The Armour Archive

chef de chambre

Well, you can have whatever opinion you like, but your current one is incorrect for a variety of reasons. 1.The form as you see here is fully developed, and is contemporary with helmets made long past the developmment of the Great bascinet (1440-1450) 2. There is no indication this ever mounted an a...

chef de chambre

I don't know, Wade, There has been a few decade long fad at least to 'suspect' any piece that is unique or unusual in any way, and falling outside of the 'German', or 'Italian' schools, which is just as bad as taking any odd bit and labling it 'Flemish', as was the habit before. I think as I recolle...

chef de chambre

I was writing a long post, but we had a power fluctuation, and the damned computer shut down. IN brief, there has been question if that helmet, or the visor is authentic. There is more question if the two ever were together before the 19th century. I think the helmet at least is genuine, because it ...

chef de chambre

The problem is worse when you consider that relying on art, the earlier it is in the specific context of the later Middle Ages, the less reliable it is in detail, and perspective. What you take for a detail not present on a piece is just as likely an artists ommission than not.

chef de chambre

I'll try to track down the reference. It isn't the entire ordinance (I believe of Charles VII, 1440's - not his companies of ordinances, but ordinances for manufacture of armour in Tours and or Lyons), it is a translated snippet in an article, with a footnote. The problem is that I've read hundreds ...

chef de chambre

The English weren't known for their armouring traditions in the way the Germans and Italians were, so depending on who/what you're trying to represent with your impression, it would be perfectly reasonable to find armour imported from these areas for the particularly wealthy. This is especially tru...

chef de chambre

Robert of Canterbury wrote:"the Lightning closure was invented in the 1870s "

From the Bottle collectors version of the Archive,

http://www.sha.org/bottle/closures.htm

which gives the Grolsch Swingtop as dating to 1897

Yup, bingo - last of the 19th century.

chef de chambre

I wish I could see its side. Talbot (Doug Strong) could give you as tighter date, but the visor seems early 15th century from this angle.

chef de chambre

Go for a Lowland Scot - "Highlanders" have been done to death. OUtside of Gallowglaich, getting harness to meet SCA requirements is problematic, because the vast bulk of highlanders weren't wearing any. The vast bulk of them weren;t carrying a whole crapload of weaponry, either. This is a ...

chef de chambre

Historically, you would be wearing a haubergeon as the foundation of whatever torso armour you finally consider. There is the only solitary example of the segmented Churburg breastplate extant, and one or two images in art. A late tailored coat of plates (waisted, like a brigandine, not the early tu...

chef de chambre

THe thing to know about junks, or basic far east seagoing vessels is that when they were first designed, they had features far away ahead of Western ships, with hulls being compartmentalized, a very efficient sailing rig, and a bunch of good features with few vices (hey, modified junk sailing rigs h...

chef de chambre

I think you are thinking that they are taller than they are being depicted, and are being decieved by the lack of capability of the artist in regards to perspective, as well as the tendancy to draw larger objects deemed to be more important in the depiction. Note most people in them are depicted sea...

chef de chambre

You will also find similar tops on medieval covered wagons. Bingo. I'd bet you a beer that this is *exactly* what they are - you don't need so elaborate a framework for a tent, and if you are hauling goods in a wagon with a cover, and you are attending a seasonal market, it makes perfect sense to d...

chef de chambre

So I came across this in the book Chronicles of the Age of Chivalry (Great book for people who like the 14th century and want a sample of medieval chronicles by the way, with some great articles as well). This is a form of the temporary structures in medieval market scenes; see m for several exampl...

chef de chambre

Well, it wasn't a childs game. I actually read it in a credible source, with footnotes and all, although I can't remember if it is an unpublished thesis, or a published book.

chef de chambre

The thing is, a wimple is a veil of linen or silk as well. There are a lot of womens head covering fashions in Northern Europe for a 300 year span or so which ammounbt to nothing more than a oiece or two of linen, artfully wound, done upm sitting on combs or wire construcs, and merely tucking and/or...

chef de chambre

German medieval cats with jetpacks from 1584 is simply the BEST. SCIENCE FICTION. EVER. It is probably a 'period' German party game, akin to the 'period' Dutch one of nailing a live cat to a board by the scruff of its neck, and having contestants beat it to death by butting it with their heads, whi...

chef de chambre

I'm getting a 404 error...

chef de chambre

And of course, they are all dirty.

chef de chambre

Even if the "unearthed" date is to be trusted, it wouldn't be an SCA piece in Germany from that far back. The oldest it's likely to be is Victorian, but I don't think this style would have been popular enough during the gothic revival fad to have made the forger's list. You should see som...

chef de chambre

THe occularum are too narrow for that origin to be likely. Looks to me like a Central European forgery.

chef de chambre

You need to pick an area. No 'Belgium" exists at this date in the Pays Bas - there is the Counties of Flanders, the countys of Hainault and Holland, there is the Somme Towns and the pays de Calais, and the like - the concept of a Belgium is post Medieval.

chef de chambre

Thanks guys, those are some great leads. I did a little hunting and found the dog armour at the Higgins in some online photos -- seems to be one of those odd things that sticks in peoples minds. It looks pretty goofy--the dog looks like a harmless breed rather than something for the hunt or war. --...

chef de chambre

I found a couple of pics of the Higgins hound armour and it's listed as 1942 replica of 16th century style. -C Yeah, like Mac said "loosely" based. It is out of a re-purposed 16th century pauldron in part, as I recollect. The Reale Armeria harness would be better to look at. I don't recol...

chef de chambre

Wade, As usual Wade you are right. I have seen bascinets with a thickness of just over 1mm at the front and some around 3.5mm-4mm. The same with other helmets. If people want a number to use every time they will be disappointed. Personally on testing I'd do a wide number of thicknesses. I see no re...

chef de chambre

Keep in mind a quality breastplate might be thick along the centerline. The image you refer to is of a Bashford Dean "reconstruction", of a helmet we have in the Higgins, allegedly fished out of the town ditch of Padua. It is a cheap cevelier of the sort that was mass-produced for issuance...

chef de chambre

Context is everything. In the specific case, you will note they are riding in a tower on a war Elephant, thus it is probably a referance to foriegn kings and nobles. The image is from a Beastiary. We have one incident recorded of Richard I using a crossbow at a siege, again, it is context, I think. ...

chef de chambre

Excellent test!

chef de chambre

Balen swords, cuirbolli helmets.

chef de chambre

Bibliotheque Nationale Francais

chef de chambre

Hadn't heard of whalebone being used for any armour in Europe other than gauntlets. They got used at least to the mid 14th century in such a way, in places like the Low COuntires.

chef de chambre

I think your helmet is later than you think it is, by about 5 years, and the body armour you think is early is more correct for the time frame. Those helmets are more circa 1400-1410, and coats of plates occur in inventories of nobles well into the first decades of the 15th century. If you said your...

chef de chambre

Nope. They are showing an actual Flemish style of helmet. You can see a progression of form in art, and enough bits and pieces are extant to make the idea believable. Given bascinets and great bascinets appear in inventories, inventory mentions, and actual exant examples from the specific context, t...

chef de chambre

No, not that I am aware of.. Even with the bascinet you are looking at here, there is no 'full face coverage', as if there were, there would be no need for the pendant gorget plate/bevor. Early sallets mostly seem to have had visors that stop short of the chin, but even later ones require bevors to ...

chef de chambre

You would be better off portraying a friar, on and off field. You get the robes, you get the tonsure if you want it, and all the other costume doo-dads, and it is perfectly normal for you to be out and about, instead of working the Abbys beehives, or in the scriptorum. Playing a monk, specifically, ...

Re: Unusual Italian barbuta- looking for more historical inf

Re: Unusual Italian barbuta- looking for more historical inf

Re: Unusual Italian barbuta- looking for more historical inf

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Re: Interesting Tent Shelter

Re: Interesting Tent Shelter

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Re: "Unearthed" sugarloaf on eBay- forgery?

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Re: Looking for resources: Historical Dog armour

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Re: Fun with a crossbow!

Re: Is This a Knight Shooting a Crossbow?

Re: Fun with a crossbow!

Re: Forgotten a couple ofitem names, can you help?

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Re: Forgotten a couple ofitem names, can you help?

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Re: Visor accuracy - 1390s

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