Because everyone is reblogging that black suit of armour I uploaded.
EDIT: Hey, I have a folder full of reference uploaded here.
Reblogging here, because armor was definitely part of a mediefval and Renaissance man’s closet. Also, none of the thousands of people who have liked and blogged this before me will see this, but whatever, it still needs to be pointed out.
This is Dr. Tobias Capwell. He’s an expert on late medieval military history, particularly armor. He’s actually an American who loves the field so much he moved to England so he could work in it. His PhD project was a study of the armored effigies of medieval funeral caskets and tombs.
This suit was custom made for him, based in part on those studies. I’ve seen videos of him running, doing somersaults, jumping over logs, etc. in this suit.
Capwell is one of the curators of the Wallace Collection. If this sort of stuff excites you check out these videos:
Tobias talking about working for the Royal Armoury
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WF-Lf_Ze2-k
How to Mount a Horse in Armor and Other Chivalric Problems: Dirk H. Breiding, Assistant Curator of the Department of Arms and Armor at the Met gives a great lecture about armor myths.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqC_squo6X4
Dressing in Steel part 1 & 2: Armorer Jeffrey D. Wasson gives a live armor-making demonstration at the Met.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgzQiO9liNw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HwRqJwXXcQ
A Visit to the Galleries: In the 1920s the Met takes a camera crew to the armor galleries to talk about armor myths and to demonstrate (using armor from the collection!) the falsity of many of them. I think my favorite from this film might be the section where they take a mail shirt (estimate of 250,000 links in said shirt taking two years to make) and play with it showing how flexible it is. They actually have someone put it on to make a point about how it wouldn’t even allow a pin to go through it. Then to prove how light it was they put it and the padded jack on one end of a teeter totter and a small boy on the other.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjKbi7YUNaI
This is awesome, but what are the dangly bits on the cloth?
Part 2 of the “Dressing in Steel” video has Jeffrey Wasson putting on his own suit of armor. You can see the “dangly bits” in better action there. They actually connect to various bits of the armor (such as the cuisses or pauldrons or to the mail standard that would sometimes be worn around the neck as additional protection) and help strap them down more securely so they don’t wiggle around.
