Halbharnisch

Mikolaj IV ‘the Black’ Radziwiłł was a powerful sixteenth-century LithuanianPolish statesman. He was one of the closest, most trusted advisors to Sigismund II August, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. Sigismund II made Radziwiłł Grand Hetman and Grand Lithuanian Chancellor, as well as Voivode of Vilnius and thus the de facto ruler of the grand duchy. Emperor Charles V raised him to the rank of Imperial Prince. Radziwiłł played a seminal role in spreading the Reformation in Lithuania and Poland. He was instrumental in publishing the Brest Bible (also known as the Radziwiłł Bible), the first Protestant translation of the Scriptures into Polish, printed in the Lithuanian city of Brest in 1563. However, his son, Mikolaj Krzysztof Radziwiłł, returned to the fold of the Catholic Church.

The half-armour made for Mikolaj IV Radziwiłł was first recorded in the collection of Archduke Ferdinand II in 1593. The inventory compiled of the archduke’s estate in 1596 describes it as ‘a half-armour, the ground etched white, onto which gilt and red-and-white strapwork has been etched, together with his burgonet’ (ain halbe rüstung, der grund weisz geeczt, darauf vergulte auch rott vnd weisse züg geeczt, sambt seiner sturmbhauben). Its surface is lavishly decorated with strapwork that has been fire-gilt, with some bands painted red, white, or black. Remnants of the original red straps and lining survive.

The armour was probably produced by Kunz Lochner, an armourer active in Nuremberg. The polychrome all-over decoration is unusual for German armour but presumably reflects the taste of the patron who ordered it. This half-armour was originally part of a garniture for field and tournament. Some of its pieces, originally housed in the armoury at Nieśwież Palace, the ancestral home of the Radziwiłł family, are now in Paris and New York.