Riefel armor

A grooved armor from southern Germany, around 1525–1530

The Riefel armor is a special type of armor with a corrugated surface, which was created at the beginning of the 16th century and was produced until the 1530s.

description

Corrugated surface of the breastplate

Grooved armor had a ribbed surface on all parts - with the exception of the leg tubes. Not only was this extremely decorative, but it also increased the protection such armor provided. Due to the corrugated surface with very sharp ridges, an impacting bullet could almost never get the required ideal angle of impact of 90 °. In addition, the corrugation acted as stiffening beads and thus offered increased mechanical resistance against impacts with a lower mass. It was therefore possible to produce armor that was relatively light and at the same time very resistant. Many Riefel armor weighed less than 25 kilograms and were even suitable for the tournament . But the production of Riefel armor was so expensive that it was completely discontinued after a few decades. If these corrugations are made convex instead of concave, one speaks of a pipe armor . Used to speak often on the basis of Emperor Maximilian I of Maximilian armor . Maximilian I was very interested in the art of armorer - he founded an armaments smithy in Innsbruck in 1504 . He is said to have invented the manufacturing process for mass production of the Riefel armor himself. Using a pressing technique, it was possible to produce 30 front and rear parts of the breastplate at once. A special hardening process is also said to have been developed and passed on by Maximilian. Konrad Seusenhoffer, who himself was an experienced armorer, was appointed head of this factory.

literature

• Bruno Thomas: Collected writings on historical weapons technology , Volume 1, Verlag Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanst., 1977, p. 66, ISBN 978-3-201-00984-3
• Erich Egg: Exhibition Maximilian I .: Innsbruck. (On the 450th year of death) , catalog, Verlag Kulturreferat, 1969, pp. 90, 91, 120.
• Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien: Guide through the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien , issue 24, Verlag Kunsthistorisches Museum., 1977, p. 191.

Web links

Commons : Riefelharnisch  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hermann Wiesflecker, Kaiser Maximilian I .: the empire, Austria and Europe at the turn of the modern era, Verlag Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 1986, page 561, ISBN 9783486498912