Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

fernando · 27th August 2013, 06:16 PM

As Jim well reminds the fanciful term “Armada chest” was made up “the other day”. Most probably chests used aboard were of the same characteristics of those used in land, even comprehending the various styles created now and then, here and there. Apparently those aboard were often chained to the officers cabin decks, which is easy to understand. I gather that very often these chests contained precious documents, like valuable and unique navigation charts and devices, besides weapons and hard currency … not excluding jewels and precious metals … this not to ignore the romantic pirate approach

. Most probably also the gold brought from Africa during discoveries period, was carried in this fashion of more or less intrincate lock chests; as there is solid evidence of the Burras used to carry the gold from Brazil in the XVIII century

In the XIII century, a method of filing (keeping) jewels and other valuable objects was implemented in Portugal (for one); these were enclosed in a chest with four locks, each one handed to a high rank official of the kingdom.
This habit originated the term “Fechado a sete chaves” ( locked with seven keys ), still used nowadays. Number seven was incorporated in the expression due to its mystic value, something present in Babilonic and Egiption religions. An example of this numer symbology is the quantity of seals with which Roman wills were closed in the middle ages.
The present term used for chest over here is cofre (coffer) of Latin ecclesiastic origin, but a term more directed to this type of armoured chests was Burra (feminine for donkey).

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27th August 2013, 06:16 PM	#14
fernando Lead Moderator European Armoury Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Portugal Posts: 9,642	Chest wandering As Jim well reminds the fanciful term “Armada chest” was made up “the other day”. Most probably chests used aboard were of the same characteristics of those used in land, even comprehending the various styles created now and then, here and there. Apparently those aboard were often chained to the officers cabin decks, which is easy to understand. I gather that very often these chests contained precious documents, like valuable and unique navigation charts and devices, besides weapons and hard currency … not excluding jewels and precious metals … this not to ignore the romantic pirate approach . Most probably also the gold brought from Africa during discoveries period, was carried in this fashion of more or less intrincate lock chests; as there is solid evidence of the Burras used to carry the gold from Brazil in the XVIII century In the XIII century, a method of filing (keeping) jewels and other valuable objects was implemented in Portugal (for one); these were enclosed in a chest with four locks, each one handed to a high rank official of the kingdom. This habit originated the term “Fechado a sete chaves” ( locked with seven keys ), still used nowadays. Number seven was incorporated in the expression due to its mystic value, something present in Babilonic and Egiption religions. An example of this numer symbology is the quantity of seals with which Roman wills were closed in the middle ages. The present term used for chest over here is cofre (coffer) of Latin ecclesiastic origin, but a term more directed to this type of armoured chests was Burra (feminine for donkey). . Last edited by fernando; 27th August 2013 at 06:36 PM.