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Attatching Prayers to armor

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Sir Matthew:
Ok, so one of the guys I reenact with asked me an interesting question over the weekend that I didn't know the answer to, so I thought I would throw it out to the group here. It seems that in the Warhammer game, which is a sci-fi/fantasy rpg based heavily on history, many of the soldiers minis have papers waxed to their armor upon which are supposed to be inscriped prayers. He asked me if this was actually done in the period or if the game creators simply made this up because it souned cool. I have never heard of such a thing, but thinking upon it, it certainly sounds plausible. Does anyone else here know of this practice?

Sir Edward:

It sounds plausible, but I haven't heard of it. Prayers in Latin were often painted onto shields and helmets, but I haven't heard of scrolls being pinned on. The thing that makes me doubtful though is that paper was fragile and expensive. So while I can't say it wasn't done, it's certainly understandable that people would opt for paint.

Sir Gerard de Rodes:

--- Quote from: Sir Edward on 2011-10-24, 14:55:12 ---
It sounds plausible, but I haven't heard of it. Prayers in Latin were often painted onto shields and helmets, but I haven't heard of scrolls being pinned on. The thing that makes me doubtful though is that paper was fragile and expensive. So while I can't say it wasn't done, it's certainly understandable that people would opt for paint.

--- End quote ---

Yes I would have thought it would be more likely to paint or engrave armour with prayers and blessings etc etc.

G.

Leganoth:

--- Quote from: Sir Matthew on 2011-10-24, 10:13:27 ---Ok, so one of the guys I reenact with asked me an interesting question over the weekend that I didn't know the answer to, so I thought I would throw it out to the group here. It seems that in the Warhammer game, which is a sci-fi/fantasy rpg based heavily on history, many of the soldiers minis have papers waxed to their armor upon which are supposed to be inscriped prayers. He asked me if this was actually done in the period or if the game creators simply made this up because it souned cool. I have never heard of such a thing, but thinking upon it, it certainly sounds plausible. Does anyone else here know of this practice?

--- End quote ---

Ive seen that in Warhammer 40k space marine, good game it looked cool also, they had used red wax stamped with the insignia of the empire and had a paper of text attatched to it, cant recall the name the game used though. Im not sure if its historical, maybe though, japanese had prays on their swords so its not fully myth.

Sir James A:
Agreed with Sirs Edward and Gerard, it doesn't seem a historical thing to do since it would be a considerable waste of hand-made paper and hand-scribed text. However, etching of biblical verses, prayers, and other phrases was common in the late eras of plate armor.

This might be of vague use: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/deca/hd_deca.htm

I know I've seen historical armor decorated as such, but I can't remember which book(s) I saw it in. It's likely at least 1 or 2 pictures is in Medieval Knight by Miles & Paddock.

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