The Armour Archive

chef de chambre

Hi K.Wiegers, Some groups and associations of groups disallow the use of stainless in those groups, and for their events. If you want to play that game, telling them to "sod off" isn't going to be very productive. In the SCA, there are of course no such regulations, and it is a matter of personal ch...

chef de chambre

Bottom photo Bascot.

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Bob R.

chef de chambre

Bascot,

Check out Craigs brigandine pictures. The last photo is of the one I had mentioned to you. I will bump it up so it doesb't get lost.

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Bob R.

chef de chambre

Hi Wade, Lets just say I needed the approximate three years from the initial discussions to this stage to save for the project. On the other hand, the result is worth it. It is and will be my primary harness for as long as I can wear it. I'd rather have one excellent harness (and my current decent o...

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Good God Man! If those are M1936 German helmets of the Second World War (and not Spanish knock offs - there are several ways to tell, the German hemets have folded edges and the Spanish ones have a hole for a 'crest' on the front), then do not change or alter them in any way!!!!! Those are worth big...

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Hi Ryan, The other solution is that most people historically would ony keep visor down for the initial charge or an arrow storm, and fling it up once things got to grips. Personally, I like armets, as they still give excellent protection visor up. People of the means to have a full harness had a var...

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Hi Archais, I cannot address the question as I am not the armourer. If you want to talk brigandines, I can accommodate you. He does a lot of hot work, as you can see, and he does have an excellent collection of stakes & hammers. In the end, I think his answer would be 'it isn't so much the metal wor...

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Hi Randall, It means the effigy of Richard Beauchamp was "armed", that is got up in harness, of an armour that his son-in-law Richard Neville provided the sculptor with as a model. While Beauchamp probably never wore the harness he is depiced in (he died at least a decade before it came into fashion...

chef de chambre

Hi Joaquin, Way cool about the new harness. From what I've seen of Tom's work, you will be very pleased. I've gone for an Italian export (more like a piece made by an Italian armourer resident in Flanders) this time around, and it sounds like you are going for a more purely Italian suit like my Mila...

chef de chambre

Hi Randal,

I believe that is an additional reenforce riveted in place on historical Italian harness.

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Bob R.

chef de chambre

Hi Torr, Those are not welds. There are no welds on this harness (possibly 1 on each couter, to raise the shape out of a cone), what you are seeing is where he has applied the heat to anneal to raise and to lay in flutes with a chisel and fluting stake. That is what god made grinding wheels for, whi...

chef de chambre

Hi Vincent, He definitely has an armoury, and a waiting list to boot. www.historicenterprises.com Jeff would be ranked amongst the top armourers in his field, and he specializes in 15th century harness, but covers late 14th - late 15th century. He can pretty much make anything, above and beyond armo...

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Hi All, here are some more shots of my armour in progress, courtesy of Jeff Hedgecock http://www.wolfeargent.com/armourday/front.jpg http://www.wolfeargent.com/armourday/back.jpg http://www.wolfeargent.com/armourday/arms.jpg Enjoy ! ------------------ Bob R.

chef de chambre

....From the 14th century on, the "infantry peons" were increasingly and almost exclusively armed with weapons requiring two hands to wield. After the late 14th century in North Western Europe, the 'paviser' had seen his day end with the civic Militia of Paris arnound the turn of the 15th century. -...

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Hi Sir Rhys, Well, by 1475 the answer would be 'yes'. The standards and banners are much larger than a small pennon or pennoncel, but by this time, the flags are more orientated around livery and units, rather than being heraldic and individual. 8/10's of the flags in "Die Burgunderbeute are squadro...

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Hi Aiden, Mid 15th century Italian lance rests are invariably attatched to the breastplate with 4 staples and a pin, which makes for easy removal. They are fairly beefy - they had to be for the task. This example is made of folded sheet steel, and is permanently welded in place. It does not resemble...

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Hi Jason, Nope, I don't have a picture, but I could try to get one next month. I believe that the entire set of splints is authentic - no modern replacement of plates, but I might be wrong. The old Higgins catalog shows them as part of that horrible "Bashford Deanesque" monstrosity of a suit that JW...

chef de chambre

Hi All,

he Higgins has a pair of authentic almain rivet arms on display, identical to the ones pictured in AAoMK.

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Bob R.

chef de chambre

Hi All, Well, the Fredrick the Victorious suit it obviously ain't. That said, it is a heck of a lot better than most "home decorator" armour that has been sold since WWII (just take a look at the Noble Collection catalog if you need a reminder). If you want something that looks like a 15th century M...

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Hi Rhys, Yes, they did use them, they were on the lance of the knight itself. They are a simple small triangle of cloth, and they do appear in both 14th & 15th century illustrations - note Sir Geoffrey Lutterel being handed lance & helmet by wife & daughter. They can be seen in the copy of Froissart...

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Hi Sir Rhys,

Actually, Rainald's quote of Froissart gives you a reference to their use.

[quote]<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">The first battle the Duke of Orleans to govern, with thirty-six banners and twice as many pennonsâ€¦â€

chef de chambre

Hi Rainald,

He's counting heads for the audience. A "banner" refers to the presence of a knight banneret, who would command a unit of knights. A "pennon" is refering to a plain knight, who has one or two lances under his command at most.

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Bob R.

chef de chambre

Hi Randall,

As a general rule, we are there the first Saturday of every month (there are always exceptions due to illness, family emergency, or blizzards). We usually have a good attendance record in the Fall, so just pop in and say "Hi".

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Bob R.

chef de chambre

Hi Dimitry, I was under the impression reading Blairs article that the actual forger and the fellow who likely sold the original (Merrick?) were the culprits, although Laking may have known about it. Lakings reputation was still prettty high at the time, and as I speculate - nobody closely examine t...

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Which story? Helut Nickles retirement present? Or my theory based on reading Blair's article about Lakings deception - actually not Lakings (surprisingly), but as youknow, several prominent "forgers" and sellers of antiques. Helmut's story is pretty much what I wrote. He picked a piece out of the re...

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Hi All,

I think the Landesknecht cheap armour solution is the "almain rivet", which isn't as comfortable to wear as a brigandine, but provides as much protection to the front of the torso, and would be chaeper and easier to mass produce.

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Bob R.

chef de chambre

Oh, as a PS Wade, The third brig will be based on a Venitian painting of a fellow wearing a brigandine showing plates with the nail pattern on the two fragments from your collection you sold me - sort of a U following the edge of the plate. I bet the check won't show till tomorrow though. Let me kno...

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Hi Wade, Craig has photos up on his website of a small selection of the Higgins reserve collection brigandine fragments (God help them, there are nearly two pages worth of brigandine fragments listed in the reserve collection). Most of them have a very narrow shaft, and are indeed clenched over. Thi...

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Actually Rhys, I did read what you wrote. Regardless of your personal feelings, it is bad advice for a person inexpert - to become expert you need to repeat technique until it is second nature. If you leave off excersising any length of time with a weapon, your technique deteriorates as well. Unless...

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Well I guess I will have to disagree with you again Rhys.... For strategy to work, one must have thier technique down pat - so they do not have to think about it. That is why every martial "art", and every modern military practises "technique - be it a kata, or target practise over & over, ad nauseu...

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Hi Sebastian,

Fold over & flatten.

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Bob R.

chef de chambre

Oh yes, I read that Dimitry. As soon as they stripped the varnish off though, the metal was obviously modern. I honestly don't think the experts examined the forgery expecting it to be a forgery - they really weren't critical in their examination because they assumed it to be authentic, because the ...

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Hi Sir Rhys, The last derailing of a very good thread - God knows there are many pretenders in all camps, be it HWMA, SCA, or any martial art you can name, down to Louy's Kendo dojo in the strip-mall. Perhaps some in the HWMA community are reluctant to come to blows because they lack the proper equi...

chef de chambre

Hi All, I will make a series of 3 different brigandines. The first one has the foundation and cover all done, and the Saturday following this one, the project progresses. Regarding "what to do with them", you can cut and peen them, but the vast majority I have seen were simply clenched over and flat...

chef de chambre

Hi All, In actuality, the Higgins has a large majority of real pieces. TYhey have a limited display of real medieval pieces - 1 klapvisor bascinet, 2 composite gothic suits c 1490 - 1510 (these are not the Ernst Schmidt reproductions), and quite a numer of composite maximilian harnesses. In the rese...

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