A spear is a fine military oe hunting weapon, but it is not very useful as a personal sidearm - it's not so good for parrying with, and it's long and clumsy when it comes to carrying it around with you all the time. Knights liked swords because they are versatile and easy to carry. That's why they were generally secondary weapons in warfare, with lances and such being the primary.
Oh yes, swords are also good for smacking around lightly armoured infantry when you're horseback. Spears aren't so good for that.
Spears are only really useful to groups of infantrymen. A la Greek Phalanx or Medieval Pikemen, a well trained unit of spearmen can really mess up a group of armoured knights on horseback.
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The breastplate predates mail, in the form of the cuirass.
And grieves, vambraces and helms, yeah - all of these were already in use in the Bronze Age. The innovative thing about the late Medieval plate armor was simply extending the parts to cover the entire body and linking them together.
Plate armor was known, it just didn't see much (if any) use between, approximately, the 6th and 14th Centuries.
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The Battle of Visby was waged one hundred years later, in 1361. I haven't read modern research but Thordeman's Armour from the Battle of Wisby puts the development of coat-of-plates into early 14th century, supposing that I'm remembering the book correctly.
There are earlier examples of this type of armour, in fact, like the coat of St. Maurice of Magdeburg from the latter half of the 13th Century. But you're right, it may be a bit late for the time the game is set in.
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And btw, one of the suits from Visby had lamellar construction.
Was the find in grave #2 actually an intact suit? I thought there were just a bunch of separated lames, suggested by at least some to be parts of another coat-of-plates...
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"Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love... true love... never dies. You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn't matter if it's true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in."
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Hey thanks very much everybody! I appreciate it. Answers my question very nicely!
I think I will retain the Coat-of-Plates, if only to give the heavy-armor types something to wear. It may not be 100% accurate, but it serves a purpose anyway. Thanks again!
Source: "Armory of Castle Cherbourg", "European Armor" by Claude Blair, and several other decent books.
Second: Somebody provide me with a primary source for the statement that armor had animal fat rubbed on it. In 35 years of studying medieval history I have seen no verifiable mention of that in a trustworthy source.
Third: A lot of mail was case hardened, but a lot was NOT. That means it rusted like a son of a bitch and would leave red-brown rust stains all over everything. Cf. Chaucer: "Of fustian he weared a gypon, all bismotred with his haubergeon". Also there are numerous samples of rusty mail surviving.
But, long story short: Any way you slice it, Pretty Pretty Princess is gonna hate wearing armor.
I have two coexisting images of my female warrior character in World of Warcraft.
The first image is of the character as she exists in the game, which is to say stereotypical fantasy warrior female: Impractical armor that exposes huge swathes of bare skin, perfect skin, hair, teeth, unrealistic weapons, the whole nine yards.
The second is of her as she would realistically exist: Grimy, stoic, hair chopped unevenly (probably self-cut and done with her dagger), skin rough from wearing armor constantly, missing teeth, and all that stuff.
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Was the find in grave #2 actually an intact suit? I thought there were just a bunch of separated lames, suggested by at least some to be parts of another coat-of-plates...
Checking the book ... there it is, page 218-9.
There were several finds of lamellae at Visby, but only case of suit that was in "such a condition that it could be reconstructed". The proposed reconstruction was that it was originally an old suit of lamellar that was later remade into a coat-of-plates.
Later, Description B (pages 393-404) goes into more detail. As I'm in a bit of hurry now, I only skimmed the beginning of that part. In short, the lamellae were found riveted into a leather backing in a matter similar to coat-of-plates. However, they also had extra holes without rivets that had been originally used for tying them together with leather thongs.
According to the book there have been several lamellar finds in Europe. Several fragments have been found at Cyprus but they are from around 6th century BC. Then there have been some early Medieval finds in Hungary and Southern Russia. Finally, according to John Haldons Some Aspects of Early Byzantine Arms and Armour there is a recent find of a complete Byzantine 6th century lamellar cuirass that was excavated at Pliska, Bulgaria that remains still unpublished.
There were several finds of lamellae at Visby, but only case of suit that was in "such a condition that it could be reconstructed". The proposed reconstruction was that it was originally an old suit of lamellar that was later remade into a coat-of-plates.
Later, Description B (pages 393-404) goes into more detail. As I'm in a bit of hurry now, I only skimmed the beginning of that part. In short, the lamellae were found riveted into a leather backing in a matter similar to coat-of-plates. However, they also had extra holes without rivets that had been originally used for tying them together with leather thongs.
Thanks, man! That actually clarifies a lot of I've heard before.
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According to the book there have been several lamellar finds in Europe. Several fragments have been found at Cyprus but they are from around 6th century BC. Then there have been some early Medieval finds in Hungary and Southern Russia. Finally, according to John Haldons Some Aspects of Early Byzantine Arms and Armour there is a recent find of a complete Byzantine 6th century lamellar cuirass that was excavated at Pliska, Bulgaria that remains still unpublished.
I knew about the Byzantine and ancient Mediterranean finds, and was vaguely aware there were more specimens from Asia and East Europe, but not of any surviving examples from Western Medieval Europe.
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"Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love... true love... never dies. You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn't matter if it's true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in."
-- Hub McCann, in Secondhand Lions
So, where is my advice? Good question. It pretty much oribts the 'era' of the game you're playing. First thing though I recommend a shield. They aren't given a lot of emphasis usually, but historians are more and more believing that a shield was much more important than they had thought. Putting something between you and the thick (of battle) is always a good thing.
Witness the Scots, who fought with a sword, a targe shield, a dirk, and either a kilt or stark naked.
If you don't want to go all the way to heavy armor, or you're in a slightly more renaissance period, a breastplate (heh) can be a good option -- either the Italian "potbelly stove" version, or the Roman-style Lorica Segmentata.
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There were several finds of lamellae at Visby, but only case of suit that was in "such a condition that it could be reconstructed". The proposed reconstruction was that it was originally an old suit of lamellar that was later remade into a coat-of-plates.
Later, Description B (pages 393-404) goes into more detail. As I'm in a bit of hurry now, I only skimmed the beginning of that part. In short, the lamellae were found riveted into a leather backing in a matter similar to coat-of-plates. However, they also had extra holes without rivets that had been originally used for tying them together with leather thongs.
According to the book there have been several lamellar finds in Europe. Several fragments have been found at Cyprus but they are from around 6th century BC. Then there have been some early Medieval finds in Hungary and Southern Russia. Finally, according to John Haldons Some Aspects of Early Byzantine Arms and Armour there is a recent find of a complete Byzantine 6th century lamellar cuirass that was excavated at Pliska, Bulgaria that remains still unpublished.
Do you actually OWN that book?
Back 'in the day' it was only in the Rare Books section of the U of MN, and it was harder than hell to get access.
Or has this been reprinted? Oh, man. That and "Armory of Castle Churburg."
OK, they HAVE reprinted both of them.
"Churburg" is a mere $1200. But "Visby" is only a hundred bucks. Wow...
Oh, talk about it. The price and availability of books are among my primary sources of desperation.
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"Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love... true love... never dies. You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn't matter if it's true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in."
-- Hub McCann, in Secondhand Lions
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