The Armour Archive

Medka

Following a request by Ernst, here are some pictures and information about the mail standart from Kavarna Historical museum. Some history to it: In 1443, a new crusade, led by the young polish king Wladislaw III Yagelo and the veteran hungarian ban Janosh Hunyadi, had an aim to aid the byzantine, ca...

Medka

There are none, at least none that I know of. There are some hoods in late 14th - 15th century frescoes in churches in Transylvania, but those are very western influenced.

Regards,
Medka

Medka

There are several grave finds of ring buckles from Bulgaria. They are found on or near the pelvis bone, so definitely no brooches.
I have to say, that they are a very rare, compared to the whole quantity of buckles found.

Regards,
Medka

Medka

Hello, for the past few months, Chigot Armoury has been busy building this export milanese armour, plus weapons and softkit, from around 1440. Here is the initial drawing for the armour. Some things changed, but most of it stayed the same. http://media.snimka.bg/8025/022305561-big.jpg?r=0 And here a...

Medka

Here is an italian celata, mid 15th century.

http://images26.snimka.bg/006018114-big.jpg?r=0

Medka

Medka

Looks really great, Milos. Waaaay better than mine

Have to see it in person in april!

Greetings,
Medka

Medka

From what we know, that calendar was constructed way before the bulgarians were anywhere near modern-day Bulgaria. According to astronomical calculations, somewhere between 2500 and 300 BC. The year was constructed of 365 days, the first one was 22nd of December and was not a part of a month. It was...

Medka

Well, we don't know much about the old bulgarian pre-christian callendar, but if our assumptions are true, then it should be year 7515th from the creation of the world.

Greetings,
Medka

Medka

Does anyone have any idea where this is from ?

http://honorblade.com/stuff/cet/hat/art ... ce-guy.jpg

Greetings,
Medka

Medka

Very good, Roman. Looks great!

Is the top welded, or raised from a single piece ?

Greetings,
Medka

Medka

Here are two early 15th centuty miniatures, published in an Osprey book. Very good details on scabbards, belts and armament in general. http://media.snimka.bg/7689/021633553-big.jpg http://media.snimka.bg/7689/021633552-big.jpg Here is another one from the same manuscript: http://media.snimka.bg/768...

Medka

There you go, Benedek:

http://media.snimka.bg/0519/007293545-big.jpg

Greetings,
Medka

Medka

Medka, thanks very much for the photos. They're brilliant. Am I correct in thinking the names of these two helmets indicate where they were found? Do you have any idea of the approximate dates of the helmets? Egfroth Yes, you are right. One of the helmets was found just outside the modern town of A...

Medka

Another case of forum necromancy :) At last, the Archaeological museum in Plovdiv was open (it took them "only" 5 years :? ) and here are some photos ot the Assenovgrad helmet. Very interesting details appear, such as a barely visible "ridge" on the outher plates. Many thanx to a very good friend of...

Medka

Thank you, guys! I tried the TinEye trick and came up with these: http://www.freeweb.hu/sepsik/bemutato/keso-romai-sisak-2-3/a-keso-romai3-3.jpg http://www.freeweb.hu/sepsik/bemutato/keso-romai-sisak-2-3/2/a-keso-romai2-2.jpg Apparently, it's a replica ot the helm, but on the left there is a photo o...

Medka

Hello, I have started building this late roman helmet for a customer: [img]http://media.snimka.bg/1877/010009579-big.jpg[/img] It is a pretty straight-forward project, but I'm in a need of more pictures of the original. Any would do, but I'm most interested in views from the back - the way the neckp...

Medka

Nice work, Milos! Looking great!

I guess, you were using a CO2 welder for the helmets? Next time try argon - more expensive, but definitely better.

By the way, some friends and me are planning a trip to Serbia in august, it would be great to finally meet you

Greetings,
Medka

Medka

To the best of my knowledge, there are no surviving mail chausses, though they are listed in inventories, shown on effigies, and appear in thousands of artistic examples. Well, I did not read the whole thread, so I'm not sure what period/region are you talking about, but here are two examples from ...

Medka

It's more time and work consuming to make it like the original, hence more expensive. The customer wanted it welded from two pieces to reduce the cost. If I find enough free time to build such helmet for me, I would definately make it from three pieces, rivited together.

Greetings,
Medka

Medka

Thank you for the good words, it really means a lot from you all :) I know, it's not perfect, but I'm happy how it turned out... Sean, the dome is welded, my raising is still not good enough for this sort of project. By the way, the original is a three-piece rivited construction - the rivits flush o...

Medka

Here is the last helm I finished. It's late 12th, early 13th century Kievan Rus helmet, made from 2mm mild steel. It weighs 1,9kg. What do you think ? http://media.snimka.bg/5592/017440055-big.jpg http://media.snimka.bg/5592/017440062-big.jpg http://media.snimka.bg/5592/017440071-big.jpg http://medi...

Medka

Thomas, yes, I understand your points. Maybe I should have clarifyed what I ment under "maximum possible authenticity". I really don't think, that I could replicate the chemical comprosition of a medieval steel (at least not where I live), but I do think, that with some work I can get close enough t...

Medka

Hey guys. I have some friends that make traditional composite bows and after some discussion, we have decided to make an adequate "armour vs arrows" test. We are going for maximum possible authenticity, so I need your help. I'll be needing some data about original armourpieces. Going for helmets and...

Medka

Here are some pictures of an original, found near Varna, Bulgaria. It's from the 1443/4 crusade. http://images23.snimka.bg/004971819-big.jpg http://images23.snimka.bg/004971821-big.jpg http://images23.snimka.bg/004971820-big.jpg http://images23.snimka.bg/004971817-big.jpg http://images23.snimka.bg/0...

Medka

Milos,
sure we will. I may not have the time to tune it 'till then, but we will have fun with it nontheless

Medka

Medka

Thank you guys, I'll keep you updated on every step.

Medka

Medka

Well, the australians from Grey Company claim to reach more than 100 meters with their trebuchet, that is actually smaller than ours - http://members.iinet.net.au/~rmine/Grey ... bfil5.html

Guess, it just comes to more experimenting...

Medka

Medka

I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean. If we look at the below picture, where the blue line is horisontal, the red line is at right angle (90 deg), do you mean the release shoud be at the yellow line (45 deg) or at the black line (135 deg)? [img]http://media.snimka.bg/3814/013883083-big.jpg[...

Medka

Here is an another picture at the precise moment of the sling release: [img]http://media.snimka.bg/3794/013844307-big.jpg[/img] Actually, at first the sling was much longer, but it performed awfull - barely 25 meters. It just did not have the velocity to throw the stone further. I think I should put...

Medka

Here is my goup's first try on a trebuchet. It's a small traction trebuchet according to this miniature from the Sckylitzis chronicle: [img]http://media.snimka.bg/3789/013834035-big.jpg[/img] The axle is 3,15m high, the beam is 2,85m long (0,65/2,20m short/long arm), and the sling is about 0,7m in l...

Medka

I would like to have one too. I'm not quite sure how to send you the money, though...

Best Regards,
Medka

Medka

Russ Mitchell wrote: There was some speculation on this, but apparently some arrowheads in Bulgaria have been found with traces of Aconite (wolfsbane) on them.

Wow, that's interesting... Could you, please, point me to the source ?

Regards,
Medka

Medka

Ingvarr, there are few plates, found in Veliki Preslav (see few posts above), that were covered by a thin sheet of copper alloy, rivited to the steel. You can see one of them here: http://media.snimka.bg/0520/007294753-big.jpg In my oppinion, the strange color, seen on most artwork, could be attribu...

Medka

Is it this one?

It's "Arms and armour of the bulgarian medieval age (VII - XI cent.)" by Valeri Yotov. Despite of making a good classification, he makes some very strange conclusions and theories...

Greetings,
Medka

Medka

Ludial, if you remember the name of the book or the autor, please, let me know. I could find it... By the way "the leading historical researchers of the country" are notoriously ignorant of the question. "Arms and armour" is concidered a non-essential and even "childish" theme. Andrew, I agree with ...

An european 6in1 mail standart

Re: hoods in Eastern Europe?

Re: No more ring belts!

Milanese export armour by Chigot Armoury

help on late-roman helmet documentation needed

Kievan helmet

Armour thickness and composition?

Meet Yosko ;)

Re: "No one struck by such an arrow will live."