The Armour Archive

can anyone point me towards any depictions or information on 16th century quivers for crossbow bolts? to narrow it down a bit, 1500-1530, central europe... though just about anything withen 50 years of those dates might be interesting to see... I've only been to the met in NYC and higgins but don't remember seeing any on display at those places... I've looked through every book I've laid hands on with period artwork and only seen a few things that look like they could be quivers for hunting (they look like big/long squarish belt pouches with a round sort of lid - to protect the bolts from weather and bushes?) in a painting by Pieter Bruegel the elder, the one with hunters returning to town through the snow, but they don't seem to have crossbows...

only other period depiction I've found is in, of all places, the new Osprey landsknecht book... one drawing by paul dolstein of some calvary troops with crossbows and one of them has something that looks like it could be a quiver, but its rather lacking in details... I only think its a quiver because it looks to be the right size and to be made in a shape that would work as a quiver, and I can't figure out what else it would be.

so anyone know of any artwork that shows one? I'd like to make one sometime and have no problem with leatherworking and have the leather, just need to figure out what it should look like. few months ago I got a really sweet 16th century sporting bow from Master Iiolo but I'm tired of carrying bolts around in my hands... and there's only so many that can be tucked into the slashes of my doublet or hat

Hi Dweezle,

As far as I have seen a typical 16th century German or Swiss bolt quiver is shaped like a large pouch. They were covered with bear (beaver?) fur and carved out of wood. The opening and top were sometimes very ornate with carved decoration. They hung at the side of the crossbowman using a long strap. I remember seeing a couple of pictures of them, but can't quite remember where, maybe A&AMK. I will look tonight and see if I can find one or two.

http://gallery.euroweb.hu/art/d/durer/2 ... sebast.jpg

They all seem to be of roughly that design.

http://www.greydragon.org/trips/Oct-D&E ... ver095.jpg
14th century Bavarian

thanks both of you.. I'd seen a few fur covered belt pouches and such in paintings and a friend of mine has a pouch made out of a badger that I always liked; so I was thinking of covering a quiver with a very large old mink or fisher skin that I've had laying around for a while... so I'm very glad to hear that covering a quiver with fur is something that was actually done.. though I think I'll find a beaver skin rather than the mink I was going to use.

hunters in the snow, pieter bruegel:
http://www.mezzo-mondo.com/arts/mm/bruegel/BRP005.html

its hard to see in this version (and all the other online ones I found) of Bruegel's painting 'Hunters in the Snow', but this is the painting with the people that have pouch-like things that I thought could actually be quivers. may need to adjust the pic a bit to see them, or the monitor I'm using might be a bit dark, but I think the two guys closest in the foreground have the things I was talking about at their belts. the other version of this that I saw was in a book: Northern Renaissance Art, by James Snyder; but earlier today my friend I was borrowing it from asked to have her book back.. otherwise I'd have just scanned a good image of those two figures... I remember it looked like they had bows or something packed on their backs, and rope or sting hanging from a belt pouch as well, so I thought that if they had crossbows then maybe they broke them down for ease of transport... though this painting is really a bit later than what I'm interested in.

But anyways, this has turned into a sort of random rambling on about things. questions have pretty much been answered, thanks again to both of you... someday I'm going to post some pics of my landsknecht kit and the german hunting kit that I've been trying to put together

Hi Dweezle,

Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you. I did find a picture of a crossbow quiver in A&AMK on page 151. It is made of wood and covered in boar hide complete with hair. It is much simpler then the examples given by Hugo and is missing it's lid. It still has bolts associated with it too. Hope this helps.

http://www.imagesonline.bl.uk/britishli ... 8172_2.jpg

Royal 14 E. IV f.210
Siege of Brest
Chronique d' Angleterre (Volume III)
Wavrin, Jean de, Seigneur de Forestel
S. Netherlands (Bruges), late 15th century

Sir Gille in one of our Montana chapters researched and recreated a quiver. i don't recall what his sources were (its been a while since he presented his art project) but there is a picture of him wearing it, if you go to the web site and look at photographs, he is the one with the crossbow.

http://www.realmsofavalon.org/

You could chat with him, if you wanted, on the avalon chat board. I don't recall his email though.

Dame Aleska