The Armour Archive

Ernst

The first miniature is from the Dutch KB's KA 20, fo. 215r depicting the battle of Roncesvaux. In the full miniature, Roland blows the oliphant next to a captured Moor in a stylized scale harness. It is almost certain that the leaf forms depict various Andalusians' helms. The decorative leaf or plum...

Ernst

One question which I have considered is in the application of the paint. ffoulkes presents evidence from the London armourers forbidding the covering of bascinets in cloth, noting that this was done in previous times and had been fraudulently used to cover suspect workmanship. Wooden shields were no...

Ernst

GeneP, I am concerned that you don't believe one could use tab tops and remain accurate, because it is not the norm from surviving examples. Should we avoid mail chausses or mufflers since none survived, even if we can find plenty of depictions in illustrations? I think a "tab-top" would be accurate...

Ernst

And one must use a control test, for example shooting the hog carcass without any armour, if a true result is to be compared.

Ernst

I'm certain that Ee.3.59, the Edward the Confessor manuscript available online, shows similar scalloped tabs on a number of kettle helms. These tabs all have a rounded end.

Ernst

The Maciejowski Bible shows ragged clothing being adopted by the Gibeonites to appear that they were travelers from distant lands, perhaps refugees. Patched clothing for a short duration might be due to need, like a knight riding a mule after his horse had been slain in battle. To fail to replace su...

Ernst

Following the concept of the 6-foot Rule discussion, I find myself troubled by the question of time. A recent post inquired what types of armor were worn by English knights at the time of Crecy and Poitiers. Fortunately the Romance of Alexander presented in 1344 is available online. But what about a...

Ernst

What exactly does your friend consider unique? A well researched Mac Bible rig would be fairly unique wihin the SCA, but very common in the mid 13th century. Is there a specific time and locale he is looking to reproduce?

Perhaps I am not understanding the purpose of the cross-post?

Ernst

That's a really great question concerning a detail I have never considered much. Some effigies, like John d'Aubernon show very decorated straps for spurs and the like. I've seen some surviving tooling on scabbards, but don't know if there is evidence that this was overlaid with paint. Most straps I ...

Ernst

A visual primer for pottery shapes can be found here: http://www.ashmol.ox.uk/PotWeb/PotPeriods.html A site given on the "75 Years" board -- note prices are in Aus$, which helps cover shipping costs: http://groups.msn.com/flaminggargoylepottey/_whatsnew.msnw There are a few local potters who sell th...

Ernst

There are two questions which instantly spring to mind: 1. What time-frame are you trying to re-create? 2. What purpose are you expecting the "gambeson" to fill, e.g. pading under mail, padding over mail, sole armor, padding under plates, etc.? A quick search for "Period Patterns" will give you a co...

Ernst

The few drawings of the Alava corselet seem to indicate it is a one-piece, pull over design like its Roman predecessors.

Ernst

I hope that I can add something of use here. There are any number of effigies and sculptures, as well as a few miniatures, which show the mufflers peeled away from the hands. In every case which I have seen, the slit is shown as being parallel to the fingers. Many modern shooting gloves use the perp...

Ernst

Medieval Europe was a Catholic society. Most interjection, like after hitting your thumb with a hammer, would fall along the lines of "Jesus, Mary Mother of God!" or "By the Saints!". Cursing proper would be blasphemous as Bob has pointed out.

Ernst

All interesting material to discuss, but the dilemma proffered in the original post persists. If one is currently using mail of butted constrction, galvanized steel wire, and 1/2" internal diameter, which road best leads to a better destination? Is aluminum butted mail more acceptable because it mor...

Ernst

Clothing names can be very difficult to de-cipher. 'Haubergeon' is now generally used to describe mail torso armor without coif, mittens or long hem; however, the root is from hauberk+gown. But what style is that of a gown? Is it the modern women's evening dress, or that of a 14th century male garme...

Ernst

And let us not forget the strong influence of regional accents. A quote from E. Hallam's "Four Gothic Kings" illustrates the point. "At the beginning of the 13th century, the Suffolk congregation of Abbot Samson of Bury St. Edmunds could scarcely understand the sermons he delivered in his Norfolk di...

Ernst

I fought in a rig like this for years. Painting the cop or contact-glueing matching fabric on it keeps it reasonably well-hidden beneath the mail. Instead of pointing the cop to the gambeson, I used a single 1/2" leather "Y" strap inside the bend of the elbow. I didn't see where the strap restricted...

Ernst

Egfroth,

Do you feel the alternate blue and yellow is pure fantasy, an interpretation of alternating rows of iron and brass, or some sort of lacquered leather? Later Turkish armors use alternate brass and iron plates, and this would seem a good interpretation to me.

Ernst

My helm has no bar grill -- an early 13th century pot with occularia. If you reduce rattan to 3/4" thickness, my eye-slot must be no larger than 1/2" wide?

Ernst

Steve,

I've seen several people say this about some Maciejowski mail, but believe they refer to tarnished silver gilt images. I've got a copy of OTM, so if you could provide a folio number or image number, I'd like to see which specific hauberks are being referred to in your post.

Thanks,
Mart

Ernst

In "Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades 1000-1300" John France notes the following: "In the 'Song of Roland' there are references to "double mail" and "triple mail", while in his account of the fight between Richard of England and William of Barres, the poet Guillaume le Breton refers to the ...

Ernst

Monster heaters were certainly in use, but I think the Manesse scene here shows a pavise on the ground as well: http://www.tempora-nostra.de/manesse/img/075.jpg Kite-like shields are also seen: http://www.tempora-nostra.de/manesse/img/019.jpg Then there is the common buckler of various sizes: http:/...

Ernst

Anyone? (Bump)

Ernst

Janet Backhouse includes this miniature in her book "The Illuminated Page". The text is titled "The Desert of Religion", and the scene is labeled as 'The futility of worldly achievement in the face of death.' It dates from the 2nd quarter of the 15th century, and stylistically seems to be related to...

Ernst

I'll have to check, but I suspect most 12th century surcoats are non-heraldic. A few also have loose half-sleeves. Generally, cut a long rectangle the width of your cloth (36") and about 10 ft. long. Cut a neck hole with the back on the center fold at 5'. Next, cut 2 gores, triangles of cloth half a...

Ernst

From Dr Anglo's text "The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe" chapter 7: The soft linen armor worn under mail in the 'Speculam regale' c.1250 though usually referred to in translations as a gambeson is in the original language a "panzara". Under his armor, Sir Gawain of Green Knight Fame, late 14th ...

Ernst

Kolbenturnierhelm -- club-tournament-helm

or perhaps since it's French, a "Baston" or "Baton"-tourney-helm?

Ernst

My opinion is that it's ugly. I don't like the 'shelf' thing going on from trying to transition the round top into the creased visor. I think the line from the skull to the visor front should be a smooth one, without angles. My whole view on putting a grill on a barrel, sugarloaf, or other early clo...

Ernst

I recently finished a set of four Romanesque inspired five-board benches, and am looking for ways to dress-up pine besides arches and quatrefoil piercings. I know wood burning was used as decoration on at least one 15th century Spanish pine chest, and was curious if the technique could be found as e...

Ernst

Scale aventails appear in the eastern HRE, particularly Bohemia, and in some German sources in the 14th century. There are a number of depictions of scale coifs, rather more of a skull-cap, in a number of German sources from the late 14th to early 16th centuries.

Ernst

There are a few examples of Elizabethan barriers shown in the book "Tudor and Jacobean Tournaments" by Alan Young ISBN 0-911378-75-8. Sadly, they all look like 2x4's tenoned into 4x4's without finials. There is one example where fighting occurs in front of Elizbeth I, which shows a solid wall. There...

Ernst

We actually discussed a possible grilled hounds' mask visor on a bascinet in the R&A forum a year or so ago. The illustrations in question comes from Fiore's work, dating to about 1410. Clearly these were very controversial. My position is that bar grills exist on club tourney helms from circa 1440 ...

Ernst

I was just going through some music books, and realized I had completely forgotten the helms in the Weingarten Codex. Although these are back to the 1320 time frame, lots of heraldic options are seen. I did a quick search, and found Andy Goddard has an online copy available on his site. http://www.b...

Ernst

There are a number of sources for 13th century gear available online. However, the early style of helm you describe is limited to 1200-1235 or so. There are a couple of images from Villard de Honnecourt's album showing the specific helm style: http://it.newcastle.edu.au/discipline/fine-art/pubs/vill...

6-year Rule?

Decorative Wood Burning