The Armour Archive

Erik Schmidt

I came across this piece today and thought I'd share it due to the very nice pictures;

http://www.hermann-historica.com/hist/42auction/lot/lot-gb_70.htm

Erik

Erik Schmidt

I guess it just comes down to the desired effect. I am looking to reproduce armour to look as authentic as possible, and am therefore much stricter in my approach at reproduction. I am not in the SCA, but do metal weapons reenactment. I don't like to leave too much to interpretation or transplantati...

Erik Schmidt

I don't know if there is any way to tell how wrong the Dean corrazina is. As far as I recall, it was put together from unrelated pices of plate, some of which were cut and reshaped to make the final "reconstruction". You say you don't feel it to be that wrong. What aspects do you consider to be righ...

Erik Schmidt

Well Gaston, you made plastic armour look real good, not to mention the splints. It's certainly a nice looking harness. I wish you'd copied a real corrazina and not Dean's fantacy though. There are a few represented in Italian fescos, from about the 1380's. What's the reason you decided to go for su...

Erik Schmidt

I agree with WMA. I don't know much about the later styles of armour, so I don't know if there is a technical difference between roundels and basegews. Roundels(basegews) were common in use with the earlier gutter style arm defences, both at elbow and shoulder, in the early 14th century. Such round ...

Erik Schmidt

Lion, I wish my local library could answer that question. Bernwald, I have as yet not seen that combination. The lames on the elbow and knee cops were there to allow them to articulate with the rest of the arm armour. In the case of splints, these don't seem to have been articulated in such a way, a...

Erik Schmidt

It's the date of his death as far as I recall.

Erik

Erik Schmidt

A correction to my last post, the arm splint defences are common to both the 2nd and 3rd quater of the 14th century in Germanic effigies. You are unlikely to find them much outside of that timeframe. I sent you a pic of the von Schwarzburg effigy, c1349, which shows the splints very well. The effigi...

Erik Schmidt

There is quite a bit of evidence for splinted arms and legs in the 3rd quater of the 14th century, particularly in Germany.

Check out the thread here;
http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/Forum1/HTML/008660.html

Erik

Erik Schmidt

Good question, Joaquin. I wish I knew the answer. Blair suggests they may have had a back defence similar to a CoP construction, but I don't think there's any evience to support this. We see in the Pistoia alterpiece that they wore breastplates in Italy without any back defence, and one very good Ge...

Erik Schmidt

Yes please! A source reference would be very useful also.

Erik

Erik Schmidt

1370's German is a great choice, and lies right in the time when the breastplate was replacing the CoP. You have a couple of choices of breastplate aside from the #14 style seen in the von Hoenklingen effigy. 1/ The covered breastplate and integral fauld, of which there is an extant example in a Ger...

Erik Schmidt

Dave, I have most of them on file, but am hesitant to send off any more than a couple as I'm sure you know the amount of time, effort and money goes into the research. I'm off to Germany next year and hopefully I will get enough information and pictures to publish a book on the subject of 14th centu...

Erik Schmidt

Hugo, it was certainly common for the effigy to be done either before or after death, sometimes by quite a few years, but in the case of von Steinberg, the leg armour alone would suggest a date in keeping with the date of his death. However, this still does not rule out a CoP. Dave, given you includ...

Erik Schmidt

Otto, you're right about it being unusual. I haven't come across it in any other examples from that period either.

Erik

Erik Schmidt

Firstly, let me just say that the correct date for Burkhard von Steinberg's death is 1379, not '97. Osprey got it wrong. This date is also more consistent with his armour. As for the breastplate, I would like to hear the armourers reasons for it not being a muscled metal breastplate. I can think of ...

Erik Schmidt

Don't you have sheet metal fabricators in the US? I go to one of many here in town and rummage through their scrap bin. They sell it to me at AU$1.00 per kg. It's cheaper than buying new mild steel, but you won't get a single piece breastplate out of it, but it's great for CoP's, brigs helmets, gaun...

Erik Schmidt

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Vincent_c=={=====-: Well basically I've read that the greathelm was worn over either a bascinet or cervellier (skull cap?).... In my opinion the profile and fit of this small c...

Erik Schmidt

I haven't tried it myself, so you will want to ask around if someone has successfully adopted this combination. The skull cap would need to be very carefully fitted to the shape of your head, so as not to dig in anywhere. Personally, I'd go for suspension in the greathelm, it just seems like it woul...

Erik Schmidt

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Vincent_c=={=====-: I was planning on attaching maille to the bottom edge of the greathelm and letting it come down like a coif would. Daniel <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I have ne...

Erik Schmidt

I suggest you do a web search for the following effigies. Roger Kerdeston, c1350, sometimes called the Kerdeston knight. The effigy may be later, but that's the latest date I have seen given for it. Hugh Hastings, 1347. The smaller figures around the edge of this brass are also very useful. Hugh Des...

Erik Schmidt

That very much depends on your definition of "full plate arms". Before the 1350's the arm protection was still very much in development, and almost non-existent in many areas outside of England. Please consider I am speaking about knights only here. Splint cuisses remain in use until the end of the ...

Erik Schmidt

I'm not sure about when they were used later, but they are commonly seen on English effigies (as well as some French examples)around 1320 to 1350, after which they become uncommon. I haven't come across them on Italian or German effigies of the 14th century, although the Osprey title "Italian Mediev...

Erik Schmidt

The one you have linked to is not 14th century. It says "From Battle of Otterburn. Late 1300â€™s." and I checked the pictures before and after that one. They seem to be from the same manuscript, and have different battles depicted but labled to the same date. This suggests they got the date of the m...

Erik Schmidt

Hey Pietro, you need to empty your hotmail account a bit or give me another address, as I have some pictures for you but your account is too full to accept them.

Erik

Erik Schmidt

This is the link you want Ernst.

http://www.erikdschmid.com/main.htm

Erik

P.S. That's not my site, our names just happen to be similar.

Erik Schmidt

Konstantin, the word "vase" is only pronounced 'veyss' by Americans. 'Vahz' is the British English pronounciation, also use here in Australia.

Erik

Erik Schmidt

Tim, just because a word was derived from the French, is no reason to try to pronounce it that way. Simple fact is that the word 'gorget' is now an English word, and should be pronounced how the scholars of our language state it should. As Demitry stated above, it comes "from Old French gorgete, dim...

Erik Schmidt

Thanks for the offer WG.
I'll see if there is anything of particluar interest in what Morgan comes up with, and let you know.

Erik

Erik Schmidt

Owain, it does seem to me that German effigies, where the breastplate is visible, show mostly covered breastplates. However, given the fashion of wearing jupons during the latter half of the 14th century, in England in particular, one cannot generalize. There is simply no way to tell what most knigh...

Erik Schmidt

If you aim for 1365-70 English you can do the full arms and legs with greathelm, although a small bascinet underneath it would add to the authenticity. From the English effigies/brasses I have for that time period, the cuisses seem to be exclusively of the studded(internal splint) type, so go for th...

Erik Schmidt

Owain, your guess at the date is pretty good. The bascinet is a typical shape from many of the armouries, and could use a little tweaking to make it more appropriate for the Germanic klappvisor it carries, but it's OK. The visor is typical of around 1350-1380. The splint arms and legs are based on t...

Erik Schmidt

Ask away Wolf. Transitional is not easy to get a good grasp of. You're right that the greathelm puts you in the pre 1380 time. By about 1380 the houndskull/pigface was dominant, with some kettle hats. The better English knights had arm articulation by the 1360's, but as Matt said it was not the case...

Erik Schmidt

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Mad Matt: Lots of elbow choices. It's more the articulation that matters. 3 lames one above and 2 below for arms. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> What Matt describes is by no ...

Erik Schmidt

Do you remember what you had from the 14th century? I mean, which pieces from which museums, etc? I could send you some pics.

Erik

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