Armour of Henry VIII for the field and tilt

Armour of Henry VIII, for the field and tilt: steel, etched in relief (originally richly gilded) with bands of strapwork, stylized leaves, acanthus quatrefoils, shaped compartments, scrolling acanthus leaves, Turkish knots, foliate figures of eight and Vitruvian scrolls. As a young man, Henry VIII (1491-1547) was outstandingly athletic and excelled in the arts of the tournament. His commanding presence was due in part to his great height (1.9 metres, or 6 feet 2 inches), which set him apart from most of his contemporaries. After a jousting accident in 1536 he grew corpulent, but four years later at the age of 49, the King was reported to have found a new vigour, rising early and spending long hours each day in the saddle. This armour, which records his impressive girth at the time, was probably made for the jousts in celebration of the King's marriage to Anne of Cleves in January 1539/40. It was fashioned by the Master Workman Erasmus Kyrkenar, in the workshop founded by Henry at Greenwich in 1517.