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I Want To Be a 13th Century English Knight
Sir William:
Sirs Ian & Brian, and Douglas many thanks...was hoping you'd chime in with something like this. A great start! From these images, what I need is:
1 - a full hauberk, w/integral mittens or fingers/hands - looks like anywhere from mid-thigh to knee length should be fine w/integral mail coif;
2 - maile chausses - lace up in the back would probably be more form fitting and look tighter (easier than having the tailored stocking)
3 - helm; the 1250 image looks like a salt shaker style- its either that, conical w/nasal or an early pot helm (one of the faceplate ones without the lower neck)
4 - full length surcoat - when did they first start showing up, 1225 onward? Silk, linen or wool? The plate from 1225 they look knee length, but the 1250 plate (thought that was supposed to be Baldwin I, is that not so?) it looks ankle length. Ankle length would suit me because then I could cheat a bit and just have chausses from the knee down. With such a long surcoat the knees wouldn't necessarily be seen (altho I might go with a simple cop to keep up appearances).
In some of the images it looks like there's either a textile border at the bottom of the hauberk, or is that the ubiquitous 'supertunic' I have seen mention of?
Also, since I can't tell- would the swordbelt have buckle and strap-end or would it be the tied kind? I am shooting for 1250-1299 timeframe. I know that's a pretty big chunk of time w/regard to advancements.
Nevermind, I see on the last two effigies they're sporting buckles and straps- and what looks like tooling/decoration on the belts- in Gilbert's place, both the shield strap/guige and swordbelt appear to be decorative. The last 1250 image...is that a dual belt suspension/rig I'm seeing? What's that thing wrapped around the head?
If that covers all outer wear, let us move onto what's beneath. I'll probably go w/linen for the braies, undertunic (supertunic over top of that?), under chausses...would I have worn any padding on the legs? I've been seeing a good number of gamboised-style cuisses but am wondering if maybe that's later on.
What about head coverings? Linen coif the only option? I wonder if they ever used leather for a coif, not the armored kind?
Sir Edward:
Which part of the century are you looking to do? The conical/nasal helms were all the rage at the start of the century. Around 1250, great helms were appearing, but they tended to be of the more cylindrical or wide-topped versions. The more "normal" great helms started appearing in the 1270's roughly, and then continued into the early 14th century.
"Soup can" knees were available in the later part of the century. Throughout the whole century, long surcoats were the primary outer garment.
Mail was predominantly long hauberks, plus mail chausses. Often a long tunic would be worn under the hauberk, just slightly longer than the mail (visible in the artwork that lacks a surcoat).
Sir William:
If I had to nail down a specific year, I'll say 1290. That's far enough from the 14th C and yet close enough that I'm in the beginnings of the 'big deal' as it were. Can't say I care much for the pothelms I have seen; that salt shaker you have though, that's classy looking - isn't also appropriate to the 13th?
Sir Edward:
Yeah, the 1280-1300 time frame will give you a lot of options, including the "typical" great helm style. By then, the wide-topped "proto" great helms had gone out of style, and Great Helms in general were at their height. You might be able to use a sugarloaf here as well.
However, you'll need to avoid the dome-topped (specifically the "Pembridge" style) helms, as those didn't appear until the 14th.
The style of great helm I use is very appropriate to those decades. Though of course, the likelihood is that the brass occularia that we have on modern reproductions is out of place. The available evidence suggests that the color difference was probably painted on in most cases.
My avatar picture would work for around circa 1300, but there's not much preventing it from working for around 1280 or 1290 (except the sword).
Sir Douglas:
As far as underthings go, linen braies are spot on. I've seen fabric chausses (which I'll refer to as hosen in this thread to distinguish them from armor chausses so I don't confuse myself) offered in linen, but I would recommend wool over linen; it has more stretch. Then you'd also have your padded aketon/gambeson under your hauberk.
It might be worth it to pick up English Medieval Knight 1200-1300. I haven't read it yet so I don't know how accurate the text is (I know you have to be careful with Osprey books sometimes), but the illustrations are by Graham Turner, who is considered one of the better artists with Osprey. His illustrations break down a lot of the gear rather nicely. It also has a bunch of good photographs of effigies and such.
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