05-03-2009, 12:16 AM
Sorry for the hoplologic rambling, but I found something too cool not to share and there's a need to clarify the background for the study a bit before you start to wonder if I got some nercophilic tendencies for getting worked out by a bunch of coffin lids.
As you might know, the armour worn by knights was going through a period of great changes during Fiore's time. A generation or two before Fiore's time (around the time I.33 was presumably written), full suits of maille armour were fairly common, but when we come to the time when Pissani-Dossi manuscript was written (apparently during the last years of Fiore's life), full suits of plate, known as white armour, were already the norm.
Surprisingly enough (at least to me), not many suits of armour were preserved from those times. It could be that the metal was re-used into something more fashionable when its tayloring didn't fit the intended user anymore, or in case of fallen knights on battlefield, the parts of armour were salvaged for the use of peasantry. At least, that is the theory I heard. Because we don't have the real suits of armour in great numbers, we have to do our research from depictions of armoured knights. The problem with this approach is that medieval and renaissance artist weren't big on history, often depicting the subjects of their work in the armour and clothing that was in fashion contemporal to the time of painting. That's how we have St. George in white harness poking the throat of a dragon with a 16th century jousting lance. Now, some of this silliness can be accounted for romanticisation, but most of the more serious medieval and early renaissance works bear the same symptoms of anachronism. Go and see the copy of the painting showing the event of Sweden conqu-- erm, bringing the western civilization to Finland, in the Finnish National Museum, and you see the armour and dresses are about 230 years off the mark from the date of the actual events.
Now, one subset of art is relatively free of that anachronistic component - works that were commissioned to portray something fairly recent. As the time of oil painting portrays of notable people hadn't quite started yet in the 14th century, one of the most numerous and reliable source with descriptions of armour were the effigies and coffin lids in the crypts of great leaders and warriors. They even come with a date written next to them. The armour depicted was probably still in use in the time when the sculpture was commissioned, and a great number of these finds shows a correlation with the perceived development of the suits of armour, making the grave news (
) a handy reference for those wanting to figure out how to wear fashionable armour for late 14th century.
That's from reading too many Osprey reference books for scale modellers and history nuts. Here is a nice analysis done by Douglas W. Strong hosted by Talbot's Fine Accessories of the effigies during the time of Fiore as found in medieval England: http://talbotsfineaccessories.com/armour...lysis.html
(via http://willscommonplacebook.blogspot.com/ )
If any of you are in the process of assembling a suit of armour for the period, or just interested in late medieval armour and weapons, I hope this is of some use if you don't mind working from the isolationist Britain's point of view instead of the fashionable Italy (as was the case of armour development during that time).
As you might know, the armour worn by knights was going through a period of great changes during Fiore's time. A generation or two before Fiore's time (around the time I.33 was presumably written), full suits of maille armour were fairly common, but when we come to the time when Pissani-Dossi manuscript was written (apparently during the last years of Fiore's life), full suits of plate, known as white armour, were already the norm.
Surprisingly enough (at least to me), not many suits of armour were preserved from those times. It could be that the metal was re-used into something more fashionable when its tayloring didn't fit the intended user anymore, or in case of fallen knights on battlefield, the parts of armour were salvaged for the use of peasantry. At least, that is the theory I heard. Because we don't have the real suits of armour in great numbers, we have to do our research from depictions of armoured knights. The problem with this approach is that medieval and renaissance artist weren't big on history, often depicting the subjects of their work in the armour and clothing that was in fashion contemporal to the time of painting. That's how we have St. George in white harness poking the throat of a dragon with a 16th century jousting lance. Now, some of this silliness can be accounted for romanticisation, but most of the more serious medieval and early renaissance works bear the same symptoms of anachronism. Go and see the copy of the painting showing the event of Sweden conqu-- erm, bringing the western civilization to Finland, in the Finnish National Museum, and you see the armour and dresses are about 230 years off the mark from the date of the actual events.
Now, one subset of art is relatively free of that anachronistic component - works that were commissioned to portray something fairly recent. As the time of oil painting portrays of notable people hadn't quite started yet in the 14th century, one of the most numerous and reliable source with descriptions of armour were the effigies and coffin lids in the crypts of great leaders and warriors. They even come with a date written next to them. The armour depicted was probably still in use in the time when the sculpture was commissioned, and a great number of these finds shows a correlation with the perceived development of the suits of armour, making the grave news (
) a handy reference for those wanting to figure out how to wear fashionable armour for late 14th century.That's from reading too many Osprey reference books for scale modellers and history nuts. Here is a nice analysis done by Douglas W. Strong hosted by Talbot's Fine Accessories of the effigies during the time of Fiore as found in medieval England: http://talbotsfineaccessories.com/armour...lysis.html
(via http://willscommonplacebook.blogspot.com/ )
If any of you are in the process of assembling a suit of armour for the period, or just interested in late medieval armour and weapons, I hope this is of some use if you don't mind working from the isolationist Britain's point of view instead of the fashionable Italy (as was the case of armour development during that time).