The Armour Archive

Black Swan Designs

Ken, I'm not certain what you're looking for, but this article seemed pretty informative. [url=http://www.academicapparel.com/caps/GraduationGownHistory.html]The History of Academical Dress in Europe Until the End of the Eighteenth Century[/url] Justus, I hope you didn't think I was ridiculing you f...

Black Swan Designs

Let me explain the process of becoming a falconer [snip] Anyway, only after two full years of that will you have a General license Do you know why the rules for hawking/falconry are so much simpler in England? I don't know what they are but I know when I started repeating some of what I knew of the...

Black Swan Designs

I suspect the answer is much like it would be for other depictions- "sometimes yes and sometimes no, based on context". I intentionally left this one out because it seemed obvious to me that the artists depicted the 5 kings with their crowns on over their mail coifs to identify them as the kings in ...

Black Swan Designs

It's a good thing my cat was sitting between me and the computer when I read that. I can mop up the cat and the wall, but it's difficut to get coffee out of the keyboard.

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

Yeah, some are pretty obscure (the "crown" ones confound me) but some seem pretty straightforward. I'm going to play around and see if I can get the "hood as hat look" worked out. It's pretty ubiquitous and should be simple. There are boatloads of white belts in both the Mac Bible and Manessa, but t...

Black Swan Designs

Like I said, the myth is protected by powerful mojo. Beware the Voodoo Gods of the Coif!

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

13th C., from the Maciejowski Bible (c.1250, Paris) [img]http://www1.tip.nl/~t401243/mac/mac08rX.jpg[/img] [img]http://www1.tip.nl/~t401243/mac/mac25rB.jpg[/img] 14th. C, Psalter of Robert de Lisle, (c.1310, England) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v87/finkas/3Living3Dead_LislePsalter.jpg 14th C.,...

Black Swan Designs

Simple hat [img]http://www.manesse.de/img/109.jpg[/img] Another version of a simple hat and hood [img]http://www.manesse.de/img/116.jpg[/img] Hats for hawking [img]http://www.manesse.de/img/032.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.manesse.de/img/125.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.manesse.de/img/007.jpg[/img]

Black Swan Designs

Extremely stylish getup! [img]http://www.manesse.de/img/126.jpg[/img] Stylish hat [img]http://www.manesse.de/img/124.jpg[/img] Chaplet over stylish hair [img]http://www.manesse.de/img/091.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.manesse.de/img/088.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.manesse.de/img/102.jpg[/img] Crown-like h...

Black Swan Designs

GroÃŸe Heidelberger Liederhandschrift (Manesse Codex) Codex Palatinus Germanicus 848 UniversitÃ¤tsbibliothek Heidelberg c. 1315 Crowns, coifs, hoods and hats [img]http://www.manesse.de/img/004.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.manesse.de/img/120.jpg[/img] Hoods worn as hats [img]http://www.manesse.de/img/0...

Black Swan Designs

Maciejowski Bible c.1250 Paris Pierpont Morgan Library. Ms. 638 A selection of headwear for men and women [img]http://www1.tip.nl/~t401243/mac/mac17.jpg[/img] Workmen wearing coifs [img]http://www1.tip.nl/~t401243/mac/mac03rA.jpg[/img] Agricultural workers wearing coifs and straw hats [img]http://ww...

Black Swan Designs

Ken- is this what you're thinking of? MEDICO DELLA PESTE Traitional Carnival character, the "Plague Doctor". The mask with the long beak is made to keep in it substances and aromas that it was believed would have protected the doctor from getting contaminated from the plague. [img]http://www.delpian...

Black Swan Designs

Chronicles
Jean Froissart
Bib. Nat. Fr. 2644
1470

Chronicles
Jean Froissart
1470
Bib. Nat. Fr. 2644, fol. 159v
The Killing of Wat Tyler
[img]http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~jhsy/pr1.jpg[/img]

Black Swan Designs

I second that! Ken, buzz your head and just get on with it. Your hair is fine. No coif, but but hats are groovy.

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

I have seen balding and cropped hair on the wealthy, I just don't remember ever seeing any artwork showing a commoner with a shaved head. Can we agree to agree that for the sake of this argument period "cropped" = modern "shaved"?. It's difficult to debate unless the parameters are defined. If we a...

Black Swan Designs

You must have missed this comment- Gwen, who has thought about this issue quite a bit more than one might expect, given the 'Bald King of the Middle' ruckus she inadvertently started in July... When all of that went down I had to reexamine my attitude-- in detail. I hit the books and found loads of ...

Black Swan Designs

Right, I understood being bald for you is a choice, not a necessity. However, the point I failed to make was to a wide-eyed child, you're a bald guy like Sassetta, regardless of why you're bald. You say "which seems to be non- historical look for a man at arms at the start of the 15th century", and ...

Black Swan Designs

If you didn't take the sallet off, then you were wearing an arming cap under your helmet- no problemo! Besides, everyone has to make their own decisions about these things. I use non-historical fabrics for some of the Crescent stuff I do, so I'm not exactly a paragon of virtue. But don't tell anyone...

Black Swan Designs

It just looked so freaky to me to see my bald plate gleaming above my lowered bevor Not to sound like I'm chiding you (which I'm not), but what it comes down to is trading the opportunity to expose kids to a historically plausible picture of a bald man in a bevor for a vision that appeals to your v...

Black Swan Designs

Deer in any form of tanning that I have messed with is usually always nice and supple, with a spongy texture. Same here, which is why Jeff said deerskin wouldn't be a good choice to support the weight of a broadsword. He did say that the leather could be pre-stretched to minimize residual stretch a...

Black Swan Designs

Jeff and I kicked the deerskin belt thing around a bit and (jumping directly to the conclusion of the story) I was wrong in assuming that modern deerskin and medieval deerskin are/were the same in terms of weight, stretch, etc. Jeff correctly points out that we have no real idea how medieval leather...

Black Swan Designs

+G, you need to send that first address to Donald Trump!! (The man has more money than God, so why does he have what looks like a mop on his head????) I remembered where I could find a pic. of Jeff in the H.o.V.V.â„¢- behold Cabbage Head! [img]http://www.historicenterprises.com/sonora05/images/DSCN6...

Black Swan Designs

Yeah, but it would be cool to do, dontcha think? I don't know that I've ever seen anyone do a Manessa impression really well, all the way down to the hairstyle. As a matter of fact, I'm so interested in seeing this happen that I'm willing to offer significant aid to that end. Let me know if help is ...

Black Swan Designs

I hear ya man. I have until April to finish 3 more horse trappers that only got the saddle cloth part done for August because the whole project just exploded ambition wise.

We wind up with some awesome kit if we survive though, eh?

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

I know! Why settle for a baby bonnet when you could wear a Cat in the Hat hat instead?? Hats are awesome fashion accessories, and a perfect way to express your individuality. I wish I had a picture of the Hat of Vegetal Virilityâ„¢ that I made for Jeff- Toby said it looked like Jeff had a cabbage on...

Black Swan Designs

if I fake the gambeson it could be as little as half sleeves and a "dickey"! That's actually a really good idea. Make it sleeves and collar attached to a body, but the body only long enough to reach the bottom of your ribcage. If you do that, make sure it fits tightly, otherwise it's going to want ...

Black Swan Designs

Tres Riches Heures Duc de Berry c. 1415 Feast scene, January Loads of fabiola hats here http://www.mondimedievali.net/Image/00-gennaio.jpg Groovy cat in the hat chapeau here: [img]http://www.southern.net/wm/rh/img/april.jpg[/img] What sort of clothing are you going to wear with the hat? You'd need t...

Black Swan Designs

One could conjecture that the "squire" is wearing a black belt (hidden by the overhand of the tunic/gown) He *must* be wearing a belt, there's no other way of making the tunic blouse like that short of running a casing/drawstring in the middle of the garment. No evidence at all for that and the bel...

Black Swan Designs

I almost forgot- there was also the extremely informative/extremely juvenile Medieval Bald Guys thread. Believe it or not, there is actually some good stuff there under the detritus.

Gwen

Black Swan Designs

The almighty coif. Fits almost any period and western persona, they wore them everywhere including to bed and the bath. people commonly wore a head covering of some kind, in period. See Tim, I TOLD YOU SO!!!! It's some powerful mojo that keeps this myth alive in the face of so much evidence to the ...

Black Swan Designs

For convenience we have put this item up on our website.

Raw Silk Fabric

Thanks!

Gwen

Edited to add that the red silk has been sold but the yellow/green is still available.

Black Swan Designs

Raw silk for sale http://www.historicenterprises.com/misc/silk10-19-06.jpg New, first quality raw silk 45" wide $5 per yard (the price I paid for it) $125 for 1-25 yard roll blood red (first bath alizarin or cochineal) $135 for 1-27 yard roll yellow green (colour matched to first bath nettles morda...

Black Swan Designs

This is the wool I have- http://www.historicenterprises.com/misc/stripedwool10-19-06.jpg The stripes are 1/4", and it's a very fine washable wool blend. (burns like more wool than blend). Stripes are narrower than the Mannessa, so I don't know if it would work for you. I like it so I'll probably tak...

Black Swan Designs

Looks like a slit for my money. It's certainly not the same shape as the neck of the tunic worn by the guy behind him. I'd certainly consider doing a line of narrow white tape set back an inch or so around the collar What's this! Starting your own reenactor's myth?? How very dare you! I'm outraged t...

Black Swan Designs

[img]http://www.wga.hu/art/l/lorenzet/ambrogio/2s_louis.jpg[/img] Interesting! There's a chap in the balcony with a coif on as well. I wonder why the coif fabric seems so transparent, when the other whites are so dense. More things that make one go "Hmmmm...." I did notice that the Italians seem to ...

The wearing of crowns in the visual record

Headwear of the early 14th C.- Images from the Manessa Codex

Historical headwear of the 13th C- Images from the Mac Bible

Headwear of the late 15th C.- Images from Froissart

Raw silk for sale