The Armour Archive

Glen K

I'm selling my old Norman saddle (repro, of course), and thought I'd offer it to folks here first before I ebay it in the next couple of days. It is conjectural (of course), handmade, the tree of pine, covered in leather. It comes with modern stirrup straps, hand-made iron stirrups (not the best, bu...

Glen K

However, that's not what this thread is about, and I apologize to Glen for going astray. On the contrary! I feel that discussions such as these can only help LH in general and what I'm trying to do specifically (this is starting to look more like a book than a 'pamphlet'....). While military-focuse...

Glen K

then you found, it Magma... sorta. Coming (partially) from a CW background myself, I modified the original to fit the medieval mindset. [quote] The Medieval CampaignerÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s Manifesto Several years ago, a Civil War reenactor by the name of Nicky Hughes put down on paper the tenents of a growing m...

Glen K

It's lovely, for an all guy military-only group. Granted it's limited, but let's be honest: that's where a large part of the LH/reenactment crowd comes from. I'd still argue, however, that the tenants and ideas contained therein, if not the exact details, are applicable to pretty much any kind of l...

Glen K

Ok, a recent thread (and the previous several hundred just like it ) have caused me to pause and wonder what I can actually do to help and encourage proper living history interpretation on several different levels. To that end, I hereby pledge to gather sources and put to paper (er, electronic mediu...

Glen K

A good discussion overall. I think, though, that most of the posts have dealt "us" talking to one another, or helping along someone who is thinking about becoming one of "us". I believe that this is when certain issues with citations, etc. can be more important. In other words, we much consider the ...

Glen K

I know of one sub that Birkenstocks are the most common footwear.

That doesn't suprise me, coming from those Navy boys.....

Glen K

Think about like this, if in 400 years you were looking to reenact a 1960s sailor and sneakers were found in a sunken naval ship would you assume the navy wore sneakers? Well... sometimes they DID (and do) wear sneakers aboard ship. You don't have to climb through muck and mud aboard a sub or a des...

Glen K

What on Earth would a 5th-6th Romano-British soldier use for a tent?

My guess is that the great majority of them, on campaign, would have used the sky.

Glen K

[img]http://home.armourarchive.org/members/flonzy/images/LordGreys/MTA2005/full/PICT0027.jpg[/img]

Lord Jeff, passer-outer of arrows!

He's not much good in a fight, but he's so friendly we have to give him something to do in a battle...

Glen K

I wonder if David Niccole has comment on this... If he has, he probably attributes it to a development of Eastern/Muslim civilizations which the west copied... There are figures on the churck of La Medelien, in Vezeley, France that show a y-strap type attachment c. 1120. There's another church carv...

Glen K

A little provenance, please.

It's from the Maciejowski Bible.

Glen K

Abso-smurfin'-lutley! There's evidence for y-straps from almost the entire medieval period. That's what my Norman helmet has (with a tie closure) as well as my pot w/ faceguard (buckle closure).

Glen K

If you are doing 16th century styles of joust than in some of those it is perfectly period to use 'breakaway' lances. Solid lances were not used all the time and in fact were used in only a select few joust styles. Correct, but the style and type of breakaway lances used today are completely differ...

Glen K

Now I know you hard-core Living History and real-jouster folks will scoff at the fake styrofoam lances and other anachronisms. Part of me, purely on principle, does have to do so. On the other hand, NO group out there is doing actual jousting like they did in the day. Some of them use solid poles (...

Glen K

did the Scottish or English ever adopt any landsknect type armor? As Jason eluded to, there isn't really and "landsknecht type" armour, as everyone was getting their armour from the same two or three primary centers. There was the 'almain rivet', so-called because it was a German-made munition-type...

Glen K

Hmmm, their device counters the rules of "metal on metal..." Doesn't the pope's own device also break the "metal on metal" rules? Yes, it does. It is his perogative to do so, is widely accepted, and to my knowledge it is the only such accepted variation of metal-on-metal in the real world. Sort of ...

Glen K

I've often thought it would be a neat experience/experiment/project to base a reenactment group EXCLUSIVELY on the Mac Bible, i.e. use it as the one and only source. You could see how close you could get to looking exactly like some of the figures (wouldn't it be neat to see one of those illuminatio...

Glen K

Wow, Bascot, that's a stack o' nice kit; your "personal" kit outstretches mine by a long shot. I've basically got one nice "set" of clothes (underwear, tunic, hose, turnshoes, tablet-weave leg wraps, spurs, belt, knife, cloak) and pieces for about two more sets of "not so nice/loaner" clothing. As f...

Glen K

[quote]Okay, everybody repeat after me:

Ã¢â‚¬Å“We think thatÃ¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â

Glen K

m Living History" is taken to mean the efforts of history museums, historical societies, and other educational organizations to truly engage the public with the impact of history on their lives today. This is accomplished using historic objects and environs and appropriate recreations to tell the st...

Glen K

The Medieval CampaignerÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s Manifesto Several years ago, a Civil War reenactor by the name of Nicky Hughes put down on paper the tenents of a growing movement in Civil War living history: The CampaignerÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s Manifesto. The idea was that a person would interpret and experience the life of a...

Glen K

Mord, if we are not talking about the SCA, then why did Glen slam Pennsic, an SCA event? I was and have been only talking about tentage and its usage and documentation from a living history perspective. If you will care to examine the above posts carefully, it was you who brought up Pennsic in this ...

Glen K

Pretty much megadittoes on everything Tom said. And he said it far better than I have. I think maybe I will try sleeping outside at the MO event, unless the weather gets reeeeeeal bad. Me too. And that's all I'm saying: try it a couple of times. If you're at a private event, you can do anything you ...

Glen K

So, tell me, Glen, were you at last years Pennsic. One part of the second week it got down to 45 degrees at night. Then it rained. And rained. And rained. Tents were flooded. Roads were flooded. Entire camp sites were flooded. I'm surprised no one got really sick with all the cold and the rain. I g...

Glen K

Akmatov, I happily concede the point that medieval armies lost quite a few men, indirectly, to exposure etc. But in your argument I see one of the excuses/traps set by many to avoid having to camp in a more authentic manner: "exposure is dangerous, and could kill us like it did them, so for safety r...

Glen K

Without having the benefit of sitting right next to my sources, off the top of my head I believe they're first illustrated about AD 1030 or so (I'm thinking of the Apocalypse of St. Severus specifically). I'll check when I get home and confirm that if someone else doesn't in the meantime.

Glen K

Ours are Korean civil defence helms that we got for $13, I don't think anyone will miss them

They're not KOREAN civil defence helmets; they're WWII and Korean War ERA CD helmets, you sacrilegious history-destroying farb goober....

Glen K

I just KNEW Glen would have plenty to say on this one

I'd have more respect for your premonitions if I didn't have plenty to say on EVERYTHING.

Glen K

De Re Militari site:

http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/c ... arswar.htm

The ORB:

http://www.the-orb.net/wales/h3h03/h3h03b38.htm

Google, .37 second search for "hundred years war bibliography"

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%2 ... bliography

Glen K

This has been treated a couple of times on this forum: m m But I am always fond of rehashing the issue, because I find it so dang interesting! The question of haversacks and haversack-like-objects (HLO) are a central theme to something that is a constant source of interest and frustration to me for ...

Glen K

A lot of the illustrations also seem to have been made attempting to show mail shiney... sorta. Remember, "shine" is basically a function of light reflection, so (speculation forthcoming) compared to most other materials in period, anything metal that got a frequent cleaning was probably "shiney". A...

Glen K

Is it better to have a near-perfect personal portrayal that isn't a good fit with the group, or to portray a needed position while fighting difficulties in researching? For private or reenactment purposes, the former is probably more important. If you're trying to interpret to the public, I must em...

Glen K

Flittie, Actually, the amount of visual evidence for noble vs. non-noble material culture gets better the later you go in the medieval period, especially for military encampment-type settings; the literary sources also become quite rich. Besides, if we're presenting to the public don't we have an ob...

Glen K

Rain? Does rain kill? I mean, it sure is inconvenient, and uncomfortable, but if you're really curious as to what life was like back then, and what they went through, and getting into the "spirit" of the times, sleeping in the rain sure is authentic. Not to mention the fact that a simple bough shel...

Norman Saddle for sale

Living History Guidelines/How To