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Arming Garments?

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Sir_Edward_ReBrook:
Gentlemen, thank you so much for your help. I perish the thought of how poorly equipped I'd be without your advice. One day, I hope to prove worthy of your companionship.

Sir_Edward_ReBrook:
On a similar note, what are your thoughts on "cheating" by choosing functionality over historical accuracy for things people won't see? It seems to me that if I can design a leg harness system which is better at its job than what was available in the 12th century and the device is hidden underneath other parts of the ensemble, why the heck not? For instance, I'm thinking of Jerry rigging a padding system/liner for my great helm. Acceptable or unknightly?

Ian:
That is entirely dependent on your goals. 

For me, I belong to a very strict Living History club that does shows around the DC area.  Our goal is to do things "Right, or not at all."  And to explain that I'll just steal directly from our website "The “Right” part is what we can document. The “Not At All” part means we would rather not see an object or procedure in our presentation if we don’t have supporting research for it."  But our whole purpose as an organization is present the household of an English knight as accurately as we can portray for the education of the public.  So anything else would be self-defeating.  Personally, I find this approach to be very fun and rewarding.  It's a ton of work and a lot of studying and researching, but it's very satisfying to pull off.  Others may find this approach to be an utter waste of time and effort.

Most people interested in the the Middle Ages aren't necessarily interested in doing strict living history though, and it doesn't make what they're doing any less 'right.'  We're just playing different games.  A lot of people here on the Modern Chivalry forums have as their primary interest the reconstruction of historical fighting arts, where historical fighting technique is the goal, so using modern equipment is perfectly acceptable, even in historical gear.

It all just depends on which rabbit hole you want to go down.  Some people want to go nuts, some people want to make a very good kit that looks great from the outside but makes compromises that aren't visible, some people prefer the "10 foot rule" (where it looks pretty good from 10 feet, but starts to break down upon closer inspection).  All are acceptable approaches for our purposes here on Modern Chivalry, and no option is less honorable than another as long as you're intellectually honest about what your trying to achieve. 

All that being said, I think you may be pleasantly surprised to find out that when done with respect to historical accuracy, the real thing is quite functional, many times more so than modern attempts to fake it.

Sir Edward:

--- Quote from: Sir_Edward_ReBrook on 2015-10-21, 22:04:40 ---... and the device is hidden underneath other parts of the ensemble, why the heck not? For instance, I'm thinking of Jerry rigging a padding system/liner for my great helm. Acceptable or unknightly?

--- End quote ---

Ian did a great job of answering this. I'll add that it might make you feel better to know that I have blue foam inside my great helm. :) It's my renfaire helm. I neither fight with it, nor use it for living history demonstrations, so I've treated it like a costume piece.

Interestingly, the helmet I use for armored combat is not at all a historical helm, but it has historical inspiration for its design, and uses a historically inspired padded linen liner.


--- Quote from: Ian on 2015-10-21, 22:42:23 ---All that being said, I think you may be pleasantly surprised to find out that when done with respect to historical accuracy, the real thing is quite functional, many times more so than modern attempts to fake it.

--- End quote ---

This is an excellent point, and one that often gets overlooked. Our ancestors wouldn't have used something repeatedly, in life-and-death situations, if it didn't work. More often than not, if it's failing to function properly for us in modern re-creations, it's because we've done something wrong or overlooked an important detail, or it simply wasn't sized or fitted correctly.

Sometimes the most common ways to "cheat" are arrived at by looking for cheap, or easy alternatives as historical enthusiasts, not expecting to live or die by what we've devised. For instance, the buttons on my gambeson I showed above-- That's entirely to make it quick and easy for me to get in and out of it. And it's machine-stitched, which saves time and effort.

Sir William:
You've come to the right place for your questions.  My only advice to you would be to heed what you've been told thus far.  Sir Ian's response nailed it in one, I have nothing further to add other than- have FUN!  If it isn't fun, you're doing it wrong.  ;)

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