Main > The Armoury
Desiging my kit
Ian:
The consensus is that there is a coat of plates or solid breastplate under that coat. So from inside out it's a shirt -> arming doublet -> maille shirt -> breastplate or coat of plates -> jupon.
The jupon, or surcoat, is a tightly fitted coat that covers the breastplate in order to display your heraldry. It was a fashion thing that would go out of style around 1415 when they stopped covering their armor and thus was born the 'White Harness,' because it was uncovered and the steel showed.
The reason it's believed there's a breastplate under those coats you're seeing mid to late 14th century is because they exist in inventories, they exist in archaeological finds and on statues, and if you look closely at the effigies they all have a very tight waist with a very orb like globose chest. This is consistent with the style of breastplate that existed at the time.
That tight jupon is also an English thing. The French had a version with short sleeves, other countries followed regional styles.
Browse that website I provided in my guide:
http://effigiesandbrasses.com
Also http://manuscriptminiatures.com is another excellent resource for illuminated manuscripts searchable by the same parameters, as is http://armourinart.com
You can search by time and region to help narrow down what you like stylistically.
Of course all of this is for naught if you're not after a living history quality kit. In the SCA you can certainly fully enjoy all the SCA has to offer without being as anal about your kit as living historians are. We just find the detail in the kit to be the fun of it as ours is largely a educational endeavor, but no such requirements exist in the SCA.
If historical accuracy is something you're interested in, this research you're starting now is the best first step. The biggest pitfall is wanting to buy buy buy before research research research. It's a very costly and heartbreaking pitfall. If you have any questions on my guide please ask. I intended it for the person new to this hobby, so feedback from someone in your position would be greatly appreciated. It's also kind of a good litmus test to determine if your interest lies in that level of historical accuracy in the first place.
Lord Dane:
Play it smart. Wait til the battle is over & steal the armor from the losers laying dead on the battleground. :) Looting is only as bad as not being first one there to get the best stuff. LOL
Sir Rodney:
--- Quote from: A Dark Knight from the future ---You underestimate the power of the Dark Side 14th Century. If you will not fight submit, then you will meet your destiny.
--- End quote ---
Eva de Carduus Weald:
I will definitely have a closer look at the links! I didn't realize that they had a coat of plates under the surcoat or a brestplate. I will have to invest in that at some point but will do lots of research first. I figure what I will probably do is this. I already have a coathardie (I assume that is very like the arming coat?), so next would be to get/make the chain shirt and perhaps a sword that is a little less ornamentally non period and more utilitarian. I am sorely tempted to use the link I saw someone put on where they had a great chain shirt made to their specs. If the price is right I might go that method. Next would be chain legs. After that I would likely get arm plates, then leg plates, (I would probably make my surcoat during the time of the chain shirt, that I can do myself pretty easily but large enough to fit a brestplate beneath) then I would invest in brestplate and finally helmet. Maybe with a chain coif, maybe not. Not sure yet if that is the way I want to go.
To be honest I don't know if I will get the chance to go to living history but I would love to. I am not sure if I would qualify though because while there was the oddball woman in history who fought, most were good little women who popped out kids and stayed out of the way.
Ian:
--- Quote from: Eva de Carduus Weald on 2014-08-19, 14:54:40 ---I will definitely have a closer look at the links! I didn't realize that they had a coat of plates under the surcoat or a brestplate. I will have to invest in that at some point but will do lots of research first. I figure what I will probably do is this. I already have a coathardie (I assume that is very like the arming coat?), so next would be to get/make the chain shirt and perhaps a sword that is a little less ornamentally non period and more utilitarian. I am sorely tempted to use the link I saw someone put on where they had a great chain shirt made to their specs. If the price is right I might go that method. Next would be chain legs. After that I would likely get arm plates, then leg plates, (I would probably make my surcoat during the time of the chain shirt, that I can do myself pretty easily but large enough to fit a brestplate beneath) then I would invest in brestplate and finally helmet. Maybe with a chain coif, maybe not. Not sure yet if that is the way I want to go.
To be honest I don't know if I will get the chance to go to living history but I would love to. I am not sure if I would qualify though because while there was the oddball woman in history who fought, most were good little women who popped out kids and stayed out of the way.
--- End quote ---
You definitely don't need maille legs for the mid 14th century. They mostly went out of use after the 1st quarter of the 1300s as plate and splint became more common.
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