ModernChivalry.org
Main => The Library => Topic started by: Sir Michael on 2015-07-06, 21:23:35
-
Greetings brothers;
I was wondering if anyone could help me out with a question that I have about the movie Ironclad. The main knight Templar character Thomas Marshal, played by James Purefoy. Can someone tell me what type of armor is he wearing? It seems to me that he is wearing two different types of armor or at least something under the armor but I can't tell. Excuse my ignorance as I am still getting acquainted with the many different types of armor. Any help that you good sirs can provide would be most appreciated.
-
Riveted maille and a leather gambeson it seems (which is weird in itself). It does not seem quilted or padded from my recall.
-
When he's not in full Templar regalia, he wears a leather 'open faced' brigandine- that is, the armor plates are on the outside, whereas a closed-face would have the armor plates behind the leather facing. I couldn't speak to the historicity of that piece, there's speculation that it could be purely fictional (the Varangian Guardsmen wore something similar, but it had steel plates laced to the outside of the leather garment, as opposed to the leather plates Purefoy's character is wearing. When in full Templar regalia, he wears a full hauberk under the leather brigandine and an unattached coif underneath what appears to be a Pembridge style (or great helm perhaps, its been a while) helm.
-
The thing is, Hollywood loves to embellish, take liberties, and mix time periods. The early 13th century (circa 1215-ish for the movie) saw Templars mostly using mail with conical/nasal helms, or early proto-greathelms. The larger, more enclosed style that you would normally think of as a "great helm" didn't appear until later in the century.
What I don't recall is the prevalence of coats of plates that early in the century. They were pretty common later in the century though.