The Armour Archive

I'm currently planning my next harness (before my current one is done, even) and I'm looking at a fairly authentic Agincourt (~1400-1420) style kit. I have two questions about etching in that respect:

1) Did they etch steel in that time period? I know they etched brass (Churburg 13) but I'm unaware of any steel etchings. I havn't looked too much, so I may be overlooking a lot of examples.

2) What etching patterns were used? Were they similar to the illumination of the time? If so, my lady has a <i>huge</i> amount of illumination resources, both on paper and in her head, so I can figure that out. I don't see a lot of detail for etching in the images of effigies that I find.

Thanks!

I do not know of any surviving armour that is etched from the Agincourt period. There is precious little surviving armour from that period anyway. From a technical standpoint the Churburg armour is engraved (i.e. the metal was removed by mechanical rather than chemical means) There is a very small amount of mid-15th century Italian armour with with decorated parts. This seems to have been done more with punchwork than with engraving or etching.

I would think that engraved brass edging (like Churburg) is entirely legitimate but more elaborate etched patterns covering plain surfaces, typical of the later 15th and 16th centuries, would not be.

Doug

What Doug said.

If you want a simple, period way to make an all-steel armor a bit decorative, consider Pointille work. The 1450 "Avant" armor is so named because it has the word "Avant" graved into the edges thus, or you can use it to make designs.

It's basically a bunch of small dots lightly punched into the surface. Like dot-matrix printers made, or the pixels on your screen. The cool thing is that it's easy to do with no chemicals or special tools. Just a sharp punch and a little hammer.

Well, I may have to do do the brass trim, not that it'll be a bad looking piece.

This pointlle sounds interesting. Do you have any pictures of examples so I can see depth, the way it's spaced, etc?

It sounds like it may be a chore, but both period and attractive. I'd love to have a really period kit down to the linen gambesons, but that's years down the road. I guess that means I have time to do the work.

You will not find any etched armor in the early 15thC. You will find engraved brass/bronze decorative pieces.

Etching on steel really did not happen until c1500. I've looked through many books and the earliest example I can find is on a piece c1480-5, and it is a small, etched area on the upper portion of a breastplate. It isn't much larger than a quarter, and it could have been done later than the breastplate itself. I think it is in the Vienna catalog, but it has been a while since I looked in it.