The Armour Archive

Renaissance Magazine #39 is out, looks like it is a special on armour. Interview with Brian Price. Article on making riveted mail. Should be worth a read.

http://www.renaissancemagazine.com/

So after 39 issues it might have something worth reading

I hate you. I actually purchased this while I was in Barnes and Noble at the Mall of America this afternoon.

It is the single most worthless publication on the planet. I put it a step below the now defunct O Magazine and Martha Stewart's publication.

Not only is most of what I read inacurate, it is misleading and often blatantly wrong in many cases.

There are blanket statements regarding the construction of armour and mail that are disgustingly misleading.

Also, if I see the term "chainmail" in print one more time I am going to go into epileptic fits.

I highly suggest that anyone, at least those who do not want to lose a significant number of brain cells, avoid 90% of the content in this magazine.

Also, the reproduction quality is atrocious. The pictures are horrid and the photo of the guy in the article who wrote about buying armour is humorous, at best. Why anyone would publish a picture like that is beyond me. I would be embarassed.

Well that blows, I went out to grab it and the stores have the old issue. Was the interview with price any good?

warpiper wrote:Well that blows, I went out to grab it and the stores have the old issue. Was the interview with price any good?

I guess. However, there isn't any information in it that can't be had by searching this board for armour assistance and/or browsing the Chivalry Bookshelf site, I think.

Don't NOT buy it on my account. I just think it is the last (and only) copy that I will EVER pick up.

James B. wrote:So after 39 issues it might have something worth reading

BZZZZZT WRONG! try again!

Maybe after another 39 issues they MIGHT have some useful content.

(But don't hold your breath)

-SFG

hehe

5-6 month ago i received one of their publication and some document about publicity saying that they were making an armor spetial, anyone else received that ?

did not participate, the magazine had one or two interesting page...so...

Symon Fitz Gilbert wrote:

James B. wrote:So after 39 issues it might have something worth reading

BZZZZZT WRONG! try again!

Maybe after another 39 issues they MIGHT have some useful content.

(But don't hold your breath)

-SFG

It could have some worthwhile content, but the paper it's printed on is too crinkly to wipe with...

Guillaume2 wrote:hehe

5-6 month ago i received one of their publication and some document about publicity saying that they were making an armor spetial, anyone else received that ?

did not participate, the magazine had one or two interesting page...so...

Yeah, I got the same thing. I also passed on the offer.

Chris

Brian W. Rainey wrote:
Also, if I see the term "chainmail" in print one more time I am going to go into epileptic fits.

Chainmail!

Chainmail!

Chain Mail!

(Sorry, just needed to see someone else rolling on the floor in agony.)



(...we will now return to our usual polite, inoffensive manner.)

Hey Brian,

Tell us how you really feel. Really...

Brian W. Rainey wrote:I hate you. I actually purchased this while I was in Barnes and Noble at the Mall of America this afternoon.

It is the single most worthless publication on the planet. I put it a step below the now defunct O Magazine and Martha Stewart's publication.

Not only is most of what I read inacurate, it is misleading and often blatantly wrong in many cases.

There are blanket statements regarding the construction of armour and mail that are disgustingly misleading.

Also, if I see the term "chainmail" in print one more time I am going to go into epileptic fits.

I highly suggest that anyone, at least those who do not want to lose a significant number of brain cells, avoid 90% of the content in this magazine.

Also, the reproduction quality is atrocious. The pictures are horrid and the photo of the guy in the article who wrote about buying armour is humorous, at best. Why anyone would publish a picture like that is beyond me. I would be embarassed.

I would hate to mislead the public.

The term "sugar coat" is not in my vocabulary.

You may find it amusing to know that sometime in the early days of the magazine, they ran an article about medieval clothing. It contained all the stock lines about how in the middle ages everyone wore mud coloured sacks, how everyone was filthy and never washed- the usual rubbish. I wrote to the editor and told them the article was wrong. They wrote back and said "if you can do better, send it to us". I wrote a very short (1 page) overview of textiles and dying and submitted it. They wrote back saying that it was too "scholarly", and therefore wouldn't be of interest to their readership. I pretty much knew the magazine was a waste of time from that point on.

Hey, did anyone else find the "art photo" showing pubic hair a bit suprising in a general interest mag?

Gwen

Sasuke wrote:

Guillaume2 wrote:hehe

5-6 month ago i received one of their publication and some document about publicity saying that they were making an armor spetial, anyone else received that ?

did not participate, the magazine had one or two interesting page...so...

Yeah, I got the same thing. I also passed on the offer.

Chris

Were they soliciting an article from those of you who received this? If so, then pardon if this comes across as me being a tool, but you have no right to complain about the content of the magazine. You were given an opportunity to have good, factual, accurate information published, and you passed on it, so essentially it's your fault they had to take content from those who did send in articles.

If they weren't soliciting and article, then I am just being a tool, so never mind!

Thomas you are not being a tool but I think that you have misunderstood what was mean't. I believe that various armourers got an issue of the magazine and a rate card for placing ads with the magazine. The magazine was soliciting funds not articles from the armourers.

Captain Jamie

When I was out in Tucson a few years back, working on an NPS project, I actually took the time to stop by their shop. It felt like very early Scadia/Renfaire. More like a medievalish emporium- clothes, books, spot welded weapons. I introduced myself and received the standard "... we'd be more interested if you bought something..." attitude. Nobody to talk to, nothing to talk about; I think I bought one book on the way out. (It's hard to go wrong with books.)

Copies of the magazine have been equally unimpressive; occasional good stuff buried in fluff and ads. I haven't bothered to stop by in subsequent visits, since I have better sources almost everywhere, and I'd rather spend my cash in Tucson at the used tool shop.

Just my opinion (backed by 35 years of reenacting ).

Captain Jamie wrote:Thomas you are not being a tool but I think that you have misunderstood what was mean't. I believe that various armourers got an issue of the magazine and a rate card for placing ads with the magazine. The magazine was soliciting funds not articles from the armourers.

Captain Jamie

Ah, ok. My apologies if I offended anyone. In that case, complain away!

Yup, it was a request to advertise in this "special all armor issue." I haven't seen the new issue but the sample one they sent me screamed Renn Fair enthusiast rather than authenticity minded. Not that I am any great scholar or anything.

Chris

Sasuke wrote:Yup, it was a request to advertise in this "special all armor issue." I haven't seen the new issue but the sample one they sent me screamed Renn Fair enthusiast rather than authenticity minded. Not that I am any great scholar or anything.

Chris

Yep, it was purely renfair content. A method of parting fools from their money. Oh, wait.. I BOUGHT a copy. I take that back!

I could always use it to wipe my....

Perhaps I will get my money out of it yet.

I ran an ad there for a short while. So in my biased opinion there was something there that was completely accurate.

To the best that I can determine, it generated a short spurt of views but not enough business to justify the increase in ad rates.

That and I was a bit torqed when, during the re-order phase for the ad, I got my current courtesy copy and it didn't have my paid-for ad in it.

Hey, did anyone else find the "art photo" showing pubic hair a bit suprising in a general interest mag?

In their mag, on their site, where?

Maeryk

Ohhh I know what you guys mean now about the author's kit...heh heh heh! There is one GREAT thing about that issue, though...it contains a nice pic of my Armour on page 21 in an ad for Tamarack. Could somebody scan & post it for me pretty please?

I have some friends that are equally disgusted with Renaissance magazine and are starting a similar magazine of their own. They expect to have their first issue out in January. They described the mag. to me as a magazine for Rennie's by Rennie's. They have already expressed interest in having me write an article on armor construction. The only problem with that is that I am probably the most ignorant person in the art of armor building that visits this forum.

My friends have requested that people send in articles for them to print. They expressly want articles that sound "schollarly" and use historical reference to back up what they are saying.

Should any of you find this of interest, please let me know and I will get you the contact information so you can talk to the publishers yourself and decide if they are worth your time and effort.

Knowing the character of the gentlemen involved, I believe they will do everything they can to make their magazine worth reading.

Sincerely,
Sir Hugh de'Heverly

Cap'n Atli,

Renaissance Mag is based in Massachusetts, and I don't believe they have a retail shop in Tuscon AZ. Could you be confusing them with Chiv Sports and their "Renaissance Catalog/Magazine"?

Not that I'm defending either one, I just like it when companies are correctly identified.

A side note,

Gwen said above she offered them a meaty article on clothing and textiles, which they rejected, so it seems that they just aren't interested in material that has real "substance", but instead print stuff that usually appeals to the common denominator, which unfortunately they feel is at a very low level of historical interest/knowledge compared to ours.

We run an "On the Net" classified monthly, and ran a 1/8 page display ad once and it was quite costly. The display ad produced not a single inquiry.

It seems to be a magazine appealing to refaire subculture.

Black Swan Designs wrote:Hey, did anyone else find the "art photo" showing pubic hair a bit suprising in a general interest mag?

I'm not a prude or anything, but yes - I was quite surprised. In fact, it was the nipples that surprised me first. Women pictured in this magazine are usually "Tudored" up to their necks. I didn't even notice "the rest" until re-reading the magazine, some days later.

Yes, this rag appeals mainly to the ren faire set. I usually grab it only because there are occasionally some advertisers worth checking out. But the articles generally contain (more often than not) painful inaccuracies, etc.

Subscribe to MEDIEVAL HISTORY instead. A lot more expensive, but worth every penny in scholarship, IMHO. Plus, it comes out more frequently. (Disclaimer: I have no formal relationship with Chivalry Bookshelf, other than to have blown a substantial chunk of change on their publications recently...)

In service,

--Gwydion

Jeffrey:

My mistake, and you are quite correct.

On the other claw, and through a bleery mind, one could see where I could get confused; I've seen both, and they do seem to blend together in a great, gray mass.

Still, I regret the misidentification, and if either is insulted by their comparison to the other...

Well, there you are.

G'night folk.

I'm no prude either, it just kinda caught me off guard- I thought mags that showed -everything- had to be in plastic wrap or something? The thought that followed "Yikes" was that I've seen the magazine for sale on magazine displays in large grocery stores. If some kid were to pick that up and get an eyeful I suspect the fallout could be ugly for the magazine.

Just to clarify, when my darling husband said "which unfortunately they feel is at a very low level of historical interest/knowledge compared to ours" I know he meant that "ours" to mean everyone who frequents this forum, not just him and me.

Gwydion, I've not seen an issue of Medieval History magazine in forever. Is Brian giving the impression that he is the publisher? If so that would be amusing, but erroneous, as Medieval History is a joint publication of the Royal Armouries and Harnois; Chivalry Bookshelf merely handles US distribution and advertising.

Isn't it interesting how the lines are blurring with these publications? Chivalry Sports puts out a magazine that is really a catalog, but it's hard to see that at first because it looks like a magazine. Sofi's Stitches sent me a wholesale catalog (have no idea why!) that looked like a magazine, and had lots of ads for RenFaire type vendors in it. Is this the print version of "infomercials"? It's kind of an interesting phenomenon.

Gwen

I had a subscription when it first came out. We had joined a Renn. Faire group, and I thought it was interesting to get the perspective that those folks had. And, no, they are not particularly interested in historically correct or authentic anything. These are the people who butcher Shakespeare while wearing studded pirate/B & D outfits, and wear "wenches dresses" exposing 2' of cleavage decorated with biker tatoos. Kind of like the SCA and carnival workers combined.
I don't see anything wrong with the LARP stuff as long as you take it for what it's worth, it's just another form of mindless entertainment miles ahead of grown men watching other grown men play childrens' games with balls.

Run, Martha! The carnies are coming, the carnies are coming!...

Black Swan Designs wrote:Gwydion, I've not seen an issue of Medieval History magazine in forever. Is Brian giving the impression that he is the publisher? If so that would be amusing, but erroneous, as Medieval History is a joint publication of the Royal Armouries and Harnois; Chivalry Bookshelf merely handles US distribution and advertising.

Gwen

I've not heard or seen Brian make that claim. I think Gwydion was only saying that Chiv Books is who he sent his money to. Much like someone saying they have blown a chunk of change with Historic Enterprises for pewter cast pilgram badges.

Guy Dawkins wrote:

Black Swan Designs wrote:Gwydion, I've not seen an issue of Medieval History magazine in forever. Is Brian giving the impression that he is the publisher? If so that would be amusing, but erroneous, as Medieval History is a joint publication of the Royal Armouries and Harnois; Chivalry Bookshelf merely handles US distribution and advertising.

Gwen

I've not heard or seen Brian make that claim. I think Gwydion was only saying that Chiv Books is who he sent his money to. Much like someone saying they have blown a chunk of change with Historic Enterprises for pewter cast pilgram badges.

Correct, Guy. I was giving Chiv Books a minor "plug" by saying I'm a satisfied customer, but didn't want anyone thinking I was "pushing" MEDIEVAL HISTORY for any other reason than it's a really good mag, and well worth the shekels, IMHO. I never accused Brian of claiming Chiv Books is the "publisher."

Can someone post a few scaned pages here, so some of us here in europe will know what you guys are talking about?




Jiri

Here is a link to, I believe, the magazines home page.

http://www.harnois.co.uk/magazine_presentation.php

I think two different mags are now being discussed. This is a link to the original one:

http://www.renaissancemagazine.com

I am going to say that I went ahead and bought #39. And I thought the interview with Price was decent. If nothing else I learned his follow-up book, on 15th century armour techniques, is on schedule for early next year.

I also thought the article on riveted mail was about the best you could do with two pages.

I used to subscribe to Renaissance Magazine, but I also found it to be more geared towards (surprise surprise), the renaissance fair scene.

I now subscribe to Medieval History, through Chivalry Bookshelf. A fantastic magazine.

Steve