Doppelstücke einer Harnischgarnitur

In early 1539, King (later Emperor) Ferdinand I ordered a number of armours from his court armoury at Innsbruck, intended as gifts for ‘our dear brother and brother-in-law the King of France’ (unserm lieben brueder und schwager dem künig zu Frankreich) – that is, Francis I. Ferdinand also ordered armours for the latter’s two sons, Henry and Charles, as well as for Anne de Montmorency, the Connétable of France. The previous summer, France and Austria had signed a ten-year truce, which is presumably the reason Ferdinand commissioned these luxurious bespoke gifts.

In the spring of 1539, Jörg Seusenhofer, Ferdinand’s court armourer, travelled to the French court to take the measurements of the intended recipients. Executing this imperial commission proved difficult, however, and Seusenhofer was plagued by financial problems, a broken-down polishing mill, and especially the ‘impossibly’ tight schedule. Ferdinand had demanded that Seusenhofer and his assistants produce the armours ‘as quickly as possible’ (so schnell als nur möglich), exhorting them to work ‘day and night’ (Tag und Nacht).

The harnesses for Henry and Charles were completed in April 1540 and reached Ferdinand, who was then in the Low Countries, in May. The remaining armours, wrote Seusenhofer, especially those for the king, would take another six months. However, by the summer of 1540 political tensions between France and Austria were on the rise again, and when the armour for Francis I was finally completed, it remained in Innsbruck.

In 1805, French troops removed the armour from Ambras Castle to Paris on the order of Napoleon, which is why it is today in the Musée de l’Armée. However, these exchange pieces for the melee and the tilt were apparently overlooked and thus remained behind. The French fleur-de-lys on the tasset from the armour for the tilt is a reminder of the originally intended recipient, King Francis I of France, who never wore or even set eyes on this splendid bespoke armour.