Amor of Armour

Helpful critique of arms and armor from fictional works. 

[its-spelled-maille]

okay, so I'm working on a D&D character, and I have some questions about helms - my character is a longtooth shifter (basically a werewolf), and I'm curious about any historical helmet designs that would be suited for balancing the priorities of "not getting stabbed in the face" and "growing a wolf-like muzzle while wearing a full-face helmet is Painful" No pressure if you're busy, and the resources you provide are really cool!

dude have I got the perfect helmet for you

It's literally called a houndskull bascinet, and it was in use in the late 1300s and early 1400s. He may have to have a special modified one with a longer 'snout', but the basic shape is still there.

[just-the-artifacts]

Promotion. Come follow this new educational page.

@just-the-artifacts has just launched, a page for Medieval artifacts and history. 

Features: 

1. Frequent images of Medieval artifacts. 

2. Information and history about the Middle Ages and Medieval artifacts.

3. Occasionally artifacts from different eras. 

4. Occasionally writing advice for your Medievally-set writing project. (Arguably, all Medieval historical information is advice for a Medievally-set story, but there will also be more direct information.)

[its-spelled-maille]

What's your favorite fantastical nonmetal armor material in popular culture? Like how in cr their cleric wears beetle shell armor, or how the dunmer in TES make armor from a bone and resin mixture (or whatever it is they do for bone mold)

My favourite fantastical nonmetal armours both come from the game Battle Brothers (which I highly recommend to you guys especially with the new DLC looking absolutely delicious). The first is the Lindwurm armour set and the second is the Davkul armour set. 

Lindwurm Armour (formed from the scales of the below creature)

Davkul Cultist Armour (formed from the flesh and bone of a cultist blessed with Davkul’s boon)

~Mod Galea

[its-spelled-maille]

Hey I like your page and I see you’re a man of knowledge, do you have anything to share about Arabic swords and Japanese swords? I’m thankful either way coz your page is helpful as it is. Have a good one.

So this is a tough question in general due to some very iffy scholarship for both areas. Arabo-Persian weaponry is almost entirely abandoned academically with the exception of a few sources which tend to be fairly expensive (like Dr. Khorasani’s work on Persian and Ottoman weaponry). You can, however, find PDFs of Al-Kindi’s review on various weaponry as well as various other Fatimid reviews (although you’ll have to do some really deep digging within university libraries and manuscript databases). Most of what is available revolves around the Ottoman world with almost nothing regarding the Seljuqs, Mamluks, or any preceding cultural group. I’m in the process of archiving various sources like this and may soon post my collection to the blog, but it’s still very much a work in progress. 

Japanese weaponry, on the other hand, is a bit easier as it’s gotten some good love and far better scholarship but is still subject to quite a bit of historical bias. The best sources I can recommend are an acquaintance of mine who specialises in this as well as two other databases linked here, here, and here. All three of these locations have source material readily available should you wish to seek out the actual sources yourself. 

~Mod Galea

[its-spelled-maille]

Ok, so the helmets worn by the various incarnations of the Shredder from TMNT are obviously supposed to be kabuto, that much is clear (the 2003 series' Feudal Shredder is my favourite example, personally) But the thing is, the mempo on said helmets is almost always flat and smooth, as opposed to the stylised faces you usually see in real life. What I'm wondering is, is there a historical precedent for that sort of thing? Or is it just a stylistic choice?

There is no historical precedent for such mempo as they’re always designed with genuine faces in mind. This renders Shredder’s mask stylistic choice which I actually like because it makes him immediately more recognisable.

~Mod Galea

[its-spelled-maille]

Is there a purpose to the ribbing of some suits of armor like the Armor Maximilian II (1527-1576), or was it primarily a visual effect and a blacksmith showing of their skills?

It's primarily to indicate wealth, sense of fashion, and generally to show off quite a bit. There are some benefits to these added bits, but not enough to make considerable impacts. This is why when fashion changes, so too does the armour.

~Mod Galea

[its-spelled-maille]

What’s the difference between a bastard sword and a short sword? I’m creating a character and she wields a one-handed sword so I’m wondering if those could work for inspiration for her sword. Thank you! <3

I asked a noble friend of mine who is more comfortable with western weaponry than I am and received the following answer. 

“Neither of those things technically exist, but for the sake of not being pedantic; bastard swords are typically longswords with a grip around 14 to 20-ish cm or so that can be held in two hands comfortably or in one hand less comfortably, but useable“short swords” are probably what people see arming swords as (8-10cm grip, roughly 80cm blade although it variably changes in either direction).”

~Mod Galea

[its-spelled-maille]

I used to go to the Higgins Armory a lot as a kid and I remember a presentation they gave where the emphasized that the drawback of maille was that it was almost completely inadequate for repelling crushing weapons like maces, clubs, heavy axes, and morning stars. How would warriors in the eras of maille have defended against these types of weapons?

By using shields usually. This is the reason most shields in close combat contexts like these are pretty large. It’s good to see a museum pointing out maille’s failure against these weapons rather than saying plate has these problems, though.

[its-spelled-maille]

Why was Europe the only innovator in terms of full plate armor? I could see climate/resource excuses for places like the Middle East, Japan, and central Eurasia. But why not China? They seemed to stick with layered lamellar designs.

It largely comes down to the context of warfare itself. Both China and the Middle East have always had more arrow-centric warfare than either Europe or Africa. For the Middle East and India it very much is a climate thing along with the context of warfare as we only see more steel being added as firearm corps become more common and more advanced.

For China, however, the scale of warfare was MASSIVELY larger than Europe and the Middle East which meant that it was logistically more practical to just mass-produce lamellae to pump out cuirasses for the hundreds of thousands of people who need to be equipped against mass crossbow usage. 

~Mod Galea

[its-spelled-maille]

Can it be argued that the pila/spear was as important to the Romans as were their gladii? I'm not talking about the thrown one, but the one they always kept in hand.

It can and should be argued this way. Pila were so widely used because they just worked. If they didn’t work so effectively, both thrown and used otherwise, they would have been phased out more quickly. There are, however, scant references to them being used as spears butthe mentions are fairly ambiguous. 

~Mod Galea

[its-spelled-maille]

what would be the best way to make armor out of bones? I'm trying to design my own version of dragon armor from skyrim and wanted to know how one would accomplish that, assuming the bones of a terrifying immortal dragon would be suitable material for armor

Arguably the best armour made out of bone is lamellar. Bone lamellar is attested to numerous cultures archaeologically, ethnographically, and ethnohistorically. It shows up everywhere from Greece and Italy to Siberia and North America. It takes great precision to drill holes into bone to enable lacing, but it seems people have had no issues doing so. Thanks to a friend of mine, I was able to acquire some finds regarding it. 

This example above is “proto-Inuit” dated around 1100-1300 CE.

Thule Cultural Period 1200-1700 CE.

~Mod Galea

[its-spelled-maille]

Roman-inspired “Armour to the Roman” made in 1546 by artist Bartolomeo Campi de Pesaro for Guiobaldo della Rovere, Duke of Urbino. Eventually gifted to Phillip II of Spain.

Housed in the Madrid Royal Palace

~Mod Galea

[its-spelled-maille]

I'm interested to know: how does medieval Slavic armor differ in design from say, Germany and Britain?

Medieval Slavic armour differed drastically from Western armour which was primarily due to wildly different influences. The Slavs bore the brunt of Turkic, Iranian, Mongol, and Byzantine incursions that all brought distinctive (but overarching) themes when it comes to armour. It’s also important that Slavic territories (at least in Central and Eastern Slavic land) were not settled as densely or immediately as the Western Slavic territories like Hungary, Bulgaria, and Serbia. Western Slavic countries ended up looking very Byzantine and Venetian while Hungary remains distinctly different from everyone well into the 19th century (something for another time).

That being said, it’s important to see the visual difference so we’ll start with body armour. For most of the earlier medieval period, it’s mostly maille and some smatterings of lamellar (both of Byzantine origin and Turkic origin). Eventually, lamellar falls out of popular usage and is supplemented by standard maille and plated maille brought from Persia and the Golden Horde. This example below is a Yushman style plated maille dating to the 1540s (they existed a very good while before this though).

Helmets are another place where there are distinct differences. From contemporary Byzantine and Russian sources, we can see a variety of helmets. From this Russian manuscript showing the sack of Rome by Gauls in 390 BCE (but with contemporary Russian arms/armour) made in the very early 14th century we see both maille body armour and conical Eastern helmets (sometimes called turban helmets).

Some more examples include the following:

Starting with the iconic Gorodets style

The ocular and maille for the above.

13th Century

14th Century - What looks to be something like a Gorodets I type helmet

Early 16th Century

Middle 16th Century 

Somewhere in the 16th century 

Late 16th Century - Early 17th Century

This last one is very much inspired by Iranian helmets of the time which is obvious by the decorations and the nasal which raises up to the skull. 

~Mod Galea

[its-spelled-maille]

What sword (or swords) did the roman legions use before they adopted the gladius as standart (Apollogies for any incorrect spelling, english isn't my first language).

Romans prior to using the gladius used the Greek-inspired/copied xiphos. They were still fairly uncommon for the various Latin tribes and Romans themselves as warfare was primarily dominated by hoplites and spears. 

~Mod Galea

[its-spelled-maille]

How would a Greek Muscle curaiss made of iron or steel compare to a Linothrax curaiss or Mail shirt?

I think the issue here relies more on the context in which it’s used. Muscle cuirasses fell out of use because they’re not as flexible in multi-role engagements and the economies of the time were not able to mass-produce them. This is why maille becomes so popular for so long; you can pump that stuff out. 

However, a simpler, more generalised answer, would be that an iron/steel harness would function easily better than a linothorax and better than maille depending on the context. 

~Mod Galea 

[its-spelled-maille]

What are some good examples of armor that was ahistoric for its time? As in: I have to imagine that some 16th century noble might have commissioned a greathelm due to its cultural popularity. Surely certain pop-culture ideas about armor must be older than the modern era?

This ends up breaking down into two categories. The first of which is the Modo Antiquo/All’antica art movement that greatly influenced armour making. The entire idea, literally translated to mean “in the ways of the ancients [particularly the Greeks and Romans]”, brings antiquated armour ideas into the foreground. We’ve posted some prime examples of it, like this one here, and have some more examples. 

Below we have the funeral effigy of Maximilian I which displays a hounskull with 16th-century armour as well as vibrant Modo Antiquo styles.

The second category simply involves “ahistorical” armour or swapped/replaced pieces. It seems to happen a lot with hounskulls.  

~Mod Galea 

[its-spelled-maille]

Are there disadvantages to having a crossguard? It seems like some older swords, like the gladius, don't seem to have them.

As our Lord and Saviour Matt Easton likes to quote: Context!

I can’t think of any direct downsides to crossguards, but the reason swords like the gladius don’t have substantial guards is because they’re being paired with very large shields that negate the overall use of a crossguard. This pattern instantly changes as soon as smaller shields and more mobile combat are adapted, which we see as gladii turn into spathae and grow a crossguard. 

~Mod Galea