"Witness history come alive" as Collingsworth County hosts its first living history weekend on October 8 and 9, 2021, at Powell Park in Wellington, Texas. The event is being organized by members of Sons of Confederate Veterans Charles Goodnight, Frontier Regiment Camp 2280. Former resident Lonnie Colson will demonstrate what life was like for a 15th-century English knight on campaign. U.S. Army Indian War impersonators will appear along with the Dancing Eagles of Sapulpa, Oklahoma. There will be a chili cookoff and history symposium on Saturday. ...
At some point in everyone’s life they reflect on past decisions and contemplate ‘what if I knew then, what I know now?’ The purpose of this series is to answer some of the most commonly asked questions regarding the building of a reproduction harness through the lens of someone who has walked the path for more than two decades. While it may come across as rather snobbish advice to some, rest assured that, if maintaining a relatively high degree of historical accuracy is important to you, it will save you a great deal of heartache and money ...
Although there are numerous examples of knights being armed in period illustrations, almost no written descriptions have survived. One notable exception is the 15th-century English treatise commonly known as "How a man schall be armyd" found in the Hastings MS. Written about 1450, it describes step-by-step how a knight would be dressed in armour before fighting in a judicial duel. The following is a transcription of the passage [Hastings MS folio 122b] in its original Middle English: He schal have noo schirte up on him but a dowbelet of ffustean ...
Considering the fact that an overwhelming number of armours displayed in museums are "composed," meaning they have assembled from various pieces, not always even from the same regions or general time period, how good are they really for use as a basis for reproducing a "historical" harness? Late-19th and early-20th century collectors such as Bashford Dean, who founded the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Department Arms and Armor, seem to have been less concerned about the provenance of pieces than modern curators are today.
Among practitioners of historical reenactment, there seems to be a never-ending experimentation involved with wearing maille under armour. The wearer's tastes evolve; their style of armour changes; the rules governing simulated combat are updated; issues such as comfort or weight become more important with age and experience. Perhaps it is entirely a modern phenomenon, as the majority of the aforementioned are somewhat trivial, while self-preservation on the battlefield was likely the most important consideration of the medieval ...
It started innocently enough. I bought a nice riveted mail standard, or collar, made from 6mm blackened mild steel rings from Mark Hale at Cap-a-pie. It came without a liner or method of closure. I commissioned a hinge clasp designed by Josh Davis of Davis Reproductions, based on period artwork and surviving examples, and stitched my own lining from a couple layers of linen and topped it with red leather. However, it still needed something to set it apart, so I decided to add a couple rows of brass rings. It was a very ...