The Armour Archive

I'm really sorry if this isnt the right place to post this, but i'm really new here and this seems like the proper sub-forum.

Anywho, here is the question. I want to go from generi-viking to a crusader. Problem is I dont know who, where, when, or what. I just know what helm I want, and will build the rest around. I know about the two main orders (hospitallers and templars), but want to do something different. Is there other orders that are as interesting (i've heard about the Knights of Santiago but cant really find anything good on them).

Basically i'm looking for ideas on who I want to be, based off of the helm i'm going to have made for me. Any and all ideas are welcome, and truly appreciated.

That helmet is very stylized but based on helmets of the late 12th Century. It would be appropriate to a veteran of the 3rd or 4th Crusades.

The plus perfect kit to go with it would be about a knee-length mail hauberk with attached mufflers (mittens), and mail chausses (leggings). The real version of the hauberk also would have had an attached coif, but with that helmet you'll need to fake it with an aventail covering the neck-plate of the helmet. The attached mufflers and chausses you can probably live without, but you definitely want a hauberk. If you can't afford a hauberk, you can wear a gambeson as a temporary measure, but you really need to be saving up for a hauberk, as the gambeson only would mark you as pretty low class, conflicting with the helmet which is clearly not low class.

Take a look at this thread.

For SCA purposes, you'll need some hidden protection under your mail, here is a recent thread where we've been discussing just that.

If I remember correctly they were based in Spain and fought the moors out of Iberia. The Tuetonic order was also around, both in east Europe and the middle east. Not all "crusaders" were part of a religious order so you could do a kit based on a lord on crusade.

did the knights of santiago even went on crusades?

Well, I found this on the Knights of Santiago,

http://www.knightsofsantiago.org/orderhistory.htm

http://www.chivalricorders.org/orders/s ... ntiago.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight_of_Santiago

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13353a.htm

http://www.royalknightsofsantiago.de/

http://www.loyno.edu/~history/journal/1996-7/Gibbs.html

http://www.onpedia.com/encyclopedia/order-of-santiago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_of_Saint_James

http://www.hmml.org/centers/malta/publi ... ture2.html

Might find something useful in these links...

Yea, i found those links after i posted on here about them lol. Im not actually too interested in the Knights of Santiago, I was just trying to use them as example of a lesser known brother hood.

So would the windrose version of the helm I posted be more historically correct and to the same time period? Also I dont know if i'll be able to afford all the necessary chain mail to do it right. Would there be long sleeved tunics worn at this time? Then I could kind of cheat and use strips sewn to the edges of the tunic to get the look.

1. My comment on how stylized that helmet is wasn't meant as a discouragement, just a factual comment...I'd wear it.

2. For a portrayal of any time from about AD 1000 to AD 1300 in Western Europe, you want mail. Anyone wearing less was a commoner; anyone from serjeant/squire on up wore mail. If you wanted to do Byzantine, that's a different story, and there is some evidence of some scale worn by Latins in Southern Italy (not too surprising given intermingling with the Byzantines). I don't know Spain as well as I do the other areas, but given the intermingling of Moors there might be some other options there.

3. Were it I, I would be more likely to invest in the mail and a less dear helmet first, then save up for a better helmet, than the other way around.

<a href="http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=43167">I wanna be a CRUSADER!</a>

If it were I I would also invest in mail first, get a basic Spangen and a good looking gambeson and fight as a commoner of the period until you have the mail. The spangen will be usable with the mail as well until you can upgrade to your dream helmet.

BobKnight wrote:did the knights of santiago even went on crusades?

They didn't have to the crusades came to them