The Armour Archive

Mord

As I was working to sharpen up my "viking" kit for this last weekends local "Winter Thing" SCA event, I perused what I could find here on the web and discovered that re-enactors & living history folks have been reevaluating the data and previously accepted attitudes since "The Vikings: Recreated in...

Mord

I've done this. Since I don't have any talent for armoring, I used brass pins: have lots of them (since mistakes are easy). It worked, for a while, but I have to do some serious repairs to a belt. BTW, Studbuckle, great outfit (kit?)! Nice to meet last saturday; also, where'd you get the hat and the...

Mord

The longships were motorized (read M. Magnusson's "Viking!" now republished to look serious).

About the only thing that might have been accurate was the Oar Game--hopping from one oar to another without falling in.

Mord.

Mord

My persona is Early celt. 3rd or 4th cent. I am looking for body armour and it is kinda difficult when your persona probably didn't wear very much armour if any. I was thinking about some sort of breast plate under a tunic. Any suggestions would be appreciated. 3rd or 4th century what? AD? CE? BC? ...

Mord

Mead: You have to careful, most Indian helms I've seen are 18ga or thiner. what gauge is allowed for SCA? Helms have to be 16 gauge or lower. Most of the folks I know have 14. Alas, another reason why armor is expensive. The thicker the gauge, the harder it is to work and the longer it takes to mak...

Mord

Hey, Studbuckles, are you going to the viking event in BMDL? Mord. Yes, I will be there at least tomorrow. Are you attending? I will be the guy in the turqoise blue/black herringbone tunic, white and red plaid linen trousers---with my new Birka "Lyre" Purse a dangling. LOL Cheers, Tim If all goes w...

Mord

Meaddrinker, Asking questions is absolutely great! Keep it up! Really! Btw, I forgot another source: "The Long Haired Kings and other studies in Frankish History." by Wallace-Hadrill. Originally published in 1962, this book is getting a little old. Charlotte, Explaining approaches to the Franks, Mer...

Mord

StudBuckle wrote:Okay..HERE is that essay by Sir Dirk---VERY helpful and full of photographic examples.

http://www.jomsb.org/Dirk/newbelt/NorseBelts_web.htm

Cheers,
Tim

Nice essay. Very useful.

Hey, Studbuckles, are you going to the viking even in BMDL?

Mord.

Mord

Charlotte, I never said you were an idiot, and I am sorry if you took it that way. Has it occured to you that I have dug deeper? Furthermore, considering my education and my profession, that I know how to dig deeper? pssst... I was kidding. Hence the smiley. S'all good. I understand your profession...

Mord

Leather lamellar? I am not the expert, but I have a little knowledge. The lammellar I know of was made of iron (Birka, Byzantium, Russia, and other points East). I have also heard that lamellar was made of bronze, but this maybe ancient lamellar and not medieval. Leather has survived from the 600-10...

Mord

Are you sure it's a belt? It could be horse reins.

Mord.

Mord

Oh, boy, here I go... Yes, but you're missing Germany and all the German Scholarship that goes with it. This is nationalism at it's worst. France and Germany have been fighting about the Franks for centuries. Searching by nation does not give you a complete picture. Mord. Mord, I'm not a research i...

Mord

Charlotte, This is not as good a thought as it might seem with the Merovingians or with the Carolingians. The problem is that these folks--generally called the Frank--lived in what is now Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, etc. Searching by the name of the country does not necessarily give you what...

Mord

Whoooow, I'm gonna have to put my nose in some books. "Merovingian"? Mead, It seems to me that you've picked a "thing" or fashion that you like, and you're working to put it in a place and time. Might I suggest, that you may find it easier to go the other way. Pick a country, and a time frame, and ...

Mord

A couple of years ago, before tendonitous really got to me, my swords were 37 1/2 inches long. I experimented with length for a couple of years before settling on that length. Now I use a 36 inch sword. The longest sword was 40 inches and made out an old six foot glave. I put the lightest basket I c...

Mord

Orc wrote:Sir Mord, is it a shield?
ooh, no, sudden thought a spear?

Bingo, Orc. A shield.

Mord.

Mord

My good friends in House Von Halstern also have hockey jerseys. They're very cool.

Mord.

Mord

D. Sebastian wrote:Not sure if its period...

Pinkish in color and hairs on its bottom.
It stands erect in a bed, and is sure to make a Nun cry.

I will only say that this is based on a Anglo-Saxon riddle.

Mord.

Mord

meaddrinker wrote:
Sir Mord wrote:I lived in peace
'til iron came my way
now I'm in the hall
and will save your life.
What am I?

Ok, a riddle, Folks, not a very good one.

Mord.

An axe?

Nope, but very close.

Mord.

Mord

I lived in peace
'til iron came my way
now I'm in the hall
and will save your life.
What am I?

Ok, a riddle, Folks, not a very good one.

Mord.

Mord

grim - bread (or dough) is correct. Your first, is it a needle? Have to think about second. Sir Mord . I know Tolkien was The AS chair. You only have to look at a lot of his place names also, to see the influence. I like riddles, not always good at them though . Come Sir Mord, test our wit! PS - Sm...

Mord

Key it is. WHo mentioned Tolkien? It's just a fun Anglo-saxon Riddle. How about.... I'm told a certain object grows in the corner, rises and expands, throws up a crust. A proud wife carried off that boneless wonder, the daughter of a king covered that swollen thing with a cloth. Not Sir Mord He's g...

Mord

It's a key, I believe. This is an old riddle from Anglo-Saxon; the Exeter Book, I think. Where else did you think Tolkien got all this from?

Mord.

Mord

Talbot, could you show me an example of art that COULD be used on the bands of a spangen? Thanks SO again I ask? Meaddrinker, again I think you need to state the time and the place. Do you mean spangenhelms from Frankish Merovingian graves of the 5th and 6th centuries? There was certainly decoratio...

Mord

We got a bit off topic here. Why doesn't someone split this off into another topic with a title something like "What are the dates of the middle ages" or something. I knew I 'd get some people riled up but I never thought it would be about the dates. As to the dates--my bad. Now lets get back to th...

Mord

Ok, The so-called decline of Rome and the so-called "fall" of the Western Roman Empire has been blamed on everything from a mercenary army (Rome hires the barbarians) to lead pipes (decline in intelligence and birth rate) to massive volcanic eruption (resulting in the destruction of crops, thus resu...

Mord

Well, of course, the first reason I had (when I was 20) for fighting was glory--and all that goes with it (girls,fame,girls,machismo,girls). The second reason was belonging. Like Animal, I was a fat nerdy kid who read philosophy, etc. Most of the world thought this was werid, but SCA either thought ...

Mord

Insular Art (which contains "Celtic Knotwork") of the Early Middle Ages suffers from a variety mis-interpretations and misnomers. The only idea (concept?) that suffer from more mis-interpretations and misnomers is the word "Celtic." The definition of the word seems to vary from person to person. Loo...

Mord

Great Gods, folks. Why so complicated? I just call it fighting. Within the context of the SCA and me, everyone seems to know what I'm talking about, if they even care.

Mord.

Mord

Well, not exactly armor. It's a shield handle, made of sheet metal more than 10 years ago and has served me through thick and thin. Alas, the metal started to tear between the flange and the side of the thing. The welds are in good shape. Says something about craftsmanship, doesn't it?

Mord.

Mord

D.,

A. Like the pauldrons. Very nice. Can you provide documentation?

B. Some cute baby is Nikoli! Love the expression on his face in the first photo! So how does he react to your Marine Dress Blues?

Mord.

Mord

I just did a search on abe.com a good place for used books, i was stunned to see that they had 2 copies, one was 114.00 the other almost 90.00, i guess it must be out of print and hard to find, go figgure i paid like 20.00 for mine, ill try and put together a short list for you of more affordable b...

Mord

I just checked "frojel.com." Gallery 32 has 3 photos of knife sheathes. The leather looks tooled--it certainly is decorated. However, the sheathes in the photos look to be reproductions.

Mord.

Mord

I saw several examples from Jorvik and in the '81(?) Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibit. However, I will note that while the patterns were moderately complex, the tooling was not all that sophisticated. Also, one of the knife sheathes was full of "knotwork" mistakes, missing a number of crossings a...

Mord

I'm reading this and wondering to myself what would be worse:getting hit in the head or getting hit in the leg. I think the head would be a more damaging target personally. But we swing at people's heads all the time. We get hit in the head all the time. Well, some of us more than others, but you s...

Re: Dispelling Modern Viking Reenactor Gafs

Re: Body armour

My last piece of Mac Made armor has died...