What does this Composite Stechzeug tell us about the medieval globe?
Jousting was not just a European sport. For instance, the manuscript above shows a joust in a manuscript made in Iran c. 1525-30, around the same time as the Composite Stechzeug was made. However, this set of German jousting armor witnesses Europe's transformation in the 1400s and 1500s. Tournaments had been part of medieval European culture for centuries, and this armor is the culmination of hundreds of years of technological development focused on safety in military contexts, with its flexible joints, adjustable sightline, and different strengths of metal carefully modified throughout the suit. Over the course of the previous five hundred years, Europeans had converted armed cavalry charges into tournament spectacles in which nobles and knights could participate at a much lower risk of injury or death than in the past. The jousting armor also shows the wealth and power of the Holy Roman Empire in Renaissance Europe.
