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The 14th Century Surcote, Cotton-Velvet or Wool? (And where goes the heraldry?)

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Henrik Granlid:
Allright, so, long story short, there is a man out there who's name I do not know, I have simply forgotten it. I have a few points of inspiration for my kit, but this man has got to have one of the nicest infantry-kits out there.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/22hlhrygxvfwy7x/2967544577_657c84272e_z.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/e75dl3n8ux1a8ww/2968389618_1617c07dc9_z.jpg?dl=0

And now I've found myself styling my first version of my 14th century kit after him, it's mostly coincidence, since I'm looking for a lot of things and looks and whatnots, however, he just happened to embody what I'm already striving for. As such, I'm going to make his kit the basis of my own, i.e. German 1340's through 50's (There will be a breastplate/globular defenses for later periods when there is more money, don't you worry metalheads).

Most things are solved or on their way to being solved, however, I'm curious as to what material to use on a surcote such as his (you may note it's pretty much straight from the Romance of Alexander). But what on earth do I use as materials?

The man on the picture, I remember, stated that he used cotton velvet for his surcoat, and sure it does look good, however, I'm not entirely certain it's for me. Silk velvet at 140 usd a meter is certainly NOT for me though, and as such I've found myself choosing between making the surcote either in cotton velvet, or in wool cloth, what are people's advice on this? I guess I'm just afraid of having a look of "masquerade" when on the field despite putting much effort into getting the armour itself to look good, period and coherent.

Secondly, how do I deal with my heraldry and colours? I've found myself in a bit of a situation here. Namely, I have a red chevron on a white field as the basis, making the surcote a bit of a trouble to properly get down. Are there any suggestions as to how to properly model it or divide it?

Do I go with one of the basic colours and bite the embroidery bullet with a big piece in the middle of it? Or do I just do a regular split field? Note that I cannot simply place a chevron across it and be done with it since the chevron covers the entirety of the shield below it's split of the field. I could go with a white "top" with a chevron-split into a red bottom though.

Any ideas? What material do I best use?

Lord Dane:
Keep in mind any kind of velvet in this fashion mixed with any other material will be good for little but embroidery. And yes, it is very expensive material by itself. I have a complete surcoat & outfit made from it in 2008. It was not cheap than and it will not be now. I would go with a more durable material such as the cotton, linen, or wool especially worn over maille as it will catch. If you use silk or velvet, make sure it is lined on the inside. It is ruined once it is torn. Cannot patch it or repair it. Not to mention you do not want a material that expensive on anything that will be oiled or coated.

Silk or velvet is a noble material and very rich look for an expensive taste. Crushed velvet is a common dress material of the period for non-combat outfits of those who could afford it. 

Center-place your heraldry on any surcoat unless you are just doing field colors without any elaborate design work.
 

scott2978:
Are you looking to do living history, or SCA fighting, or something else?

The use of linen inner layer and silk or velvet outer layer for both martial and civil surcoats of wealthy people is normal for this period, but if you're portraying anyone beneath nobility your surcoat was probably wool or linen. However, the cyclas style cut of this surcoat is decidedly 1340's English, not German. In fact despite the klapvisor bascinet which everyone associates with the germans, I think this guy is actually portraying an english knight, not a german one. I understand not everyone is interested in a historical critique of their sources though so please excuse me if I'm making unwanted observations. :)

Edit:
By the way, I'd love to know where he got that very nice poleaxe!

Henrik Granlid:
Oh don't worry about historical critique, I'm all for it! And that would explain why I had not seen the design on german effigies.

As for cost, velvet can be based on several materials, synthetic velvet being cheap as dirt, cotton velvet being about as expensive as good wool, and silk velvet being more expensive than even historically patterned silk weaves. (Hell, if I'm feeling spendy-as-f**k, I might get a tournament surcote in said historical weave).

I'm going to have to do some browsing around to look at English fashion as well now, ca 1340-1350. I've just bappened to land in Germany but looking at England is a definitive possibility.

And all in all, the kit is for sca, however, I'm a very firm believer of doing it as correctly as possible, simply because it looks nicer.

Ian:
Henrik,

This is a good read on martial surcottes of the 14th century (http://cottesimple.com/articles/martial-surcottes/).  It's restricted to England and France in scope but is still good information.  What Scott said is correct, the 'Cyclas' style surcotte with a long back and short front is peculiar to England.  Later in the period you'll notice trends like no sleeves in England, while the French sometimes wore short sleeves on their cotes.

You don't need to embroider the chevron on.  You could simply applique the chevron to the cote which is a lot easier and still period.  If you're going to go with wool (which I recommend unless you want to pay big $$$ for the silk), just applique a separate red wool chevron to the base cote.  You could line the whole thing in a medium weight linen and have a nice durable surcotte.

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