On the 15th of February i went on a trip to the royal armouries with some students on my course, in which i looked at the armour and weaponry as well as the portraiture. This helped with the background knowledge into the Roundhead men which i am researching into for my cut and construction module at uni. it also helped when looking at the embellishment techniques that were used on the armour and also what techniques were shown within the portraits around the royal armouries.
The royal armouries is full of metal, leather and armour in other formats. It is not an area i am particularly fond of however i do appreciate the pieces within the museum. When looking around the museum I was interested in the lavishly adorned swords and the very detailed designs on the swords.
Images from The Royal Armouries (https://collections.royalarmouries.org/#/objects?search=swords&sort=relevance)
The swords above range in date from 1580-1840. They’re all very ornate and they differ in style. From the swords above you can see what styles were most popular and what features in the swords are popular throughout.
The sword on the far left is a court sword from France, it was made around 1800-1840. I like this sword due to the symmetry and the texture shown on the handle.
The sword in the middle is a Rapier made in Germany and made in 1580-1620. This sword can be shown to have influenced the design of the more modern one to the left.
The sword on the far right is a Spanish Rapier and was from around the 1650s. This has also influenced the style of the more modern sword with the cup hilt which is shown in the 1800s sword.
When i tried taking photos of these swords i found it difficult due to the flashback on the glass. The pictures i did manage to get of the weapons show a different side to the weaponry as they are not as decorative and they were made for practical use rather than aesthetic or status purposes.
When walking around the museum i found a section on the armour of roundhead men which was useful for the topic within my cut and construction module.
These images show the variety of the roundhead uniforms and also the different elements within the armour uniform. The colour yellow was a recurring theme throughout the roundhead uniform, this was because it was a easily sourced natural dye which would've been much easier and cheaper to create than a more vibrant and unusual colour which are harder to find which were used by the cavaliers.
Cut and construction progress! More gathered net needs to be sewn under the bottom tier and then I'll place the next two tiers with their net on top. More updates to come!
