Title: armor-books-msg
Subject: Books about medieval armor. Reviews.
Author: Edited by Mark S. Harris
Last saved by: Mark S. Harris
Keywords: armor, books, review, medieval, construction, SCA, fight, sword

armor-books-msg - 7/30/12

Books about medieval armor. Reviews.

NOTE: See also the files: armor-msg, p-armor-msg, chainmail-msg, helmets-msg, shields-msg, swords-msg, Swords-bib, weapons-msg, coat-of-plates-msg.

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NOTICE -

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.

The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors.

Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s).

Thank you,
    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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From: caradoc at enet.net (John Groseclose)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Armor Question on Period
Date: Sun, 19 Mar 1995 00:47:49 -0700

mjohnso7 at osf1.gmu.EDU (Michael P Johnson) wrote:
>To have all o your basic armor questions answered, check your local 
>library or bookstore for a book entitled The Armourer and His Craft, by 
>Ffoulke.  It gives a good over view of armor history, and production 
>techniques.  It was the first book that my teacher had me read and I 
>still use it as a reference, because I'm still learning.  To answer your 
>question, yes, plate and mail were worn together, from the beginning of 
>the fourteenth century onward through the fifteenth century.  Visored 
>helms also started appearing in the fourteenth century with the adent of 
>the bascnet with the hound skull face plate.  This progressed into 
>several different types of visored helms.  The sallet and armet became 
>popular during the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, but 
>mainly in the fifteenth.  The armet progressed into the close helm.  
>Well, I could go on and on about armor.  If you have any other questions, 
>let me know, and I'll answer them as best as I can.

Be aware of the errors that ffoulkes makes. He makes several
"observations" about banded "mail" and ring "mail" that I can find
documented nowhere but in his book. Page 47 shows several drawings of
armor "constructions" that, to the best of my research, do not exist, did
not exist, and aren't really workable.
-- 
John Groseclose <caradoc at enet.net>

Subject: New Armor Book / Viking Book
Date: Mon, 19 Oct 1998 15:02:22 -0400
From: rmhowe <magnusm at ncsu.edu>
Organization: Windmaster's Hill, Atlantia, and the GDH
To: Merryrose <atlantia at atlantia.sca.org>

Barnes and Noble has put out a translation of a new armor book by
a pair of Slovakians. In short this means it isn't just about
Western style armor. There are lots of other cultures as well.
It's also quite cheap for a hardback. No bibliography, no index though.

Armor from Ancient to Modern Times, by Petr Klucina, illustrated
by Pavol Pevny. Barnes and Noble, 1997. Printed in Slovakia by
Neoagrafia, a.s. Martin. ISBN 0-7607-0475-9, 133 pp. $15.00

Okay, what's in it? Very early period to 20th C., probably at least
150 hand drawn, handpainted pictures which are very clear. Covers
Western armor, Eastern armor including the Middle East, China, and
Japan. Polish, Hungarian, Persian, Iranian, Lithuanian, Rome, Scythian,
Celtic, Sumerian, Milanese, Norman, Russian, Turkish, Indian,
Circassian, Samurai, Chinese, - Many scale and laminated styles, some
shields, jousting armor, and equestrian armor.

Basically, you get a lot of styles you don't usually see in most
western armor books. Scholarly?, not particularly. Well illustrated?,
very much so.

And you get a large book covering a lot of unusual material for about
the same price as a single Osprey book.

If you don't have a store near you. 1-800-The-Book.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/
..........................................................
Secondly, they are also selling Bertil Almgren's big book The Viking.
This is the one that has all the line drawings of damn near everything
the Vikings had or did (the one with the particularly unflattering
personal portraits). It has been on sale for some time for $20.
This is a reprint, a hardback and is quite good. If I were looking
for some artifacts like tools or furniture to reproduce, here is a
good start.

Magnus, not affiliated.

Date: Sun, 07 Nov 1999 21:07:32 -0500
From: Matthew House <mhouse at exploremaine.com>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Book review...

I just picked up a copy of "European Arms & Armor", by Charles Henry
Ashdown. I was wondering if anyone could comment on its value as a
reference?

From: jhrisoulas at aol.com (Dr JP Hrisoulas)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Book review...
Date: 08 Nov 1999 02:40:42 GMT

Ashdown?? On my Lord, his work is what i wouild refer to as a "standard
reference" book.....

Atar
Dr JP Hrisoulas
Bladesmith Metallographer Lecturer
Author:  The Complete Bladesmith
The Master Bladesmith
The Pattern Welded Blade
http:www.Atar.com

From: "Janet  Davis" <castle at erie.net>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: book suggestions?
Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 02:06:19 -0500

As a SCA bookseller who gets feedback from her customers, my top picks would
be:
            "Medieval Swordsmanship" - This is like having a grumpy old peer
on hand - the author is opinionated and you won't always agree with his
opinions, but he knows a lot.  This is practical stuff for the heavy weapons
fighter - stances, shield positions, wraps, etc. well illustrated with
diagrams.
            "Techniques of Medieval Armour Reproduction" - This is just out
and it is very impressive.  It is expensive but there are hundreds of
pictures detailing armouring techniques and scholarship as well.
            "Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe" is also new and really
good, but it is most suitable for a late period type or a fencer.
            "The Armouer and His Craft" was written in 1912 but is
considered a basic classic that every armourer should have and is
inexpensive.
            "Arms and Armour" (by Frederick Wilkinson) covers a huge time
span (3000 years) and includes guns, but it has lots of pictures and is
cheap.

My web site is just hatching, but I do have longer reviews on a couple of
these there - www.medievalbookstore.com

                        Leah Janette

From: moondrgn at bga.com (Chris and Elisabeth Zakes)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: book suggestions?
Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 19:00:10 GMT

On Wed, 15 Nov 2000 10:43:12 GMT, an orbiting mind-control laser
caused "Amy Bernard" <amynjohn at worldnet.att.net> to write:

>Greetings fellow lords and ladies,
>With the holidays coming, I'm looking for a book detailing combat
>methods/armor design, etc. for my lord.  There's a few interesting choices
>at Amazon, but I'd like to hear from someone already having them in their
>library.  I'm afraid some of the reviews at Amazon appear to have been
>written by a 12 year old!  I'd hate to spend $30-50 on something that may be
>poorly written or historically inaccurate.

I'm not certain this is what you're looking for, but...

"Arms and Armor of the Medieval Knight" by David Edge and John Miles
Paddock has *lots* of great pictures and interesting text. It even
includes a chapter on armor-making, with photos of the insides of
various pieces showing how they were built.

ISBN 0-517-64468-1

        -Tivar Moondragon
                Ansteorra

From: clevin at ripco.com (Craig Levin)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: book suggestions?
Date: 17 Nov 2000 19:19:00 GMT
Organization: Ripco Internet, Chicago

Amy Bernard <amynjohn at worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>With the holidays coming, I'm looking for a book detailing combat
>methods/armor design, etc. for my lord.  There's a few interesting choices
>at Amazon, but I'd like to hear from someone already having them in their
>library.  I'm afraid some of the reviews at Amazon appear to have been
>written by a 12 year old!  I'd hate to spend $30-50 on something that may be
>poorly written or historically inaccurate.

I'd like to warn you away from John Hewitt's _Ancient Armour and
Weapons_, pub. by Bracken Press. It's a reprint of _Ancient Armour
and Weapons in Europe_, originally pub. by John Henry and James
Parker in 1855. The scholars of six generations ago are as out of
date in their knowledge of arms and armor as they are in
astrophysics. We're looking at such pseudohistorical fancies as
banded mail, for instance. If your husband doesn't have a good
grounding in the subject already, he could be misled by Hewitt.

In its defence, it does have some very, very interesting
reproductions of the original illustrations. As a pursuivant, I
found the seals and banners to be very useful in my field. He
often includes quotes from period sources, often in the original
Old French or Latin, which let you make your own translation-which
often lets you get a better idea of the original author's intent.

Pedro
--
http://pages.ripco.net/~clevin/index.html
clevin at rci.ripco.com
Craig Levin

From: Wajdi <wajdi at home.com>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: book suggestions?
Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2000 04:40:43 GMT

I'd like to recommend TECHNIQUES OF MEDIEVAL ARMOUR REPRODUCTION,
a book by Brian Price.  It's been reviewed at:

http://www.tbook.com/hobbies/a/Antiques/TECHNIQUES_OF_MEDIEVAL_ARMOUR_REPRODUCTION_THE_14TH_CENTURY_1581600984.htm
http://hppublish.com/itm00573.htm
http://store.yahoo.com/spytechagency/12975.html

wajdi

From: Shadae OShea <shadae_oshea at msn.com>
Date: August 8, 2010 9:15:54 PM CDT
To: "bryn-gwlad at lists.ansteorra.org" <bryn-gwlad at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: [Bryn-gwlad] armor

Someone just sent me this lovely link.  It contains books and videos on constructing historical armor.  Thought some of you might be interested in taking a peek

http://talbotsfineaccessories.com/books/metalwork.html

From: Garth Groff <ggg9y at virginia.edu>
Date: February 6, 2012 11:57:25 AM CST
To: atlantia at atlantia.sca.org, isenfir at virginia.edu,  Stefan li Rous <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com>
Subject: Book Review: Armor Making

Just received at the UVA Fine Arts Library: LA FACITA DEL BELLO, TECHNICHE DECORATIVE DELL'ACCIAIO E DEL FERRO SU ARMI E ARMATURE IN EUROPA TRA BASO MEDIOEVO DE ETA MODERNA by Giorgio Dondi (ISBN 9781407308593; our call# NK6609 .D654 2011). I have seen a lot of books that discuss the manufacture of arms and armor, but almost always from the perspective of the finished piece in a museum. This book is rare, if not unique, for actually showing period illustrations showing the actual production. To see engravings and woodcuts of craftsmen at their trade as armorers is very refreshing. There are lots of contemporary photos of preserved pieces as well, though the photos are all in black-and-white and are somewhat grainy. This book is truly a treasure to anyone interested in technique. Sadly, you need to read Italian to appreciate the whole story. There is a generous bibliography, with many titles in English, if you want to use this book as a springboard for further reading. Of side interest, the book is No. 5 in a series called "Notebooks on Military Archaeology and Architecture." The piece in hand is well worth tracking down if you are into arms making, or just love arms and armor from the middle ages and renaissance.

Lord Mungo Napier, That Crazy Scot
(aka Garth Groff, UVA Cataloging Dept.)

Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2010 13:16:31 +1100
From: "Gui" <gui at sca.org.au>
Subject: Re: [Lochac] Agincourt-era kit
To: "'The Shambles: the SCA Lochac mailing list'"
	<lochac at lochac.sca.org>

Hi Oswyn,

I recommend "Armies of the Middle Ages Volume 1" by Ian Heath (ISBN-13:
978-0904417241). I has line drawings only, but has lots of entries for many
troop types, and from many different countries. It's a darn good browse for
newcomers searching for an armour "look". It also includes heraldry and
examples of its use, as well as brief descriptions of notable battles.

It is written as a wargaming guide, but it's a very good start.

Gui of Rowany

-----Original Message-----
I know a couple of newcomers here in Nyoy Zullun who seem most
interested (for now) in the clothing, armour and weapons of 1415
England and France, particularly for archers. Can any wise and kindly
person suggest to me where I should direct them for sources first?

Oswyn

Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2010 10:33:37 +0800
From: Columb mac Diarmata <columb.mac.diarmata at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Lochac] Agincourt-era kit
To: "The Shambles: the SCA Lochac mailing list"
	<lochac at lochac.sca.org>

On Mon, Feb 8, 2010 at 9:45 AM, Carl Layton <laytoncarl at yahoo.co.nz> wrote:
<<< I know a couple of newcomers here in Nyoy Zullun who seem most interested
(for now) in the clothing, armour and weapons of 1415 England and France,
particularly for archers. Can any wise and kindly person suggest to me where
I should direct them for sources first? >>>

This thread ("I Wanna be an English archer of the hundred years war")
on the AA might be of some interest:

http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=43802

Columb

Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2011 11:42:18 +1000
From: chris Bowman <groo42 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Lochac] Williams, "The Knight and the blast furnace"
To: "The Shambles: the SCA Lochac mailing list"
	<lochac at lochac.sca.org>

Hi Anton,
Emporium book is selling it if you really want a copy, only about $400

http://www.emporiumbooks.com.au/book/the-knight-and-the-blast-furnace-a-history-of-metallurgy-of-armour-in-the-middle-ages-the-early-modern-period.do

Groo

On 16 June 2011 09:38, Ian Whitchurch <ian.whitchurch at gmail.com> wrote:
<<< Has anyone either got or read this book, or do I need to make a trek
to Polit to read it :)

Anton de Stoc
At Rowany
XVI jun, g+s II

Author  Williams, Alan (Alan R.)
Title   The knight and the blast furnace : a history of the metallurgy
of armour in the Middle Ages & the early modern period / by Alan
Williams
Published Boston : Brill, 2003
Series  History of warfare, 1385-7827 ; v. 12

Location        Call number     Volume  Status
HANCOCK large book      TN703 .W55 2003

PS I know about the google books extract >>>

<the end>

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