armor-books-msg - 4/29/02 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. ************************************************************************ 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 ************************************************************************ 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 <the end> Edited by Mark S. Harris armor-books-msg Page 5 of 5