The Armour Archive

Galleron

I found a number of things about that list surprising.... ---The shear magnitude of the finds. ---The amount of mail that had some copper alloy decoration. ---The number of coifs that had some textile associated. ---The number of coifs that had been pitched into the grave that were not on someone's...

Galleron

Good work, Mac!

Galleron

That was the impression I was getting as well. We really don't know what (if anything) they finished furniture with in the middle ages. --I'm reluctant to leave pine without any finish at all for fear that it will too readily get dirty and nasty looking. --Linseed is plausible, but it does not real...

Galleron

Hey!... you don't suppose..... Nah! They couldn't have done that. That would be ridiculous! None the less, I would like to see those pauldrons next to one another for comparison. Mac Now that is the kind of thing which I do not have the eye for late plate armour to comment on. I have very great res...

Galleron

...and the bollock dagger to tuck in the loop. I've got a bollock dagger, but I don't think it accords well with my pewter merchant impression. I used to wear it back when I wore houppelandes. Perhaps I can remember where it is, and take another pic tomorrow. Mac I don't think such a dagger is too ...

Galleron

Thank you for this lesson, invaluable just like all the other.This is a point where many armourer would have stopped updating their "dirty laundry" . I appreciate that you explain us how to overcome all the problems you are facing. It is a bit difficult to get up the ambition to take the photos und...

Galleron

The knees are noteably different. It seems this is how they pimped their armour in italy during the 15th century. I see no other function then decorative or perhaps added noice when moving around. Them italians liked to be seen and heard eh. Would it be safe to assume they wore knee long maille on ...

Galleron

And I need a modern fledging jig or a way to fake it. Has anyone seen pictures of a medieval fledging jig? I've got to imagine they used SOMETHING if they were gluing fledges in place. medieval glue takes a long time to dry. Sean, As far as I know, we are on our own about what sorts of jigs, guides...

Galleron

Although a barbed broadhead bolt is illustrated, I would think that war wounds were far more common than hunting accidents. In that context, if the head broke from the shaft it might not penetrate very deeply after penetrating armor, and this device would work pretty well on a short bodkin unbarbed ...

Galleron

Mac wrote:
Icepocca wrote:Any modern examples of people attaching maille to their ankles?
I know of at least one example.

Mac

More than one. I've got mail attached to the top of the shoes I wear under armor. Made by the same man. They work well.

Galleron

Sean,

If the topic is one I've used as a label, you can search that way. Are you seeing a search window in the upper left hand corner? If so, you can search for words that way.

Galleron

Sean, As far as I know, all we have to go on for the thread size is the arrows from the Mary Rose. Here is a link to a nice pic that shows the marks from where the threads were. They seem rather finer than what many modern-medieval fletchers are using. http://www.flickr.com/photos/92792976@N00/1521...

Galleron

Were they made to sit far away from the eyes and face for safety purposes? I have never worn a visored, well made bascinet but it feels like the visibility would be minimal. I believe that it's mostly about providing a shape that encourages blows to glance. Visibility is certainly worse than helmet...

Galleron

Roger Ascham's 1545 Toxophilus distinguishes between the "dead shaft" and the "swift shaft", both of which have a different optimal fletching. Perhaps the swift shaft is best for flat trajectories at close range and the dead shaft means long ranges in a more parabolic arc. Or perhaps the difference ...

Galleron

However, a larger question for me is to what extent the odd-looking armors are based on any real armor. Are they instead an artist's conception of elements of classical and Eastern armor? In other words, the medieval artistic version of fantasy armor? Dr. Toby Capwell says that in its way was exact...

Galleron

Livre du roy Modus et de la royne Racio is mid 14th c., but the archery section is brief, and very specific to hunting: the author recommends a weak bow so the hunter can hold it partially drawn while the prey approaches. The notes quote the archery section of Gaston Phoebus, also brief and specifi...

Galleron

This is a curious thing indeed! I missed the discussion the last time. I am torn as well about how to interpret this. Points in favor of an internal visor of plate..... --The theoretical double-hinge that would be necessary does not present any technical problems. --The profile shape of internal de...

Galleron

It is well to know that what Walrond translates as "target shooting" is some variant of "au chapperon" in the original French, and shot at ranges of 300 or even 400 paces (about 240 or 330 yards). It is better translated as clout shooting in English.

Galleron

Toxophilus was written in 1545? I doubt that there are any surviving documents earlier than that on the topic. Sean I had been heretofore unaware of this one. http://www.archerylibrary.com/books/gallice/ It is perhaps 30 years earlier and written in French. The link gets you to modern transcription...

Galleron

For another data point, in the 1390s the Early of Derby's household spent a bit over 14 scot for a barrel of beer. The scot was evidently worth a lot less than an English shilling.

Almost two day's wages for a tailor sounds like a lot by modern standards, but wages were very low on the Middle Ages.

Galleron

Jeff J wrote:I carried Wil's helmet for a demo once, and I didn't get a special stick. I feel cheated.

King Rene didn't say anything about special sticks. He just said to use lance truncheons.

Galleron

Check out the guy on the left with the orange fabric stuff on his kettle hat. This gets you a zoomed in version. http://www.warfare2.netai.net/Medieval/Battle_of_El_Puig-Altarpiece-Valencia-c1400-large.htm ...... Mac (edited link... I hope that works now) Reminds me of the cloth shade for the back ...

Galleron

clout shoots aren't too far off. It's certainly how they trained. Hrolf, How much do we really know about how they trained? I am aware of the 16th C English regulations. These tell us how they were supposed to practice in an age when battlefield archery was past it heyday. If my memory serves me, i...

Galleron

I was looking at English brasses and effigies last night and noticed something interesting. In the 1450s and 60s we start seeing more bare headed representations. These typically show a tall collar worn inside the cuirasse. The thing that struck me, though, was that during this time there seemed to...

Galleron

I found this video. http://willscommonplacebook.blogspot.com/2015/01/shooting-speed-of-longbow-and-crossbow.html A friend objected that the crossbow looks light. That may be, but the crossbowman's spanning technique is also very inefficient: he's essentially doing squats when he should be doing leg ...

Galleron

Here is a fresco ca. 1350 by Orcagna where it's clear that we are seeing the lower edge of the standard rather than the neckline of a garment worn over it. That's Paris and Helen in hell.

http://www.princeton.edu/~dante/ebdsa/figg1.jpg

Galleron

That's on page 39 of Armi e Armature Lombarde by Boccia, Rossi and Morin, Electra Editrice, 1980. According to the caption, the original on 107 verso of manuscript cod.214 in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan If I understand correctly the author is Tito Livio and the year is 1373. The image repres...

Galleron

That's on page 39 of Armi e Armature Lombarde by Boccia, Rossi and Morin, Electra Editrice, 1980. According to the caption, the original on 107 verso of manuscript cod.214 in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan If I understand correctly the author is Tito Livio and the year is 1373. The image repres...

Galleron

Amanda, Let me put in a plea for the solid breast, rather than making it open down the front. The front opening armor is easier to get yourself in and out of, but it is more difficult to make. It seems like it ought to be easier because you have less shaping to do. The problem is that you then have...

Galleron

We have some similar tents in the Guiron le Courtois MS. http://manuscriptminiatures.com/4365/16766/ http://manuscriptminiatures.com/4365/16812/ http://manuscriptminiatures.com/4365/16817/ (unfortunately, even the gallery pics are too wide to post here) This artist, like the other, only gives us gu...

Galleron

So.... What have we seen? 1).. The majority of depictions of tentage surveyed showed no ropes of any sort. (I did not post these) 2).. A large minority show ropes, but the ropes are drawn at angles which can not actually spread the canopies. 3).. In one example, the ropes are shown at an angle whic...

Galleron

Thank you for posting that, Tom! Does anyone have any ideas what the black things are at the edges of the mail? I have looked at them blown up a bit, and they seem to me to be too regular and symmetrical to be laces. Mac I wonder if they are something like button frogs: The top and bottom lobes of ...

Galleron

The gauntlets look more flaired on the inside of the wrist than is typical of the survivors. Wade Quite so. It's a very SCA-friendly sort of cuff, ain't it? I really like the green leather gloves. We need to see more of that sort of thing. Mac Similar green gloves here: http://manuscriptminiatures....

Galleron

Wow, Galleron must be a keen negotiator. :P "Oh no Mac I couldn't possibly come over and try on the unbelievably awesome armour you are making, again." :wink: I am sure there are many inconveniences, unknown to those of us viewing only through this thread, to being Mac's live armour manikin. I have...

Galleron

James B. wrote:I can tell you the one you are showing from the Peel Affinity is free floating, because I am in current possession of it. Its based on the looting scene in the St. Denis Bible from 1410 or so

Chronicle of St. Denis

Re: Wisby Coifs

Re: Rudolph II's hosen?

Re: Aumbry

Re: The idea of a "composite armour"

Re: My new purse

Re: Dusting off the cobwebs

Re: A vision of a dream - help me perfect my kit

Re: Need brain dump on English Arrow Construction

Re: Can anyone here read German writing from 1500?

Re: How are greaves shaped?

Re: Need brain dump on English Arrow Construction

Re: Need brain dump on English Arrow Construction

Re: Bascinet of the Wallce A69 bascinet?

Ascham's "Dead Shaft"

Re: Leather armour in art? (brown with metal strips & rivets

Re: Need brain dump on English Arrow Construction

Re: Bascinet from an Italian Manuscript.

Re: Need brain dump on English Arrow Construction

Re: Need brain dump on English Arrow Construction

Re: Details from Guiron le Courtois

Re: Details from Guiron le Courtois

Re: Discussion Pizan vs Standard: what is the difference?

Re: Danish archer recreating historical archery

Re: Discussion Pizan vs Standard: what is the difference?

Rate of fire for a war crossbow with a belt hook.

Re: Discussion Pizan vs Standard: what is the difference?

Re: New pics of museum piece. Analysis? (Fabric covered glob

Re: New pics of museum piece. Analysis? (Fabric covered glob

Re: New pics of museum piece. Analysis? (Fabric covered glob

Re: The Ombrellino, Umbraculum or Pavilion and Medieval Tent

Re: The Ombrellino, Umbraculum or Pavilion and Medieval Tent

Re: Any extant examples of mail like this?

Re: Photos of Dijon Altarpiece - 1391-1399

Re: Dusting off the cobwebs

Re: 14th century neck armour