Harquebusier's armour

Styria, 3rd quarter of the 16th century

The ‘light’ cavalry were protected by a ‘Trabharnisch’, or harquebusier’s armour, that consisted of a breast- and backplate and which had no short tassets.

Collection

Defensive arms

The Styrian estates employed various incentives—including tax exemption—to attract the best plate armourers to Graz. One of these was Israel Burckhart from Augsburg, who came to the city in 1571. When the heavily indebted Burckhart later fled Graz, his wife was forced to run the workshop herself in order to repay her husband’s creditors. Since part of the cost for nearly all of the armour she produced was withheld in order to pay back Burckhart‘s debts, Regina Burckhart needed to supply a lot of armour. Much of the harquebusier’s armour preserved here was produced by her.