147 
BAYARD’S ARMOUR (SO CALLED), 
COMPLETE EXCEPT TUILLES AND FINGER-PLATES 
OF GAUNTLETS. ' 
BY 
CAPTAIN C. ORDE BROWNE, tare R.A. 
Aut that can be said of this armour with certainty is, that it is a 
beautiful suit of the beginning of the 16th century, that it has been 
handed down as that of the Chevalier Bayard, and that it resembles 
the armour in which he is generally depicted in a remarkable way. 
The facts bearing on the claim are noticed hereafter, but supposing 
that we adopt the idea that this is really Bayard’s armour, a few words 
may be desirable as to his character and the deeds he performed. 
Pierre du Terrail, known as “the Chevalier Bayard, sans peur et 
sans reproche,” is considered the model of Christian knighthood. 
He was not a General, indeed he refused any large command, but he 
habitually executed daring operations by which sometimes battles were 
won. ‘The victories of Fornova, Agnadello and Marignano were at- 
tributed in a great measure to him, but his most notorious feat, perhaps, 
was his defence of a bridge over the Garigliano single handed on horse- 
back against 200 Spanish knights. He hustled two into the water and 
held the narrow bridge for a short time until the French arrived and 
drove back the Spaniards, when Bayard pursued them until he was 
temporarily taken prisoner, a frequent occurrence with him. He once 
nearly captured the Pope in a dashing expedition which he undertook 
with this object. Huis special characteristic, however, was an unselfish 
chivalry which appeared to be almost infectious in the way in which it 
spread to others. He refused money from prisoners and was himself 
released without ransom, first in Italy by Ludovic the Moor, and after- 
wards at the battle of the Spurs by Henry VIII. He died with his back 
against a tree after defending the passage of the Sesia, refusing to be 
carried off the field when mortally wounded. 
The following information has been obtained on this suit of armour. 
Sir Samuel Meyrick in his “Antient Arms and Armour,” Vol. IDE. 
p. 242 says, “A suit of armour now in the Rotunda at Woolwich and 
brought from the Chateau of St. Germaine in France, certainly of this 
period, is attributed to the Chevalier Bayard. If it be really that which 
he wore, he does not appear by any means to have been a tall man.” 
In Vol. III., p. 186 he says that in the Rotunda “is a collection taken 
from the French, being part of that formerly at the Chateau of St. 
Germaine, in which is the armour of the Chevalier Bayard, a metoniére, 
a beautifully engraved vamplate, etc.” Meyrick does not give his 
authority. If he is correct this suit was brought from France by the 
Army of Occupation with the French arms and armour referred to, both 
in the Rotunda records, and by Meyrick; if so, Sir 8. Meyrick.probably 
obtained his information either from the Duke of Wellington, under 
whom he was working at the Tower, or from officers serving under him. 
Acting upon this supposition, enquiries were made in 1888, both 
1In the Rotunda Museum, Woolwich. 
4, VOL. XXIII, 
