This week we’re back to chainmail, but it’s a relatively small piece. In the early fourteenth century helmets came down almost to shoulder level. Previously the head had been covered with chain mail for extra protection, but a close-fitting iron … Continue reading →| A Writer's Perspective
This week’s piece of armour is the aketon. It’s another padded jacket, this time worn under armour rather than on top of it. It doesn’t take much imagination to realise that a body might need to be protected from its … Continue reading →| A Writer's Perspective
The surcoat was, like the jupon that replaced it, an outer garment made of rich material. It was worn over armour (at this point little more than chain mail) and was usually decorated with a coat of arms. It could … Continue reading →| A Writer's Perspective
The falchion was a curved, broad blade, sharp only on the outer edge. The word comes from ‘falx’ the Latin for scythe. One of its uses was to kill a stag at the end of a hunt. Unsurprisingly, since it … Continue reading →| A Writer's Perspective
The picture above may or may not give you a clue about this week’s obscure, or not so obscure, military term. It was a device used to cripple horses in a battle or a siege, or even when an army … Continue reading →| A Writer's Perspective
You know me well enough by now to know that I’m not writing about an armed engagement between two or more armies such as at Crécy, Poitiers and Agincourt. It’s still a military word, though and mea…| A Writer's Perspective
Views of a writer of historical romances| A Writer's Perspective
4 posts published by April Munday during April 2024| A Writer's Perspective
5 posts published by April Munday during March 2024| A Writer's Perspective
I’ve written quite a bit over the last few weeks about what knights and soldiers wore over their armour and only briefly looked at what constituted that armour. We’re looking back to the thirteenth…| A Writer's Perspective
Today I’m offering you a BOGOF (buy one get one free), as we’re talking about hauberks and their successors, habergeons. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries the hauberk was the most effective for…| A Writer's Perspective
Jupon has at least two other spellings: gipon and (annoyingly, since I almost missed it in an index) gypon. It was a short padded and quilted garment worn over a suit of armour. The padding was usu…| A Writer's Perspective
The brigandine was a piece of protective clothing developed in the second half of the fourteenth century. In England, it was mostly used by mounted archers, who dismounted to fight on foot. In the …| A Writer's Perspective
