The Armour Archive

I'm interested in the surcoat with the wide, dagged sleeves that the gent in the sugarloaf is wearing. Is there a name for this style, and is there a time/place it is associated with, or is it something of a modern form? I'd also be interested in a source for a pattern or at least an idea on how to make one.

It's the sort of thing the SCA calls a "fighting houppelande" from having big sleeves of one pattern or another, and which sometimes also features the houppelande-style pleating front and back on the torso. Very late fourteenth century, if it appears before 1400 at all.

Looks very much like pictures from the Laurin Tournament. If so, that event is VERY period, and is from 1370-1400.

The pictures are from the tournament, but I wouldn't base authenticity purely from another reenactment. They look good, but there are other threads here about the variety of time periods presented.

That type of garment is VERY thin in the ground before the year 1400. If that date is important to you as a cutoff, I would avoid that type of garment. But, if I could be permitted a generalization, the main changes to the harness of the armored man in the first decade of the 15th century are changes in cloth, rather than steel.

Can someone post a reference or image to a garment like this depicted in period art (14th or 15th C)? I see plenty of people vouching for the authenticity but no evidence (yet).

It kind of reminds me of the German "crawfish" style discussed in this thread:

"Tournament Houppelande?"

Look at the thread Tasha posted; most images of that sort of garment are early 15th century. The tight fitting jupon over the body only seems to be the main style of the late 14th century but at the turn of the century there is a big change in fashion.

James, I read that thread - and didn't see any compelling evidence (see my posts in that thread for an objection to a particular "source"). Am I missing something?
I totally agree that changes to over-armour garments occurred - and there are plenty of styles - but I'm specifically interested in the one worn in the photos that started this thread.

I've long felt that the loose variety of surcotte seen on modern-day medievalists is a short-hand re-creation of something that is far more complicated to tailor than most of us think. The garments with long flowing sleeves seen in the early 15thc imagery tend to have tightly fitted bodies with an interesting array of possible materials and techniques for construction. None of them fall into the "loose tunic-like" category. Then there is the huque, which does have a looser, flowing body, but which typically does not have long, voluminous sleeves. Rather, its sleeves tend to be short and simple. I'm generalizing here, but I don't have the time to carefully search through all the images and put forth specific examples at this moment. Sorry about that.