The Armour Archive

Egfroth

Here's that other helmet I mentioned from the "Greek Romance of Alexander" - but keep in mind that out of hundreds of representations of soldiers in this manuscript, only ONE has this kind of curtain over the face.

Egfroth

Remember not to talk at them, but instead to involve them. As I'm sure you're aware this is an age at which the attention wanders really fast. I've found it's really useful to ask them questions which force them to think about things, so they are forced to become participants - for example, one of m...

Egfroth

You've chosen a very interesting subject, and one that I think could be very worthwhile. Regarding length of time to make mail - starting with billets of iron, drawing the wire, forming it into rings, cutting, overlapping, flattening, piercing and rivetting - I must defer to others more knowledgeabl...

Egfroth

Ah, Dan. Beat me to it. Bjorn, a thread on this subject seems to come up about once a month on the Armour Archive. There are a lot of people who want to be Vikings but not wear the armour they wore - that is, mail. To be perfectly honest, if you want to be a Viking, particularly a Dane, you're prett...

Egfroth

The pic above is of my mate Peter Beatson who does a VERY good Rus impression, and is VERY good at research. You MIGHT be able to get some tips from him.

Egfroth

Glad you like the armour. I'm very happy with it, too. What you would probably be best doing for SCA combat is, rather than have a face plate, put a mail or scale curtain over a bar-grill. That way the ghastly thing is invisible, but you still have the protection you need. Honestly, leather lamellar...

Egfroth

What periuod are we looking at here? Are you talking about a man on foot wearing (say) a barrel helm when toe grunts usually wore conicals, or something else?

(Trying to think. I'm pretty sure I can find contemporary pics of guys on foot in barrel helms, by the way)

Egfroth

Duco - still wondering about what ABS stands for and what the thickness of the plastic itself (ie the wall thickness of the pipe) is. Your help would be much appreciated, as the plastic water pipe I've seen here in Australia would be much too thin and brittle for this application.

Egfroth

Rav, the nape plate has historical precedent, which I believe is entirely artistic/effigial -- I don't know of any survivors come down to us in the metal. True, but then I know of only one extant saltshaker helm of any type. It's in the Netherlands military museum, and is apparently mislabelled as ...

Egfroth

Sounds good so far. However, I don't know where you got the info on face plates being period for Byzantium. I've never heard of such a thing. There is a mention by Anna Komnena of her father Emperor Alexios having a movable "visor" on his helmet which hid his face, but the speculation is r...

Egfroth

A bit of political history here IIRC this was all part of the Carolingian Empire, and following that, the "Holy Roman Empire" under Otto I and Otto II. You might try googling them. Also get a book on Ottonian art, or perhaps "Early Mediaeval Art". They do exist, and you can usual...

Egfroth

Probably the best outline (with pics) of 12th century equipment is here . We had a quite long discussion on flat-topped kite shields, and during the discussion a lot of 12th century photos (with several of helmets with face-plates) came up. Randall. Ah, now I'm with you. I thought you were arguing t...

Egfroth

True, but the great majority of knights of the 12th century, right up until the end of the century, had simple helmets with no face-plate - either a nasal or (more rarely) simply an open face.

Egfroth

From the Liber ad honorem Augusti (treatise in honor of the Emperor) by Petrus de Ebulo (Peter of Eboli) c. 1195 - m There are also tents (ObrÃ¡zek) 3 & 4 at m from the 12th century copy of the (Byzantine) Chronicle of John Skylitzes in the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid - the ones shown here are...

Egfroth

Personally, I'm of the opinion that the French pics with coloured helms wouldn't be earlier than the middle of the 13th century. I'd err on the side of open face helmets before 1200. The fact that something's on King Richard's seal doesn't mean it's typical of the period - far from it. This is cutti...

Egfroth

So - this is a Saxon in Saxony? What period are you interested in? Lets face it, the people living there are still called Saxons.

Egfroth

These ones (click arrow for subsequent pages) were taken in the Norman encampment at Hastings 2006. They look pretty good. If you can do your stuff to this standard, I don't think you'll have any problems at all.

Egfroth

The most complete source is a poem written by Alcuin, and English monk at the court of Charlemagne, who wrote to the English monks lamenting the attack and blaming it on English sinfulness. The excerpt below deals with the attack itself: Most beloved brother, I lament your disaster the sack of Lindi...

Egfroth

IThanks for pointing out those knives on the charavines site. Hadn't noticed them before. I don't know that there was such a thing as a fighting knife, separate from a food knife, except when you get up to the size of a langsax. There's only one knife in the BT that is being used for fighting, and o...

Egfroth

Justus is correct. The face-plate didn't come in until right at the end of the12th century, and even then they are only rarely represented. To see the way the overwhelming majority of helmets looked: See m and m and m and m and m (English translation available here but access to the pictures isn't a...

Egfroth

Though I've had success with boiled bone, it is easier to work and less brittle if you work it "green" (ie uncooked). You just have to make sure you get all the meat off and give it a good wash. Our ancesttors used the stuff for centuries - to comb their hair, as knife handles, you name it...

Egfroth

Now to complete the progression. Move over to Metal weapons . . .

Come on, come to the Dark Side . . . you know you want to . . .

Egfroth

Duco - looks good.

Two questions - what does ABS stand for, and how thick is the plastic the pipe's made of?

Egfroth

Well, you should start off with Dr Tim Dawson's Levantia site, and look at his excellent re-creations of Byzantine footsoldiers. Get hold of Praecepta Militaria; an English translation is available as "Sowing the Dragon's Teeth" by McGeer. For some contemporary pics of infantrymen look at ...

Egfroth

Nice impressions.

A bit of braid or embroidery at neck and cuffs for you would be a help. What kind of belt are you wearing? What's the buckle like?

Egfroth

Didn't we discuss this one just recently, and decide it was a very bad copy of the original picture it's supposed to be based on?

I tried searching for the thread, but couldn't find it. Can anyone else help?

Egfroth

Actually the Sutton hoo wasy base off of a roman cavalry helm. It is possible that the maker bought an existing helmet and added to it. Thanks, Brennainn To be honest, that's speculation on the part of archaeologists/academics, rather than proven fact. It certainly bears similarities to late Roman ...

Egfroth

Nice idea. See http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/ ... hp?t=46376

Or perhaps a 6th century Lombard? Something like the pictures below, both in lamellar armour with curved edges (the Agilulf ones might even have "S"-shaped edges!) and plumed helmets.

For a bit of history of the early Lombards, see http://www.fernweb.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/mf/lombards.htm

Egfroth

Also m Saxons (actually, if you mean the ones who lived in England, you should be calling them English - that's what they called themselves by the 10th century) see m and m - in which you get English and Normans! (Note you really can't tell the equipment apart? That's the way it was - the armour and...

Egfroth

Bjorn, go with your best impulse my recent decision to never step on the field in armour that isn't correct If you want people to see you and say "There's a Viking!" - use mail. If you want people to see you and say "There's a guy who might be a Viking that might have got some lamellar when he went ...

Egfroth

Duco, that sounds very good. I might try that myself.

Egfroth

Well I can see the guy (shame about the face), but where's the leatherwork?

Egfroth

Torum wrote:blintersifrid - doi you have a better copy of that vase??? i cant make out the design very well...

This any better? Though it's probably very unlike the Valsgarde ones.

Egfroth

Marten, mink, otter, perhaps beaver or ferret. Several of which I wouldn't recommend using today.

And of course, there's good ol' sheepskin.

Egfroth

If you're going to do Ancient Greek, why not do it properly? A barbute really isn't the same as an Ancient Greek helmet; it dates to the 15th century AD(!). There are suppliers out there who can make you a very nice Corinthian (or Chalcidian, or whatever) helmet. Same applies to the armour. If you w...