The Armour Archive

There are frequently posts on this R & A board about what to do for period lighting. Well, I was browsing the HE site and happened across the following item on sale for $29.95. It's a really beautiful brass medieval candle lantern with a horn paneled door. That seems like a great price. If you are looking for period lighting, you should check this out!

http://www.historicenterprises.com/cart ... p=216&c=45

Cheers,
Tim

P.S. Not affiliated with HE

I have two of these and like them very much. They do not put out immense light, but they turn the interior of a tent into that magical place of half-light and shadow, and the light is definitely sufficient when your evening eyes have gotten adjusted.

I recommend the beeswax candles, they burn clean.

John
Jehan de Pelham, esquire and servant of Sir Vitus

Im having problems with the candles overheating and melting in my lantern if I dont use really short candles, and compared to period examples I've seen depicted they seem a bit low (which might be connected to the heat problem?), but otherwise its a very nice item.

/R

Why does HE give it only get a 2-star authenticity rating?

Hi Trevor-

We're trying to be scrupulously honest with the rating system, and that means some items rate lower than one might think they should.

The rating system says:

**Designs based on specific artwork and the artwork is cited for your reference. In some cases this is the highest rating we can give a product because no physical example survives.

We can't do better than 2 for this product because no physical samples survive. Bummer, huh? But at least you know.

Raymond, we have the same problem with some candles. The problem is that medieval lanterns were designed to work with candles that burn really "cold" (like tallow), and modern candles made of high quality parafin burn really hot. You can compesate by using the shorter/fatter candle as you suggest, or trying to find a poorer-quality candle. We've had pretty good luck with those cheapo emergency candles from the dollar store.

Gwen

I've also just taken a votive candle and sat it on top of the holder, when they were sitting down inside the tent.

Jehan de Pelham, esquire and servant of Sir Vitus

Yeah, this sort of lantern tends to be "a candle-waster"...but they are very beautiful lanterns. If you can live with your candles burning quickly, this is a really nice, evocative design.

Ill try to experiment with different candles. But it would be nice with a revised higher version, like these from a article entitled "Let There Be Light!" on the Markland web site:
http://www.markland.org/media/lightfig8.gif

/R

Well, it's a really nice piece. I can think of a couple of extant pieces, but they don't have horn windows. It sure looks a lot like those, though.

IIRC there is a good description of a horn paned lantern that Alfred the Great had made to be used with timed candles so he would get the cannonical hours of the night right...

Unfortunately I researched that about 20 years ago and don't recall the source now.

Thomas

They are beautiful. I had one but some asshead STOLE IT or BORROWED IT PERMANENTLY.