooded rocky hill to the left, surrounding what seems to be a walled town; in the distance appears a towered building. A blue winged angel finely drawn is above holding a scroll bearing an inscription now too rubbed to read in full.
Despite obviously being from a different national background and artist, in attempting to find comparable images of delicately drawn accurate 15th century armour one might look to the Rous Roll (9) and the Beauchamp Pageant (10). Both of these manuscripts can be firmly dated to the mid-1480s and both artists show a familiarity with the detail of armour as does the artist of the fragment discussed here. In particular from the Beauchamp Pageant we might look at a detail of fo12b showing Richard Beauchamp being armed in what appears to be a comparable armour. If we look at the Rous Roll we see the figure of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick “The Kingmaker”(1428-1471) but of course drawn in the later 1480s again in a comparable armour contemporary to the 1480s with similar sallet and shield a’bouche. This image was adapted by the Arms and Armour Society for its badge.
As an aside, an Order of the Golden Fleece was established in Burgundy in 1430 by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy generally said to be based on the story from the classical period, of Jason and his golden fleece. With its considered pagan origin the Bishop of Châlons, chancellor of the Order, identified it instead with the fleece of the biblical Gideon, that received the dew of Heaven. Mirroring somewhat the Order of the Garter the Order of the Golden Fleece contained a limited number of knights, initially 24 but increasing to 30 in 1433 and 50 in 1516 plus of course the Duke. It had an elaborate collar with a pendant of the Fleece.
References
1 John Hewitt, Ancient Armour and Weapons in Europe from the Iron Period of the Northern Nations to the end of the Seventeenth Century with illustrations from Contemporary Monuments, 3 Volumes, London, 1855-60.
2 Bordon, J.D., Exposición de códices miniados Española’s, Catálogo, Madrid, 1929, nos. CIV-CVII and fig 68.
3 Wormald and Giles, Descriptive Catalogue, 1982, I, pp.269-70). Leaves appeared in the Mettler sale, Mensing, 22 November 1929, lot 98, with full-page plate, and in H.P. Kraus, cat.112 (1965), no.45, with colour frontispiece. J.D. Bordona, Spanish Illumination, 1930, pl.141, describes one leaf then in private hands in Madrid. There is a cutting in Austria (cf. F.G. Zeileis, ‘Più ridon le carte’, Buchmalerei aus Mittelalter und Renaissance, II, 2002, citing and illustrating examples for comparison on pp.414-5.
4 Exposición de codices miniados Españoles, 1929, nos. civ-cvii and fig. 68) and the Zeileis collection (see Più Ridon le carte, II, 2002, pp. 414-15).
5. Bordona, J.D. Op.cit, p.61.
6 Mann, J.G.: a series of articles in Archaeologia, particularly; Notes on the Armour worn in Spain from the Tenth to the Fifteenth Century, Archaeologia 83 (1933) pp. 285-305, The Sanctuary of the Madonna della Grazia with Notes on the Collection of Italian Armour during the 15th Century, Archaeologia, 80 (1930), pp.117-142 and ‘A Further Account of the Armour preserved in the Madonna della Grazia’, Archaeologia, 87 (1938), pp. 311-351.
7 For a full account of the detail of the armour from this period see; Capwell, Tobias, Armour of the English Knight 1450-1500, London, 2021.
8 Oakeshott, Ewart, Record of the Medieval sword, London, 1991.
9.Rous, John, The Rous Roll, London, 1859, reprinted with a new Introduction by Charles Ross which makes no mention of armour, The Rous Roll, Gloucester, 1980. The original manuscript Rous Roll is British Library Additional MS 48976. This manuscript shows a number of historical figures including some in contemporary late 15th century armour.
10 Sinclair, Alexander, (ed.), The Beauchamp Pageant, Donington, 2003. The original British Library MS is Cotton MS Julius EIV. This too shows late 15th century armour. But f .12v shows Richard Beauchamp dressing in armour, the armour of course an anachronism to the period shown of Henry V, being a later 15th century armour. Other folios show similar armours, notably see f .4v and f. 25.
The author thanks Geoffrey Wheeler for his assistance.
Richard Knowles FSA.