The Armour Archive

James Arlen Gillaspie

I am, as the verse from Exodus would imply, referring to the Ark of Moses. No African drums need apply. As for his contention that the departing Israelites wouldn't have had the technology to cover the box with gold - as I said, a big hard smooth rock and a stone hammer will get most of the job done...

James Arlen Gillaspie

Mmmm, nice tassets. They remind me of Brunswick stuff.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Yup, saw it. No sale. He says they wouldn't have had any gold? Exodus 12:35, 36. You can beat pure gold unbelievably thin, no problem.

James Arlen Gillaspie

There is a painting by Moroni that may be a bit late, but it might give you a clue as how to attach your voiders. I would have attached it, but it's too big. This will get you to it, however. http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/cgi-bin/WebObjects.dll/CollectionPublisher.woa/wa/work?workNumber=NG1022

James Arlen Gillaspie

An old trick to deal with low light is to take along a pair of the strongest small flashlights you can find.

James Arlen Gillaspie

In my experience, I have never seen a real legharness in which the greave was not attached to the poleyn, or was not so originally (the 'Sigismund gothic's' greaves originally did not have the side studs;someone put them in to attach them to another leg harness than the ones they originally went wit...

James Arlen Gillaspie

It looks to me like the bottom piece of the finger is a knuckle, and we're missing the long joint of the finger. It could be that that 'spur' is just the corner being bent outwards.

James Arlen Gillaspie

The Orsha painting has long been one of my favorites. I have to side with Zygulski, the author of the article, when he writes about the tonlets, "...this is surely artistic licence". One of the fellows is even wearing a grand bacinet! And if you are knocked down wearing a tonlet... well, g...

James Arlen Gillaspie

One of these days I'm going to write an essay on 'Interpreting Armour in Contemporary Art'. Tournament armour, such as 'frog-mouth' helms and tonlet skirts, routinely show up in battle scenes of the 15th and early 16th centuries. Most artists had never seen a battle up close, and so they often tende...

James Arlen Gillaspie

Some weed burners come with three nozzles that are graduated in size. This is the way to go (though you might need to replace the cheap hose), as you will have a tip for any need you might have when it comes to armour. The big tip and some refractory 'wool' will work for raising. I've burned some me...

James Arlen Gillaspie

Is the armour you are thinking of in Wien?

James Arlen Gillaspie

You may not have got what you went for, but you came back with some good detail shots. Thanks!

James Arlen Gillaspie

A number of plate gauntlets from the first half of the 15th c. at Schloss Churburg appear to retain mail fingers. It certainly shows that separate mail fingers were believed to be worth bothering with at that time. Not sure how useful that is for reading backward into earlier times, though.

James Arlen Gillaspie

I'm with Jean Paul de Sens. Oven mitts may not be cotton padded linen (which would be MUCH cooler), but they at least aren't foam and are quick, cheap and dirty (99 cent store).

James Arlen Gillaspie

I usually start classroom presentations with questions of my own; 'How many of you think that if knights were knocked over that they couldn't get up again? How many of you think they needed cranes to get onto their horses? How many of you think that swords weighed over ten pounds? (pause) EVERYTHING...

James Arlen Gillaspie

Got this Czech one, too.

James Arlen Gillaspie

No flames, huh? This is a black sallet Peter Finer was selling awhile back.

James Arlen Gillaspie

And another of Jean sans Peur's.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Sure enough, Mac is right about the gorget plates. Note, however, the difference in breaths on the left side of the visor. Just to muddy the waters, here's a pic'of Jean sans Peur's monument; his GB's visor has breathes on BOTH sides.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Nope, it's in the Bargello, in Florence. It's VAST. It's so vast you could use it for a planetarium.

James Arlen Gillaspie

It occurs to me that I haven't seen a great deal about the arms and the legharness in print, and just how 'Bashfordized' they were.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Armourers by Matthias Pfaffenbichler would be a reasonably accessible beginner's introduction.

James Arlen Gillaspie

You see those things on the shoulders? F'GET ABOUT 'EM!!

James Arlen Gillaspie

Inside the Empire itself, we shouldn't forget Nuremberg and Landshut, with Nuremberg particularly producing a lot of material.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Check out those two websites Dr. Carloni has with his signature!

James Arlen Gillaspie

So... That really is the correct date on the initial post?

James Arlen Gillaspie

The short answer is, there is no roll at the tops of the cuisses. Go figure.

James Arlen Gillaspie

I'm selling off a couple of catalogs of a traveling loan exhibition the Metropolitan Museum of Art had going back in the '50's; 'Medieval and Renaissance Arms and Armor'. There are some armours that are no longer on display (though some pieces are), which are interesting, and one that is that was pr...

James Arlen Gillaspie

OOOO, my EXTREMELY bad. Tasha is correct; I had badly misremembered how far back Harmand goes. There are only isolated smatterings, though some are quite tantalizing. Reverseau's book Les Armes et la Vie has a little, but good luck finding it unless you live near Chicago. It is really, really odd th...

James Arlen Gillaspie

Harmand's book, Jeanne d'Arc; ses Costumes son Armures would be a nice simple pictorial introduction, as it covers a lot of 14th c. material. Try interlibrary loan.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Yes, I'd lean closer to c. 1500, myself. Not that it couldn't be as late as 1515, but there's not much to keep it from being a lot earlier, either. The immense hinges on the upper cannons are pretty odd, though. They don't make much sense.

James Arlen Gillaspie

Well... I've drafted a design, and am thinking I will FINALLY start on it next week...

James Arlen Gillaspie

Ditto on the tempered steel. This head to foot harness weighs less than forty pounds. Be sure to find someone who knows his heat treating, though; there is great variability in the product depending on who's doing it.

James Arlen Gillaspie

There is only ONE plate maker whose work I have examined that showed evidence of careful, measured attention to symmetry... Lorenz Helmschmid, maker of the famous 'Sigismund' gothic. I have been to twenty important armour collections, seventeen in Europe, and have examined I can't even count how man...

James Arlen Gillaspie

A harness of Heinrich von Rantzau in Vienna shows this sort of bevor. I'm used to seeing them displayed with a burgonet, however, rather than a closehelm.

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