Breaker disc
A break disk , also known as a break shield , is a slightly conical metal disk in front of the handle of a late medieval or early modern tournament lance that serves as hand protection .
The breaking disk consisted of rounded iron or steel plates that were pushed onto the shaft of the tournament lance to protect the wearer's gloved right hand. The first breaker disks appeared around 1300. They were initially made as flat disks, but took on a funnel-like shape as early as 1330. They remained almost unchanged until the 16th century. A much enlarged version can be seen with the breaking discs for the tournament. These were wide and protected the arm up to the elbow and the right side of the chest almost to the neck. Some specimens have been artistically decorated with engravings or etchings .
German breaking disk from the 16th century ( Metropolitan Museum of Art )
German breaking disk from the 16th century (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Italian breaking discs, ca.1570 (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Web links
- Breaking disc in the Bavarian Army Museum , Ingolstadt
literature
- Wendelin Boeheim, Handbook of Arms , Nachdr. D. Ed. Leipzig 1890, Fourier Verlag, Wiesbaden 1985, page 325, ISBN 978-3-201-00257-8
- Gerhard Seifert, technical terms of edged weapons: German abc of European bare weapons; (Cut, thrust, hit and hand weapons) , Verlag Seifert, 1981.