The Armour Archive

Sean M

Most people interested in 16th and 17th century clothing know of Diego de Freyle's Geometria y traça para el oficio de los sastres thanks to the low-resolution scans at http://www.renaissancetailor.com/ I don't think it has ever been reprinted and translated like Alcega's handbook. Caroline Johnson ...

Sean M

Mac wrote:Yesterday, I conducted a shady arms deal in a parking lot.

Ooh, mine usually involve cryptically labelled money transfers to eastern Europe!

Are those your 'hourglass mittens for sport' from the old days? I think you have talked about those in other threads.

Sean M

https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Maker-Vol-1580-1640-centuries/dp/1511881054/ This is a follow-up volume which lets people who have read volume 1 and learned the pattern-making and fabric manipulation techniques in it make other garments from late 16th-early 17th century tailor's books. I think that th...

Sean M

A few years ago Tasha Kelly found the rules of the pourpontiers of Paris from 1323 and 1382 on Google Books. They are now available in a better scan on Gallica http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5541512j/f229.image That volume has other trades like the fripperers and tailors. Le Rozier de Guerre ...

Sean M

Good point! Those ancient garments which were woven to shape not cut from a bolt are a real challenge ... if you want a good replica of an oblong cloak or sleeved tunic, you probably have to weave it yourself.

Sean M

http://eaareports.org.uk/publication/report58/ Norwich Households is one of those volumes of miscellaneous small finds with line drawings and short essays on different types, like knives or aigulettes or dice and game pieces, similar to the volumes on York or London. AFAIK there is no armour content...

Sean M

I have seen a late 15th century painting where a traveller (Joseph? St. Christopher?) wears a cloak lined with narrow cloth. Ah, here it is: https://digital.belvedere.at/objects/3610/anbetung-der-hl-drei-konige The good things about the later Great Wardrobe accounts is that they have clothes for eve...

Sean M

Hi Sean, widths of cloth are one of those topics where it seems that the information which 'document people' have has not spread to the 'sewing people.' It seems that 54" (six quarters) and 63" (seven quarters) were common widths for broadcloth. A statute of Richard III tried to set the minimum widt...

Sean M

Hi Galilleio, there are enough scraps and offcuts from the waterbanks of London to fill the MoL Textiles and Clothing volume (and more from that underfloor vault at Schloss Lengberg). So they didn't always recycle every last scrap ... My impression is that papermaking was not the kind of industry wh...

Sean M

The old German and Austro-Hungarian Stahlhelme were sized in cm like hats. The supply sergeant could hear your measurement, try one size on you, and take the next size up or down off the pile if it did not work though! The same for historical armour which was made in three or four standard sizes, li...

Sean M

Lightweight gambesons https://imgur.com/gallery/nCdhx These seem like a thickness that would still be protective from slashes without limiting mobility too much. Its hard to tell from pictures, but those look like an OK thickness under lamellar. They are on the thin side if you want something which...

Sean M

In the modern medieval world, people often cut a cloak as a circle with a pie-shaped wedge removed, and call it a "3/4 circle" or "2/3 circle" cloak. Is there any historical basis for that cut? People today often use it to interpret Bocksten cloaks in art, but, well, we have one of those and that is...

Sean M

Gotcha gotcha. Bamboo is a natural "performance" fabric, so I'm down to do that. I was only thinking silk and wool also because of the performance fabric qualities, as well as being "natural" and relatively tough. What about....horse hair? Just another "natural" armor that comes to mind. Just a bri...

Sean M

Good advice, thank you, I hadn't thought of hemp. Is it naturally heat regulating? I do want to try and avoid cotton canvas of at all possible. I would think the tensile strength of silk and wool would be great for it. I guess it's different from the shear strength? If it makes a difference, it is ...

Sean M

I would counsel you against making all the layers out of a wool/silk blend. Neither wool nor processed silk are strong against sharp weapons, and silk traps moisture against the body. I would make the facing of a fashion fabric, then one layer of strong but not necessarily heavy linen or hemp (cotto...

Sean M

Found while searching for something else: Sometimes, and this probably was for less formal gifts, the noble donor was content to offer fabrics to the church or cathedral. Among the important purchases of silk made by the King of France, Charles V, in December 1364, several pieces of racamas , of the...

Sean M

Forging scale as a substiture for "Polierrot", (= Polishing red) was probably used. Pumice stone could have been used. In Innsbruck the armour was filed, hardened and then brought to the polisher. That 's what a letter from ~15-11??? or so tells us. Look at Golls thesis he wrote about it. Peter, I ...

Sean M

I wasn't thinking so much like tassets, but maybe more like a fauld. See the churburg harness at http://www.medievalrepro.com/Premier.htm Thoughts? I do have access to an excellent seamstress, so I may go the padded coat option. The fauld which Peter Fuller made does the job, although it looks like...

Sean M

The late 15th century guys are inspired by a painting by the Maestro de Sopetrán, "El duque del Infantado" (painted c. 1470, Museo del Prado P002576). High-resolution photos are now available on their website and on Wikimedia Commons (thanks Tom B) https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9...

Sean M

Smurf blubber and other modern materials offer better protection than any traditional material I have worked with. Fabric liners with organic stuffings are comfortable, but I would not entrust my head to them for an activity where I could expect to be struck dozens of times every week. Thanks Mac. ...

Sean M

However. I live in Atlantia...near, if not the, upper end of blow calibration in the SCA. My skills are rusty, there are a lof of lefties where I live, and I sometimes like to go out with pollaxe....I really don't want my hips and belly exposed or only covered with mail and gambeson. I have seen a ...

Sean M

I had not thought of looking for old belts at flea markets and used clothing stores! Most belts feel too thick, but some might do.

I had not thought that upholstry leather or jacket leather might do. Are there any pitfalls?

Sean M

When I quit making noise at 5:00 in the name of neighborhood tranquility, it was beginning to look OK. It has some symmetry issues, but I will try not to overthink them. I'm trying to settle myself to the idea that the fifteenth was not a century that worried as much about symmetry as we do today. ...

Sean M

Hi Indianer, I see a lot of evidence but I can't take the time to turn it into an article: - polishing was its own trade for most of the time that articulated plate armour was made - the process involved few steps and often left scratches visible to the naked eye - the scratch marks are normally str...

Sean M

Fantastic work! it would seem a sin not to give the barbute a historic liner. :wink: Depends on the goal. If the goal is to get some more decent hats out into the SCA (the original "take over the world") then, probably not. If the goal is to do anything else, then yes. Wade Is the issue that SCA he...

Sean M

Thanks for the advice Sean. I can read Dutch, English, German and Japanese. German is my weakest language but doable, if the text isn't too difficult I should be able to fully comprehend it looking up words as I go, it will take me a good amount of time though so whenever possible I will choose an ...

Sean M

I may be making a pilgrimage to the nearest leather dealer to pick up some scraps and offcuts for projects. When I do that, I should probably get a few offcuts or pre-cut straps to squirrel away in my armour repair kit next to the spare points and the can-of-oil. What properties do you folks look fo...

Sean M

Also, what languages can you read? If you can manage French or German, there are some good books in those languages by people like Dierk Hagedorn, but I don't know any which are guides for beginners.

Sean M

You will probably have much more success if you pick a single art and train it hard for several years. For Fiore, there are the books by Guy Windsor and Bob Charrette and a new edition from Freelance which I have not seen. Bob's is more "how to read the manuscript," Guy's is more "how to become a go...

Sean M

I agree Randall! Nice work Josh.

Sean M

A thousand is a very low price for any of those styles of helmet. For about twice your budget you could try Tomala in Poland or Jiri Klepac.

Sean M

Lindybeige is honest that he is not any kind of historian, just someone who reads and thinks and does a lot of different things and has OPINIONS. He moves in the British equivalent of the SCA (LARP and have-a-bash reenactment) and I bet he loves to sit in the pub afterwards and argue over a pint or ...

Sean M

Thanks Tom! I think that medieval gloves and mittens are one of those topics which really needs a booklet or long article by a good leatherworker. There are some finds and lots of depictions, but I don't know anyone who has pulled them together.

Sean M

One of my favourite manuscripts shows this: https://bookandsword.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/mi0327_trivulziano_triv-691_0119r_cropped_sword_suspension.jpg So one hidden suspension (which I still think is by far the most common solution between 1360 and 1400), and one with two short angled straps at...

Sean M

Thanks Len! I will look at Thordeman's book when I have time. Looks like riveting scales may have been a crazy medieval and renaissance solution to the problem ... it would probably have been a good job for teenaged apprentices who are not yet strong enough to really move metal.

New Scans of Freyle's Pattern Book

Re: Mac's blog

Modern Maker Volume 2 is out

More Written French Sources

Re: Historical Basis of The 3/4 Circle Cloak

Margeson "Norwich Households" free to download

Re: Historical Basis of The 3/4 Circle Cloak

Re: Historical Basis of The 3/4 Circle Cloak

Re: Source on clothes being donated by Nobles?

Re: Helmet sizing....?

Re: Number of layers for a "lightweight" gambeson?

Historical Basis of The 3/4 Circle Cloak

Re: Number of layers for a "lightweight" gambeson?

Re: Number of layers for a "lightweight" gambeson?

Re: Number of layers for a "lightweight" gambeson?

Re: Source on clothes being donated by Nobles?

Re: Traditional Armor Finishing Processes

Re: Hip defenses for Churburg segmented breastplate

Re: Late Fourteenth Century Arming Garments II: The Upper Bo

Re: Mac's blog

Re: Hip defenses for Churburg segmented breastplate

Re: Leather for straps

Re: Mac's blog

Re: Traditional Armor Finishing Processes

Re: Mac's blog

Re: Learning HEMA by yourself; recommended books/video mater

Leather for straps

Re: Learning HEMA by yourself; recommended books/video mater

Re: Learning HEMA by yourself; recommended books/video mater

Re: I made my little daughter a Gothic half-harness.

Re: Where to find a good 16th century helm?

Re: LindyBeige on Commissioning his 15th c German kit

Re: Article on leather gloves & mittens

Re: Carol van Driel-MurrayArticle on Scabbards from Leiden

Re: Medieval Scale Armour