It´s like today. when official photographs is made. you have your things in propper order. when you and your unit are oun your own. your kit is the way you feel comfortable. // former Pog.
@@exploatores there is a reason they are called infantry from the same root as infant. Troops are known to leave parts of standard gear behind because it is heavy and/or bulky. For instance gas attacks are rare so they don't feel like carrying the protective mask and conveniently forget it.
I don't think Zac's conjecture is totally accurate. Back then you'd be trained by professionals who have lots of experience in real combat. Knowledge is passed on to kids in the upper classes who would have these kinds of equipment. It's more likely that they find it restrictive for the mission because they are there to do the job effectively. There is some bravado and over-confidence in certain cases I'm sure, but their "honor" or whatever depends on whether they defeat the enemy or not so there's also calculated ambition.
@@rasmasyean Even highly trained military dudes *today* with a boatload of actual combat experience slack on wearing all their gear properly on the regular. It can be for utility reasons, but a lot of the time it really isn't. And to assume it was back then, is a bit idealistic.
I'm not really involved in reenactor circles and all, but I draw fantasy stuff every once in a while, and these types of deep dives into armor are really useful to me just because they point the way armor works out to me in ways i probably could never piece together just from pictures! Like, even with picture references, drawing plate armor (let alone trying to come up with an interesting but at least marginally plausible design for a given character's armor, rather than merely copying the first reference picture you happen to find) is incredibly hard if you can't tell how the different pieces are supposed to interact with each other, so seeing you go through it piece by piece and explain it is so useful as a reference because they help me actually think about and understand the functionality and what a certain piece needs to be able to do when I'm drawing. Thank you!
I'm glad Zac mentioned the italian mail only shoulder defenses, personally I love the look of the 3/4 arm harness with mail shoulders and I wish it was discussed more, Ian from Knyght errant briefly mentions it, but besides that this is the only video I've found that mentions it
It's something I will look more at when my new voiders are finished, because then I'll actually be able to demonstrate it. We should also mention that it wasn't only done in Italy - I know examples from Flemish and English art that also clearly show it.
I'd be interested to hear how the dressing process would change if you were caught by surprise and had to hurry; would you skip, or prioritise, any particular elements?
I think if I had to drop anything, it would be the mail elements - collar, skirt, etc. In some cases you might just skip the whole legs as well - there is a surprising amount of medieval art showing people with totally armoured upper bodies, but with only hose and shoes on the legs. If you're fighting in a formation, where your legs are hidden down behind other people, I guess that works. Also means you're quicker on your feet.
So, I actually larp at 24 hour games where fighting can happen at any time, and when I've been pressed for time, I've done exactly that. Mail shirt, corrazina and arms go on- sometimes sans spaulders if we're really rushed - and the legs get left behind. It's harder for me or whoever is helping to get on correctly under stress, time consuming, less important, and like he said, you're quicker on your feet without it.
This was a great video. I think it's worth mentioning that so much of our idea of German gothic versus Italian Milanese armour comes from survival bias and the historiography of armour scholarship originating with people trying to describe surviving armour rather than reconstruct the historical armour of different periods and regions. I imagine this is coming in future videos from both of you but I am excited to hear about your new armours from both of you since IiRC they are both going to be more English? As someone putting together a c 1470 harness I am definitely interested in seeing how yours comes together!
Congratulations guys this was absolutely fascinating. You play off each other really well. Matts a born educator and Zac just picks up at opportune moments supplying additional expertise.
Zac is such a wonderful guest, would love to see him appear more! Definitely going to sub to his channel, absolutely love his input and observations. Awesome!!!!
Enjoyed it so much. I am a recent subscriber. Hello from Moscow. And you two are such medieval nerds, coming from a 44 year old guy who spent an hour on your video. You have a great channel, really enjoying it. Thank you very much. Cheers.
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I really, really, really love how those armours fit slim people. This brings back to the historical imagery of armours we have, and it feel more accurate, but also it is elegant and feels very light and transpires speed and dexterity.
Great comparison with the armor side by side! I've found I CAN in fact, put on all my armor (based on this "frankenarmor", MET museum, Accession Number: 29.150.7). It can be awkward armoring solo, so if I'm doing it for the public, I'll use an assistant. Here's the trick:Point your arms to your arming doublet FIRST. Then don that doublet. Point the pauldrons to the leather shoulder straps on the cuirass. Alternatively I know in the 16th c. some people pointed or pinned the pauldrons to the gorget. FWIW, I have a skirt and voiders, but rarely wear them. My skirt needs some adjustments and the voiders are bulky and difficult to point. (A pair of sleeves is much easier.)
I'm a sucker for flutes and scallops, so i have to say Zach's armor wins in the looks department, hands down. But i wish we had gotten to see you put on your bevor and helmet, to compare the benefits of the additional articulation that you were talking about.
I am an American rodeo cowboy, an experienced rider, but not a jouster. I do have a friend who does joust, and he recently let me try riding with only the two types of cuirasses he owns. One was a solid breast plate and back plate. The other had the breastplate and plackart combination, just like y’all’s. My friend and I are virtually the same size and weight, so even he felt that both of his cuirasses fit me. I’m here to tell y’all that I did not like the solid breast plate at all. I dismounted immediately. I felt that if I got bucked off my horse I had a real good chance of a severe neck or hip injury. The other breastplate and plackart armour was very comfortable with no chance of injuring me. I even roped with it on. Do y’all agree with what I experienced? I’ve always been fascinated with what seems to me to be the similarities of medieval knightly horsemanship and the American western style of riding. Both ride one handed, control our horses by neck reining and legs and spurs. We tend to ride a little more with straight legs and long stirrups, and at times stand in the saddle. We don’t swing a sword, but we sure swing a rope. The saddles look pretty similar in design and function. I sat in a medieval war saddle years ago and thought if it had a saddle horn I could rope cattle with it. Maybe I’m way off, what do y’all think? Joan of Arc stands some explanation. St. Joan is the Patron Saint of soldiers, I honor her because she got me through some tough spots in Iraq.
I am learning to ride western at the moment and there are some clear similarities. I'm really enjoying it. Some styles of medieval saddles are especially similar to western saddles. As for the cuirass, the fitting on a one piece breastplate is much more important than on a split one because there is no adjustment. I assume the one you tried probably fitted in a rough way, but not completely. I'm glad you dismounted: my worst injuries have come through ill fitting equipment.
Hey! Thanks for getting back to me. Riding Western! Never worry how ya look, worry about being safe. I saddle up my horses like my life depends on it….because it does. Craig Cameron, Texas cowboy and TV riding instructor said it best when it comes to cowboy Western horsemanship….”just keep one leg on each side of the horse and you’ll be alright”.
This reminds me of european and japanese martial arts differences. There are a lot of details that differ, many would argue it makes the styles vastly different and ooh aah not similar at all. But in the end, there are certain ways to move the body optimally to swing sharpened metal bars to whack people with them. Both cultures arrived at mostly the same solution, since it's the most anatomically efficient way to produce strength with sword blows and the like. Hence there are things that are identical. So with the horse riding. Since both knights and cowboys need to control their horses with one hand, both do complex riding, both want upper body mobility and thus "stand" in the saddle. There are similarities. Because of course there is, you're trying to ride a horse practically. Both cultures figured it out. Both optimized and got fitting tools for the job. This is fascinating in a way. In the same way that basically all cultures figured out the bow at some point. Since its the most practical and simple way to throw sharp sticks at things.
Speaking from experience in modern armor, and on the subject of what armor you keep on or ditch, it's a constant conversation between what you're doing and how fast you can deploy. I did a lot of scout work, so I'd be deep in the field, but a small 4 man team with rifles isn't going to do much offensively, so I'd be operating radios, optics writing gear etc. But then would transition to gunfighting or running jumping and climbing without warning. I had 2 pairs of gloves over a couple years and the difference was one had a large built in loop on the wrists and the other didn't. The ones with the loops were superior, I could put a clip on my armor and when I needed my finger tips, I'd hang them on my chest. If I needed to move suddenly I could very quickly jam my hands into my gloves and have them on in moments. The other pair when they came off went into a pocket and didn't come out unless I had a moments to put down my rifle and fish them out. As far as pieces of gloves, helmet shoulders etc, I have to believe this same convenience of deployment principle applies.
First of all, thanks to both you and Zack Evans for putting out this type of content. I am an artist and I am doing my best to design and create a story of a knight, and I have been desperately looking for plate armour dressing up videos, only to find like 3 good examples at most, and I must say this is by far the best one. I have been following your channel for close to 5-6 years now, if I'm not mistaken, and I've never written any comment, but here's the first one I guess, and it comes with this specific question: When it comes to helmets and other types of headwear, despite the maneuverability or rather... The adaptability of the sallet, how come people didn't use closed helmets more often? You mention that the Maximilian armour style is a very specific style for a very specific moment in time (or something around those lines), and that collection in particular has been the main inspiration for the protagonist of my story, which I already designed and illustrated an armor for. So I was wondering how the sallet was often preferred before the bascinet, for example, which, by the point of view of a complete ignorant on the matter of armor wearing such as me, seems to be a perfect design, if you can open or close the helmet when needed. So to put it simply: why was the sallet used so often in comparison to closed helmets? And did the close helmets evolve so drastically on the transition between the 15th and 16th century, so as to suggest that the old closed helmets were inferior to the sallet whereas the new ones were superior? And please, do correct me if I'm wrong and the sallet was actually still the preferred choice by the end of the 15th century and the start of the 16th century. Once again thank you so much, I will always leave the credit where it's due, and your channel has always given me (and will always give me) a lot of insight on this fascinating world that I try my best to get closer to. And I'm sure Evans' channel will do so aswell in the years to come. Thank you.
They are certainly closer to my imagination, expecting things like a helmet mounted on a turret ring, thick glass for viewing, a pump operated by foot movement such as walking to introduce fresh air to be circulated and several other strange imaginations.
I like the two finger glove-mitton. it seems like a nice compromise design between protection and dexterity. even in the fingers are hit, I think having the structure of two fingers in one sleve massively decreases the likelyhood of extreme damage as force from potential hits are distributed over a larger area. though it does seem harder to get off and on.
14:00 We do have Duerers rider from 1495. 21:00 also consider the Tonlet armours in battle use by Polish dismounted men-at-arms at the battle of Orsza.
I would just like to say thank you IMMENSELY for making this, it was a very interesting watch and, more importantly, a VERY useful reference for an art piece of mine. ^^
Actually watching this back, I wish I had spoken more about Flemish armour, which I am increasingly thinking is an important and prevalent part of the 15th century perspective. Theoretically, I think both Zac and my harnesses could fit into a Flemish context and so many painters/artists working all over Europe at this time were Flemish, not to mention all the armour being made in Flanders.
@@scholagladiatoria Yes, they could definitely pass for Flemish as well. It wolud be really cool if you did a quick video on the "other" styles of armour of the XVth century. So Spanish, French, Portugese, English, German, Swiss, etc... Just to show that they exist in the first place. Just showing a couple of effigies and miniatures for each one, nothing too fancy.
I haven't made any renaissance styles of armour yet, but I have been doing some research and sketching different styles. This has helped a lot. Thank you.
Im so thankful for this video, i lover learning about historical arms and armor and this video helps a lot too, not just from what is said and told by you two but also by watching you move and interact in the various "levels" of armor put on Also matt's armor is beautiful and i love the blueing (im a sucker for blued armor) But style-wise and looks wise i love evan's cuirass, pauldrons and leg harness more, the couter are bit too big for my personal preference, i personally like having small couter with a fishtail or clover cover for the inside of the elbow Also the fluted gauntlets evan has are absolutely beautiful, id love to buy a pair too
@scholagladiatoria Matt, I must say I like your medieval watch strap. It matches your armour so well and is far more accurate than the more traditional wrist sundials lol. Excellent and thoroughly absorbing video thanks.
Thanks, that was hugely interesting, both the contrasts and similarities of those two armours. One niggle: lovely music, but I'd have loved to hear what you ere saying to each other while helping to get all those pointes laced up ...
Thanks! I can assure you that there was nothing useful or interesting in that chat, we were literally just talking about boring everyday (non-armour) stuff :-)
@@scholagladiatoria Aww - no cursing about stiff pointes, or 'this is tied too tight'? Just boring stuff like who did well at the last footie game? Awwww ....
Great video, on the subject of arming doublets how heavy does the armour get after a while with low padding? I still use a moderatly thick gambeson under my armour for reenactment and since I'm the only one in the group with a full harness I tend to be used to show it all day long. Overheating aside I find that the full harness gets quite heavy and squashes the padding but with my current level I never get sore. Contrast to my 17th century half harness where I use just a buff coat and a shirt after only the battle I'm sore. Keep in mind that the 17th was made on me but following the regular foot soldier standard while the 15th one was tecnically off the shelf and still falls better on the body.
Exhellent video highlighting the complexities of medieval armour but also the issues reenactors have to sdeal with to create a historicaly accurate but at the same time comfortable and safe armour.
Great video hope you see both of you do similar with the new armors once at hand. As for the bevor strap ending up with the closed helmet I believe that to be the case as well, the trouble is sorting the pairing. Particularly when looking through continental sources you see them paired with simple infantry helmet to bascinets etc. I believe the earliest example the comes to mind is a French bascinet/closed helmet from BL Royal 20 B XX Le Livre et le vraye hystoire du bon roy Alixandre. So at latest 1425.
I would be interested in videos on 16th century armor as the “culmination” in armor design. Also, some reasons on why you guys prefer going for 15th century armor.
Wonder if you even remember this comment from a year ago :p But if I had to guess without knowing a ton about 16th Century armor, it's partially _because_ the 16th Century had largely converged onto what was "best." Sure there would still be _some_ variation even if it was just decorative but overall very very similar. Within the plane nerd space you see much the same thing, where a lot of people prefer early/mid Cold War jets over late Cold War/Modern because they're much more visualy distinctive. But by the 1980s experience and soon after computer modeling basically gave you one solid aerodynamic answer on what was best (plus places like China with the J-20 figured out it was waaaay cheaper if you just let Lockheed design the new generation of fighters, then steal their notes).
@@chrisc1140 nice speculation, but idk about veriety being the main reason. from what i can see early 1500’s full armor has just about the same amount of variety as late 1400’s. much of the general helmet styles at least transfers over anyways with a few addition like the burgonet different sorts of armet, and morions. Especially since there was distinct regional styles like the HRE gothic or the English Greenwich. in the anglosphere at least I speculate it may be because there werent many big name wars involving england during the time compared to say the late 100 years war and war of the roses of the 1400’s. I could see it being more of interest to the french, germans, or italians with the Italian wars going on and the rise of the gendarmes. Also, I could see the complexity of 1500’s armor could be a real barrier for entry, even moreso than 1400’s already is.
Different sabatons are constructed differently. For cavalierly the plates hinge on rivets along the edge. And for fighting on foot the articulation comes from the internal leather. (Witch doesn't jam up with a bit of mud) Spolders cover only the top of the arm and pauldrons cover the shoulder and the gap to the cuirass. (Draw a line from the armpit up) The big advantage Mat has in regards to the lance gap under his right arm are the pin's holding the outer plates on the shoulder. You can take the small plate off and put a bigger one on to match the left (same thing in reflection) The besagew are not just to cover the gap. They work very well in helping to redirect a blow. As they hang somewhat lose an incoming attack tilt's the plate and allows the weapon to slide off away from the body (along other bits of armour)
4:35 "helmet is the last thing(...)" uh... I usually put my helmet before the gloves, as the later restrict my hands movement, stopping me from closing the helmet
Re the idea of "Italian" vs "German" armor. It really reminds me of tanks. Sometimes people think there are "american" or "western" tanks and then there are "russian/soviet" or "eastern" tanks. Yes, those two groups are easily reconginzed, famous and very different from each other. But. The reality is that there are many countries, like France, Germany, the UK... which build their own vehicles, and those vehicles tend to be somewhere in between the spectrum, taking inspirations from each other and making different compromises, depending on what that country at that time prefers. Any design is inherently compromised and brings its own pros and cons, and you can easily find European vehicles which have some inspriration in the western ones, some in the eastern ones, and doing some things in their own, unique way as well. It's easy to believe medieval armor in individual countries was no different, and it should be probably viewed and studied as its own thing, unless it's clearly just an unmodified import from elsewhere.
Thank you very much guys, that was wonderful to go through all the finer points about late 15th century European armour design and wearing. And also thanks for explaining some of the different designs that are fitting for different fighting contexts. It is also great to hear, that the scholarship of this subject, is getting muck more accurate, and granular. I absolutely love to learn more and more new things (to me) about this subject. Also can you provide me with a book reading list that covers all European armour from the 14th century to the late 16th century and websites and a list of armour catalogues and any other information about this fascinating subject. Well done and please more of this sort of content!🙂👍
@@brittakriep2938 Hi, unfortunately for me I am an Australian and so it is difficult for me to visit the historic European armouries and collections. I have only visit one traveling historic European armour exhibition, in Sydney back in the mid 1990's. I thank that exhibition came to Sydney from a national Austrian historic armoury. Thank you for your suggestion though.👍
@@scottfoster9452 : That is of course a problem, with exeption of may be some fortifications from 19th century, and older hoses of rich persons, trieing to immitate a castle there is nothing in this context. But as a visitor of german museums and castles for decades, i see here problems, you may not expect. For some times i visited Langenburg castle in northeast of state Baden Württemberg, the castle is owned by Fürst von Hohenlohe- Langenburg, a relatve of died Prince Philipp from Great Brittain. Formerly a large room ( in german Saal) was filled with old weaponry , may be hunting weapons of his ancestors, and relicts of former troops of HRE era. Now this items are mostly dissappeared, the german nobility needs today much money to keep their castles, so they often sell old things, like furniture vor historic weapons. Next thing, you find old weapons not only in large museums, or specialized museums, you find them also in small museums called Heimatmuseum/ home region museum ( ?) in smaller numbers, in my region often relicts from alemannic warrior graves, before christianity came. But from time to time there changes in museum concept, for presenting the objects in a more modern way, and then mostly the weapons dissappear, because in liberal/ leftwing time we live, weapons are in the eyes of liberals/ leftwingers a bad thing.
This video as well as others are great. This reminds me a lot of experimental archaeology. Y'all are probably encountering things the knights did back then that worked and didn't work and came up with solutions the same way. I can see how reenacting is a very valuable thing.
Sometimes I miss my late teens to early 20s, when I was invincible and invulnerable (or at least thought I was), but mostly I just wonder how I managed to survive them. And I never went to war!
Thoughts on 1:02....bevor gap. In modern buhurt I espouse helmets made such that when a blow is coming in you can tuck your chin and /or shrug your shoulders to take a hard polearm blow on the helm and body armor without nearly as much scrambling the brain. By reflexive action you can benefit from linked super protective armor while otherwise having enough space to move and turn your head relatively freely....I suggest that the bevor gap functioned much the same way. The gap allows a lot of fresh air (and added visibility when looking down at the ground) but when a hit is coming in the wearer can essentially close the gap and lock the helm to the bevor, and therefore cuirass, by shrugging. I think this eventually becomes obvious when you wear armor and take mighty blows for long enough.
@@DkGaston I'm not sure, maybe it puts a lot of force into your neck and traps? Can you explain the shrug, I'm having a hard time visualizing it. Are you shrugging up and forward, up and back, or just up all the way?
@TheEpicDartfish Skip to about 39 minutes in. You think your head is better at getting hit than your shoulder? Have you ever done a full contact combat sport? th-cam.com/video/uRf5ezlY_yc/w-d-xo.htmlsi=l9Va_KbwHkWr3YgS
Great video. It would interesting to learn about the blueing process used on the armour as many medieval paintings of war depict knights/men at arms in black armour.
30:00 not to be that guy, but I did figure out a way to put on my arm harness solo. It's magnificently awkward, akin to the chainmaille shuffle twerking you do when taking off a heavy maille shirt, but in reverse, and with basically what amounts to heavy metal plates clanking about your ears and possibly boxing your ears and face if you aren't careful. I just pre pointed my harness to my chain shirt. This required a lot of putting on and taking off the maille, but I did manage to do it. I recorded myself doing it thinking it would be a neat thing to put on youtube for evidence because I kept hearing the fact that you NEED another person to put on armor... But then I realized im a chonky bastard and felt self conscious. Poor excuse but hey, if one of you other younger fitter men want to do it, just remember who gave you the idea lol.
Finally got around to watching this, and I have to say I really enjoyed the amount of detail and seeing the armor come on - gave me plenty to think about for writing armor! Though one question: I noticed that Zac's armor seems to be tighter around the stomach while Matt has, for lack of a better term, a 'beer gut', but both guys look similarly fit and slim when outside of the armor. Was the "beet gut" breastplate (or rather, a beer gut plackart since the front armor is two components) a style choice, a limitation of manufacturing ability, or something practical like room for the gut to expand while breathing heavily when exhausted or to offer a more domed surface for frontal attacks to deflect off of?
the latter. Curved shapes were favoured to effectively deflect blows and disperse their force. They could be more or less pronounced according to style and need, but never completely flat
@@Laricev Thanks for the answer; think I finally figured out what I was thinking of. I was comparing Matt and Zac's harnesses (which are more 1400s/very early 1500s) to mid and late Renaissance harnesses like those of the Thirty Years War which had a single breastplate and then faulds instead of breastplate+plackart+faulds.
Thank you guys for sharing this insight into how knights dressed in armour . I wondered if both of you would prefer to wear full coverage armour like the one Henry the 8th wore for foot combat , you know the one with the codpiece.
Also worth pointing, the idea of a sallet with a before with eye slits in the bevor, did essentially become common, but we are then essentially describing a burgeonet with a falling buffe.
I wonder how many different options various knights would have. Today I am to be part of a Calvary charge on goes the mitten. Tomorrow I defend the castle and will be on foot on goes gauntlet type 2. Next week there is the joust and that gets the practically solid left arm. The sword is after and that gets type 3 gauntlet etc etc etc. Not just a matter of this on or off today but today I need this shoulder not that one.
37:10 I always wondered whats actually the difference between having those guard plates on and off, I watched the whole video to see how much of a difference it makes and to see how the attachment mechanism work and how strong it is but you never took them off :(. Ive looked everywhere and Ive seen videos that explain the workings of every part of the armor BUT the shoulder pieces and I would love to know how they actually work, specially the bigger ones. Ive seen videos of people with whose big pauldrons lifting their arms but I dont know how it works and whats the engineering behind it.
Superb amount of knowledge being shared here. My question is: Is it common for medieval soldiers to only wear gambesons with little to know plate armor on top?
I'd like to know where both of you got your armours made and how much these kinds of armours cost. I'm asking as someone who's always been interested in getting my own armour at some point.
I've always wondered about the idea of some armour being much better suited for either foot or mounted combat. If the armour is geared towards foot combat, does it really mess up your ability to ride, let alone fight on horseback? - If you are say an English man-at-arms in the WOTR, on the march and heading towards a major battle.... You're intending to fight on foot, but are on horseback currently. Does this mean you CANNOT wear your foot-combat armour on horseback, or at least cannot wear certain parts of it whilst mounted? And what about if you need to mount up during the battle for various reasons, including having to flee for your life.... If you are wearing foot-combat armour are you screwed? Do you have to shed parts of the armour before you can mount your horse? - If you're a European knight with the full Italian harness geared towards cavalry combat... Expecting to fight from horseback... But then are in a situation where you're forced to fight on foot.... Do you just make do with your usual armour? Or do you reluctantly lighten it and shed parts of it so you can fight more effectively on foot?
People with the choice could change parts out, the more focused an armours was on a thing the more likey its user had other options, i.e. the choice of visors, gauntlets, helmets an so on. 1600's armour often have detachable tassets with a choice lengths and complete removal. (unless your a dirty foot slogger then there riveted on so you don't lose them.) English Foot arm has thing's like fully enclosed upper legs that make good rideing hard. The Italian harness has detachable parts like the extra shoulder guard.
I would actually really like to see a video on where 16th century armor ended up going. It'd also be fun to hear why you don't like it as much as 15th century stuff.
as a former Modern soldier. I kind of recoginze the thing. where you try to to figure out the balance between protection and comfort. I was a company radioman. so my kit was in a bag when I was in a the staf tent or radiocar.
I can't wait to start getting my armor I plan on joining the buhurt or hema armor combat sport. I already know what weapon I'm choosing which is the great sword.
One small thought. The more polish on white armor, the more it reflects infrared rays from the sun, black actually absorbs more causing the armor to actually absorb heat. It's the same principle as the shiny foil covering on insulation that reflects heat away from a building. Possibly our ancestors noticed this, and maybe fashion wasn't the only reason they polished their plate to a mirror finish.
Rather curious about the bike wheel in the bottom right. Italian, German, French or English? Classical period or modern reproduction? Any penetrations? Does it have a specific context?
Amazing watch thanks guys, I have a few questions along these lines that maybe you can clear up for me? 🙂 When deciding on what style of 15th-16th century harness I prefered, 1st I was trying to figure out if the fluting was simply for aesthetics or whether it was actually giving me more protection? And I was considering how much a plated cuirass of any configuration would compare to my brigandine? I think my brig is easier to get on, more comfortable and doesn't get as hot and I'm not sure what benefits I'd get from a plated cuirass 🤔
There is some benefit to fluting, but it doesn't seem to have been considered too essential, because it's not ubiquitous. There is a good deal of "soft" benefit to some of these things as well. At it's best, an armour is not just a piece of PPE, but a living sculpture that expresses who you are. The armour itself and its eccentricities and individual style is linked to the human inside. This is a tricky thing to understand, but the existence of armoured effigies helps to explain it. An effigy is another piece of functional art. It's function is to link the prayers of the living with the soul in purgatory. The stronger the link, the more effective the prayers, and the greater the likeness the stronger the link. That many knights (or their families) chose to be displayed in their armour shows how much of a personal thing a harness was. Things like fluting allowed for this expression of personality all the more, which was important not only on the tournament field and battlefield, but also (as they believed it) beyond the grave. I think I need to do a video about this.
I'd be fascinated with your thoughts on Mongolian armor. Were they so successful simply because of their numbers, or was their armor an added benefit? Excellent video.
Hordes of Mongols overwhelming enemies with sheer numbers is complete fantasy. The Mongols success had absolutely nothing to do with numbers and everything to do with being highly disciplined ferocious warriors led by incredibly gifted generals.
The guy who would remove specific pieces of armour as a taunt is interesting, because that could also provide a strategic advantage by making his opponent hyperfixate on the unarmoured portion of his body, making their attacks easier to defend against.
Check out Zac Evans' channel here: th-cam.com/users/ZacEvansJouster
I love Zacs comment on the foolhardy psychology of younger soldiers and how it could tie in with levels of protection seen on period art.
It´s like today. when official photographs is made. you have your things in propper order. when you and your unit are oun your own. your kit is the way you feel comfortable. // former Pog.
@@exploatores there is a reason they are called infantry from the same root as infant. Troops are known to leave parts of standard gear behind because it is heavy and/or bulky. For instance gas attacks are rare so they don't feel like carrying the protective mask and conveniently forget it.
That's my excuse for not having leg harness yet
I don't think Zac's conjecture is totally accurate. Back then you'd be trained by professionals who have lots of experience in real combat. Knowledge is passed on to kids in the upper classes who would have these kinds of equipment. It's more likely that they find it restrictive for the mission because they are there to do the job effectively. There is some bravado and over-confidence in certain cases I'm sure, but their "honor" or whatever depends on whether they defeat the enemy or not so there's also calculated ambition.
@@rasmasyean Even highly trained military dudes *today* with a boatload of actual combat experience slack on wearing all their gear properly on the regular. It can be for utility reasons, but a lot of the time it really isn't. And to assume it was back then, is a bit idealistic.
Lol. Matt looks like a particularly militant chef.
So French?
Gordon Ramsey Bolton
GET OUT OF MY KITCHEN!
Gotta wear that metal harness in case the food decides to start fighting you
Going to challenge Gorden Ramsey to trial by combat.
I'm not really involved in reenactor circles and all, but I draw fantasy stuff every once in a while, and these types of deep dives into armor are really useful to me just because they point the way armor works out to me in ways i probably could never piece together just from pictures! Like, even with picture references, drawing plate armor (let alone trying to come up with an interesting but at least marginally plausible design for a given character's armor, rather than merely copying the first reference picture you happen to find) is incredibly hard if you can't tell how the different pieces are supposed to interact with each other, so seeing you go through it piece by piece and explain it is so useful as a reference because they help me actually think about and understand the functionality and what a certain piece needs to be able to do when I'm drawing. Thank you!
I'm glad Zac mentioned the italian mail only shoulder defenses, personally I love the look of the 3/4 arm harness with mail shoulders and I wish it was discussed more, Ian from Knyght errant briefly mentions it, but besides that this is the only video I've found that mentions it
It appears a lot in art, but everybody loves full plate...
It's something I will look more at when my new voiders are finished, because then I'll actually be able to demonstrate it. We should also mention that it wasn't only done in Italy - I know examples from Flemish and English art that also clearly show it.
Toby also mentions it in some videos with Matt
@@peterspatling3151 Do you know which videos?
I'd be interested to hear how the dressing process would change if you were caught by surprise and had to hurry; would you skip, or prioritise, any particular elements?
I think if I had to drop anything, it would be the mail elements - collar, skirt, etc. In some cases you might just skip the whole legs as well - there is a surprising amount of medieval art showing people with totally armoured upper bodies, but with only hose and shoes on the legs. If you're fighting in a formation, where your legs are hidden down behind other people, I guess that works. Also means you're quicker on your feet.
So, I actually larp at 24 hour games where fighting can happen at any time, and when I've been pressed for time, I've done exactly that. Mail shirt, corrazina and arms go on- sometimes sans spaulders if we're really rushed - and the legs get left behind. It's harder for me or whoever is helping to get on correctly under stress, time consuming, less important, and like he said, you're quicker on your feet without it.
not debating German vs Italian style would speed up the proces alot :D
@@scholagladiatoria Or you go for full mail, armours with full shirts would give easy rapid armouring.
@@tomasschmidt8090 That really gave me a chuckle!
Pretty good camera quality for the 15th century I must say..
This was a great video. I think it's worth mentioning that so much of our idea of German gothic versus Italian Milanese armour comes from survival bias and the historiography of armour scholarship originating with people trying to describe surviving armour rather than reconstruct the historical armour of different periods and regions.
I imagine this is coming in future videos from both of you but I am excited to hear about your new armours from both of you since IiRC they are both going to be more English? As someone putting together a c 1470 harness I am definitely interested in seeing how yours comes together!
Congratulations guys this was absolutely fascinating. You play off each other really well. Matts a born educator and Zac just picks up at opportune moments supplying additional expertise.
Zac is such a wonderful guest, would love to see him appear more! Definitely going to sub to his channel, absolutely love his input and observations. Awesome!!!!
Thanks!
Enjoyed it so much. I am a recent subscriber. Hello from Moscow. And you two are such medieval nerds, coming from a 44 year old guy who spent an hour on your video.
You have a great channel, really enjoying it. Thank you very much. Cheers.
I really, really, really love how those armours fit slim people. This brings back to the historical imagery of armours we have, and it feel more accurate, but also it is elegant and feels very light and transpires speed and dexterity.
Great comparison with the armor side by side!
I've found I CAN in fact, put on all my armor (based on this "frankenarmor", MET museum, Accession Number: 29.150.7). It can be awkward armoring solo, so if I'm doing it for the public, I'll use an assistant.
Here's the trick:Point your arms to your arming doublet FIRST. Then don that doublet. Point the pauldrons to the leather shoulder straps on the cuirass. Alternatively I know in the 16th c. some people pointed or pinned the pauldrons to the gorget.
FWIW, I have a skirt and voiders, but rarely wear them. My skirt needs some adjustments and the voiders are bulky and difficult to point. (A pair of sleeves is much easier.)
I'm a sucker for flutes and scallops, so i have to say Zach's armor wins in the looks department, hands down.
But i wish we had gotten to see you put on your bevor and helmet, to compare the benefits of the additional articulation that you were talking about.
I am an American rodeo cowboy, an experienced rider, but not a jouster. I do have a friend who does joust, and he recently let me try riding with only the two types of cuirasses he owns. One was a solid breast plate and back plate. The other had the breastplate and plackart combination, just like y’all’s. My friend and I are virtually the same size and weight, so even he felt that both of his cuirasses fit me. I’m here to tell y’all that I did not like the solid breast plate at all. I dismounted immediately.
I felt that if I got bucked off my horse I had a real good chance of a severe neck or hip injury.
The other breastplate and plackart armour was very comfortable with no chance of injuring me.
I even roped with it on. Do y’all agree with what I experienced? I’ve always been fascinated with what seems to me to be the similarities of medieval knightly horsemanship and the American western style of riding. Both ride one handed, control our horses by neck reining and legs and spurs. We tend to ride a little more with straight legs and long stirrups, and at times stand in the saddle. We don’t swing a sword, but we sure swing a rope. The saddles look pretty similar in design and function. I sat in a medieval war saddle years ago and thought if it had a saddle horn I could rope cattle with it. Maybe I’m way off, what do y’all think?
Joan of Arc stands some explanation. St. Joan is the Patron Saint of soldiers, I honor her because she got me through some tough spots in Iraq.
I am learning to ride western at the moment and there are some clear similarities. I'm really enjoying it. Some styles of medieval saddles are especially similar to western saddles.
As for the cuirass, the fitting on a one piece breastplate is much more important than on a split one because there is no adjustment. I assume the one you tried probably fitted in a rough way, but not completely. I'm glad you dismounted: my worst injuries have come through ill fitting equipment.
Hey! Thanks for getting back to me. Riding Western! Never worry how ya look, worry about being safe. I saddle up my horses like my life depends on it….because it does. Craig Cameron, Texas cowboy and TV riding instructor said it best when it comes to cowboy Western horsemanship….”just keep one leg on each side of the horse and you’ll be alright”.
@@joanofarc1338 my instructor always said "sky, rider, horse, ground, and try to keep it in that order."
This reminds me of european and japanese martial arts differences.
There are a lot of details that differ, many would argue it makes the styles vastly different and ooh aah not similar at all.
But in the end, there are certain ways to move the body optimally to swing sharpened metal bars to whack people with them.
Both cultures arrived at mostly the same solution, since it's the most anatomically efficient way to produce strength with sword blows and the like.
Hence there are things that are identical.
So with the horse riding.
Since both knights and cowboys need to control their horses with one hand, both do complex riding, both want upper body mobility and thus "stand" in the saddle.
There are similarities. Because of course there is, you're trying to ride a horse practically. Both cultures figured it out. Both optimized and got fitting tools for the job.
This is fascinating in a way. In the same way that basically all cultures figured out the bow at some point. Since its the most practical and simple way to throw sharp sticks at things.
fascinating read, thanks for sharing
Speaking from experience in modern armor, and on the subject of what armor you keep on or ditch, it's a constant conversation between what you're doing and how fast you can deploy. I did a lot of scout work, so I'd be deep in the field, but a small 4 man team with rifles isn't going to do much offensively, so I'd be operating radios, optics writing gear etc. But then would transition to gunfighting or running jumping and climbing without warning. I had 2 pairs of gloves over a couple years and the difference was one had a large built in loop on the wrists and the other didn't. The ones with the loops were superior, I could put a clip on my armor and when I needed my finger tips, I'd hang them on my chest. If I needed to move suddenly I could very quickly jam my hands into my gloves and have them on in moments. The other pair when they came off went into a pocket and didn't come out unless I had a moments to put down my rifle and fish them out. As far as pieces of gloves, helmet shoulders etc, I have to believe this same convenience of deployment principle applies.
Me, seeing the title and the length of the video: "It took them an HOUR??"
... all right, I'll shut up now and watch it xD
And put on 2x speed, but yeah.
Fantastic suits of armour guys , I really enjoyed watching this .
First of all, thanks to both you and Zack Evans for putting out this type of content. I am an artist and I am doing my best to design and create a story of a knight, and I have been desperately looking for plate armour dressing up videos, only to find like 3 good examples at most, and I must say this is by far the best one.
I have been following your channel for close to 5-6 years now, if I'm not mistaken, and I've never written any comment, but here's the first one I guess, and it comes with this specific question:
When it comes to helmets and other types of headwear, despite the maneuverability or rather... The adaptability of the sallet, how come people didn't use closed helmets more often? You mention that the Maximilian armour style is a very specific style for a very specific moment in time (or something around those lines), and that collection in particular has been the main inspiration for the protagonist of my story, which I already designed and illustrated an armor for.
So I was wondering how the sallet was often preferred before the bascinet, for example, which, by the point of view of a complete ignorant on the matter of armor wearing such as me, seems to be a perfect design, if you can open or close the helmet when needed.
So to put it simply: why was the sallet used so often in comparison to closed helmets? And did the close helmets evolve so drastically on the transition between the 15th and 16th century, so as to suggest that the old closed helmets were inferior to the sallet whereas the new ones were superior? And please, do correct me if I'm wrong and the sallet was actually still the preferred choice by the end of the 15th century and the start of the 16th century.
Once again thank you so much, I will always leave the credit where it's due, and your channel has always given me (and will always give me) a lot of insight on this fascinating world that I try my best to get closer to. And I'm sure Evans' channel will do so aswell in the years to come. Thank you.
They are certainly closer to my imagination, expecting things like a helmet mounted on a turret ring, thick glass for viewing, a pump operated by foot movement such as walking to introduce fresh air to be circulated and several other strange imaginations.
I really enjoy this video and the piece by piece explanation of the armor.
Thanks, very interesting, well produced. We collectors love talking about our collections. It's a passion that we are lucky to have.
I like the two finger glove-mitton. it seems like a nice compromise design between protection and dexterity. even in the fingers are hit, I think having the structure of two fingers in one sleve massively decreases the likelyhood of extreme damage as force from potential hits are distributed over a larger area.
though it does seem harder to get off and on.
14:00 We do have Duerers rider from 1495. 21:00 also consider the Tonlet armours in battle use by Polish dismounted men-at-arms at the battle of Orsza.
I would just like to say thank you IMMENSELY for making this, it was a very interesting watch and, more importantly, a VERY useful reference for an art piece of mine. ^^
Your caveats are very much appreciated, Matt.
Yours,
Augusto.
Actually watching this back, I wish I had spoken more about Flemish armour, which I am increasingly thinking is an important and prevalent part of the 15th century perspective. Theoretically, I think both Zac and my harnesses could fit into a Flemish context and so many painters/artists working all over Europe at this time were Flemish, not to mention all the armour being made in Flanders.
@@scholagladiatoria Yes, they could definitely pass for Flemish as well. It wolud be really cool if you did a quick video on the "other" styles of armour of the XVth century. So Spanish, French, Portugese, English, German, Swiss, etc... Just to show that they exist in the first place. Just showing a couple of effigies and miniatures for each one, nothing too fancy.
Great idea!
I haven't made any renaissance styles of armour yet, but I have been doing some research and sketching different styles. This has helped a lot. Thank you.
Great video, super interesting.
Nice, more armour videos as promised.
Im so thankful for this video, i lover learning about historical arms and armor and this video helps a lot too, not just from what is said and told by you two but also by watching you move and interact in the various "levels" of armor put on
Also matt's armor is beautiful and i love the blueing (im a sucker for blued armor)
But style-wise and looks wise i love evan's cuirass, pauldrons and leg harness more, the couter are bit too big for my personal preference, i personally like having small couter with a fishtail or clover cover for the inside of the elbow
Also the fluted gauntlets evan has are absolutely beautiful, id love to buy a pair too
@scholagladiatoria Matt, I must say I like your medieval watch strap. It matches your armour so well and is far more accurate than the more traditional wrist sundials lol. Excellent and thoroughly absorbing video thanks.
24:59 "Kastenbrust" means "Box Chest" (because it looks fairly boxy^^)
I loved this video so fascinating, more of this please!!
Excellent and wonderful, the music that appears when they are putting on the armor, what is it called?
Its called "Cantus Firmus Monks"
Thanks, that was hugely interesting, both the contrasts and similarities of those two armours.
One niggle: lovely music, but I'd have loved to hear what you ere saying to each other while helping to get all those pointes laced up ...
I don't think the sound would have worked. You'll notice Matt had to pick up his mic between shots.
Thanks! I can assure you that there was nothing useful or interesting in that chat, we were literally just talking about boring everyday (non-armour) stuff :-)
@@ZacharyEvans That's a pity - it would have been entertaining and instructive.
@@scholagladiatoria Aww - no cursing about stiff pointes, or 'this is tied too tight'? Just boring stuff like who did well at the last footie game?
Awwww ....
Love the video wish I had someone to talk to about armor.
Excellent video - thanks for this!
Great video! I love this stuff. Thanks guys!
Great video, on the subject of arming doublets how heavy does the armour get after a while with low padding?
I still use a moderatly thick gambeson under my armour for reenactment and since I'm the only one in the group with a full harness I tend to be used to show it all day long.
Overheating aside I find that the full harness gets quite heavy and squashes the padding but with my current level I never get sore.
Contrast to my 17th century half harness where I use just a buff coat and a shirt after only the battle I'm sore. Keep in mind that the 17th was made on me but following the regular foot soldier standard while the 15th one was tecnically off the shelf and still falls better on the body.
Exhellent video highlighting the complexities of medieval armour but also the issues reenactors have to sdeal with to create a historicaly accurate but at the same time comfortable and safe armour.
loved this video
Great video hope you see both of you do similar with the new armors once at hand.
As for the bevor strap ending up with the closed helmet I believe that to be the case as well, the trouble is sorting the pairing. Particularly when looking through continental sources you see them paired with simple infantry helmet to bascinets etc. I believe the earliest example the comes to mind is a French bascinet/closed helmet from BL Royal 20 B XX Le Livre et le vraye hystoire du bon roy Alixandre. So at latest 1425.
I would be interested in videos on 16th century armor as the “culmination” in armor design.
Also, some reasons on why you guys prefer going for 15th century armor.
Wonder if you even remember this comment from a year ago :p
But if I had to guess without knowing a ton about 16th Century armor, it's partially _because_ the 16th Century had largely converged onto what was "best." Sure there would still be _some_ variation even if it was just decorative but overall very very similar.
Within the plane nerd space you see much the same thing, where a lot of people prefer early/mid Cold War jets over late Cold War/Modern because they're much more visualy distinctive. But by the 1980s experience and soon after computer modeling basically gave you one solid aerodynamic answer on what was best (plus places like China with the J-20 figured out it was waaaay cheaper if you just let Lockheed design the new generation of fighters, then steal their notes).
@@chrisc1140 nice speculation, but idk about veriety being the main reason. from what i can see early 1500’s full armor has just about the same amount of variety as late 1400’s. much of the general helmet styles at least transfers over anyways with a few addition like the burgonet different sorts of armet, and morions. Especially since there was distinct regional styles like the HRE gothic or the English Greenwich.
in the anglosphere at least I speculate it may be because there werent many big name wars involving england during the time compared to say the late 100 years war and war of the roses of the 1400’s. I could see it being more of interest to the french, germans, or italians with the Italian wars going on and the rise of the gendarmes. Also, I could see the complexity of 1500’s armor could be a real barrier for entry, even moreso than 1400’s already is.
Suddenly I'm reminded of playing cricket in PE at school where we were only given a pad for our front leg.
Different sabatons are constructed differently. For cavalierly the plates hinge on rivets along the edge. And for fighting on foot the articulation comes from the internal leather. (Witch doesn't jam up with a bit of mud)
Spolders cover only the top of the arm and pauldrons cover the shoulder and the gap to the cuirass. (Draw a line from the armpit up)
The big advantage Mat has in regards to the lance gap under his right arm are the pin's holding the outer plates on the shoulder. You can take the small plate off and put a bigger one on to match the left (same thing in reflection)
The besagew are not just to cover the gap.
They work very well in helping to redirect a blow. As they hang somewhat lose an incoming attack tilt's the plate and allows the weapon to slide off away from the body (along other bits of armour)
4:35 "helmet is the last thing(...)" uh... I usually put my helmet before the gloves, as the later restrict my hands movement, stopping me from closing the helmet
Wondering how voiders would interact with the mail collar. Seems like they might overlap depending on the design.
Fascinating, thank you!
That was very interesting. Thank you.
Good video and thanks for sharing the information. ⚔️
Re the idea of "Italian" vs "German" armor. It really reminds me of tanks. Sometimes people think there are "american" or "western" tanks and then there are "russian/soviet" or "eastern" tanks. Yes, those two groups are easily reconginzed, famous and very different from each other. But. The reality is that there are many countries, like France, Germany, the UK... which build their own vehicles, and those vehicles tend to be somewhere in between the spectrum, taking inspirations from each other and making different compromises, depending on what that country at that time prefers. Any design is inherently compromised and brings its own pros and cons, and you can easily find European vehicles which have some inspriration in the western ones, some in the eastern ones, and doing some things in their own, unique way as well. It's easy to believe medieval armor in individual countries was no different, and it should be probably viewed and studied as its own thing, unless it's clearly just an unmodified import from elsewhere.
Thank you very much guys, that was wonderful to go through all the finer points about late 15th century European armour design and wearing. And also thanks for explaining some of the different designs that are fitting for different fighting contexts. It is also great to hear, that the scholarship of this subject, is getting muck more accurate, and granular. I absolutely love to learn more and more new things (to me) about this subject. Also can you provide me with a book reading list that covers all European armour from the 14th century to the late 16th century and websites and a list of armour catalogues and any other information about this fascinating subject. Well done and please more of this sort of content!🙂👍
If you are European, visit as much collections in Museums and Castles as possible, being german, for me no problem.
@@brittakriep2938 Hi, unfortunately for me I am an Australian and so it is difficult for me to visit the historic European armouries and collections. I have only visit one traveling historic European armour exhibition, in Sydney back in the mid 1990's. I thank that exhibition came to Sydney from a national Austrian historic armoury. Thank you for your suggestion though.👍
@@scottfoster9452 : That is of course a problem, with exeption of may be some fortifications from 19th century, and older hoses of rich persons, trieing to immitate a castle there is nothing in this context. But as a visitor of german museums and castles for decades, i see here problems, you may not expect. For some times i visited Langenburg castle in northeast of state Baden Württemberg, the castle is owned by Fürst von Hohenlohe- Langenburg, a relatve of died Prince Philipp from Great Brittain. Formerly a large room ( in german Saal) was filled with old weaponry , may be hunting weapons of his ancestors, and relicts of former troops of HRE era. Now this items are mostly dissappeared, the german nobility needs today much money to keep their castles, so they often sell old things, like furniture vor historic weapons. Next thing, you find old weapons not only in large museums, or specialized museums, you find them also in small museums called Heimatmuseum/ home region museum ( ?) in smaller numbers, in my region often relicts from alemannic warrior graves, before christianity came. But from time to time there changes in museum concept, for presenting the objects in a more modern way, and then mostly the weapons dissappear, because in liberal/ leftwing time we live, weapons are in the eyes of liberals/ leftwingers a bad thing.
This video as well as others are great. This reminds me a lot of experimental archaeology. Y'all are probably encountering things the knights did back then that worked and didn't work and came up with solutions the same way. I can see how reenacting is a very valuable thing.
This is a concept artist dream video lol :D thanks guys!
When I saw the video length I wasn't sure I would watch it in its entirety but here I am 1 hour later still being entertained. Thanks Matt.
I learned so much from this video. You saved me from some expensive bad choices. Thank you.
Who makes your arming Coates?
Very intresting video, thanks for the both of you guys
Very interesting - I know nothing about armour but it's a riveting subject.
RIP Myarmory. Maybe one day someone will come back and fix you...
You guys are REALLY serious about Halloween.
Sometimes I miss my late teens to early 20s, when I was invincible and invulnerable (or at least thought I was), but mostly I just wonder how I managed to survive them. And I never went to war!
Same here, the only difference being I miss them all the time.
Thoughts on 1:02....bevor gap. In modern buhurt I espouse helmets made such that when a blow is coming in you can tuck your chin and /or shrug your shoulders to take a hard polearm blow on the helm and body armor without nearly as much scrambling the brain. By reflexive action you can benefit from linked super protective armor while otherwise having enough space to move and turn your head relatively freely....I suggest that the bevor gap functioned much the same way. The gap allows a lot of fresh air (and added visibility when looking down at the ground) but when a hit is coming in the wearer can essentially close the gap and lock the helm to the bevor, and therefore cuirass, by shrugging. I think this eventually becomes obvious when you wear armor and take mighty blows for long enough.
Would shrugging when getting hit in the head not hurt your neck?
@@TheEpicDartfish why would it hurt your neck?
@@DkGaston I'm not sure, maybe it puts a lot of force into your neck and traps? Can you explain the shrug, I'm having a hard time visualizing it. Are you shrugging up and forward, up and back, or just up all the way?
@TheEpicDartfish Skip to about 39 minutes in. You think your head is better at getting hit than your shoulder? Have you ever done a full contact combat sport? th-cam.com/video/uRf5ezlY_yc/w-d-xo.htmlsi=l9Va_KbwHkWr3YgS
Great video. It would interesting to learn about the blueing process used on the armour as many medieval paintings of war depict knights/men at arms in black armour.
30:00 not to be that guy, but I did figure out a way to put on my arm harness solo. It's magnificently awkward, akin to the chainmaille shuffle twerking you do when taking off a heavy maille shirt, but in reverse, and with basically what amounts to heavy metal plates clanking about your ears and possibly boxing your ears and face if you aren't careful.
I just pre pointed my harness to my chain shirt.
This required a lot of putting on and taking off the maille, but I did manage to do it.
I recorded myself doing it thinking it would be a neat thing to put on youtube for evidence because I kept hearing the fact that you NEED another person to put on armor... But then I realized im a chonky bastard and felt self conscious. Poor excuse but hey, if one of you other younger fitter men want to do it, just remember who gave you the idea lol.
Just the boys playing dress up with skirts and leggings in the garage, absolute cuteness
Very interesting video; I think this is the first time I've seen Matt in harness
Hmm...i asked knyght errant long time ago if besegewes could be on the back and apparently now the consensus has changed that they could :)
They usually appear on the front but in the late 15th century there is some art that suggests they can go on the back too.
Yeah they certainly appear on the back in various late-15th century images, but they are usually smaller than the front ones.
What is the weight difference and steel thickness difference between your two kits?
Finally got around to watching this, and I have to say I really enjoyed the amount of detail and seeing the armor come on - gave me plenty to think about for writing armor!
Though one question: I noticed that Zac's armor seems to be tighter around the stomach while Matt has, for lack of a better term, a 'beer gut', but both guys look similarly fit and slim when outside of the armor. Was the "beet gut" breastplate (or rather, a beer gut plackart since the front armor is two components) a style choice, a limitation of manufacturing ability, or something practical like room for the gut to expand while breathing heavily when exhausted or to offer a more domed surface for frontal attacks to deflect off of?
the latter. Curved shapes were favoured to effectively deflect blows and disperse their force. They could be more or less pronounced according to style and need, but never completely flat
@@Laricev Thanks for the answer; think I finally figured out what I was thinking of. I was comparing Matt and Zac's harnesses (which are more 1400s/very early 1500s) to mid and late Renaissance harnesses like those of the Thirty Years War which had a single breastplate and then faulds instead of breastplate+plackart+faulds.
Very curious where people are finding arming doublets that aren’t padded up like down jackets.
The two of you need to do a q&a Livestream
Thank you guys for sharing this insight into how knights dressed in armour . I wondered if both of you would prefer to wear full coverage armour like the one Henry the 8th wore for foot combat , you know the one with the codpiece.
We both talked about plans for other future armour, but I personally am more interested in earlier stuff.
Lovely armours !
Also worth pointing, the idea of a sallet with a before with eye slits in the bevor, did essentially become common, but we are then essentially describing a burgeonet with a falling buffe.
Zak's Armour sounds great !
I wonder how many different options various knights would have. Today I am to be part of a Calvary charge on goes the mitten. Tomorrow I defend the castle and will be on foot on goes gauntlet type 2. Next week there is the joust and that gets the practically solid left arm. The sword is after and that gets type 3 gauntlet etc etc etc. Not just a matter of this on or off today but today I need this shoulder not that one.
37:10 I always wondered whats actually the difference between having those guard plates on and off, I watched the whole video to see how much of a difference it makes and to see how the attachment mechanism work and how strong it is but you never took them off :(. Ive looked everywhere and Ive seen videos that explain the workings of every part of the armor BUT the shoulder pieces and I would love to know how they actually work, specially the bigger ones. Ive seen videos of people with whose big pauldrons lifting their arms but I dont know how it works and whats the engineering behind it.
70 minutes of pure historical epicness and shinyness!
Thanks!
Superb amount of knowledge being shared here. My question is:
Is it common for medieval soldiers to only wear gambesons with little to know plate armor on top?
I'd like to know where both of you got your armours made and how much these kinds of armours cost. I'm asking as someone who's always been interested in getting my own armour at some point.
I've always wondered about the idea of some armour being much better suited for either foot or mounted combat.
If the armour is geared towards foot combat, does it really mess up your ability to ride, let alone fight on horseback?
- If you are say an English man-at-arms in the WOTR, on the march and heading towards a major battle.... You're intending to fight on foot, but are on horseback currently. Does this mean you CANNOT wear your foot-combat armour on horseback, or at least cannot wear certain parts of it whilst mounted? And what about if you need to mount up during the battle for various reasons, including having to flee for your life.... If you are wearing foot-combat armour are you screwed? Do you have to shed parts of the armour before you can mount your horse?
- If you're a European knight with the full Italian harness geared towards cavalry combat... Expecting to fight from horseback... But then are in a situation where you're forced to fight on foot.... Do you just make do with your usual armour? Or do you reluctantly lighten it and shed parts of it so you can fight more effectively on foot?
People with the choice could change parts out, the more focused an armours was on a thing the more likey its user had other options, i.e. the choice of visors, gauntlets, helmets an so on.
1600's armour often have detachable tassets with a choice lengths and complete removal.
(unless your a dirty foot slogger then there riveted on so you don't lose them.)
English Foot arm has thing's like fully enclosed upper legs that make good rideing hard.
The Italian harness has detachable parts like the extra shoulder guard.
I would actually really like to see a video on where 16th century armor ended up going. It'd also be fun to hear why you don't like it as much as 15th century stuff.
Medieval Cinematic Universe strikes again!
as a former Modern soldier. I kind of recoginze the thing. where you try to to figure out the balance between protection and comfort. I was a company radioman. so my kit was in a bag when I was in a the staf tent or radiocar.
Zach's gauntlets are made for Vulcans. Live long and prosper!🖖
I can't wait to start getting my armor I plan on joining the buhurt or hema armor combat sport. I already know what weapon I'm choosing which is the great sword.
Had a double take when I read the title I thought it said:
"How medieval knights cross dressed."
Id love to try on a suit of plate armour from rhis period , is rhere anyway in the UK i could do this ? Excellent video btw .
One small thought. The more polish on white armor, the more it reflects infrared rays from the sun, black actually absorbs more causing the armor to actually absorb heat. It's the same principle as the shiny foil covering on insulation that reflects heat away from a building. Possibly our ancestors noticed this, and maybe fashion wasn't the only reason they polished their plate to a mirror finish.
I think the Sallet is the most badass of all the helmets. Would definitely be my choice.
What manuscript is shown at 35:36?
Were mail collars worn along with a bevor and or over a hauberk?
Rather curious about the bike wheel in the bottom right. Italian, German, French or English? Classical period or modern reproduction? Any penetrations? Does it have a specific context?
Interesting video! I especially liked the chant during the fast forwards. Any idea on what the chant was or what the Latin words are?
Amazing watch thanks guys, I have a few questions along these lines that maybe you can clear up for me? 🙂
When deciding on what style of 15th-16th century harness I prefered, 1st I was trying to figure out if the fluting was simply for aesthetics or whether it was actually giving me more protection? And I was considering how much a plated cuirass of any configuration would compare to my brigandine? I think my brig is easier to get on, more comfortable and doesn't get as hot and I'm not sure what benefits I'd get from a plated cuirass 🤔
As for whether fluting was purely aesthetic...corrugated cardboard, corrugated iron.
Shape does matter.
There is some benefit to fluting, but it doesn't seem to have been considered too essential, because it's not ubiquitous. There is a good deal of "soft" benefit to some of these things as well. At it's best, an armour is not just a piece of PPE, but a living sculpture that expresses who you are. The armour itself and its eccentricities and individual style is linked to the human inside. This is a tricky thing to understand, but the existence of armoured effigies helps to explain it.
An effigy is another piece of functional art. It's function is to link the prayers of the living with the soul in purgatory. The stronger the link, the more effective the prayers, and the greater the likeness the stronger the link. That many knights (or their families) chose to be displayed in their armour shows how much of a personal thing a harness was. Things like fluting allowed for this expression of personality all the more, which was important not only on the tournament field and battlefield, but also (as they believed it) beyond the grave.
I think I need to do a video about this.
What is the name of the music track?
Great content
I'd be fascinated with your thoughts on Mongolian armor. Were they so successful simply because of their numbers, or was their armor an added benefit? Excellent video.
Hordes of Mongols overwhelming enemies with sheer numbers is complete fantasy.
The Mongols success had absolutely nothing to do with numbers and everything to do with being highly disciplined ferocious warriors led by incredibly gifted generals.
The guy who would remove specific pieces of armour as a taunt is interesting, because that could also provide a strategic advantage by making his opponent hyperfixate on the unarmoured portion of his body, making their attacks easier to defend against.