Grand master´s shield of Karl von Trier
In Tyrolean Provincial Museum in Innsbruck an oval shield widened in the upper part is preserved. It bears the painting of a Gothic shield with an emblem that Grand masters of the Teutonic Order started using in the second decade of the 14th century. It has a great helmet and the crest features the same blazon. The inscription on the edges reads: + CLIPPEVS . CVM . GALEA. MAGISTRI . (ORD)INIS . FRATRVM . THEVTONICORVM and historians and art historians have identified the shield as that of the Grand master Karl von Trier (1311-1324). It is made of pine wood, covered with leather and painted. Its size is 98, 5 x 57, 5 cm and it is approximately 1,5 cm thick. Originally it was kept in Reifenstein castle that belonged to the Order since 1469/1470, previous fortunes of the shield are unknown. The displayed item is not the original but its true copy that has probably been made on the order of the Grand master, Archduke Eugen von Habsburg (1894-1923) and is currently kept in Bouzov castle. In other cases it was proceeded in a similar way: copies were made and offered to respective institutions instead of originals (e.g. gravestones of provincial Teutonic masters); in the case of the shield however, this procedure was not successful.