The Armour Archive

Erik Schmidt

I haven't done much reading about the politics of the HRE, but I have been researching the armour of the 14th century HRE for about 7-10 months and also have not found any single publication dealing thoroughly with armour, effigies, illuminations and iconography of the medieval HRE. This is why I th...

Erik Schmidt

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Wulfgar Ullicsson: So, his kit as I see it from my limited knowledge of transitional armour... we're shooting for late thirteenth to early fourteenth Cent. German. Great He...

Erik Schmidt

Yeah, that's a breteche. Thanks Albrekt. Otto, I have been having the same trouble as you with regard to researching the armour of the HRE, and I can read German and a little Italian. My main sources are a few pics of effigies from the web as well as the Wisby book and an article by Mann from the jo...

Erik Schmidt

1375 Germanic. Great choice! http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/smile.gif For this you should have the following; 1. Bascinet of Germanic shape with tube vervelles numbering 11-20. The shape is either tall with a central point or somewhat rounded top with a blunt point towards the rear. This latter ty...

Erik Schmidt

I noticed that the Royal Armouries yearbook #2 contains an article entitled, "The introduction of plate armour in medieval Europe". I would love to see the article, but that's going to be 20.00 pounds sterling, some AU$60.00 to buy and ship. That's a lot to pay for an article. Has anyone here read i...

Erik Schmidt

You are correct Anradan.
The brigs developed sometime in the 15th century.

Erik

Erik Schmidt

Thanks for the order info Donasian.

Yes, SyrRhys, that's the one I sent. It's called "The beheading of StGeorge" by Altichiero, c1385, from the Oratorio St. Georgio, Padua.

Erik

Erik Schmidt

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by SyrRhys: There is a lengthy discussion of this type of armor in Michael Lacy's masters thesis, which has been published in the SCA as: The Development of the Coat of Plates...

Erik Schmidt

No Albrekt, the pic I sent him was an Italian fresco of the late 14th century showing soldiers in corazzinas. The effigy you mention is wearing a covered breastplate, which is different to the corazzina as I think I said somewhere above.

Erik

Erik Schmidt

Right. That was what I was thinking you meant, but I erred on the side of caution so to speak. I think you could be right though. For a soldier often on the go and probably spending a lot of time in their armour and frequntly having to get into it quickly, there were probably convincing advantages t...

Erik Schmidt

Say what? "The moral equivalent of kettle hats"? You'll have to explain that one. http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/smile.gif Kettle hats were very common in Italy also, in fact there are some early examples which look much like the 15th century types with the high peaks and a steeply sloped brim. I ...

Erik Schmidt

Double wow! I would also love to get hold of such info.

Erik

Erik Schmidt

Yes, thanks SyrRhys. I had forgotten to mention that those Italian bascinets were not commonly fitted with an aventail. Ooops!

Erik

Erik Schmidt

SyrRhys, I agree with you totally that the 'T' faced barbute is too late for what we are discussing. One often sees Italian artwork of the 14th century where the bascinets have flared lower edges and extended cheek pieces, which seems to be characteristic especially of the contract soldiers, and wou...

Erik Schmidt

OK, Matt let me know that he cannot personally document it to before 1350 either.
He is pretty accurate in what he states, although I would personally put the dates for the globose klappvisier at around 1350-1380.

Erik

Erik Schmidt

Froissart describes a battle in late 14th century Northern Spain, involving spanish soldiers.
You may get some clues from there.
Sorry to be of no more help.

Erik

Erik Schmidt

Albrekt, regarding the lack of rivets on the breastplate, you have to realize that the original carvings look to be very small. The rivet heads on the rest of the CoP are shown very large, with little space between them, not very realistic, but appropriate for the medium(wood) in which the figure wa...

Erik Schmidt

I registered myself in the forum, so I'll ask, and post here what I find out.

Erik

Erik Schmidt

I haven't seen one in use, no. Thordeman's Wisby book contains a short paragraph on this type of breastplate, along with a picture of one of the two knights depicted in the Bamberg Cathedral. The date given is c1370 or a little later. Thordeman states that this is the earliest example he knows. Also...

Erik Schmidt

I would love to see the evidence that the oniontop was common before 1400. Personally I don't think it developed before then, and was not common until 1400-1410. What is the defining feature of the corazzina? It is simply a form of a coat of plates or breastplate with fauld split up the front. The G...

Erik Schmidt

Ancelin,
The side view I sent you shows all but about 5mm of the plate. You will notice the two holes one can see about half of, on the left edge. These are placed about 5mm from the edge of the plate.

Erik

Erik Schmidt

I sent you a couple of pics to the address in your profile.
They should help with your reconstruction, but I don't know of any patterns for it.

Erik

Erik Schmidt

No, not me.

Erik Schmidt

Hi Cet, I'm afraid I only know of four extant kettle hats from the 14th century. Three are scandinavian, of which I can send you pics(which I in fact got from the web somewhere), the fourth I hear exists somewhere in Southern Italy. None of the ones from the scandinavian museums have the top shape y...

Erik Schmidt

Now that Otto broached the subject of German langauge literature relating to the 14th century, may I ask if anyone happens to know of any concerning armour specifically? I'm researching Germanic armour of the 14th century and have hit a dead end with the English language literature. I have some in G...

Erik Schmidt

Bojey, I sent you a few pictures of early to mid 14th c English knights. You will see the basegews in use there, as well as basic cops and the simple and light gutter arm guards. Splint arms a also OK, but will lean you towards a Germanic persona. For early to mid 14th c you can use a bascinet with ...

Erik Schmidt

Spaulders in the 14th century were often attached to the shoulder strap of the coat of plates, and possibly also the same on the later covered breastplates, although I have not seen direct evidence for this. In the Wisby finds are some spaulders which are attched to a plate on the shoulder strap usi...

Erik Schmidt

Thanks again for a very interesting pic Androu. They list it as being early 14th, but if you look at the legs(upper right), they seem more like post 1350, so does the overall look of the armour style(especially the short length of the jupon). Also, notice the hourglass gauntlets. Seems more like aro...

Erik Schmidt

The link works for me today also. That's a great image. Looks to be no later than 1350, for sure. The visors are certainly not of the pigface type. I've come across that type before in the castle frescos at Avio, also dates to mid 14th c. It is a fairly flat, elongated visor. The Avio examples are a...

Erik Schmidt

Yeah, there is plenty of choice, but it does very much depend on the year and type of persona you want to portray. There are some very destinct changes to the armour of the German knight over time, so for any given time period, some of those options are only available to a wealthy up to date knight,...

Erik Schmidt

That link seems to be down.

Erik Schmidt

Clermont, I had a good look at that second barbute(the one with the riveted lower edge), and there is indeed a visor mount shown just in from the 90 degree turn at the face opening. So he seems correct. The two barbute like helmets have very Italian characteristics. One can see the flared back on ba...

Erik Schmidt

I just noticed, the Von Steinberg effigy on the page Olaf linked to is misdated It should be 1379, not 1397! Yes, the single lame is very period. The cuisse was dished to match the cop. On Cad's site you will some very good pics of surviving legs from the period which show this; http://www.isd.net/c...

Erik Schmidt

It is usually thought that visors were not depicted on effigies due the difficulty of doing so, especially in stone. There is one English brass I know of however, which depicts the visor, and it is from 1347. It is the brass of Hugh Hastings. If you can't find a pic, I can send you one. Unfortunatel...

Erik Schmidt

OK, 1385-1395 German. Go for the legs on the von Hohenklingen effigy on the page linked to by Olaf above. You don't need maille chausses with them. The German's didn't seem to wear the Corazzina, only the covered breastplate as far as I can tell. The corazzina seems to have been a very Italian style...

Royal Armouries yearbook #2. Worth the money?