The Armour Archive

Steve S.

My quibble here would be that these are, technically, "coats of plates". A coat of plates is a textile/leather foundation garment with plates riveted or sewn to the inside. There are many styles of these kinds of garments, usually known by other names, some contemporary, some not, such as "jacks", "...

Steve S.

Hmm. I would think that it would be very hard to set such a rivet on a thin hollow tube without the wire inside the tube buckling and then you end up crushing the tube. Perhaps instead of soft, you need a harder wire?

Steve

Steve S.

That said from documents of the period COPs were super common for the elite and we see our first instances of commoners being issued them in the 1000s in France in the 1290s. By 1300 I do not think many knights would not have had one for themselves. By 1320 Blairs states it is nearly always in inve...

Steve S.

In my opinion, foundation garments are an essential part of making armour fit right, especially once plate armour starts making the scene. I started off fighting in the SCA with my 3/4 arm harness essentially just buckled to my arms. Of course they were always trying to ride down my arms. My leg har...

Steve S.

Here is a good starting point for research on Robert the Bruce:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_the_Bruce

Randall has covered the armour - you are looking at late 13th to early 14th century armour. Lots of maille, possibly some early transitional-era plate like a coat of plates.

Steve

Steve S.

Those are neat pictures, Karen, it looks like a coif worn under a hat. I would have thought those would be mutually exclusive.

Steve

Steve S.

That is, unless you're a crazy Russian and don't wear any armor on the back of your legs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZpad66xAoU It's interesting to see this evolution of the combat using weapons to take someone to their knees, though it looked incredibly dangerous the way that guy was hacking ...

Steve S.

Thanks for the links, Caius! That looks just like what we are looking for!

Steve

Steve S.

So we are contemplating getting into target archery.

I remember some years ago finding a place that sold "longbows" at reasonable prices. They were not hand-crafted, "real" longbows, but good approximations.

Anyone have any suggestions? I'd like to shoot something reasonably period-like.

Steve

Steve S.

Sadly you can see that BOTN is more about pushing people over. I was somewhat annoyed by this also - the hitting with people with weapons looked mostly like an unnecessary distraction. People where beating on each other pretty good but it was rare to see someone beaten to the ground - most of the t...

Steve S.

Cool, thanks!

Steve

Steve S.

Iron saddens the food...

I sure hate it when my food is sad!

Steve

Steve S.

Hey Rob, I still have the Pembridge-style of great helm you made. I contemplate selling it for money sometimes but I can't bring myself to let it go. It is awesome!

Steve

Steve S.

I think this is a good post, and it makes me consider some things I have seen over the years. It seems to me that there has been an increased awareness and appreciation of more "extreme" medieval combat sports. We've seen the rise of "real" jousting, and now Battle of Nations. I myself have perceive...

Steve S.

Tell us more about your pictured arm harness. Where did it come from?

Steve

Steve S.

That is a neat photo, Mac, I always assumed we were looking at the king's junk. It really is the braies casing. Mac, I generally don't unroll my waistband to use the john, I just untie the drawstring and slide the rolled assembly down en masse, then pull it back up and re-tie in the same position. B...

Steve S.

Do you have a particular image that you can post?

Just Mac bible stuff, like Ernst posted above.

Steve

Steve S.

Why do folks think that these early 14th C drawers were "rolled" at the top? Is assume that we are seeing a simple casing with a belt inside. Is there some piece of evidence that I am missing? Some of the images (and I'm thinking pre-14th century) have an awful big bundle to seem to be just a belt ...

Steve S.

Who says there is not a belt on under that roll?

It's possible, though I don't think it could be very wide if it is an actual "belt".

If it was wide, then I would think it would get very difficult to "roll" (flip end over end) down your torso.

It would be interesting to try.

Steve

Steve S.

The waist rolls on braies could be significant, and should not cut into the flesh in the way that a 2" leather belt does. I tried it. I made the braise gigantic . They came all the way up to my armpits. Then I would tie them and roll them down to my hips. It was tolerable, though still painful, for...

Steve S.

Here is how I did mine: http://forth-armoury.com/temp/mail1.jpg http://forth-armoury.com/temp/mail2.jpg http://forth-armoury.com/temp/mail3.jpg http://forth-armoury.com/temp/mail4.jpg In this incarnation, I created a loop of leather around the top of the leg opening. Through this I ran a heavy duty ...

Steve S.

There are coronets with holes punched all around the edge, presumably for some sort of cap/liner/padding.

This doesn't surprise me, but I don't think that is related to the issue at hand - wearing a crown over a linen coif.

Steve

Steve S.

One trick I found to help with the drying of water-wet maille, such as after cleaning with soap and water, is to hang it up on a rod and use a leaf blower to speed-dry it.

Do not try using heat to dry it, like putting it in an oven, as this will rust it like you would not believe.

Steve

Steve S.

At the suggestion of the folks from Historic Enterprises, I did an experiment with tallow soap that someone donated. It did not appear to offer much rust protection. http://www.forth-armoury.com/research/tallow/soap_experiment.htm It was a rather crude experiment though. I have had some luck dipping...

Steve S.

I have noticed over the last few years an increase in the number of folks wearing a linen coif or cap as headgear.

Was this a common kind of headgear for someone of noble station?

Also, would you wear such a garment under a crown?

Steve

Steve S.

I bought one last year for $60. But I'm holding onto it.

It won't be long and people will be machining their own.

Steve

Steve S.

I've got a round pavilion, with a hoop frame. I've never had a yurt, but all the ones I saw had wooden latticework walls plus a frame to support the roof. You can pack a pavilion in just about any vehicle. You need a trailer for a yurt. With a ropes-only pavilion, it packs even lighter, but you will...

Steve S.

It appears that the OP is talking about a quilted jack , and some of the responses are concerning jacks of plates . As Tom pointed out, the current thinking is that period quilted garments were probably quilted through the batting (stuffing). I have a gambeson made using "stuffed channels" and it is...

Steve S.

I gotta disagree, Haldan. There are a lot of people, myself included, who would not want to buy something that might be putting money in Brian's pocket. Customers may not "deserve" an answer, but a lot of them will put their wallets back in their pockets without one. I think Greg's question is a val...

Steve S.

In fact, I recently took over the web hosting duties for my N-SSA shooting team (http://www.4thla.com) which was originally a .org, but the previous guy who was maintaining the web site had some mental issues and was no longer able to do it. His wife was unwilling to try and bother him with trying t...

Steve S.

I've changed my own domains, or registrars, a couple of times and it was a pain in the ass. The problem was that the people who manage the domain are not necessarily the same people as your web host provider. I could not remember any of my account information when it came time to move the domain. Tr...

Steve S.

Also, as an aside, I have always found the whole "Revival" vs. "Revival.us" vs. "Chivalry Bookshelf" thing to be very confusing. I was never sure which entity was which or what the relationships were between any of them. I think it would have been smarter for Revival, and now Revival.us to change to...

Steve S.

The other than armor costs are actually much more than $2000. Consider the practice requirements. You will need to travel to your local regional practice, divisional practices and also 2 National practices. You will have to pay for transportation when you get to France. You will have to pay extra t...

Steve S.

Like I told my friend Murdock in a private message, if he really is separated from Brian Price and Revival.us is now his baby, he needs to scrub that web site immediately. Like this week.

Steve

Steve S.

I agree, a well-fitted suit of 14th century armour is not that expensive and there will not be much cost difference between an SCA version and a BOTN version, if any. About the only real difference is going to be I would want a much stouter helmet (12 ga) and I would want very, very good full gauntl...

Re: WHO MAKES A GOOD COAT OF PLATES?

Re: Rivet help

Re: Robert the Bruce

Re: gambeson, why and why not.

Re: Robert the Bruce

Re: Is it correct to wear a cap under a crown?

Re: Battle of the Nations 2013

Re: Where to buy "longbows"?

Where to buy "longbows"?

Re: Battle of the Nations 2013

Re: Speculation on the construction of splint legs

Re: Earliest Cast Iron Pots?

Re: Raised Norman Helmets

Re: Concussions and CTE

Re: Speculation on the construction of splint legs

Re: Holding up maille chausses, how did they do it?

Re: Holding up maille chausses, how did they do it?

Re: Holding up maille chausses, how did they do it?

Re: Holding up maille chausses, how did they do it?

Re: Holding up maille chausses, how did they do it?

Re: Holding up maille chausses, how did they do it?

Re: Is it correct to wear a cap under a crown?

Re: Well Kaboomed but now slightly rusted hauberk

Re: Well Kaboomed but now slightly rusted hauberk

Is it correct to wear a cap under a crown?

Re: WTB: AR15 Stripped Lower

Re: Pavillion or Yurt - looking for insight

Re: Stuffing an Armor Jack for SCA Heavy Fighting

Re: Chivalry Bookshelf-Author Resolution,or "Don't Buy My Bo

Re: Chivalry Bookshelf-Author Resolution,or "Don't Buy My Bo

Re: Chivalry Bookshelf-Author Resolution,or "Don't Buy My Bo

Re: Chivalry Bookshelf-Author Resolution,or "Don't Buy My Bo

Re: Making ACL or BOTN more affordable

Re: Chivalry Bookshelf-Author Resolution,or "Don't Buy My Bo

Re: Making ACL or BOTN more affordable