The Armour Archive

Tibbie Croser

(I misspelled the author's name---it's Millia---and the book is called The Book of Costume, I think.) I wondered if the brigandine would be worn under a cuirass because the torso seems to be made of leather, possibly light leather, with no evidence of metal plates inside. If the torso was not protec...

Tibbie Croser

In my copy of Milia Davenport's History of Costume, I saw a photo of a 1550s Italian brigandine from an unnamed museum. What seemed unusual was that garment had long sleeves and short skirts of brigandine construction, plus a matching brayette or codpiece, but the torso appeared to be plain smooth l...

Tibbie Croser

Duke Alaric, since you're in Atlantia, you should talk to some of the knights who also do rapier, e.g., His Majesty Vladimir and Duke Logan. Also talk to the White Scarves who also do heavy fighting. They can give you the most up-to-date perceptions of Atlantian rapier vs Atlantian rattan. Rapier ha...

Tibbie Croser

This question was partly inspired by the Historic Enterprises website: "Beginning in about the twelfth century, blue signified excellence and appeared with increasing importance in heraldry and literature. By the beginning of the 14th C., blue represented the virtues of humility, loyalty, coura...

Tibbie Croser

Some men's shirts of the Renaissance do fasten with ties, or points. So do women's smocks/shifts. They're not laced like a Renfaire corset, though, if that's what you mean. I agree that "sharp" and "blunt" would be more accurate in talking about steel weapons than "live stee...

Tibbie Croser

I know that light blue was cheap. It was therefore used by servants, apprentices, peasants, and other common folk. So much so that it was associated with them and upper-class people would not wear light blue. I gather that heraldic azure was a fairly deep blue. I gather also that very dark blues wer...

Tibbie Croser

Which breastplate are you referring to?

Thanks for the link. Great stuff on there.

Tibbie Croser

Konstantin, I'm a bit puzzled by your references to three-weapon masks with leather on the back and foil masks with mesh on the back. I fight SCA rapier, though I haven't done modern sport fencing, but from what I understand, current fencing masks all have to meet the same standard of strength; ther...

Tibbie Croser

It looks like the word in the original address given by Brand is "refunds," not "refund." Does that make a difference?

Tibbie Croser

Where did you find pure silk velvet?

Tibbie Croser

Sir Vitus, that was brilliant and explains a great deal. It's unfortunate that these great armor artists even try to be businesspeople. In another field, they would develop patterns and designs and then license them to practical people who would take orders and carry out the work. Great craftsmen an...

Tibbie Croser

As an option, you might offer a "female" version of a newbie kit, proportioned for women's bodies, including short or thin women. Armor that fits women, designed by a woman fighter---who else is doing *that*? I expect Jess would have really valuable ideas about armor for new female fighter...

Tibbie Croser

Check the website for Lord Grey's Retinue also. James B. has put up some articles on jacks there.

I'm interested in jacks myself; I look forward to hearing about the process of construction.

Tibbie Croser

Speaking of "alla antica" armors, in Alan Young's book Tudor and Jacobean Tournaments, there is a period drawing from the mid-1500s of two knights in foot combat (without barriers) wearing Roman-inspired armor: their breastplates resemble musculatae and the faulds resemble pteruges.

Tibbie Croser

So parade helmets often had open faces? OK, that explains the open faces on a number of fancy 16th-century helmets I've seen in other Internet pictures from museums. Some of these open-face designs strike me as ones that could be adapted for SCA patterns with the addition of removable grills or perf...

Tibbie Croser

Thanks very much; I really enjoy the unusual pieces of armor during the transition from the 15th- to 16th-century styles. I especially like the Karl V suit, and most especially the helmet. Would that be considered a late armet or an early close helm? What sort of faceplate(s) would have gone with it...

Tibbie Croser

[quote="audax My helm is not made from stainless. It's mild steel. I just keep it clean, like I'm supposed to. The cheek and backplates are safety equipment, required by SCA rules. To cast aspersions upon me for conforming to the safety regulations is perverse. The grill is not spray painted, i...

Tibbie Croser

Such a hoax seems pointless...unless the person is giving away someone else's stuff without permission or stuff that was not legitimately acquired.

Tibbie Croser

Also, denverfabrics.com is currently selling coating wool in red and yellow for $14 a yard if that helps.

Tibbie Croser

What sorts of people tended to buy secondhand armor and weapons? Also, was old or no-longer-fashionable armor handed down to lower-ranking retainers from their superiors?

Tibbie Croser

Some 16th-century leg armor is attached by straps to the faulds or cuirass. Do a search on the Archive; this topic came up earlier in the year, I think.

Tibbie Croser

Lordeduffy, you could check the message boards at Dagorhir.com. I know someone in my Dagorhir unit made a two-part breakdown spear, and the same principles might be applied to a halberd. It's not an easy thing to do, though. What LARP is it for?

Tibbie Croser

Sorry if this is an obvious question, but does the perf plate meet the SCA Society specifications for Cut and Thrust? I'm asking since not all WMA products sold by other vendors are SCA legal. Can you also do Cut and Thrust versions of some of your other helms, i.e., with perf plate and maybe a ligh...

Tibbie Croser

That's quite a decent burgonet. If only it had a perforated-plate face rather than the bargrill, you could easily sell it for SCA Cut and Thrust or for WMA. I don't do heavy fighting, only rapier, or I'd be strongly interested, since I have a small head myself and like late-period helms.

Tibbie Croser

Hmm... how about making your fight even cooler by doing it on a plank over a moat filled with hungry alligators?

Tibbie Croser

Very nice. How common historically was the plackart-type plate at the bottom of the breastplate?

Tibbie Croser

Konstantin, the other factor is the need for mass and weight in the helmet to resist the powerful swings, right? Say that someone made a 16-gauge helmet in top-quality spring stainless that could resist dents for many years. It would still be considered "unsafe" for rattan fighting because...

Tibbie Croser

I found my pump-up song the other day on the radio as I was driving to Storvik Baronial Birthday (Atlantia): "Just a Girl" by No Doubt. Great angry-chick song for a female fighter.

Tibbie Croser

To be a later-period pedant: jack describes various things. A 15th-century jack could be made out of multiple layers of cloth with no hard reinforcement. A jack could be stuffed with mail. A jack could be stuffed with soft stuff. A jack (of plates) could have small metal or horn plates laced togethe...

Tibbie Croser

In regard to rule changes, I had gathered from the SCA Missile Combat Yahoo group list that the revised heavy combat marshal's handbook that came out late last year had been two years or more in the making and that changes had been discussed extensively among the Kingdom Earl Marshals as well as the...

Tibbie Croser

Rapier is another form in which safety depends very much on the control of the person wielding the weapon. An excessively hard rapier thrust has the potential to cause injury, even if the blade doesn't break. The "heavy" rapiers now used in the SCA are not foils or epees. They can be fairl...

Tibbie Croser

How accurate was the costuming in A Man for All Seasons (1966, I think)? I watched that on video in high school English class back in the early '80s when we read the play. It hooked me on the Renaissance. I knew nothing about Ren costuming at the time, but the costumes and sets were sumptuous. I hav...

Tibbie Croser

Sorry you were kingless. Tsar Vladimir was already committed to Storvik Baronial Birthday, where we had melee fighting based on the Hundred Years War. We, too, had cool, cloudy weather. We didn't have the dayboard you guys did, apparently.

Glad you had a good time and the event was enjoyable.

Tibbie Croser

I'm very pleased that you're expanding your 16th-century line. Will you be adding the Landsknecht gorget to the site? The information for the Landsknecht breastplate says that the gorget is sold separately, but I couldn't find it with the other gorgets. That gorget looks very appealing for rapier or...

Tibbie Croser

The reason that I don't think "huslyn" means a sallet or celata is that the quotation from The Great Warbow including the word "huslyn" is from about 1560, and I'm not sure celatas, let alone sallets, were still in use by then. On the other hand, the word "sallet" turns...

Unusual historical brigandine

Use of dark blue in 15th/16th c. clothing?