Best books for design and construction of medieval European armour

[Madmatt]

Hello, I'm relatively new. I've never created a piece of armour, but I have read TOMAR and I wanted to do a little more reading before I start swinging a hammer around.

I was curious, if you were were to build your library again from scratch, what 10 or 20 books would you deem to be the most important or most helpful when starting out with no knowledge of the craft? (Other than the good introduction provided by TOMAR)

I don't have any particular period biases, but wanted the best and easiest start into the craft as possible.

I have a few non armour projects on the go that I have to finish before trying this, and it may be a year or two before starting into this. I have therefore figured that I'll start with some reading on the subject in the meantime.

Thanks in advance
Matt

[Indianer]

Welcome to the forum Matt!

If there is a place for You to find rare information, it is here. Although many threads have lost images due to server crashes over the years. I know of no canon literature other than this here. Have a look here. There are many threads left unmentioned there. I might link a few.

Since You still have time, maybe tell us what You already have in terms of tools and what You've seen in terms of videos or other. Literature is good, but videos can go a long way. Barring much reading to pop up, maybe start by copying some basic tools You see used elsewhere. It'll teach You how to use them as You go. Cheers

[Madmatt]

In terms of tools, the two big ones I have are a welder, and a (somewhat shallow) dishing form.

I was thinking of buying a garland split rawhide hammer because I have needed a soft face hammer a few time while woodworking, mechanical work, and firearms building.

Alternatively I have seen that a few people have rounded and polished the faces on ball peen hammers.

What I don't have are any stakes (but I have read about welding metal balls onto sections of pipe), I don't have an anvil with a hardy hole, I don't have a heat source but that can probably be fixed relatively painlessly. I don't have many "armouring" tools, but I have a lot of generally
common tools/power tools like electric drill, and jigsaw.

Some things/channels I have watched are:

Quite a few "living manuscript" videos

Some "Knight Errant" videos

I've been meaning to watch more of "Greenleaf Workshop." I find his videos well done and covering a variety of useful topics

"Modern History TV" video with Greenleaf Workshop


I always appreciate the help, and thank you for the link!

Matt

[Indianer]

A few of my golden ones, in no particular order...

http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/ ... 1&t=188385

http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/ ... 1&t=182756

http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/ ... 1&t=186360

http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/ ... 1&t=145749

http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/ ... 1&t=172819

[Sean M]

I was curious, if you were were to build your library again from scratch, what 10 or 20 books would you deem to be the most important or most helpful when starting out with no knowledge of the craft? (Other than the good introduction provided by TOMAR)

Plate Armouring

Paul Blackwell's "Basic Armouring: A Practical Introduction to Armour Making" http://www.brighthelm.org/articles/armour

TOMAR (the author is a serial fraudster but he actually published)

Photos and Diagrams of European Armour

blair-european-armour {read it like you are talking to a used car dealer who does not lie but will happily let you hear what you want to hear if you don't pay close attention}

goll-iron-documents

Wallace Collection catalogue with the Iron Key (a steel USB stick with closeups of inside and outside all of the armour in the Wallace Collection, part by part and assembled)

First volume of Capwell's "Armour of the English Knight" capwell-aotek-i (the third volume is more of an academic monograph which is groping towards a new way of talking about the subject but has not found it yet, have not seen the second)

Boccia, Lionello G. Le Armature di S. Maria delle Grazie di Curtatone di Mantova e l'Armatura Lombarda del'400. Busto Arsizio: Bramante Editrice, 1982

Boccia, Lionello G., and Eduardo T. Coelho. L'Arte dell'Armatura in Italia. Milan: Bramante Editrice, 1967

Carlo P's books http://www.hansprunner-estore.com/estore/index.asp

Context

Armour in Texts https://www.bookandsword.com/armour-in-texts/

Anthony J. Bryant, Sengoku Daimyo https://sengokudaimyo.com/

David Nicolle's Medieval Warfare Sourcebook (two volumes)

H. Russel Robinson's Oriental Armour

How to Read European Armour (I have not seen this)

Pfaffenbichler's Medieval Craftsmen: Armourers (University of Toronto Press)

richardson-tower-armoury (earlier version at http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/3919/)

[Madmatt]

I'll take a look at these books to help me along

I only learned about the fraudster thing recently when I was going through the archive

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it

[Sean M]

You might be able to borrow Boccia's books from the library by Interlibrary Loan to see if they are for you. You will want one of Carlo P's books to see if his style of photography is for you. Not sure how hard it will be to find the Iron Key, they may have sold off the last new copies a few years ago (it comes with a printed catalogue which is OK, but the photos on the Iron Key are available nowhere else).

Armour books go out of print quickly and are very hard and expensive to buy used, so its good to start collecting early.

[wcallen]

Madmatt - you are in Ontario?
Look up Eric Dube on youtube. He was one of the first to really publish good stuff on building armor out there. And he is (at least sort of) up your way....

After you watch the videos it can really help to see if you can stop by and visit with someone with a shop. We all work differently, but seeing something and asking questions can really help jump start things and move you to the next level relatively quickly.

Do read Claude Blair's "European Armour." Having a basis of knowledge helps you understand what you are seeing.

Wade

[Aussie Yeoman]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that TOMAR is not a good resource for beginners. It's not even a good resource.

I got it early in my armour making journey, and after a while, when the irrational exuberance wore off, I realised it was pretty unhelpful.

The armour examples are not especially historically accurate. There are no measurements ("I like to keep three templates at hand: small, medium and large"), there are no templates (and the photos of templates or cut out pieces are taken from an angle which distorts the shape), he does not talk about how to make armour fit a person, but rather to become a loosely described shape.

You would be far better served searching the forum here for every post ever written by Mac, Wade, Eric Dube, Jiri, Juri, and a host of others. Complement this with videos from as many of those people as possible on YouTube.

[Mac]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that TOMAR is not a good resource for beginners. It's not even a good resource.

I got it early in my armour making journey, and after a while, when the irrational exuberance wore off, I realised it was pretty unhelpful.

The armour examples are not especially historically accurate. There are no measurements ("I like to keep three templates at hand: small, medium and large"), there are no templates (and the photos of templates or cut out pieces are taken from an angle which distorts the shape), he does not talk about how to make armour fit a person, but rather to become a loosely described shape.

I've gotten used to FB, where there is a thumbs up button. Yep, the emperor is naked.

Mac

[Sean M]

It would be nice to get an up-an-coming young armourer to write a book which gets people started like TOMAR but has better information. Videos are good for learning physical things but books have their place too.

My list of some good vlogs is https://www.bookandsword.com/2017/07/08 ... -channels/ but I make linen armour not plate armour or mail. So I'm not the best person to ask.

[human]

how to read European armour is good for learning about armor but not about the making, except for decoration, and a majority of the stuff in it is late 15th and 16th century stuff with good pictures. armourysmith on youtube is another good one, and greenleaf workshop, etc etc.

[Madmatt]

I am in Ontario. I'll be sure to look Eric Dube up. If I found the correct website, he also seems to do classes, which might be interesting and worthwhile.

I appreciate all the good tips. I guess I'll be spending most of my time reading the forums here and watching YouTube as opposed to reading traditional books.

Thank you!

[wcallen]

Yes, producing a book is a LOT of trouble.
Most people have spent time building armor instead of writing a book that won't sell many copies.
Back in the day, a little bit showed up in "The Hammer."
Brian Price did do a very good job of documenting a very specific set of builds for a specific set of 1980's SCA pieces of armor in TOMAR.
I don't think that 1980's SCA armor is a great goal .... Been there, done that, moved on along from there a while ago.

https://www.youtube.com/@ArmureDube - Eric Dube has done a very good job of posting good videos about building armor. And he builds good armor.
https://www.youtube.com/@GreenleafWorkshop - has good stuff, usually of slightly earlier pieces than Eric does.
If want to raise, watching anything by Patrick Thaden is good too. He is a master moving metal.

But when you finish with all of that, and wandering Mac's threads...

Spend as much time as you can looking at and studying real armor. I do what I can to share pictures of the pieces in my little collection of lower quality stuff at https://www.european-armour.com

Museums like the Met, Royal Armouries, etc. have good online catalogues.

Then, find people to visit and talk to. There may be another "The Forging" sometime...

Wade

[human]

if anybody wants armouring youtubes I have a few