The Armour Archive

Marshal

Many years ago, I bought a new bed. Breaking up the old one to throw it out, it occurred to me that the wooden legs ( about a foot long ) might come in useful. I pushed the tails of 4 of my files into the screw-holes in the end of the bed legs, a couple of taps on the floor to seat them firmly, and ...

Marshal

Have you tried DeCordene Wireworks?

http://www.dcwireworks.com/rings/rings.html

Marshal

Very interesting. The results seem to bear out the historic development of mail use: mail without a gambeson early in the medieval period, when most European bows were short and drawn to the breast ( and Eastern ones shot short, light arrows ), then gambesons and aketons adopted as bows and their ar...

Marshal

Yes. Sometimes you got pieces of armour ( such as helm or gauntlets ) on a tomb or on the church wall above it in the medieval period, but the only actual burials of men in armor I know of were mass graves like Wisby, not tombs.

Marshal

There's an association with cowardice, specifically with refusal of military service. But it's post-period as far as I know. Whereas the association of blue feathers with homosexuality goes right back to the 12th century? It's the reaction of modern people about which, presumably, he's interested. ...

Marshal

Justin Livio Guidi wrote:A parrot! Find a parrot! And cut it's wings off... It can still live without wings...

-Justin

But then you'd have to nail it to the perch.

Marshal

Two from Spain, actually---the most famous being that found in the tomb of Sancho IV, King of Castile and Leon, d.1295. The other was in the tomb of his brother, Fernando. There is also this one: m It seems to have been more common for swords to be laid on or hung above graves and tombs in churches ...

Marshal

Ah, that is why I will be useing the much more hetrosexual white feathers... Ah, but white feathers have another unfortunate symbolic association. You could try canvas stiffened with gesso. Whatever you use, it probably isn't going to survive many combats, so make several, and a quick method of att...

Marshal

I didn't say there was no mention of a mail shirt in the Sagas, there are several, as I said, all the war gear is mentioned quite often in the sagas...I said there is no mention of a quilted/padded garment UNDER the mail shirt. Ah! Ah! Now you narrow your statement to "quilted/padded garment"! I qu...

Marshal

I always cut my links closed, and opened them one at a time. But like Konstantin I probably won't be doing much butted anymore, now that the tools and know-how for rivetted are so readily available.

Marshal

I still find it odd no mention is made of any sort of mail specific under garment in the Sagas. Ah, but there is! It's not common, but it is mentioned. And it is...are you ready? Another brynja . ( I think there's one mention of THREE being worn at once, and two are mentioned several times. ) This ...

Marshal

Try searching for "Old Testament Miniatures" ( by Cockerell ) on a site such as ABEBooks. They seem to go for around $50. Occasionally one turns up for sale on the Classifieds forum here as well. No reprint more recent than that ( mid-1970s ), AFAIK.

Marshal

Oakeshotts's forays into armour are entertaining reads, and for fun browsing I like Stone's Glossary ( despite its age and inadequacies ) or Blair and Tarassuk's Complete Encyclopedia of Arms and Weapons. I also enjoyed Pfaffenbichler's little booklet The Armourers.

Marshal

The polarising filter also deepens the blue of the sky, when rotated into the proper position. Mine seldom comes off my camera, it's so useful...

Marshal

I hadn't heard that there were vase paintings confirmed to represent the Lacedaemonian subtype. There's supposed to be one sword in existence which some think MAY approximate the Spartan xiphos ; at least it fits some of the particulars of written references. Others think it's a ritual sword of some...

Marshal

The word "hoggspjotl" ( missing the various accent marks, sorry ) appears in Norse literature and according to Vigfusson translates to "hewing spear". Alas, it's never described. But the ability to cut or hack seems to be implied by the name, at least. ( Most spears can cut or slash, I think the fac...

Marshal

According to archaeology, the short (short!) Xyphos seems to have been a Spartan invention/preference. Which archaeology? The last I read, xiphos seemed to have been used both for the short sword and generally for "sword". Has there been a new finding changing this? Or a new theory? ( Not a challen...

Marshal

The Armeria Real in Madrid must have a catalogue. Mustn't it?

There's a good bit of armor in that, as I recall. If you can a reference using it.

Marshal

I had a lot of success with pressing the lens end of the camera right up against the glass. However, that limits the number of angles you have. If you've got a good camera with a lens that accepts filters and so on, you can get a screw-on rubber lens hood that will let you press it against the glas...

Marshal

Neither. There was, according to literature, a type of sword particular to the Lacedaemonians; but no examples or depictions appear to have survived. There were two basic types of swords used in the Greek lands in Classical times. Of the two you picture, the bottom is the machaira or kopis . The oth...

Marshal

Paste wax will last longer and require fewer re-applications than oil. For anything really permanent you have to go to something like painting. I've never used a clear-coat of any sort. I just use paste wax...

Marshal

the "only finish as much as necessary" principle. How does this square ( no pun intended ) with the stonework of the MA, much of which is quite fine and well-finished? You no more got pre-finished stone than you did pre-finished wood, and stone is harder to work than wood; and yet, well, look at so...

Marshal

I...don't know how to respond to that, other than to say that I have had swatches of mail in Coke for well over a week with no apparent deterioration in it.

Marshal

I know Henry VIII was considered a large man, and I thought he was tall as well. Quite. And if I recall correctly the Black Prince was also at least 6 feet tall. Which of course does not go to average size, but offsets to some extent anecdotal citations of 2 small harnesses. ( Then there's the huge...

Marshal

Is that meant to be a helmet, or a saintly halo? Looks vaguely Eastern-Orthodox iconish...

Marshal

"Marking oneself with runes" need not mean tattooing, or indeed anything permanent. For example there's a symbol with supposed mystical import referred to as Oegishjalmr or Aegishjalmr, which is according to some sources thought to have either been worn as a lead seal tied over the forehead or impre...

Marshal

Because Joshua led God's armies, while Goliath opposed them? Right...obviously I'm not explaining this very well. Reading the thread, two main objections seem to have been advanced to the idea of Goliath being 'knightly'. The first is that knighthood had not yet been invented, therefore a pre-medie...

Marshal

I'd think that a metal container of some sort---locker, trunk, gun cabinet---would be a good idea. My mail is painted or blued, not oiled, and my other armour is waxed, not oiled. No worries, and I find that wax is more durable and works better than oil anyway. Flammable liquids and rags used with t...

Marshal

Yep. My point was only that 'knighthood' was apparently projected back into classical and Biblical times, hence the general idea of warriors from pre-Migration-era times being styled knights is feasible. This doesn't speak to individual examples, and particularly to those of villains, of course. But...

Marshal

Yes we can presume that it means add. The woodcut that is part of the text shows a staff that is taller than the man's reach who is holding it. Second, later in the text it says "And this note, that these lengths will commonly fall out to be eight or nine foot long, and will fit, although not just,...

Marshal

Er...that says "allow", not add. Can we presume the latter is intended?

Even if so, the subsequent instruction does not mention arms' length or "wingspan", but "space to set both your hands", which may be nothing more than the width of your two hands...ie your height plus 5 or 6 inches...

Marshal

Brief discussion of the Nine Worthies: m If Alexander, Caesar, Hector, Joshua, Judas Maccabeus and David were presented as paragons of chivalry, maybe the status of knighthood, or at least the character of it, was extended back into pre-Christian times in the mediaeval mind, as so many other things ...

Marshal

I had understood that the term "quarterstaff" referred to the manner in which it was held in use rather than its comparative length. Is this really not the case?

Marshal

I don't understand. If you don't like braies, can't you just stay away from muieles?

Marshal

What, even without a Magic Cat's Ass(tm) ?

Re: Lessons learned from the Royal Armouries - Leeds

Re: Height and Weight Averages in History

Re: Marshal's ? on Q-Staff length