The Armour Archive

chef de chambre

Style and construction, size of plates and nail pattern indicate a date closer to 1500 than 1400. The earliest I'd date it is about 1480. There is a very stubborn and strong opinion to date these far earlier than is likely. The late 14th century fresco's posted show the same general idea, but the pl...

chef de chambre

Evidence for 100 years prior, I don't know about that late, though.

chef de chambre

Very interesting. I wonder how effective it may have been? The image of the reconstruction makes it look very similar to what developed into typical lamellar. I have to wonder if that is accurate, or knowledge of later armour informing the illustrator.

chef de chambre

Vaughn, in his volume covering John the Fearless, has a battle plan, or plan of march, which was recorded for an Anglo-Burgundian expeditionary force, in 1418. What you are asking for was secret when it occurred, and so beyond ephemeral. The Agincourt plan which was re-discovered some years back is ...

chef de chambre

I don't normally advertise things, or sell them, but we have a small selection of prints available, from the renowned Heraldic Artist Andrew Stewart Jamieson, who did a 'Grand Armorial' of Robert the Bruce for us, for which we have the merchandising rights. http://fineartamerica.com/featured/robert-...

chef de chambre

Depends in large part on the rig of the vessel. An under-crewed brig might be an over-crewed schooner, transferring crew from one vessel to another. Ship owners have always strived to increase profit, and decrease expenditure. In the case of a caravel, or a cog, we are talking about a vessel typical...

chef de chambre

I am hunting, Randall, I believe I saw it in a Boydell catalog. None of these are what I am thinking of, but are on the theme. http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?index=books&linkCode=qs&keywords=9780231123563 http://www.amazon.com/Shipping-Trade-Crusade-Medieval-Mediterranean/dp/1409437531/ref=sr_1_32?...

chef de chambre

I have to get that horribly expensive book on mercantile activities in the Med, and see what is out there for information on Europe in general. The primary reasons for switches to the various later ship types were the efficiency and ratio of crew to tonnes of cargo. In the case of the Carrack and Ga...

chef de chambre

So, are those Kings ships? Because a caravel or a cog could be sailed by far fewer men.

chef de chambre

Sailing crews for a caravel, or a cog could be quite small, a half dozen. Crew sizes increased with larger and more complex sail rigs.

chef de chambre

While very interesting, those are Kings ships arrested for service in expeditions - not ships issued with letters of marque to recover their lost goods ("Pirates"), which would be relying on their own resources, not the crowns armouries.

chef de chambre

You have to keep in mind the likely size of the crew, Randall. Depending on ship type, that may be more arms than working crew.

chef de chambre

But that could mean cut away at the back of the knee, which there are more visual examples of.

chef de chambre

I have no idea with what is going on with the leggings. I have seen no parallel in German art, regarding the legs (hose separated at the knee). The once extant mail chausse example is cut away in the back - not the front, and this is seen in some art (a de Joinville Manuscript, French, 1480's)

chef de chambre

I'm not so sure, chef, as he appears to be one of the soldiers gambling over Christ's robe. Does the right knee look like it's articulated to you? The imagery in the painting is non-traditional. From the colour of his clothing, he would be a 'Jew', and so not a Roman, but then Longinus (presumably)...

chef de chambre

No on both counts, I believe he was mounted, and by the account of Shrewsbury, it penetrated his visor.

chef de chambre

Looking at it in the context of traditional crucifixion scenes, he is likely the carpenter (they usually assign a carpenter to the task in such paintings) who drove the spikes/nails. They usually make the fellow in German gothic art, to be a brute, and he often is wearing trade-specific items of clo...

chef de chambre

Interesting how the earlier images are as I describe - no real difference between land or sea basic clothing in the 13th & 14th centuries, but by the mid 15th century, specific items of clothing seem to develop - long 'slops', possibly over hosen (if they are like later 'slops'), and those funky str...

chef de chambre

Note - a sailor is not a soldier in the 14th century, if you see Men at Arms on ships in a Northern European context, overwhelmingly these are normal soldiers who normally fight on land, trying to fight at sea.

chef de chambre

In the 14th century, the vast majority of ships in England used in military actions were merchant ships which were 'arrested'. In essence, they were drafted into military use - usually from the Cinque ports. Royal ships were only a handful, and often kept in poor repair. They primarily were troop tr...

chef de chambre

One will note that the surrender scenes generally depict the keys to the gates or gatehouses, and towers of a town, not a domestic household arrangement. The 'key sticks' are likely a temporary gathering of such keys.

chef de chambre

These are not vambraces, they are gauntlets that extend to the elbow, and replace the need for a vambrace. Looking at the armour, I would describe the whole arm defence as a light form of demi-cannons of the vambrace, or a form of 'splints' (Spleynts, as they are called in English documents of the e...

chef de chambre

Vambraces. I have not heard Western European armour referred to in Eastern armour terms interchangeably outside of SCAdian circles.

chef de chambre

Torse and orle are not synonyms. One will note the torse is on a great helm, which nobody disputes.

chef de chambre

The brass trim kills it. I don't know of any extant greathelm, complete or fragmentary with an indication it ever had a brass cross. Nice shape though, although how accurate the image it is based on, given the problems of perspective in art at the time that existed, is anyone's guess.

chef de chambre

The last looks like a chaperone with a padded roll.

chef de chambre

I have never seen an example on a bascinet and aventail. Can anybody provide an image? I have always seen them on Great Bascinets.

chef de chambre

A torse is a heraldic achievement, usually worn on a great helm, and seen all across Western Europe. An Orle is a padded roll, that seems to have been of rich fabric and sometimes bearing semi-precious stones - they are only seen on depictions of Great Bascinets, and they seem to have been a first q...

chef de chambre

To the requirements of the indenture, regardless of station, if not by themselves, than by the person signing the contract.

chef de chambre

OK, lacquered iron then. I still think it more likely Korean or Chinese than Japanese.

chef de chambre

I use the term 'lord' loosely (or more correctly, in the context of social history). A knight is 'lord' to his squire. If you don't have the equipment to fill the role, you aren't useful in it - the role would be filled by someone with the appropriate equipment. Contracts for retinues specify equipm...

chef de chambre

More like you would have BEEN POVIDED with the items you could not afford yourself, to fill the role. There is plenty of documentary evidence for lords providing their lance or retinue with equipment - it is the very reason they kept armouries. The Castle of Churburg is a extant example, mostly inta...

chef de chambre

Keep in mind block printing is well in advance of movable type, and block books exist from the turn of the 15th century. You are discussing ephemera, that was once commonplace, but rarely survives beyond a year or two in use. setting a firm date for ephemera, based on nothing more than an infinitesi...

chef de chambre

Something about the Earl of Sandwich being such a sucker for cards that he couldn't be bothered to sit down to a proper meal, hence the 'sandwich' was born. Is that just urban legend? I believe it is *sort of* accurate, dating to 1762. http://www.wyzant.com/resources/lessons/english/etymology/words...

chef de chambre

You could always write to the order directly (they are online), and ask. They maintain museums, records, etc.

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