The Armour Archive

I'm thinking of doing some armouring at demo's and such, and want to incorperate a leather apron into my garb.

Assuming circa 1335, England, Armourer.

Can anybody point me to pictures of an appropriate apron? Or even patterns?

Would it even be appropriate?

Thanks in advance!

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Matthew Broadway (mattbroadway1974@yahoo.com)
Founder of The Armour Archive
Jack of All Trades... Master of none.

There was a thread not long ago about armouring and aprons, see if you can find it (in the R&A and the Off topic forums).
But the consensus was that aprons mainly seemed to be used for hotwork.
In the german Mannesse codex (ca 1320-1340) there are however some aprons depicted at folio v371: http://www.manesse.de/img/123.jpg
In the english Luttrell-psalter (ca 1340)there are some (non smithing) servants with simple aprons tucked in their belts, see http://w1.600.telia.com/~u60000007/luttrell/

/R

In a pre-Walmart age, when you couldn't just go down and buy much off the rack, I can't imagine that they wouldn't wear aprons to protect what clothes they had.

Alcy--you're using common sense--you know how dangerous that can be....

I would imagine something like a tabbard, but some of the picture I've seen show a large rectangle, belted at the waist and pinned at the top.

There's an image here that may help:

Apron Image from "La Malpropre Age" (undated)

It's from a French source, but I wouldn't imagine there'd be a great deal of difference between that and an English apron, considering the utility of the garment.

You're so chock full o' help Bob...

I'm just emailing all my questions straight to you from now on...



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Matthew Broadway (mattbroadway1974@yahoo.com)
Founder of The Armour Archive
Jack of All Trades... Master of none.

Here's one worn by Peter Vischer, in his self-portrait on the Sebaldus tomb in Nuremberg. This is 1512 and Germany, but the apron looks very low tech. He was a sculptor, but worked with cast iron (as in this piece). It's nice to see his tools too.

http://artroots.com/art2/petervischer.jpg

Cheers

Adam
/aethstan /SCA drachenwald

Looks like a chunk of hide with shoulder straps. From the angle of the straps, I'd say they don't meet behind his neck. Wish I had the right angle to see if there's another chunk hanging down his back.

Hushgirl,

I'll try to look next time I'm in town. No promises, though, he stands very close to the ironwork behind him and I'm not sure I'll see anything.

I like the buttons though.

Cheers

Adam
/aethstan /SCA drachenwald

Am I the only one that CLICKED on Bob's URL????? Or is everyone ignoring the joke?

Steve

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Forth Armoury
Highly authentic, affordable riveted maille.

The measure of a man is not in the steel of his skin but in the steel of his heart. - S. Sheldon

You got me there Bob. Hey, Matt, if you make an apron like that, are you going to post a picture of you modelling it....?



Adam
/aethstan /SCA drachenwald

I was reading the book Medieval Panaorama last night and in it is a pic from a manuscript from the netherlands with two smiths hotworking in aprons, 14th cent. The aprons are brown, leather I assume and tied around the back of the neck and at the waist. Perhaps you can use this pic to add to your documentation.