A late 14th c. (1380-1400) cuisse from Croatia with gothic lettering

[Reventlov]

What an interesting and rare piece! Thank you for sharing it here. From what I can see I do not think there is any reason to doubt its authenticity. However rare, I don't think we need worry that finding it in Croatia is too good to be true. Actually, brass-trimmed armour in the Italian fashion can be seen in Hrvoje's Missal from the early 15th century.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hrvoje%27s_Missal

I know quite a few other examples of brass-trimmed armour from this period, but all of them have intelligible inscriptions or simply decorative designs, rather than this kind of pseudo-inscription. I did notice that on one piece from the Met the stippled background is rendered in a very similar way, by filling with small zig-zags.


https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/35846



Best,

Mark

[Raf]

Its called wriggle work. Standard engraving technique created by rocking the engraver from side to side

[AHorsa]

Does anyone know about the meaning of those letters? Are they epigrams or so?

On mine I read "IO VEM" or so. Not sure about the direction.

Kind regards
Andreas

[Reventlov]

Originally Posted by AHorsa

Does anyone know about the meaning of those letters? Are they epigrams or so?

On mine I read "IO VEM" or so. Not sure about the direction.

Maybe IO VENI? Could mean something like "Look! I am coming."

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/io#Latin
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/veni#Latin

[AHorsa]

Originally Posted by Reventlov

Maybe IO VENI? Could mean something like "Look! I am coming."

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/io#Latin
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/veni#Latin

Thank you! That fits perfect. Looking at the images on a mobile / at wider distance I totally agee with your Interpretation! Are other inscriptipns documented and can be translated? I can't identify the letters ob the single strip that Leonymus posted

[Reventlov]

Originally Posted by AHorsa

Thank you! That fits perfect. Looking at the images on a mobile / at wider distance I totally agee with your Interpretation! Are other inscriptipns documented and can be translated? I can't identify the letters ob the single strip that Leonymus posted

You're welcome.

One common inscription is the bible verse Luke IV:30, Iesus autem transiens per medium illorum ibat ("Jesus passed through their midst and went on his way"). This can be seen on many items, including armour, weapons, and jewelry, because it was believed to be a protective charm. You can see portions of this phrase on two of the pieces Leonymus shared. The inscription on his cuisse does seem to be nonsense though, and purely decorative.

[AHorsa]

Great. Thank you very much!

[LeonymusBosch]

Originally Posted by Reventlov

You're welcome.

One common inscription is the bible verse Luke IV:30, Iesus autem transiens per medium illorum ibat ("Jesus passed through their midst and went on his way"). This can be seen on many items, including armour, weapons, and jewelry, because it was believed to be a protective charm. You can see portions of this phrase on two of the pieces Leonymus shared. The inscription on his cuisse does seem to be nonsense though, and purely decorative.

Can you remember where the single strip from the picture is from? Thanks!

[Edit]

Nvm, found it...

[LeonymusBosch]

Originally Posted by AHorsa

Does anyone know about the meaning of those letters? Are they epigrams or so?

On mine I read "IO VEM" or so. Not sure about the direction.

Kind regards
Andreas

Would you mind if I use this photo in a conference presentation? Perhaps the paper as well, but not sure about that yet.

You found it in Germany, right?

[AHorsa]

Originally Posted by LeonymusBosch

Would you mind if I use this photo in a conference presentation? Perhaps the paper as well, but not sure about that yet.

You found it in Germany, right?

It would be an honour.
Sadly I don´t know for sure where it was found - I got it from an old collector more than 25 years when I was child. It is very possible that it was found in Germany, as he had it with some German stoneware fragments as far as I remember. But he did also travel a lot, so I can´t tell for sure.

[LeonymusBosch]

Originally Posted by Raf

Its called wriggle work. Standard engraving technique created by rocking the engraver from side to side

You're 100% right, thank you!

[LeonymusBosch]

Originally Posted by Reventlov

What an interesting and rare piece! Thank you for sharing it here. From what I can see I do not think there is any reason to doubt its authenticity. However rare, I don't think we need worry that finding it in Croatia is too good to be true. Actually, brass-trimmed armour in the Italian fashion can be seen in Hrvoje's Missal from the early 15th century.

Attachment 226149
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hrvoje%27s_Missal

I know quite a few other examples of brass-trimmed armour from this period, but all of them have intelligible inscriptions or simply decorative designs, rather than this kind of pseudo-inscription. I did notice that on one piece from the Met the stippled background is rendered in a very similar way, by filling with small zig-zags.

Attachment 226151
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/35846

Attachment 226152Attachment 226150

Best,

Mark

Yes! I didn't mean that no such armour here existed, I only meant that it's too good of an archaeological find because there's literally no actual medieval plate armour finds here. (There are some helmets in BiH).

Hrvoje's Missal is the perfect example of Italian armour usage in this area and period, and also perfectly fits because it's decorated in the same style basically.

Thank you for the picture, I was trying to remember which piece of armour I saw the pattern on and have been digging through files to find it haha!

What pains me is that the other part, supposedly the defence for the shoulder is missing. I am more akin to think it was actually a poleyn what they found, but simply didn't recognize it and determined it to be a shoulder piece.