The Armour Archive

Mord

Having just bought and put together lamellar for armor, I can't say much. The real quesiton is: what is your lamellae going to be made of: metal? leather? plastic? I've had experiences with all three... Metal: I have not found metal lamellae that is worth it. The metal-galvanized steel cut-up the co...

Mord

All my combat shields are plywood And depending on what I make them for they are different thicknesses. Good sturdy shield I can also use for SCA - 1/2 Nice light shield that holds up to moderate abuse - 3/8 (like those pictured above) Destructo shields for dramatic show fights - 1/4 The bosses, ra...

Mord

Halvgrim wrote:
meaddrinker wrote:Looks like it's time for a new shield.

Yeah I go thru about 5 a year.

Halv

How much does that cost you? What materials do you use?

Mord.

Mord

Fortunately, I've never heard (or read) or the Gannholm Brothers. Thank you, Ny Bjorn. Gywn Jones, early (pp 24-26) in "A History of the Vikings" discusses, briefly, the Svear or the Svea. He states that Tacitus and Jordanes wrote about them. Btw, I am only using G. Jones because he's handy and has ...

Mord

Very, very nice. Could you post a front view?

Mord.

Mord

As you get older, I've found that slow work helps warm me up for fighting. About 30 second to a minute before a practice, etc. I've done a little slow work over the years to keep my technique in form and to figure out a new shot, etc. But slow work is useless unless it goes inconjunction with actual...

Mord

A brief aside: Earlier, someone mentioned the Svear... does anyone know about when that area went from being Svear and Gotar to Swedes? Thanks, Dalla The Svear are a vague tribe that lived in Pre-Viking Sweden. I think there is some meantion of them in "Beowulf." They might have been the Geat's ene...

Mord

It certainly does not look like any of the arrowheads I've seen from 1000 years ago. This is not to say that the item is not medieval--to my very inexperienced eye, it looks like a crossbow bolt arrowhead.

I wouldn't buy it.

Mord.

Mord

See, its times like these when I want to take advantage of the Universities benifits of going back to school on their dime;) Just to learn a few new languages. I have access to so much that I cant read...errrrr! Halv So, do they have any openings in their library? Mord (offically pooped for today!)

Mord

Mord Last I spoke with Peter (owner/operator or BT) he had gotten a real job and was tapped for time to operate BT on a full time basis. What is it you want to know exactly? I used to be his US distributor, perhaps I can answer your question? Halv Thanks, Halv. Shoes. Shoes that I can use for fight...

Mord

[quote="Charles O'Connor"]On the ending date for the "Viking" period: Would Magnus (Olavsson) BerrfÃ‡Â¿tt (Barelegs) who was the grandson of Harald Hardarda and was King of Norway from 1093 to his death in 1103 be considered a Ã¢â‚¬Å“VikingÃ¢â‚¬Â

Mord

That's the problem, I know that heraldry didn't exist till much later. I'm just trying to figure out what I could do if I wanted to register some sort of device through the College of Heralds. ~Folcric Ah! Now I see...Once upon a time, the group I was in had a new Herald who would not stop pesterin...

Mord

[quote="BlackRabbit"]Hmmm I am unsure Sir Mord, currently the front runner for leader of the Aesir forces is His Royal Highness Trimaris, Baldar. However, before asking him for your Ã¢â‚¬Å“expensesÃ¢â‚¬Â

Mord

pay? I don't understand what you mean Sir Mord ... or is this one of those rhetorical questions about what happens to the Aesir team if they lose ... if you are referring to pre-reg, it should be up this week. No, no, no...I mean are the Aesir willing to pay for my services on their side? Unless it...

Mord

Does anybody have any info on when these folks' website is going to come back up? Also, has anybody used their shoes/boots for fighting? Yup, I'm getting frustraited.

Thanks,

Mord.

Mord

Sounds like fun. So, how do the Aesir pay?

Mord.

Mord

Hmmm... Thanks for the tip, Ny Bjorn. Pay day is coming...

Mord.

Mord

Good Morning! I now had coffee, so I am somewhat coherent! Last night I consulted J. Brondsted's "The Vikings" and G. Jones "A History of the Vikings." Brondsted's work has small translations of Adam of Bremen's work; it turns out that Adam did indeed seem to have visited Denmark. Btw, the his work ...

Mord

The 7th century in Anglo-Saxon was a time of great change with the conversion of the 7 kingdoms to Christianity. The art of that time is usually called "insular," but is a combination of pagan germanic art (look at Sutton Hoo--but this is not the only place to look, just the most obvious) and Christ...

Mord

Folks, I haven't found what Halvgrimr posted, but I did find this: Allen, WED. "The Poet and the Spea-Wife: an attempt to reconstruct al-Ghazal's embassy to the Vikings." London and Dublin: Viking Soceity for Northern Research, 1960. OCLC #: 8682927. Reasonably available. Sounds like interesting rea...

Mord

Conversely, I have a vague memory of reading somewhere (sorry, I don't remember) about Arabs who visited the North Lands (Denmark) and noted the inhabitants wore make-up, drank a lot, and had awful singing voices. I have heard very little else about this source. Mord. I beleive you are refering to ...

Mord

Years ago, I did a bibliography on arms and armor. A partial revision is on barhus.org. Look under Mord's stuff.

Mord.

Mord

Concerning Adam of Bremen: his "Gesta Hamburgensis..." (The History of the Church in Hamburg) is in the "Moumenta Germanicae Historiae." Called the MGH by the pros, Adam, as far as I can tell, is in Volume 2. It's been years since a I use the MGH, even longer since I tried to read Latin. Oy. Also, a...

Mord

How were horses kept? Were they kept inside a stable or outside? Did they have stalls? Also... what did the horses "wear"? I've seen the armor, but what about when they weren't in battle? I'm sure there's regalia... but was there anything that was standard, everyday tackle? Any help would be apprec...

Mord

My methodology it to see what is written first to provide context for other information. I would think the writings of Adam of Bremen (1060-1070) would be useful, and also Saxo Grammaticus though he wrote around 1200. I tend to trust their writings more than the sagas Ã¢â‚¬â€œ but always with a cri...

Mord

Mord, you ask an interesting set of questions. The term Viking is useful when one has 50 minutes to cover an era in a Western Civilization class, but most historians I know want more precise terminology. As an historian myself, I study social change over time. Therefore the issues of where and when...

Mord

Second, I found an article: Barrett, James et al. "What was the Viking Age and When did it Happen? A view from Orkney." Norwegian Archaeological Review (periodical). 2000, Vol. 33; #1, pp. 1-39. Gotta go! Mord. -WOW THANKS MORD! I was doing a search in our online catalogue for this pub and not only...

Mord

Folks, First, thanks for all your responses. A couple of thoughts: First, it seems that many believe that the word "viking" means to go raiding--as in "off a-viking' we go. Gywn Jones in his book "A History of the Vikings" begins by discussing the murky origins of this word, but myquestion is this: ...

Mord

I will have to do a quick check of the Gjermundbufundet (here at work) but if its like the rest of the extant pre Viking Age shirts its a lump of corroded iron and we have no way of telling how long it was or the length of the sleeves. Halv Haven't we had this conversation before? I certainly remem...

Mord

Not to be too picky about this, folks, but The WORLDCAT (complete title: The World Catalog) is the "civilian" version of OCLC (Online Computer Library Center), which is pretty much used by all the "professional" for interlibrary loan and catalogging purposes. You have to subscribe to Worldcat. There...

Mord

Aw, c'mon, Mord...you know you want it... Well, I do. I even measured my head--23 inches. The spangen is for heads of 22.5. I've had helms that don't fit my head, and the scars to prove it across my nose. Almost breaking you schnooz when getting is no fun. In fact, it's very, very scary. You feel l...

Mord

I'll see you Monday, the 21st at fight practice.

Mord.

Mord

Since my department is short staffed (for various reasons) today, I am stuck sitting on a day which sunny and I should be doing something else--even if it is cold. Most of this stuff has been rolling about my head for a couple of years. I have a lot problems when I look at the Vikings. The first pro...

Mord

Com'on folks these are beautiful helms--

Arg. I also found out I have a 23 inch head, so I'm out of the running.

Mord.

Mord

I have a vague memory of an article in one of the Royal Armouries Yearbook (one of the first 3 or 4) that might help with your paper. I'm sorry I forget the exact citation.

I'll see if I can find it.

Mord.

Birka Traders...

Re: Stable?

Thinking about the vikings