Armor Primer wanted

[Thomas MacFinn]

1) What do you consider the earmarks of armor from 1300 as opposed to other time periods?

2) What do you consider the earmarks of armor from 1350 as opposed to other time periods?

3) What do you consider the earmarks of armor from 1400?

4) 1450?

5) 1500?

[Thomas MacFinn]

I can tell you quite a bit about armor from the English Civil War, but almost nothing about the time period before my old area of study. I'm looking for a cliff-notes guide as a starting point to further study.

[wcallen]

Start simple.

Read the Primer -

Blair, Claude, European Armour c. 1066 to c. 1700. HSMO: London. 1958.

Provides a good solid basis for understanding the development of armour in western Europe. It is a pretty quick read and very informative. It is what I gave to one of my son's classmates (6th grade) to work on his paper.

You can get some idea of my interpretation of some specific pieces from various periods from my page of reproductions:

http://www.allenantiques.com/Reproducti ... ction.html

I try to use lots of 'typical' details, but there are other things going on.

Wade

[Thomas MacFinn]

On your website, all of the limb armor looked the same to me. I don't know what details to look for.

[Frederich Von Teufel]

Read the Primer -

Blair, Claude, European Armour c. 1066 to c. 1700. HSMO: London. 1958.

*Ding!* That's the winner. Blair's work isn't perfect, but it gives a great basis for understanding the changes in armour from place to place and time-period to time-period.

As an added benefit, the book is usually pretty easily obtainable; I've found it in many libraries. If you can find it for less than $30 buy it.


Frederich

[Thomas MacFinn]

My library doesn't have it. Was that book ever reprinted? All of the copies I can find online so far are 1959 printings - some over $100.

[Konstantin the Red]

Inter-Library Loan is your friend then. And FedEx Office...

Ashdown's European Arms & Armour isn't as good, is quite inexpensive in the B&N reprint, but doesn't completely suck. Worth a tepid recommendation at least. Flesh out around this old work with, say, some Oakeshott such as European Weapons and Armour, and his seminal Archaeology of Weapons.

Arms & Armour of the Medieval Knight, by Edge & Paddock, is not super in-depth, but carries photos of a lot of famous pieces from the various eras and its material is highly accurate and with detail. An appendix is full of interior shots of the Wenceslaus Armour, a famous harness. Out of print, but shows up on eBay and Amazon regularly enough anyway. Any price under fifty bucks is a good price.

These are in the main substitutes for Claude Blair's work. But they are still helpful.

I don't know where you were looking --here I suppose? -- but Amazon.com now has a copy at $40. Hardback.

There are four pages on Amazon.com of European Armor and related books -- something there may tempt. Especially interesting for anyone who wants Guy Laking is a reprint of Laking's five volumes, each available individually for under $40, four of the five under $30. That's the price of a tank of gas.

[Frederich Von Teufel]

Inter Library Loan is a mostly untapped resource, definitely see if your library can help you there; it may take some time but it's totally free.

My 'go-to' source for used books is used.addall.com; "The Old Church Bookshop" has a copy of Blair's for $32 not including shipping. If you have good used bookstores in your neighborhood then calling around may be successful; I've gotten some fantastic deals that way.


Frederich

[wcallen]

Inter-Library Loan is your friend then. And FedEx Office...

Ashdown's European Arms & Armour isn't as good, is quite inexpensive in the B&N reprint, but doesn't completely suck. Worth a tepid recommendation at least. Flesh out around this old work with, say, some Oakeshott such as European Weapons and Armour, and his seminal Archaeology of Weapons.

Arms & Armour of the Medieval Knight, by Edge & Paddock, is not super in-depth, but carries photos of a lot of famous pieces from the various eras and its material is highly accurate and with detail. An appendix is full of interior shots of the Wenceslaus Armour, a famous harness. Out of print, but shows up on eBay and Amazon regularly enough anyway. Any price under fifty bucks is a good price.

Personal opinion here.
Ashdown has some useful pictures. The text is not worth the time to read it - at best you will have to read Blair's book to tell you what he got wrong.

Edge & Paddock is a good picture book. Well worth having.

Blair is still the "primer" you were asking for. Once you have read it, then there are lots and lots of things to move to for more pictures.

ILL is good. Used purchase is good. Or there may be someone with a copy near you - I don't know where you are. There are probably at least 6 copies within easy driving distance of my house... Hmm, probably more.

Wade

[Thomas MacFinn]

Evidently, there was a 1970's reprinting.

ISBN 0-7134-0729-8

[Cian of Storvik]

ABEBOOKS.com has several copies. 1 is $50 (paperback) and two others are $80 (hardback) with shipping.
-Cian

[Thomas MacFinn]

Start simple.

Read the Primer -

Blair, Claude, European Armour c. 1066 to c. 1700. HSMO: London. 1958.

Took a while to straiten out things with interlibrary loan, but awsome book. Thanks.

[Thomas MacFinn]

Does anybody know why this book has not been either reprinted or transcribed onto Project Gutenbburg? It an excellent basic primer, and it pains me that is not more readily available.

[wcallen]

Why hasn't it been reprinted?

Because Claude Blair wanted to update it, not just reprint.
But he didn't have time so he pawned the work off on Toby Capwell.
Toby is crazy busy trying to deal with other things and hasn't gotten around to it yet.

I would love to see the update too. I always have a copy of the original on hand (I have 3 right now).

Wade

[Kenwrec Wulfe]

While certainly not definitive, the Osprey books are a reasonable reference, and they break things down regionally and chronologically.
A few examples from Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Knight-Templar-11 ... pd_sim_b_6
http://www.amazon.com/English-Medieval- ... 908&sr=1-2
http://www.amazon.com/English-Medieval- ... 908&sr=1-4
http://www.amazon.com/English-Medieval- ... pd_sim_b_2
http://www.amazon.com/Teutonic-Knight-1 ... gy_b_img_b
http://www.amazon.com/Varangian-Guard-9 ... pd_sim_b_6
http://www.amazon.com/Armies-Ottoman-Tu ... d_sim_b_23
http://www.amazon.com/Byzantine-Armies- ... pd_sim_b_2
http://www.amazon.com/Moors-Islamic-7th ... pd_sim_b_5
http://www.amazon.com/German-Medieval-A ... 210&sr=1-1

[Eltz-Kempenich]

Well I can give you a short and sweet answer, at least in part.

1300: Full mail is the norm. Some armoured surcoats and leather limb protection (esp. knees). Cervelliers and close-faced helms are typical. Long surcoats.

1350: Coat of plates and bascinets are ubiquitous with few regional differences. Limb defenses are highly variable between and among both floating and articulated styles, though the floating variety are probably still more common in 1350. Gauntlets begin to take on the recognizable bell-cuff style. Surcoats grow shorter, if they're employed at all.

1400: Full plate, articulated limbs. Bascinets vary by region (onion-tops in the HRE, straight-backed types in Italy, etc.). Coat of plates is largely out of style. Brigandines grow more popular in the south whereas solid breastplates seem to be a product of the north. Surcoats are large houpelandes, again if worn.

Anything after that, I could honestly care less. We all know what the best century is.

I would also suggest David Nicolle's "Medieval Warfare Source Book: Warfare in Western Christendom."

[Galfrid atte grene]

Does anybody know why this book has not been either reprinted or transcribed onto Project Gutenbburg? It an excellent basic primer, and it pains me that is not more readily available.

It hasn't been placed online (legally) because it is still protected under copyright.

[Tom B.]

How about looking at Talbot's Analysis of 1300 effigies? No visual references but great on what was used when.

Tom

[Talbot]

My book, coming out later this year, will teach you everything you wanted to know about the subject!

[Thomas MacFinn]

Would somebody review this and see if I missed anything or if anything is grossly wrong? I've been thinking about a good glossary since reading the poor one that used to be on the archive (and has been much improved at the time I got around to posting this).

By c. 1330 plate defences had been devised for all the main parts of the body and were in general, if not universal use. Very few additions were made to the number of pieces during the remainder of the 14th century, and this chapter will be concerned mainly with the evolution of those already described towards the fully-developed 'white' armour of the early 15th century. Before going on to discuss this, however, it would perhaps be as well to pause to summarise the arming of the up-to-date knight of c. 1330. I say 'up-to-date' because, although plate had come into general use by this date, illustrations of armour consisting almost entirely of mail can still be found down to c 1350, while in Italy, Germany and Spain the arms and sometimes the legs are often shown seemingly protected only by mail right to the end of the century.

The knight, having donned a close fitting shirt, short breeches and hose, proceeded first to the arming of his legs with mail chausses, gamboised cuisses with poleyns attached, schynbalds or greaves, sabatons and spurs. After these, he donned his aketon, his hauberk or haubergeon with the vambraces and besagews attached to the sleeves and his coat of plates. Sometimes the coat of plates and the lower cannons of the vambraces were put on before the hauberk but the reverse arrangement seems to have been more usual. A surcoat or gambeson was then put on over everything followed by a narrow waistbelt and the sword-belt, which usually hung fairly slackly about the hips. Finally, but probably not until action was imminent, the gauntlets and the bascinet with its aventail were put on. If the bascinet was visorless, it was usually supplemented by a [great] helm surmounted by its crest. Our knight may have worn ailettes, a plate bevor and a pizaine although, with the exception of the last-named, these seem to have been comparatively uncommon at this date.

Intro to Chapter 3 of European Armour circa 1066 to circa 1700 by Claude Blair

* Ailettes: Ornamental rectangular plates (although other shapes occur) laced to the sides of the shoulders and projecting up on either side of the head. Their chief purpose appears to be heraldic. Circa 1275 - 1350 in most European countries (except Germany, where they are rare).

* Aketon: A plain quilted coat usually worn under armor. Also called a gambeson (although the term gambeson is also applied to a highly decorated quilted coat worn over armor).

* Aventail: A mail skirt attached to a helmet.

* Bascinet: 1) A small globular helmet that curves down on each side to cover the ears, often with a movable visor. 2) A deep conical helmet, arched over the face and extending almost down to the shoulders at the sides and back. 3) A tall conical helmet with a strait lower edge at a level only just above the ears. All three types of bascinet remained in use until c. 1340-50.

* Besagews: Disk shaped plates secured (historically by laces) to the outside of the elbow and the front of the shoulder.

* Bevor: Plate armor that protected the throat and lower portion of the face.

* Cervelliere: A small metal skull cap, often worn under the mail coif until the 1330's (when other helmets were worn on top of the coif.

* Chausses: Leg armor, usually made of mail.

* Coat of plates: Torso armor consisting of several large overlapping plates riveted to a cloth or leather outer shell.

* Coif: a mail hood

* Couter: elbow armor, modernly called an elbow cop.

* Gamboised cuisses: Quilted thigh defenses

* Gauntlets: In 1330, hand protection was made in the same way as a coat of plates, that is iron plates riveted to or between layers of fabric. The plates were tinned or coppered to prevent rusting, since they could not be removed for cleaning.

* Great Helm: A closed faced helm often worn over a bascinet and/or mail coif. It was often surmounted by a crest of molded and painted leather mounted on a leather cap attached to the helm by laces.

* Greaves: Armor for the shin and calf

* Haubergeon: A short hauberk

* Hauberk: A mail shirt, also called a byrnie. Most hauberks were fitted to the shape of the wearer and, on most hauberks, a slit (closed with laces) extends from the neck to the center of the chest. After 1325 (when mufflers fell out of fashion) wide sleeves extending the middle of the forearm were common. Many also had standing collars either built-in or as a separate piece (see also pizaine).

* Mail: Circular rings arranged so that each ring has four rings linked to it. Most mail is made of either riveted rings (which existed in some form in all SCA time frames) or alternating rows of solid and riveted rings (which fell out of fashion in 1400).

* Muffler: A bag-like extension of the sleeve of the hauberk to form mittens for the hand. The palm was usually leather or fabric. On many, a leather thong kept the mail tight to the wrist. Mufflers were common in the last quarter of the 12th century until 1320 (and occasionally found a bit later) when they were gradually replaced by gauntlets.

* Pizaine: A mail collar, usually made with thicker rings and occasionally reinforced with leather strips so it could stand up on its own. The term refers to a separate garment and was not used when the collar was built into the hauberk.

* Poleyns: reinforcing plates attached to the knees of mail chausses. Early poleyns were quite small, but after 1270 completely covered the front and sides of the knees.

* Sabatons: Armor for the top of the foot

* Schynbalds: shin guards, also called demi-greaves

* Surcoat: In 1330, a surcoat was a loose cloth worn over armor and often highly decorated. In England from c. 1325 the surcoat was cut short in front but extended in the knees in back. Above the waist, it was often laced or buttoned on the sides and featured rudimentary sleeves that just covered the tops of the shoulders.

* Vambraces: arm armor, excluding the shoulder but including the couter (elbow armor).

[Thomas MacFinn]

I can't help thinking the surcoat is missing info. I have a comment about English surcoats but not outside England.

[MalcolmdeMoffat]

the only thing that stood out in my mind was "Schynbalds: shin guards, also called demi-greaves
"
As i know them Demi greaves are short pieces of leg armour that are attached to the bottom of the lowest lame on a Poleyn.
in the below picture you will see below the knee armour a short plate...That is what I think of as a 'demi-greave' But Wade or Tom or Mac will be my sources for the absolute answer.
http://www.medievalrepro.com/Images/Chu ... pyedit.jpg

[AvM]

My book, coming out later this year, will teach you everything you wanted to know about the subject!

Ooooh! Want!