A Snail and Soldier (Villard?)
Bib. Nat. ms. fr. 19093, fol. 3
This particular image is included to demonstrate how diverse Villard's sketches can be, but also to comment on one area of his sketches that have hiterto not received much attention, namely, his illustrations of soldiers. In a number of other places in the manuscript Villard has drawn soldiers, one armed with a sword mounting a horse (Pl. XLVI), two unarmored, mounted men with spears and shields (Pl. XVI -- they may be hunters, compare Pl. LII, where a
similar man attacks a bear), and an archer and spearman in defensive postures (Pl. L).
Here we see a study of an infantryman, armed with spear and shield. He also carries a club-like implement on his left
arm, although it does not look terribly militaristic - more like an umbrella. [See accompanying commentary] His mail armor and (presumably) iron kettlehat identify him as a "middle-class" soldier, that is, not wealthy enough to own any plate armor, but wealthy enough to have an almost complete suit of mail. Note, too, the strap on leg armor and the well-drawn coif fastened about his chin.
Most interesting, though, is the additon of a note in 15th-century script that says, "De Honnecourt, he who went to Hungary." It is possible, therefore, that this is a self-portrait and Villard fought in one of the 13th-century Hungarian wars, as some authors have so assumed. The late date of the script argues against this, and if it were the case, it is unlikely that there would be such a concentration on cathedrals (and religious images in general) and a singular lack of castles in the rest of the manuscript. For now, it seems, the enigmatic de Honnecourt who went to Hungary must remain a mystery.
The sketch of the snail is simple and only interesting in that this particular species seems to have had four antennae.
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A Note Concerning the Soldier's Weapon
Russell Miners writes with a tentative identification of the umbrella-like weapon carried by the soldier. In a plate from the Maciejowski Bible (c.1240) a soldier dressed in an orange jupon carries a sword with a scalloped-tip blade that has the same sort of umbrella-like handle. The Maciejowski soldier's sword has a pair of notches, but one similar notch at the end of the blade is clear in Villard's soldier's weapons. His weapon is rotated so that the plane of the blade is closer to the line of sight - as can be seen by the larger overlap of the two parts of the U-shaped handle - which necessarily would minimize the apparent scalloping. A similar scalloped blade is seen sticking up in the background of the miniature along with a mace, sword, and axe.
Note, too, that the soldier at the top-center in the Maciejowski Bible image wears an angular kettle hat similar to that of Villard's soldier.
Another image from the Bible shows an executioner using a similarly-bladed weapon, but withouth the U-shaped handle. Russell also mentions that "A few people... have referred to the "scalloped" choppers (usually without umbrella handles) as godendags - although I had thought that name referred to a Flemish thing consisting of a heavy wooden post topped with a bayonet-like spike." He also suggests that the weapons depicted here and in the upper background of the first scene (as well as in the numerous other battle miniatures in this bible) are not meant to be "fanciful pole weapons" but are likely a sort of artistic shorthand since, "in other pictures the scalloped blades appear at the same height as sword blade tips as well as the spears and axes. In one, a gap in the foregroungfigures reveals the base of the blade and the ferrule of the hilt of another background falchion."
The weapon Villard has drawn would therefore appear to be a form of falchion in use in mid-13th century Paris. To the best of my knowledge, however, all surviving examples of falchions and executioner swords from the middle ages do not have notches at the tip of their back edge, and although some are square ended (like Villard's soldier's), none have the pronounced fishtail at their tips that the Maciejowski weapons sport. It does appear, however, that the form was known at least in the society of illustrators at the time, with whom Villard was apparently familiar, and if we believe the claim made elsewhere in the portfolio, it was in fact a weapon "drawn from life."
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