The Armour Archive

Egfroth

Ryan, what club are you with? SCA or metal weapons?

I'm in Victoria, but I know both SCA and metal groups are flourishing in QLD.

Egfroth

Wyrm, the Migration period is the 5th and 6th centuries AD (ie the 400s and 500s). The Vendel/Valsgarde period is about 650 AD. The "Viking" period is usually held as starting with the raid on Lindisfarne in 793, and finishing maybe in 1066 (or as late as 1200, depending on the authority you read an...

Egfroth

A very nice piece of work. How long did it take you?

Egfroth

You might also like to look at some of the jewellery found in Jorvik - at http://www.yorkarchaeology.co.uk/ - follow the links at through "services" to "picture library" to "Viking York" - note by the way that you DON'T hit the "back" button when you have a thumbnail open - it goes 404 on you. Click on "thumbnails" instead.

Egfroth

"Arabesque" means different things to different people - "Arabic in style", or like a vine, or using Arabic (kufic or pseudo-Kufic) script - or even a dance step.

Can you give a bit more information on what it means to you? That'll help narrow it down.

Egfroth

Well, the hard part's yet to come - cutting the teeth (and horn is extremely fragile when it's cut this thin). But i have a few sneaky tricks told to me by Sandy - one of which is to have two hacksaw blades side by side with spacers betrween them keeping them apart by the thickness of a comb tooth, ...

Egfroth

Yes, they seem to have vanished without trace. OTOH, there is quite a thriving group of Italian re-enactors who subscribe the the Hastings 2006 list. You never know, maybe some old NOS guys are among them?

Egfroth

Yeah, what he said. If you want to be historically accurate, you should stick with shield designs we know existed. For a bit more flexibility in your options, there are a couple from the archaeological record at http://members.ozemail.com.au/~chrisand ... hield.html

Egfroth

This comb and case is taken from ones they found at Coppergate in York. I'm not really certain the Coppergate comba and case belong together - there are indications they don't. I haven't yet done the hardest parts - cutting the teeth and rivetting the assembly together. I haven't yet decided whether...

Egfroth

I made the "teeth" section a bit too narrow, so I had to add a small section in the middle, which increases the width so the comb just fits into the case comfortably. The length will be trimmed at the next stage. Then checking the fit within the case. The case is apparently to protect the teeth, whi...

Egfroth

It's made out of cow's horn, which I got from Sandy Sempel of Fro"jel Gotlandica, who has this amazing heat press which flattens horn out. So you just cut it down one edge, and effectively "unroll" it.

Sandy also introduced me to a really cool tool for cutting the teeth - of which more later.

Egfroth

I did this in an afternoon. I must admit I cheated - I used an angle grinder instead of a saw. But it's a lot of progress nontheless, isn't it? I'm quite proud of it. I can only get three pics on each post, so I'll be doing a few posts in succession. Currently the assembly is held together with bolt...

Egfroth

I agree - though there are not many Viking period helmets, we can be pretty sure there were a myriad minor variations.

Certainly this is true when there are many examples from the same general time and place - for example the Migration period conical helmets and barrel helms.

Egfroth

Also "The Crucible of Europe" by Geoffrey Barraclough, University of California Press 1976. Have a look at the "Carolingian Warrior" thread on the "Wannabe" forum. A lot of the stuff there is actually 10th century, and the Empire was still pretty consistent about this time, even though by then it ha...

Egfroth

Firstly, well done on the scale shirt! Regarding hidden armour, I suppose it comes down to how accurately you want to portray a Carolingian. There just wasn't any plate armour available at the time (apart from helmets!), so if you want to get the right look and still be protected, hidden armour is t...

Egfroth

As a starting point for images of clothing, have a look at the Comanye of Saynte George's costume pages at m and following. But Keep in mind that these are the clothes of common soldiers. What a knight wore would have been considerably more luxurious. And of course, there isn't a "doublet of hoolis"...

Egfroth

Patrick, if that sounded like a criticism, I apologise. I think that's a very good looking helmet. I was merely commenting upon the difference in construction between yours and the original - not to put yours down, but to share information.

Egfroth

A better reproduction than most, though there are differences in the construction methods between this and the original, which was made with an inner and an outer framework, with the plates sandwiched between them. BTW, you could get away with an aventail attached via holes in the lower rim. There a...

Egfroth

Regarding pronunation, the truth is - it depends. If you want to go French, coif would be pronounced Kwuff . . and what about cuir bouilli? (queer bweeyee). But the English, being near neighbours - and often enemies - of the French, seem to take a delight in mispronouncing their words. OTOH, I've al...

Egfroth

Well, I've never seen it in contemporary pictures, but there are others on this forum far more knowledgable than I am on the XV century who may have.

What does the text say? It just a tiny bit too small to make out.

Egfroth

Serves them right. The place you look for that stuff is in books - in libraries. (On the other hand, if it's on the Net it must be true!

Mind you it might have brought a smile to the face of some poor raddled teacher having to mark a term paper . . . .

Egfroth

But even in the late 12th century, as the sleeves of most were going full length and gaining mufflers, you still see the occasional short sleeved one - the Winchester Bible's Absolom, some of the knights in the Life of St Guthlac, a mid 13th century massacre of the innocents, for example.

Egfroth

Atli, that's just silly!

Egfroth

Have you seen my page on them here ? Good for a bit of history, but for equipment you'd be best going to the Red Kaganate , particularly the section on games and military arts. Though nothing specific to the Pechenegs is shown, I think you'll find a great deal of similarity between the equipment of ...

Egfroth

I agree about the cheekplates being too long. You should shorten them, certainly. If you were going for perfect accuracy, the helmet bowl would be round rather than conical, the rear cheek plate wouldn't be there, the back slats woulf pivot where they join the helmet etc etc. So if anybody was going...

Egfroth

IIRC, Edward "I" was named in honour of Edward the Confessor, on account of his saintliness. But they seem to have ignored the fact that he was also a king of England - and started the numbering at zero again after Bill the Bastard. A nice example of "spin" - denigrating the legitimacy of the pre-Co...

Egfroth

Thanks again. When you are able to get photos of the 4-spoked lucets, I'd be very interested in seeing them.

Egfroth

Yep. Depends what you mean by "man at arms (sometimes a VERY flexible term!), and what you mean by "in King Edward I's service" - after all, the whole army could be described as in the king's service. Oh, and in my book, he's only Edward III - there were two kings of England by that name before the ...

Egfroth

Thanks very much - I look forward to seeing the information when it is available.

In the meantime, what century/centuries would you include in "early mediaeval" for the Sigtuna finds?

Egfroth

A variant of the lucet - I'm trying to find out whether this style of cord making was used either by the Vikings, or by contemporary cultures and if so, which ones? (disregard the beads on the web page - they're a modern variation) If anybody has any evidence to help me with this - especially archae...

Egfroth

Check out the Greek stuff at http://www.manningimperial.com/

And note that the prices are in Australian dollars (about 75c US)

Egfroth

Hugeus, sorry for not replying earlier. That's some seriously nice stuff you've got there. I especially like the knee-cops.

Egfroth

I guess it comes down to - what looks right? If I'm helping another guy make one I ask him - tall or short pointy helm? And do it by eye. I get the four frame strips made up considerably too long, then bolt the front and back ones to the Pointy Top Bit (TM). Then - put the browband round the guy's h...

Egfroth

God, no. Not my image at all. I'm the one holding the helmet and looking for the Golden Rivet.

Egfroth

The strap of the haversack isn't vinyl, it's macrame linen cord. I stand corrected. I didn't think any of your guys would make such an obvious faux pas . But it sure looked like one of those vinyl webbing things - I though he might have been "off duty" and carrying a camera around or something. Lov...

Horn comb and case - progress pics

French knitting in the viking age?