The Armour Archive

Egfroth

Hm-m-m-m-m. The above pic looks very like a variant on another one of what appears to be bear-baiting. Note the rope around the "monster's" neck. And the one I linked to seem very much as though it's of a guy in a bear skin. But we'll never know for sure. We have no proof that berserkers did - or di...

Egfroth

I might add that there is no acheological evidence for wearable pelts. Neither for any kind of totemic cult of bear or wolf. Animals depicted naturalistic enough that we might distinguish them as bears or wolves are exceedingly rare in fact compared to other zoomorphic designs. Sorry - can't agree ...

Egfroth

I've almost accepted some folks argument that a more correct modern term might be Anglo-Danish . Coincedentally, there's an argument that Hereward specifically was actually Anglo-Scandinavian, not Anglo-Saxon -- see Hereward: The Last Englishman by Peter Rex . Wouldn't be at all surprised. After al...

Egfroth

Don't forget the 14th century tents! The Wars of the Roses actually field considerably more people than this one will, but hey, that's almost Renaissance, and therefore flakey . . . Overall, though I agree about the ghastly out of period stuff, the video is designed as a promotion for the public, to...

Egfroth

Dave, the trouble with the first quote you cite is that it is somebody modern's conclusion, not an original source. AFAIK, the Book of Ceremonies doesn't mention masks or animal skins in the "Gothic Dance" - there has been quite a bit of speculation on this subject, given that the Goths ceased to se...

Egfroth

Oops. I thought I was replying to a different thread. Need to be a bit more alert.

Move along, people. Nothing to see here . . .

Egfroth

Pre-Conquest England didn't have the concept of "knighthood" as we know it. In just about every other European language, the name used contains the concept of "horseman" - ritter, caballero, chevalier . . . But the English upper class did not fight from horseback. They rode to battle but dismounted ...

Egfroth

Yes, it's a stone effigy on the outside of Wells Cathedral in England. See below ;

Egfroth

The painting of the 1520 tournament of the Field of the Cloth of Gold (in Hampton Court Palace outside London) shows many of the Emperor Maximilian's German knights wearing sallets.

The English and French knights, on the other hand, are in armets.

Egfroth

And now it's got photos of the construction and attachment of the pauldron. See link above.

Egfroth

Regarding the "individual portrait" thing, apparenty the bodies were mass-produced, and the heads made separately and inserted into them.

So the bodies of many of the soldiers are identical, particularly if they are members of the same "unit", but each head is different.

Egfroth

Unfortunately, no. A closer detail of the same pic shows that there is no buckle there.

Egfroth

And here's the sleeve strapped to the body of the klivanion.

Egfroth

Thought I'd show you some photos of how the sleeve and pauldron are attached. Not necessarily historically accurate - but then nobody knows how it was really done, so in my view, given that it does look like the representations, it's as good as anything else - and it does work well. The pauldron and...

Egfroth

Well, yes. There's no historical counterpart to this helmet - the nearest would probably be the Sutton Hoo helmet. This dates to about the same period as the Vendel and Valsgarde helmets - about 650 AD. The pressblachs (embossed decorative helmet plates) on some of these helmets show warriors of the...

Egfroth

Wolf wrote:romans wore wolf and bear hides.... oh and lions too. AHHHH roman berserkers!!!!!

hehehe

And wizards - NINJA wizards!!

Egfroth

If you're looking for the origin of the belted garter, I can't help you much, except to say that the Order of the Garter (the garter of which is buckled) started in 1348. However, Wickepedia suggests an earlier use for garters, going back to the time of Richard I in the late 12th century - The Order...

Egfroth

I MIGHT be able to help, though my OE isn't fantastic. Run the name by us (in Modern English) and see what happens.

Egfroth

Armour's great, but yes, the effect is somewhat dampened by the legs. Can you do something about them?

Egfroth

My own "Mr Lumpy" - my very first helmet (if you don't count the morion I made of 18ga galvanised iron and soldered together when I was a kid) is below. First bit of armour I ever made. The mail shirt came later. This photo was taken in 1987, so I've had a while to learn better. The frame was 3mm ir...

Egfroth

Which may itself reflect when the picture was actually executed, Greg, while the expeditions of Caliph al-Mansur are known to be tenth century. The artist was clearly going by what he knew of "soldier" equipment, so everybody got "soldier" gear. And we're left thinking they all shopped at Ye Same O...

Egfroth

There was quite an evolution in helmet types over this period. Up to the last decade or so of the 12th century, helmets were open faced or had nasals. They could be hemispherical, or the shape of a saucepan, of "phryigian" style (like a smurf hat), or a simple conical helmet. Around about 1200 they ...

Egfroth

They did it in the Mac Bible as well . . . http://www.medievaltymes.com/courtyard/ ... 33rc&d.gif

Egfroth

Yep, that's from Magdeburg Cathedral, in Germany.

IIRC that squared-off extension of the coif is a particularly German thing, and was fairly short-lived. i've only ever seen one other example; a Massacre of the Innocents from about the same time and place.

Egfroth

Guys, let's all play nice. Now I'm regretting my original post.

We're all grown-ups here, yeah?

Egfroth

I must say I have to agree with BrunoG, Wyrm. You've actually done very well out of the Archive in the time you've been on it. You've been one of the more regular people asking for information, and members have been willing to answer your questions and supply you with data and advice. That's the way...

Egfroth

in 1259, as a result of a petition by the Order, permission was granted for all military members to wear a white cross on red (opposite to Templar) gives you the start date. I do know that by the mid-16th century it was a white 8-pointed cross on black, but when the changeover happened, I don't know.

Egfroth

That's the way I do it too - drill the holes through the band first, then through those holes into the plates. HOWEVER, you need to do whatever finishing process you have in mind on the plates (eg smoothing the metal, buffing it up etc) BEFORE you drill through them. Once you have the plates bolted ...

Egfroth

Cat, that helmet is FAR too good to be made of leather! You need to get onto making them in metal. All that magnificent work, and you make it out of LEATHER????!!!! And don't undersell yourself on ebay. That helmet should be top of the range. Don't worry about the rivets - do you think the rest of u...

Egfroth

I would like to note that outside the Maciejowski Bible there is no evidence the odd weapons in the Maciejowski Bible existed. Hmm, that's a bit of a sweeping statement. I can point you to representations of similar weapons in several sources. See some of the weapons (particularly the one being car...

Egfroth

The Order's cross had now taken the shape of a cross formÃƒÂ©e or pattÃƒÂ©e.." The guy in the picture above has a cross pattÃƒÂ©e on his surcoat. If the cross had maintained its shape between this time and the transition to a red field (for which we DO have information) then that's what the guy woul...

Egfroth

That's exquisite! I hate you . . .

Oh, and don't get the idea the period is wrong for this forum. Nothing to say it's restricted to things High Mediaeval.

Absolutely beautiful (stops to wipe drool . . .)

Egfroth

Oswyn, As Bruno mentioned earlier, it's from the San Zeno MAggiore Duomo of Verona in Italy. There's certainly some decoration on the browband. The pic posted by Bruno on the previous page of this thread gives more detail on it - to me it looks like inset gems rather than an engraved pattern. There ...

Egfroth

IIRC, the colours of the Hospitallers andthe form of the cross changed over the centuries. The eight-pointed cross on the Black background came in relatively late, being preceded by a straight white cross on red, I think.

Egfroth

Corby,

These questions are answered on the previous page of this thread. The dating is (I think) "late 12th century".

IMHO, the statue of Roland is wearing woollen hose and an open-topped shoe on his un-armoured leg.