The Armour Archive

A-Salam a likum, Infidels
(intro not meant to be offensive to any...just in the initial research of a middle eastern personna)
What did the Arabs, Persians, and other middle eastern factions wear during the third crusade? And what about in the 15th century?

Aaryq wrote:A-Salam a likum, Infidels
(intro not meant to be offensive to any...just in the initial research of a middle eastern personna)
What did the Arabs, Persians, and other middle eastern factions wear during the third crusade? And what about in the 15th century?

That is going to be a huge range of answers, depending on who, what culture, and their economic status...

If you narrowed the scope a bit, you'll get some good answers.

There's plenty to be seen.....we could really use a more specific date.

If you're looking at the 15th cent there are plenty of examples of the "maille and plate" armour.


I'll see if I can dig up a few of my pics. But there's a lot of variation depending on time and culture.

Okay, how about Baghdad, Tikrit, or Amida in modern day Iraq? Timeframe: Begining of 3rd Crusade and 1594AD.

4 year old bump but just during 3rd crusade. Soft and hard kit.

Aaryq wrote:A-Salam a likum, Infidels
(intro not meant to be offensive to any...just in the initial research of a middle eastern personna)
What did the Arabs, Persians, and other middle eastern factions wear during the third crusade? And what about in the 15th century?

That is easy. All the most fashionable Heretics were wearing the end of my Lance and crossed sword slashes, all trimmed in blood soak red!

InsaneIrish wrote: That is easy. All the most fashionable Heretics were wearing the end of my Lance and crossed sword slashes, all trimmed in blood soak red!

Don't forget the part about their heads neatly separated from their bodies

Any pre-decapitation/skewering clothing patterns?

I do not know about clothing much but have you seen David Nicolle's Medieval Warfare Source Book or arms and armour of the crusading era? One volume focuses very much on the region you are looking at your period and has some lovely pictures.

Looks like knee or longer length tunics that can be rather fit or loose sleeves and rather fit torso. Pants appear to be the norm and some are fit and some loose. Some have a short slit at the front up toward the mid thigh.

Shoes look almost like a slipper or hybrid slipper and sandals.

All the men have a type of head covering.

Armour wise mail and lamellar seem common, simple somewhat pointed helmets that cover the top of the head. A few what look like padded aketon-like garments that are knee length and long sleeves. I know there is the mail sandwiched in padding as well around. Most shields seem to be simply rounds, perhaps 20-24" wide. Lot of spears and bows. All swords look straight.

RPM

InsaneIrish wrote:

Aaryq wrote: That is easy. All the most fashionable Heretics were wearing the end of my Lance and crossed sword slashes, all trimmed in blood soak red!

The word you wanted is infidel or possibly heathen.

schreiber wrote:

InsaneIrish wrote:

Aaryq wrote: That is easy. All the most fashionable Heretics were wearing the end of my Lance and crossed sword slashes, all trimmed in blood soak red!

The word you wanted is infidel or possibly heathen.

I thought Infidel was the Muslim word for Christians. Heathen/Heretic was the Christian word for Muslim.
Of course by my time period, this was all just dusty history books.

In typical Arabic love for flowery language, one Islamic writer notes that many "Trinitarians" were "cut in twain" in a given battle. Christian sources refer to Turks, Persians, and Saracens, and generally note the emphasis on Mohammed rather than Allah when referring to religion. Heresy is a corrupted form of you own religion, and members of another religion are not referred to as heretics.

Well to belabour the point, no matter what your time period, if it was between the life of Mohammed and end of period there was strife between the two. Luther wrote about problems with the Turks, and that goes into the 1560s.

Aaryq wrote:4 year old bump but just during 3rd crusade. Soft and hard kit.

It still depends on which social group you are wanting to portray.

Dar al-Islam is not huge homegenous social group...they are (loosely) held together by a common religion.

Maghrebi, Arab, Bedouin, Turkic to name a few.

Modern day Syria or Iraq (Tikrit, Baghdad, Homs, Damascus)

In Arms & Armour of the Crusading Era 1050-1350, v.2 Nicole does document several segmentata-like defenses made of layered, hardened leather, dated to the 12th or 13th centuries, now in a private collection. Figure 423, A-AL, description pp.181-1 which were supposedly found in a collapsed medieval castle in Mesopotamia. Lamellar armor where entire bands had been covered with fabric also seem to have been popular.