The Armour Archive

I finally received this and started reading/skimming the first few chapters. It looks like this is going to become one of the standard books for 16th-century re-creation. Relatively few color plates, but many drawings of original artifacts and reconstructions. Certainly enough material for people who want to make their own documented reproductions of certain artifacts.

What I found most interesting in the chapters that I've looked at:

There were a range of jerkins found, mostly leather but a few of cloth. The jerkins included front-closing, side-closing, and a few crossover styles. A couple of the side-closing ones are in a very simple "tunic" style. Also one jerkin was fastened with detachable pairs of buttons going through a double row of buttonholes, one on each side of the center front opening. Another jerkin had a pocket inside the front of the skirting.

A wide range of shoes, with some "ankle boots" and thigh boots, with very detailed information on construction given. Most of the footwear was welted construction; a few were turnshoes and a few were "turnwelt" construction. A few of the shoes appeared to have been cut down from boots.

Many or most of the knives found had individually made wooden sheaths.


The book mentions that the Museum of London has the biggest assemblage of Tudor clothing after the Mary Rose. It's a shame that the Museum of London does not seem to have done a book or catalog of their 16th-century collection, as they did with their medieval finds.


I look forward to the "Weapons of Warre," the next Mary Rose book to come out, which will include armor, hand weapons, and sword belts as well as the guns.

I second that it is a good book. Even though it is mid 16thC the information on say box construction and the tools is valid for earlier, certainly for 15thc.

Clothing is another matter though as that is much more era specific, some are straight out of a Robin Hood film, a cynic might say those particualr pics should be supressed

Flittie wrote:The book mentions that the Museum of London has the biggest assemblage of Tudor clothing after the Mary Rose. It's a shame that the Museum of London does not seem to have done a book or catalog of their 16th-century collection, as they did with their medieval finds.

You might not have seen Material Culture in London in an Age of Transition: Tudor and Stuart Period Finds c. 1450-c. 1700 from Excavations at Riverside Sites in Southwark by Geoff Egan -- but trust me, it's exactly what you're looking for.

Thanks, Karen. I saw that book on the Museum of London website, but I wasn't sure how much of the 16th-century collection it included, or how much clothing. I was hoping that someday the MoL would do for their Tudor-Stuart material a series by subject as they did for the medieval finds. I'll put it on my list of books to get.

Thanks for the tip. I just ordered my copy of the Egan book!