History of the armour of Sigismund Augustus

The history of the armour of Sigismund Augustus (1520-1572), King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, is full of turmoil. For many years it was regarded as the armour of Louis II Jagiellon, who as II. Lajos reigned in Hungary and was also king of Bohemia. He was the son of Ladislaus II Jagiellonian. He died at the Battle of Mohacz in 1526, so six years after the birth of Sigismund Augustus. How, then, could he have been the owner of this armour, why is he depicted in it and how did it find its way to Hungary and later to Poland?

According to current research, the youthful armour of Sigismund Augustus was commissioned in 1533 by Emperor Ferdinand I of Habsburg for the then thirteen-year-old Sigismund Augustus on the occasion of his betrothal to Elisabeth of Habsburg. The royal armourer Jörg Seusenhofer in Innsbruck was commissioned to make the armour. Although the armour was ready as early as June 1533, it still lacked gilding at the time. However, it was completed shortly thereafter. Its exact fate is not known, but it is known that it ended up in the Habsburg treasury and then in the Stallburg in Vienna, a former palace where part of the Habsburg collection was kept. It later found its way to the Imperial Armoury (Kaiserliches Zeughaus). It was then exhibited in the King Ludwig Hall. From there, it was transferred to the Hofwaffenmuseum, or Imperial Armoury Museum, and then to the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

It came to Hungary twice: for an exhibition held in May 1876 at the Károlyi Palace in Pest to help victims of the Danube floods, and on the occasion of the Millennium Exhibition in 1896 in Budapest. As a result of the Venice Convention and the Saint-Germain Peace Treaty, the armour was handed over to Hungary by an arbitration decision in 1933. It was stored in the National Museum in Budapest as the armour of Louis II Jagiellon.

Transfer and confusion of identities

The armour had long been misidentified as belonging to King Louis II Jagiellon, who died at the Battle of Mohacz in 1526. Earlier, between 1514 and 1516, the Emperor had commissioned several children's armours, one of which was to be given to Louis II. Both were supposed to be in the Habsburg collection and there, probably around 1760, they were mistaken during the inventory and preparation for the exhibition. This error was only noticed by the German researcher Bruno Thomas, who showed in 1939 that the armour belonged to Sigismund Augustus. Interestingly, the monogram SE appears on the armour, which clearly indicates the owner of the armour. However, until the mid-1990s, it was exhibited in Hungary as Ludwig's armour.

Armour in the Polish collection

This armour was one of the most valuable Polish artefacts found in Hungary. It was transferred to Poland in February 2021 under a decision of the Hungarian government taken in December 2020 on the basis of an agreement between the two countries signed in 1992 on cultural and scientific cooperation. It was transported to Krakow and is now part of the collection of the Wawel Royal Castle.

Portraits of Louis II the Jagiellonian

Depictions of Ludwig II Jagiellon, who reigned in Bohemia and Hungary, have been preserved in Hungary. He was the son of Ladislaus II Jagiellon and was adopted in 1515 by Emperor Maximilian I of Habsburg. Louis II died at the Battle of Mohács in 1526. He was first depicted wearing 'Polish' armour in a portrait by István Dorffmaister (1729-1797). At the time, the commissioner requested that he be depicted according to the Viennese original. We can assume that this is not some unknown painting of Ludwig, but precisely the armour. Later, Dorffmaister depicted Ludwig in the same armour in the painting 'Battle of Mohács' from 1795-1796, and it was also depicted on the sculpture on the Budapest Parliament building from 1895. Finally, she was to be placed on a monument in Mohács, which was never created. Only a plaster cast of the statue by Holló Barnabás (1866-1917) is known. However, a monument according to a completely different design was realised in 2016. The armour was depicted on it more symbolically than faithfully. Another interesting realisation is the bas-relief by Kiss György (1852-1919), which is located on the monument to Louis II in Mohács, which according to tradition stands on the site of his death. The bas-relief was created on the occasion of the monument's restoration in 1899. Its painterly prototype is a painting by József Borsos intended for the Mohács Town Hall.

The armour has not been Polish since it was donated to a Polish collection, but its depictions, although created without any intentional reference to Polish heritage, are connected with it through the complex history of the object.

The best-known depictions of the armour of Sigismund Augustus in Hungarian art

István Dorffmaister, Portrait of Louis II Jagiellonian

Year of creation: 1787

Technique: oil on canvas

Location: Museum of Kanizsa Dorottya, Moháč

Additional information: this painting also exists in a copy by József Borsos from 1838, which is in the Magyar Nemzeti Galéria. The portrait was also copied on a lithograph by Gusztáv Handelmayer.

István Dorffmaister, Death of Louis II Jagiellon at Mohács

Year of creation: 1795-1796

Technique: oil on canvas

Location: Museum of Kanizsa Dorottya, Mohacz

Additional information: the painting depicts the dramatic scene of the death of King Louis II Jagiellon at the Battle of Mohacz in 1526.

Kiss György, II Lajos

Year of creation: late 19th century

Technique: bronze relief

Location: Moháč

József Borsos, Falling from a Horse

Year of creation: 1837

Technique: oil on canvas

Location: Mohács Town Hall

Ferenc Vasadi, Monument to Louis II

Year of creation: circa 1895

Location: Façade of the Parliament on the Danube, Budapest

Holló Barnabás, Model of the statue of Louis II

Year of construction: before 1898

Technique: plaster cast

Location: Magyar Nemzeti Galéria

Additional information: Plaster cast of the model of the original statue of Louis II to be erected in Mohács