Discover how a knight of the 13th Century would prepare themselves for battle, as armourers sought more creative and practical solutions to counter the threat of new weaponry. Subscribe for more videos on arms and armour.
Mail is a lot tougher than you might think. In this video, it seems like they are using "cosplay" mail, or butted mail, which means the rings are cut, and bent together into shape. At this time, they would be using rivetted mail, which had rivets at interlocks. Very solid construction. Not even arrows from longbows can reliably pierce it.
4:35 Nice to see the foley guy is still finding work putting "schwing!" sounds in when the sword is drawn. Also, why is that silly man wearing a metal great helm over a metal coif? The helm will just swivel around every time he turns his head. 13th-century knights wore the arming cap in contact with the helm, often with a roll around the top to provide friction and keep the damn thing in place. Remember he had to expect to get hit on that, and the way it's shown here, one Ottoman slap will send it spinning like Daffy Duck's beak. And would it kill the Royal Armoury to tailor the haubergeon so it doesn't blouse like a Hefty bag at the man's armpits? Mail is supposed to be flush with the contours of the body, so it can grip all over and act as a second skin. The way it's done here, one blow from an ax will cut right the hell through it. Final bit of autism -- The aventail is usually depicted covering the mouth, right up to the mustache. That bit would also not be allowed to dangle like a turkey's wattle, since again a single slash would power through it like a brittle eggshell.
Claude Blair writes that there is no doubt Great Helms had internal padding of their own, which would have served to grip the mail and keep a tight fit - he has studied numerous examples which do have the remains of internal suspension and padding. Combined with the arming cap beneath the coif, the knight's head would have been very well cushioned and the helmet would have been securely fitted. Don't forget, Great Helms were often worn with a cervelliere (steel skullcap) beneath, and there are plenty of manuscripts which show knights removing their helms to reveal full mail coifs beneath as well. One blow from an axe will NOT cut right through mail - mail is effective whether its slack or taut, this has been proven. Nor will a slash "power through it like a brittle eggshell". If the effectiveness of mail was dependent entirely on it being tailor made, it would never have been sold as a completed shirt - as we know it in fact was. In any case, the "Bagging" effect seems to me to only be present when the mail is being put on - later in the video it looks quite tight.
nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!! Knights usually dress the grat helm over the mail coif! Above all english and french heavy cavalry, including every military order that points all his strenght on the cavalry charge, like Knight Templars, St. Lazzarus and Hospitallier.
Gentlemen of these days rely too much on the use of gun powder smh 🤦♂️🤦♂️, what shal you do when the enemy is at a range where you have not enough time to reloadyou fire arm? Ay, gone are the days where a good battle was fought face to face with a good pole arm 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️😔😔😔😔
@@gurthus9540 No, that's not how this works. Remember they were wearing a padded garment underneath, which was made up of dozens of layers of cloth stitched together. That's what really matters when it comes to how hot it gets in armor. It's like wearing a winter jacket. The mail on top is pretty much irrelevant. But like shima luan says, in Europe (at least northern Europe), it's not very common for temperatures to go above 80 degrees. It will be hot in armor, but not unbearable, particularly if you're used to it. Though if I remember correctly, this was a real problem for the crusaders when they got into the middle east. For obvious reasons.
Godd opposite. It sucked up heat, meaning there was no way for your body heat to escape. Heat strokes remain a common killer throughout the high medieval ages
It's actually modelled after it, especially since military experts and eggheads during WW2 looked to Medieval Armour of Inspiration. M1 is in modelled after many medieval Helmets like the Sallet and Basicnet.
Some units of gsg9 even use maille under their plate carriers since a huge uptick in knife attacks warranted armor better suited to withstand blades attacks against your extremities.
Medic83 I've seen videos of people in plate being fairly nimble, I'd think with practice you could pick up a goodmspeed for short bursts. Might be tiring, but remember rule #1 from Zombieland: Cardio. This muight be good for confrontation, and you would probably only go through putting on this armor if you planned on crushing skulls, not just running.
Depending on the period of the armor and how heavy you decided to go, the only thing that would be near impossible is swimming, but even that depends on the specific armor and how much you train with it. Outside of swimming, medieval armor of any type would be the ultimate protection in a zombie scenario, but only against zombies. Other people with firearms still exist and neither plate or chain will stop a bullet. Even if you got surrounded and dragged down, you'd likely die from thirst before any zombies managed to get through the armor. x3
St. Gideon or crushed by their weight/ suffocation (by being overwhelmed, you can last more if not, but you need to breath from time to time, which is the reason for visors to exist.
no fucking way TV level production but with correct terminology, historical accuracy/authenticity and no dramatized bullshit and with only 4500 subscribers
@@sixeros4435 Pants have been around since before Roman times, while they weren't in fashion in the 13th century, they very much did exist, and had been existing for over a thousand years.
the creators: i feel like im forgetting something... the 11th, 13th, and 14th centuries: if you forgot then it probably wasnt important creators: yea youre right 12th century: *sad*
I think it's because of the overlap of armor usage (11th century armor are still in use up to mid 12th century and this style of armor already around in late 12th century, instead of doing something similar twice, the production team choose to skip 12th century armor. The same could be said to the 14th and 15th century armor. Many 14th century armor are still widespread in early 15th century, so to give a better distinction the production team choose to skip the early 15th century armor and proceed with mid to late 15th century armor.
Wabaanimkii A Buckler as a shield and a one-handed sword to wield. Spears were common in formations too. They would wear the nail shirt as well but the plate vest wouldn't always be attached on the infantryman. The helmet probably would not cover the whole head and armor wouldn't have as many parts responsible for regulating the weight. Their armor was lighter than the ones from the knights.
Been waiting for Bannerlord for about 35 years now... Still no sign, but warband is still awesome. Wish they could let you create your own faction in With fire and sword too
What's funny is this "coat of plates" is essentially the ancestor to the modern plate carrier. You have a cloth vest with padding that you insert ballistic plates into to cover the vital areas. It's funny how some concepts are completely timeless.
The video says so itself, as weapons improve, so must the armor. Modern guns are a vast improvement over projectile weapons, and modern ballistic plates are a vast improvement over simple metal plates
@@CoolAndrew89our armor is better against our weapons but a modern ballistic vest wouldnt do much against a crossbow or spear point, there are videos on youtube to prove this, and by the same token this steel armor is useless against modern firearms however both sets of armor preform adequately against the weapons they were designed to counter
Me: Squire, don mine armours upon my body so i may go to battle and slay many ppls. Squire puts armours on. Me: Squire, it is mid of night, remove mine armours so that i may sleep now.
That coat of plates looks more like Early 14th century designs. It's very similar to examples excavated from the site of the Battle of Visby in 1361. 13th century coats of plates were generally simpler, and were often integrated into the surcoat.
More specifically, mid-13th century knight, perhaps men-at-arms. The 13th century is a dividing line, when already not only knights (nobles) could afford such a equipment (like this in the video), but anyone who could afford it! They were called men-at-arms, who could come from almost any social class (not only nobles!).
This is such a great way of immersing into the era. I've been watching other channels which go into the strategy of famous battles. And these types of videos on a more individual level really help immensely to imagine and understand what that must have been like! What they wore, how they lived. The RU-vid historical community is so insanely in depth. It's mind boggling how much you can learn. There's channels that go into every detail imaginable. Even down to what a knight or a peasant would have eaten during this era!!
If you want to know what wearing armour feels like, I suggest you look for an armored combat team near you! They even fight with each other. It's a blast!
There was a padded lining on the inside that doubled as a suspension, kind of like the pads you'd velcro inside a modern kevlar helmet. If you had the helmet made just for you, the lining would have been the perfect thickness to keep the helmet in place by friction.
it's more for display. sadly padding doesn't survive often of the centuries. but I have seen tournament helmet padding in a museum, it will be tight fit.
helmets were very heavy and made so that you could easily get it back in proper position. besides moving a bit was good way since it would absorb more energy from hits
It will also leave you blind at the moment an opponent has landed a blow to your head. With such narrow eye slits, a slight shift leaves you gazing out a tiny window pointing left, rather than straight ahead. A mobile helm was a liability.
The mail coif should be linked to the hauberk. If not, it should have a square section, not round. Mail coifs such as the one of the video appeared in the 14th century. Btw, music from Las Cantigas de Santa Maria, 13th century Castilia.
The mail that protect the neck in my opinion is basically useless, if someone were to jab at you with a sword sure it would stop it from cutting you but it wont stop the force and impact, crushing your trachea and suffocating your death.
@@orangutank626 A good blow yeah but what if the the opponent did a half-ass job and the angle wasn't good? The armor could deflect it and encourage the force to transfer elsewhere so that your neck does not have to tank the damage.
@@CahzinarX Yep. Neck mail is not there to stop a determined, accurate blow. It is there to keep you alive when a sharp blade just happens to flick over your neck. An incidental cut like that on your abdomen, arm or leg will only leave a slightly bleeding gash (unless stopped by armour, of course).. A 1/2 inch deep cut to the abdomen or shoulder hurts like heck, but does not incapacitate the fighter and won't kill him if treated anytime soon. (barring infections) But a 1/2 inch deep cut to the neck severs tendons or worse, cuts your jugular. Either is at least incapacitating, very likely lethal! But even *slight* armor would prevent this sort of blow from striking through.
It does annoy me your almost there but still quite a few misconceptions. That bloody schwiiing!... sheathes are made of wood and leather... it sounds clunky and smooth.
You aren't alone. The cliche sound of metal on metal when unsheathing a sword is such an egregious detail in a video that seems to aim to educate the masses about historically accurate armouring of men-at-arms. It is not as if this is a video made by an individual with no credentials presented. This is a video made by the Royal Armouries. Greater attention to detail should be expected and pandering to the masses with instances of dramatic flair, no matter how brief, doesn't belong in what is clearly educational content.
I'm with ya, fortunately we do have a few people like Shadiversity and Skallagrim giving us more historically accurate and practical insights into weapons and armaments! ^_^
Since people are still replying to this, did it not occur to anybody that the *SCHHING* noise was a result of the sword scraping against the mail mitten on his left hand? No? Just me? Ok...
It's a good video but some things are wrong. The chances of arrows or sword thrusts posing a threat to maille with padding is very, very unlikely unless it's a thrust from horseback or an arrow fired by a Welsh longbow of the period. Arrows are typically so ineffectual against maille of the period, especially those short compound bows used by horse archers like Turcapoles, that knights would literally use their bodies to shield civilians in one battle as arrows ineffectively either bounced off or lightly embedded themselves in the armor and got stuck in the links, causing them to look like Urchins. Also that coat of plate looks an awful lot like one from the 14th century, not the 13th century. There also may/should be some padding over the maille as well, at least I know the Spaniards wore it- a perpunte.
Wyatt Wilmot the one that is used in the 14th century is a brigandine a brigandine has more smaller plates and the coat of plates have bigger plates you can see the difference very good at the battle of visby there you see the coat of plates
No. 15th century used brigandine. Large plates were used up until technology afforded the use of a full cuirass. Up until the full cuirass comes to be at the end of the 14th century. Plates in 14th century coats of plate are long, thick, and often have a half-cuirass strapped together.
Hence why he said "could". I'm not an expert on the subject but there are probably a whole lot of weapons designed to counter maille such as war hammers. Still, as you said, it's unlikely.
While compound bows may have been no consequence to mail armor, longbows and crossbows were a significant threat to any mail-clad knight. Some accounts made by English knights say that arrows or bolts from the longbow and crossbow respectively could pierce their upper thigh and the mount underneath at 100 yards, pinning the knight to his horse. Lol.
@@djs2834 Lol you add as if that is not a highly horrific and painful thing for both knight and horse. But yea, crossbows and longbows were a pain in the arse. Back. Chest. Wherever they hit. Especially with the "pile" arrows, who were pretty good at punching through platemail. And then there is the added fun, if you survive, of getting those bastards out of you. Whoever invented bows was a right arse, but boy did they know what they were doing.
The heat mostly stays with the metal, and doesn't contact the body. In addition, a white surcoat or other garment was often worn to help dissipate the sun's effect. In addition, Europe usually has pretty mild summers.
If fighting another knight, he would need to watch out for a dagger being thrust into one of his eyes. The eyes, the throat, armpits, and the crotch were all good areas to attack. Even with the helmet, there were special daggers that were made to be able to slip through the eye slots.
It's just NOT true that mail could be just rendered useless by anything. Yes, you could take blunt damage, but they wouldn't wear it if it could just be pierced by anything. Presenters need to stop taking Hollywood movies as fact.
Most opponents encountered on the field during this time period were common soldiers - lightly to unarmored - for whom a slashing/cutting sword was ideal. You'd waste too much valuable time and energy pulling your sword from their limbs & torsos if you killed every single one with a thrust. The other combatants dressed in full maille harness were worth far more alive than dead, as they were usually either wealthy knights, nobility, or both. The idea was to instead disarm them, capture them, and hold them for ransom after the battle. Under which circumstances you wouldn't want to accidentally kill your prize with an errant thrust.
The helmets shape is a pretty terrible design as the top is just a flat square meaning if you get hit on the top you’re probably gonna break your neck or get concussed. A pointed-top would deflect hits much better
I'm surprise at how many armor experts their are in the comment section.... well actually... yea never mind I'm not surprised at all. It's just a shame the knights and retainers back in the day didn't have all these professionals telling them what they were doing wrong
Back in my day we would sail 1000 kilometres to raid a coastal village and then sail back another 1000 kilometres on the North Sea! You kids wouldn't survive long back in the 10th century!
M 78 in the thirteenth century they weren’t designed to do that. Not until 15th when full plate armour became a thing and swords become thinner to get through the gaps and the maille and that
Being an owner of such a suit, you begin to sweat even at 40 fahrenheight in the winter but most soldiers didnt wear this only upper class knights and was mostly worn on horseback and or when really needed.
Quite alot. Knights and heavily armoured men would literally fall unconscious on the Battlefield from heat exhaustion. Crusaders however began to copy the Sara cans style of clothing and learnt to counter the effects of wearing armour in hot climates. Prolonged and drawn out battles were not good for knights if they were heavily involved in the fighting. But, they were generally unbelievablely fit, as fit as any professional athlete of today and they trained since they could walk to become a knight so they were very well prepared to fight in it.
Water helps a lot, in addition to over garments to prevent heat exhaustion. Besides, if a knight needs to leave for worry of heat exhaustion he usually can. He can just ride his horse out and come back after a drink. If he is fighting on foot he can signal a few other men to defend him while he goes back in the line and allow someone else to fight for a while, and switch back after he has cooled down.
Technically and comparing to 21st century body armor: you put a softshell body armour(9 mm top) , then you put a dragonskin ceramic and kevlar body armor over(7.62-.308 top) and final layer: a plate steel level 3+(up to 30.06-12G slug) And the sheer impact force will still torn your internal organs into kebab. Also impractical regarding mobility. Yet!! More than 600 years ago, blacksmiths have found a way to stop a double handed longsword with minimal effect . A sword like that was the equivalent if a .50 BMG.. Brilliant!!!❤
It is also important to realize that the great helm was pretty much only intended to be worn during a charge, or if you were in a static position and under a lot of arrow fire. Something they didn't show in this is that this style of helmet would be attached to the chest of the knight with a chain or strap so it could be removed and allowed to hang from the body once you actually ended up in melee and needed the visibility.
