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Main => The Library => Topic started by: Sir James A on 2011-07-20, 15:43:37
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Treadmill shows medieval armor influenced battles
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14204717 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14204717)
Medieval suits of armour were so exhausting to wear that they could have affected the outcomes of famous battles, a study suggests.
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... it confirms what we have always suspected - heavy armour would very much reduce your ability to run around.
But no-one wears stuff on the battlefield if it isn't useful.
It's cool to see some tests being done on this. After wearing armor, I have to agree. It doesn't stop you from doing most of the things you need to do in a fight, as long as it's designed and fitted well. But it costs more energy and tires you out faster. A certain amount of that can be offset by wearing it frequently and building up the endurance and tolerance. But in the end, it still costs you a lot more energy.
I'd hate to have to fight uphill in the mud, burdened by my own gear.
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I've had the "pleasure" of fighting uphill, in deep mud, under a blazing sun in insane humidity with a well defended 6' palisade to greet us at the top of the hill. :o Such is the typical SCA Lilies War (rain, sun, tornado, insane humidity, rain, sun, rain, pack what's left of your tent & go home). They only stop the fighting when the emergency horns wail, which is usually once per week long war.
It sucks rocks.
I could only vaguely imagine the horror if our rear ranks were really crushing us into the muck and the rain of arrows had bodkin tips instead of nice soft rubber tips. You barley have the energy to raise your sword once you reach the top. The only thing keeping you going is the fact that you and your mates will be defending the same palisade in the next scenario. :)
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And let us not forget the smell...it wasn't like these suits were built with trapdoors for #2! lol
Since I wear armor, this isn't news to me- still, an interesting study in that they took the time to do it. I think that their results will be somewhat skewed as I am sure most of their volunteers, if not all, have had very little time to learn about armor, or train in it sufficiently so as to mimic what a medieval knight's results would've been.
Do you all remember the article from across the pond where they'd found the burial site of a medieval knight and based on tests run on the skeleton they were able to deduce that this man was of middling height, heavily muscled and bore the signs of old wounds on various parts of the body? Granted, armor can eat up huge chunks of endurance, especially for the likes of us, who aren't tasked with living as a knight full time...but those guys I believe were stronger, more durable- if only because they had to be.