Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 14. (Budapest, 1994)

TOMPOS Lilla: Legenda és valóság; Esterházy László „páncélinge"

or enemy during the battle. The mounted warrior wore his shield on his left arm, the colours and shape of the shield referred to his family. The same symbol repeated itself on the decoration of the helmet, on the banners, jupon and on his horse's cloth. On stamps and on representations of the knighthood we often see mounted warriors of the like. In one of the illustrations of the psalter written around 1250 at Westminster Abbey, we can see a kneeling knight in prayer. Above his coat of mail made of chain-loops, he wears a sleeveless, light and loose jupon, of a material identical with his banners: red decorated with gold crosses.

8 The thirteenth-century song entitled Des trois chevaliers et del chainse, also refers to such a 'coat of mail', i. e. jupon. According to a legend, a noblewoman sent her shirt to three of his waiting knights. She ordered that the bravest of them should wear the shirt, but without an armour underneath, on a tournament organized by her husband. The one who wore it, fought for his deserved reward.

9 The Manesse codex, painted around 1330, gives a vivid description of knightly life (111. 2). In the picture we see a group of young ladies cheering the contestants of a tournament. One of them is just falling off his rampant horse, his head bleeding. We cannot see his shield in his left; his jupon and the horse's cloth is red and green chequered. The winner-although his pike is broken-jumps attackingly toward his enemy. His shield is black, in it a golden, rampant lion with a silver crown is to be seen. This is how we can identify the knight as Walter von Klingen. This coat-of-arms repeats itself on his ermine-lined jupon and on the horsecloth.

10 From among art objects maybe the best known example is the fresco painted by Simone Martini for the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena (1328). Against a dark background, Guidoriccio da Fogliano, the victorious mercenary leader is riding his horse. His cap, jupon and the horse's cloth is decorated with a row of yellow-black rhombuses - fusils in bend." From the second half of the century, the tight fitting jupon worn over the armour became popular in Europe, an excellent example of which is in Canterbury Cathedral. On his sepulchral monument, Edward Plantagenet, the Black Count (1376) wears a clothing with his family's and England's coatof-arms. The clothing itself is also kept in the cathedral. It is lined with cottonwool, quilted, and his coloured velvet is embroidered with a golden yarn. It is divided into four fields, in the first and fourth there are golden lilies, while in the second and third three pacing lions. After the funeral the jupon was hung above the monument, together with the arms symbolizing the heroic deeds of the deceased.

12 According to the miniatures of the Illuminated Chronicle such tight fitting clothes were popular in Hungary too.

13 The illustrator of the chronicle recalls the history of the Hungarians and also presents the material culture and clothing of the age of king Louis I, the Great (1342-1382).

14 The heads of the clans, kings, even king Saint Stephen are all dressed, according to fourteenth-century fashion, in jupons (111. 3). On top of this came the sleeveless, tight cloak. On the front of this clothing the coat-of-arms and figures of the shield are frequently repeated. On the shield of king Saint Stephen, the silver patriarchal cross on a trimount symbolizes royal power, the jupon worn over his armour is decorated by the family coat-of-arms of the Árpád dynasty.

15 During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries a favourite theme of the frescoes in the borderlands was the fight of king Saint Ladislas (1077-1095) with the Cuman knight.

16 The knight-king usually wears an armour, on top of which there is a tight and short, sleeveless cloak, similar to the one in the Illuminated Chronicle. In the fresco of the Gelence church it is probably sewn from small pieces of leather, in the Maksa picture it is of a brownish colour and has short sleeves with a decorated edge, the Karaszkó one is sleeveless again. The protagonist in the fresco at Kakaslomnic, wears a light and loose jupon