{{short description|Medieval German family of armourers}}{{Infobox family|name=Helmschmied|other_names=Helmschmid|image=Coloman Helmschmid and Agnes Breu,by Jorg Breu.jpg|image_caption=Kolman Helmschmied and Agnes Breu. Wedding portrait by Jörg Breu the Elder.|origin=Augsburg|country=<div>Holy Roman Empire</div><div>Duchy of Milan</div>|region=|founded=c. 1475|dissolution=c. 1600|members=<div>Lorenz Helmschmied</div><div>Kolman Helmschmied</div><div>Desiderius Kolman Helmschmied</div>}}
The '''Helmschmied''' family of Augsburg were one of late medieval and Renaissance Europe's foremost families of armourers. Their name, often spelled ''Helmschmid'' in historical sources, modern scholarship, and museum collections, translates to ''helmet smith''. The family's most prominent members were Lorenz Helmschmied (''floruit'' 1467-1515), '''Kolman Helmschmied''' (1471–1532) and '''Desiderius Kolman Helmschmied''' (1513–1579).<ref name="Breiding">{{cite web|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/make/hd_make.htm|title=Famous Makers and European Centers of Arms and Armor Production|last=Breiding|first=Dirk H.|date=October 2002|work=Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|accessdate=25 January 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.stadtarchiv.augsburg.de/index.php?id=17312|title = Helmschmied, Plattnerfamilie|date = |accessdate = 2014-11-11|website = Stadtarchiv Augsburg|publisher = Stadtarchiv Augsburg|archive-date = 2014-11-11|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141111201711/http://www.stadtarchiv.augsburg.de/index.php?id=17312|url-status = dead}}</ref>
The Helmschmieds made armour for the high nobility of the Holy Roman Empire, including multiple emperors, for rulers of the Spanish Empire, for the archdukes of Austria and Tyrol, as well as other wealthy clients.<ref name="Breiding" /> They competed for fame and noble patronage with the other two most prominent late 15th century European armour smith families, the Seusenhofers of Innsbruck (Austria) and the Missaglias of Milan.
Many works that the Helmschmieds made for Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and Philip II of Spain are preserved in the Royal Armoury of Madrid, and many of their other works are kept in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
== Gallery == <gallery> File:Sallet of Emperor Maximilian I (1459–1519) MET DP-12880-034.jpg|Sallet helmet made for Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I File:HJRK A 79 - Armour of Maximilian I, c. 1485.jpg|Armour made for Maximillian I File:HJRK B 174 - Racing armour back, c. 1495.jpg|Horse racing armour made for Maximillian I File:Close Helmet for a Boy MET DP22401.jpg|Helmet made for a young boy File:Pair of Tassets of Emperor Charles V of Austria (1500–1558) MET DP341735.jpg|Pair of tassets made for Holy Roman Emperor Charles V File:Burgonet MET 25.135.66 005AA2015.jpg|Burgonet helmet File:Antonio Moro - Willem I van Nassau.jpg|William the Silent (William of Orange) wearing Helmschmied armour File:WMK - Kürass Ferdinand.jpg|Armour made for Archduke Ferdinand I, who would later become Holy Roman Emperor </gallery>
==References== {{commons category|Helmschmied armour}} {{reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{cite book |author1=Ortiz, A. |author2=Carretero, C.| title= ''Resplendence of the Spanish monarchy : Renaissance tapestries and armor from the Patrimonio Nacional'' | location=New York | publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art | year=1991| url= http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15324coll10/id/99361|display-authors=etal}} (see index)
Category:Armourers Category:Families of German ancestry Category:History of Augsburg {{surname}} Category:Surnames of German origin