The Armour Archive

chef de chambre

Hi All, I have handled a simple cevellier housed in the Higgins reserve collection, which was recovered I believe by Violet le Duc (and published by him) during one of his restoration projects - allegedly out of a castle moat. AIR, it originally had a skull in it, which was transfixed - pinned to th...

chef de chambre

Hi Joseph,

I got your e-mail, and sent you a lengthy response, which unfortunately bounced, as did dnother trial reply.

Try contacting me at jlrr@mindspring.com, and I'll see if a reply might work from that address.

------------------
Bob R.

chef de chambre

Hi Krag, Early sallets start appearing in Franco/Flemish artwork of the 1420's and 30's. They tend to hace a bowl similar to a bascinets in that it is deep, but the have a stubby (and I mean stubby) flaired tail. They also mostly have a half visor - that is the visor only covers to the point of the ...

chef de chambre

Hi Krag, Thanks for posting the links to those pictures. Many of them are from Louis de Bruges copy of Froissart's "Chronicle", illuminatd in Bruge in 1468 (I have the artists name somewhere in my notes), several are from "The Chronicles of Hainault, one is from a 1470(ish) copy of "The Romance of A...

chef de chambre

Hi All, It was supurb. It was also far too much information to take in at a single days session. I'm looking to arrange a seminar in the not too distant future, a two day affair if possible. His book will be a must buy. It is an entire system of combat - not just swordplay. I'm sure some of it would...

chef de chambre

Hi Toweyb, The Mancia is a Roman phenomenon, and to the best of my knowledge it did not reoccur. It certainly wasn't used in Northern Europe in the 15th century. As to the articulation on the lames on an almain rivet - I've never bothered to look at the one in the Higgin collection (because it would...

chef de chambre

Hi Konstantine, While the skulls are similar in profile, the theory doesn't hold up, as 99% of Italian helmets were made in one piece - not rivited or welded together like SCA ones. The solitary exceptions being a type of Venitian export Barbute used principly in Dalmatia (most survivng examples com...

chef de chambre

Hi Krag, I would gladly look at any picture you might wish to post. I am sure I have looked at many you may have in mind in researching my monograph on Franco/Flemish military fashion. I would gladly look at many more, as I am still researching the subject. A large part of my research has been to do...

chef de chambre

BTW Jason, I didn't mention it, but those are fantastic splints, very nicely made. The couters look near identical to (3127.1) in the Higgins reserve colection Flemish or Spanish, 1490. I'll be handling , photoing, and measuring it 2 weeks from now for a company project - defences very similar to wh...

chef de chambre

Hi Captain Jamie, and any else who are interested. This link http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/m/memling/4ursula/index.html will take you to an online gallery of Hans Memlings work. The scene Captain Jamie is referencing is panel #6, which is the actual Mayterdom scene. Click on it, and it will spring ...

chef de chambre

Hi Captain Jamie, The St. Ursula relquery is showing simple bar and chain 'splints' (in the 15th century term) pointed to a padded jack. I (and many other wiser and more experienced scholars of the subject) am very familiar with that work - this is the conclusion they came to, and from the visible s...

chef de chambre

Not with the "hide attatched" Schrieber. We clip our mares as she has a habit of sticking her neck through the fence and wearing the mane down - so we give her a roached mane. Now, I could sell you her mane when we clip it next. the hide is over your dead body however. http://www.armourarchive.org/u...

chef de chambre

Hi Krag & All, Regarding plackarts - I don't think they were purpose made armour for footsoldiers. I think they are salvaged pieces of damaged cuirasses put to use by footsoldiers. If that makes sense. I have never seen them listed as a seperate item in an inventory. I think we are confusing teminol...

chef de chambre

I am told the problem with copper or bronze kettles is largely based on 2 things. Firstly, historically there is some lead content in Medieval examples. Secondly, Rev George is correct about the tarnish and oxide. That said, it is perfectly safe to cook in them, provided that you aren't using a high...

chef de chambre

Hi Bini, I clicked, and there is a description, but no picture. If you are asking if a leather harness with bands of metal riveted to the outside of it is accurate for 15th century wear, I would say it is not. 'Splints', in 15th century armour terminology are refering to a type of plate arm defence ...

chef de chambre

Hi Steiner, In short - yes. The best place to find the info under one cover is Michael Lacey's "The Development of the Coat of Plates" (which is the only 'complete Anachronists publication you will ever hear me shout out as a wondeerful reference - it was a Masters Thesis, so it is well documented)....

chef de chambre

Doesn't it seem a little odd to ask a question about Fantasy armour on the Research and Authenticity Forum?

chef de chambre

Hi Steiner, From the scant possible look of the articulated lames, it is probably supposed to be German. It lacks the swell or bulge in cross section looking at the skull from head on to be properly German, looking more Italian in this instance. It looks nice from this angle, but a siode view could ...

chef de chambre

Tim - My stress on the actual use of the pack basket in the later middle ages is not centered on what you are using it for. My posting has been primarily to discourage the a-historical use of this impliment by others who will read this series of posts on "The Authenticity Forum", and then worse yet ...

chef de chambre

Hi Tim, Since you and I did not invent or define living history, what we personally think matters little as to the actual reality of it. The professional, those who work every day at it, be it in Plimoth, Jamestown, Williamsburg, or any of a dozen sites in Europe DO NOT EXTRAPOLATE. They use those t...

chef de chambre

Hi Guys, While the shoulder defences posted seem crude, I will guarantee you that there are complex curves in those articulated lames on the 'ritter' harness (closely follow the play of light on it, and you will see what I mean). There are probably some complex curves in those shoulders as well. ---...

chef de chambre

Actually, I think CBA is discussing the metal codpiece. The peascod being the bulge in the breastplate mimicking the stuffing of a mid-late 16th century doublet.

------------------
Bob R.

chef de chambre

Hi Tim, No offence intended, but while you feel comfortable with this, a scholar would not. I will repeat that in the case of the authenticity of an item used in a specific context, the burden of proof is on the person who wishes to use said item, not on the person who researches and cannot find sai...

chef de chambre

Hi All, Reinhardt, while it is true that most authors over the past 100 years have made much out of the rivalry between Louis XI and Charles the Bold, most recent scholarship points to the idea that neither was the others first concern. Louis primarily was frying the smaller fish in the school of th...

chef de chambre

Hi Buran, How about "no existing images of Medieval armies using backpacks on the march" being a good argument against using them. IMHO, "their not appearing in the archaeological or iconographic record, but it is commonsensical to exrapolate their existance because it existed in another time and pl...

chef de chambre

Hi Guys, It is my understanding that they are normally either one with the uppermost plate of the pauldron, or that they are detatchable and held in place with a staple and pin arrnagement. I haven't seen any actual ones with them as a seperate piece riveted permanently in place - but this isn't my ...

chef de chambre

Hi Olaf, I waited for two reasons, firstly, I had errands to run this morning and didn't have the time to sit and type the information out. Secondly, it is a waste of my slender free time to do so unless someone is genuinely interested. To Quote from Vaughan's "Charles the Bold", pgs 215, 216"....Ru...

chef de chambre

Very Interesting site, and a good overview in the essay. The essay does contain some errors, for instance, Bartolomeo Colleoni never actually served Charles the Bold, although a contract was drawn up (he was 78 years old at the time, and Venice refused to allow him or his men to leave for fear of an...

chef de chambre

My God Craig!

D.B. Gurney is mailing out the samples?! I almost had a stroke!

Please call me when they arrive.

------------------
Bob R.

chef de chambre

Hi Guys, When Jeff Hedgecock finishes my new torso harness the end of this month - the beginning of next, I'll post some pics. It is a copy of the Lucern Breastplate (captured at Morat), and a set of arms and pauldrons in the Madonna delle Grazzi, dressed up a little to match export style (from pain...

chef de chambre

Hi Guys, Adam and Rev. George are quite correct. Master Cad posted a conservation photo of an armet from the Madonna della Grazzi that had just had it's brow reenforce removed in the 1980's. The area untouched in 500 years had a mirror polish. The rest of the suits were covered with a surface rust -...

chef de chambre

Hi Guys, OK, find me a Medieval example, either extant, fragmentary, or in art. I have yet to find one. The conditions have to exist to cause people to go "hiking" in the first place. I would submit that such a thing was not a normal Medieval activity. What is the research that Widfaren bases the us...

chef de chambre

Hi Cap'n, You of course hit the nail on the head of the problem. To do a first rate reproduction of the ironwork on a chest, you can't slap on pre-made bits and have it look right. The ironwork needs to be fitted to the object by the smith - every piece being worked and laid out in design by the smi...

chef de chambre

I should add, I've only seen about a hundred.......

------------------
Bob R.

chef de chambre

Hi Rev George, The argument may hold water for earlier stuff, but against the later Medieval evidence, it really doesn't hold water. Unlike clothing, there are hundreds (and I mean hundreds upon hundreds) of surviving spoons in pewter and silver in European museums - many aren't even displayed, but ...

[b]Attention Joseph Paul[/b]