ca. 1360 - 'Jean de Walcourt, lord of Aa, marshal of Hainaut (+ca. 1360 (before 1362))', Sint-Pieter-en-Sint-Guidokerk, Anderlecht, Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium

Jean de Walcourt, lord of Aa (+ca. 1360) is depicted in typical mid-14th century armour from Brabant/the Low Countries.
He wears a gambeson, a hauberk with three quarter sleeves, an upstanding mail collar (standard), a coat-of-plates, a surcoat worn extremely short in front, cuir bouilli on the limbs, spurs, a sword, and a shield hanging from his shoulder by a guige.
Note how the pieces of cuir bouilli for the upper arms (rerebraces) are strapped on the inside and attached to the shoulders with an arming point. The mail sleeves are also attached to the vambraces with an arming point. Rerebraces and vambraces are of a splinted construction, adorned with floral rivets. The plain cuir bouilli greaves are laced on the inside. The poleyns with the typical 1350s/60s parallel ridges are probably of metal. Note the scalloped edges at the shoulders of the coat-of-plates showing from under the surcoat. The gambeson, worn under the hauberk, can just be seen at the wrists.
I do have to admit that I don’t know what the exact function of the belts around the studded cuisses, just above the poleyns, could be. They simply might be there to keep the poleyn and cuisse at this point in their place. The studded cuisses are only worn on the front of the legs: note the fringes on the edge of the cuisse on the outside of the right leg. These fringes can also be seen on the bottom edges of the poleyns.

Jean de Walcourt’s effigy is very similar to the effigies of
- Gijsbrecht (+1343) and Arnold (+1363) van IJsselstein, IJsselstein, Utrecht, the Netherlands nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graftombe_van_de_heren_van_IJsselstein
- a member of the Drakenborch family of ca. 1360-1370, Utrecht, the Netherlands www.flickr.com/photos/roelipilami/1623517375/in/album-721...

Other contemporary and comparable monuments are
- the incised slab of Egidius van Hamal (+1354), ’s Herenelderen, Limburg, Belgium balat.kikirpa.be/object/59352
- the incised slab of Rigaes (+1349) and Louis (+1365) de Thys, Thys, Liège, Belgium www.flickr.com/photos/roelipilami/22026249761/in/album-72...

During the 1350s, 1360s, cuir bouilli seemed to remain a popular defence for the limbs in the Low Countries, particularly as shown on quite some effigies and incised slabs (e.g. the four examples above) that still survive. The cuir bouilli is often of a splinted construction (e.g. Jean de Walcourt, Egidius van Hamal, the Thys knights), while sometimes the greaves are laced on the inside (e.g. Jean de Walcourt and the Drakenborch knight).
Finely detailed early 17th century drawings by Anthonio de Succa of two effigies that are now lost show exactly the same style of splinted cuir bouilli with floral rivets as seen on Jean de Walcourt’s effigy: the effigies of Louis of Male, count of Flanders (+1384) (in armour from the 1360s) balat.kikirpa.be/photo.php?path=C002460&objnr=2005989... and Baldwin V, count of Flanders (+1067) (in mid-14th century armour).

Another typical feature from the Low Countries, neighbouring German territories and France is the surcoat, erroneously called a cyclas, often worn extremely short in front, much shorter than e.g. in England. The miniatures from the Flemish “Romance of Alexander” of 1338 to 1344 already show this fashion which continued to exist until as late as the early 1370s.
Some examples here on my flickr account:
- the effigy of a knight of ca. 1345 in Picardy, France: www.flickr.com/photos/roelipilami/26638278837/in/album-72...
- the effigy of Gottfried von Jülich (+1335) in the Eifel, Western Germany: www.flickr.com/photos/roelipilami/14391462774/in/album-72...
- a crucifixion with donors, ca. 1340, also in the Eifel: www.flickr.com/photos/roelipilami/13899717416/in/album-72...
- a donor knight of ca. 1350: www.flickr.com/photos/roelipilami/1993750626/in/set-72157...
- soldiers from 1370-72 in West Flanders, Belgium: www.flickr.com/photos/roelipilami/32136683998/in/album-72...

The effigy of Jean de Walcourt, which is one of only three surviving 14th century military effigies* (i.e. ‘sculpture in the round’) in Belgium, is in a remarkably good condition. It shows almost no traces of damage, except for some parts of the lion, the tips of Jean’s feet, some fingers, a crack in his left cheek and the tip of his nose which has been remade.

*the other two being an earlier 14th century effigy, maybe Jean de Gavre (+1333), from Mons, present location unknown to me: balat.kikirpa.be/object/10138710 ; and a badly damaged knight (of the Mouton family?) from Tournai: balat.kikirpa.be/object/10138532

Taken in: Belgium / Wallonia / Veeweide (show map)

Taken on: July 21, 2019

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Sets appears in: • 1350-1399 (3D)

Camera: Sony DSC-HX200V, f/2.8, 1/30 sec, 4.8mm, ISO 500 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Sony DSC-HX200V
Aperture:	f/2.8
Exposure Time:	0.033 sec (1/30)
Focal Length:	4.8mm
ISO:	500
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
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Color Space:	sRGB
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