The Armour Archive

Sean M

Since a gentleman of CAROLINA acquired an arming carpet, boxes of REAL SIXTEENTH CENTURY ARMOUR have appeared at his door. Coincidence?

Sean M

I'm sure most of us are familiar with the one-piece, white linen coif patterns (which should probably be made of two layers). I've seen some SCA use of three piece coifs, which seem to be based on the NASA "Snoopy caps" with a wide band running down the center and two side pieces, but I've never se...

Sean M

Mark, could you clarify? If we know of even one form of gauntlet which was definitely called a manifer before the late 15th century, that would be helpful! Some things which 14th century people used for particular kinds of combat might be good choices for some modern sports. The gauntlet called gaig...

Sean M

I found a different painting with the feature I am thinking of in BNF nouvelle acquisition française 15940 http://manuscriptminiatures.com/5201/16735/

Sean M

Some time a year or so ago I saw a late fourteenth century miniature. There are horsemen on the left, a moat with a bridge, then a walled town on the right. The colour scheme felt "blue" and the whole scene was rather small. The interesting detail was that it showed shoulders in the form of "rondels...

Sean M

I see now, and I believe you are right about mail being the predominant protection for the shoulder, and I'm not sure the upper cannon would bridge the gap, but from the three examples of this type of soaulder, I feel like my interpretation, with the medium/long upper cannon, is a viable one. Examp...

Sean M

Could you clarify on what you are saying? I'm not sure I understand the point you are trying to get across. Apologies Not to worry, I am not feeling well this year. I am not sure that the guys in the painting have long upper cannons which would fill in the gap between the spaulders and the elbow. I...

Sean M

I think that one of those could be a mitten of plate for the left hand, the others just look like gloves of plate to me. For myself I would want multiple sources before I spent time and money on a gauntlet like that. There are gigantic databases of late medieval art online ... and any library will h...

Sean M

Reading my description you will see that the long rearbrace and articulated shoulder are for sca/botn/acl use, while the half rearbrace and teardrop shaped shoulder are my interpretation of a historical example. Example being the rather famous fresco depicting two forces met, I believe it is contem...

Sean M

Long rerebraces and articulated shoulder-pieces were fashionable in France and England in that period, but are hard to find in Italy. As far as we can tell, it was around 1410 that a significant number of Italians decided that single plates or brigandine flaps were not enough to lay over their sleev...

Sean M

Ian Eaves points out that there are four front-opening, covered armours in the Real Armeria de Madrid which have solid breasts covered with extra rivets to look like they are made of smaller plates. Disguising one construction to look like another is very common in European and Japanese armour, and ...

Sean M

If we are lucky, we might get a German or English catalogue with a list of the academic publications with details that the medieval sewing people would be interested in. There have to be a few things in French out there which we don't know about ...

Sean M

Tasha Kelly tells us that the yellow pourpont of Charles VI is part of a travelling exhibit: in Prague/Praha until 25 September , then in Nuremberg/Nürnberg from October 2016 to March 2017 . The future of its home museum in Lyon in France is very much in doubt, so if you are interested in 14th centu...

Sean M

Hurstwic has a write-up and they are always good at saying what their source is http://www.hurstwic.org/library/how_to/viking_tent.pdf

Sean M

The latest progress report, on the start of the saddle-shaped curve where the round shapes of the upper body and lower body intersect, is now online . I suppose its not so different from a 14th century gauntlet, only in different materials. Now I have to think about the upper body, and how much padd...

Sean M

And museum people have all kinds of backgrounds and visions. The art history and marketing types tend to be less interested in "how did they make it?" than the archaeologists and conservationists, and the person in charge of the section with the object you are interested in may be an expert on 19th ...

Sean M

No, not a derail at all. I agree totally. The point of the thread was; What do people, who, have more than the average knowledge of arms and armour, want when they go to a museum gift shop? I'd like to see scale replica's of pieces in the museum, or 1 to 1 copies of helmets. An ipad case with somet...

Sean M

What's missing? Anything I'd like to buy. I'm out on the fringe but there's usually nothing in a museum gift shop that I'm interested in. Collection books tend to be fluff with pretty pictures and overview prose about exhibits. Coffee table advertising rather than serious information. And the educa...

Sean M

How large a piece of bronze would you be looking for, and how much tin would you typically find in medieval bronze. With the new customs rules and increased internet communication it maybe worth investigating direct import of bronze from India or Pakistan. I don't know if any of the medieval armour...

Sean M

A-267 looks like quite a coup. Sixteenth-century Italian armour feels a bit under-represented in museums and collections today. Is what comes up for sale today pretty overwhelmingly South German? Filippo Negroli and his Contemporaries makes it sound like the Italians were still churning out plenty o...

Sean M

Finding wire is fairly easy, finding sheet larger sheets gets expensive and take a bit more work. A lot of hard-working people have been searching for a decade, and none of us can find copper-tin bronze sheet around 1 mm thick in widths over a foot :( Jeff Hildebrandt makes his Greek helmets from c...

Sean M

Perhaps I should reword my original question to avoid further confusion. 1. From the mid 15th century until the end of the 16th century, covered armours, which used a multiple plate construction (such as brigandines, jacks of plates etc.), seem to have favoured a large number of small plates, rathe...

Sean M

Having been in quite a few museum gift stores, I can tell you that "generic" gift items are usually fine for the masses. People who actually have an inclination to purchase something worthwhile typically hover around the book shelves, where there is seldom a lack of good material. There is also usu...

Sean M

I have seen one 16th century brigandine which opens up the sides like a Tatami Dô ... it is in the book on the brigandine symposium from Schloss Tirol. I think that the front half of another from the 15th century survives in Milan. It has both plates and mail inside, which seems pretty common from ...

Sean M

That was a good MyArmoury thread. European Armour in the Tower of London (Dufty) has a picture of the breast and back of the 3/4 armour from the inside. That helps clear things up a lot. Plate XXXVII. Sasuke built one. Tracy was trying to get me to make one for the kid one year, but I wimped out. I ...

Sean M

In Schloss Tratzberg they have an anime armour (aka. anima, aka. articulated cuirass) with rerebraces built anime-style paired with long gauntlets. The rerebraces are “spaulders” of lames rather than “pauldrons” with extensions to cover the front and back of the armpit. Is that a common combination?...

Sean M

Your definition of corrazina seems to be based on the Pistoia Altarpiece, Altichiero's frescos, and Turone di Maxio's crucifixion in Verona. Those were painted when it was fashionable to cover curiasses and to make the back in many pieces. By the middle of the 15th century, when white cuirasses with...

Sean M

Hi Augusto. I know that what I'm referring to as a "corrazina" is very similar to a coat of plates with a large globose breastplate. The difference being a split down the front which is buckled closed. I thought that this style of armour was commonly called a corrazina nowadays. Perhaps I'm mistake...

Sean M

The main point of my first question, was to ask why armours constructed of fewer larger plates fell out of use, while similar armours made of many smaller plates continued in use? Are you sure they did? I have seen plenty of silk-covered helmets from the 16th century, and some silk-covered body arm...

Sean M

Studying the forms and role of covered armour over a period more than 250 years long would be a tall order, and if you did it you might find some unexpected things. Hey guys. I have a couple of questions about corrazinas and brigandines that I'm hoping you can help with. Both corrazina and brigandin...

Sean M

Back in 2014 there were animations which let you look at the Hussar armours in the Landeszeughaus in Graz from all sides, but they took them down and replaced them with a smaller selection of simple photos. The URL was http://www.museum-joanneum.at/de/landeszeughaus/dauerausstellung-4/einblicke but...

Sean M

Not long after an American gentleman acquired the use of an arming carpet, he was dressed in a Jeff Wasson harness. Coincidence?

Sean M

Go Sean. Looking forward to seeing this. Thanks Dan. New photos are here . I am putting together and quilting the butt piece lower back section while I decide whether to slightly reduce the padding in the upper body from its current four layers. http://cottesimple.com/articles/observations-pourpoin...

Sean M

Back in 2014 there were animations which let you look at the Hussar armours in the Landeszeughaus in Graz from all sides, but they took them down and replaced them with a smaller selection of simple photos. The URL was http://www.museum-joanneum.at/de/landeszeughaus/dauerausstellung-4/einblicke but ...

Sean M

While cotton batting is understandable enough, why not make it all linen when you had that much linen around? Fighting someplace cold? Well, I could have gone for many layers of linen or linen-cotton instead of just the three. But I feel more confident that I understand how stuffed versions were ma...

Re: PSA: Do you have your arming carpet?

Re: Cloth Coif Construction

Re: Early 15th century mitten gauntlets

Re: Trying to Find a Miniature with Rondel Shoulders with Na

Trying to Find a Miniature with Rondel Shoulders with Nails

Re: Insight or advice on some drawings

Re: Insight or advice on some drawings

Re: Early 15th century mitten gauntlets

Re: Insight or advice on some drawings

Re: Insight or advice on some drawings

Re: Corrazinas and Brigandines

Re: Charles de Blois garment on the road in Europe this summ

Charles de Blois garment on the road in Europe this summer

Re: Hand stitching canvas tents?

Re: A linen armouring project

Re: Museum Gift stores- What's missing?

Re: Museum Gift stores- What's missing?

Re: Museum Gift stores- What's missing?

Re: Recommended bronze thickness, for Greek armour.

Re: Study Session 2016

Re: Recommended bronze thickness, for Greek armour.

Re: Corrazinas and Brigandines

Re: Museum Gift stores- What's missing?

Re: Corrazinas and Brigandines

Re: Long Spaulders and Anime Armour

Long Spaulders and Anime Armour

Re: Corrazinas and Brigandines

Re: Corrazinas and Brigandines

Re: Corrazinas and Brigandines

Re: Corrazinas and Brigandines

Re: Polish Winged Hussar build (advice and suggestions welco

Re: PSA: Do you have your arming carpet?

Re: A linen armouring project

Re: Polish Winged Hussar build (advice and suggestions welco

Re: A linen armouring project