Hi Kevin

Thanks for posting - that is one superb looking sword.

Have you done any cutting with it and if so, how did it perform?

regards

mike

scian, skeen skean, sgian, these are all phonetic spellings in english of the gaelic word for "knife"

you'll see many different spellings within period because you are looking at the English trying to mimic a gaelic word the way they heard it spoken by the Irish and Scots. Plus written English in the Tudor period wasn't the exact language it is today. There are multiple spellings for many words. Many times you will see documents where the same word is spelled several different ways in the same document. For example I recently saw the word "devil" in a 1602 manuscript spelled three different ways by the same author in the same paragraph! (devil, devill deville)

nice reproduction scian!

yes right. scian is the correct modern spelling. but is used for just about any knife. my grandmother used it to refer to kitchen and table knives, more or less any knife. its not just a term for the long war knife.

I forgot but if you are digging through old documents "skeyne" is another very common spelling used in english within period for the long war knife. the term dirk dirke durk durke is also used in late 16th and 17th century by English writers as it is an old scots term for a dagger that the english picked up on. you will also occasionally see the word "flatchet" or "flatchett" or "flatchette" or "flached"used within period, but it is thought that flatchet referred more to a short, broader double edged blade used by many kern, somewhat like a katzbalger in size but with a very simple dagger like hilt. it is confusing at times though because sometimes these "flatchets" were described as having very simple hilts like the long war knives, so the terms can get mixed up by english writers for the two types of blades. despite multiple references to these flatchets, i don't know that we have any surviving examples in Ireland.

Recently we had a thread on the leine croich and how inaccurate it is to portray Irish and Scots in kilts for the medieval period. One other thing that I have been having trouble with lately though is the accuracy of many recently published illustrations showing kerne and gallowglass in leines with short sleeved (to the elbow) mail shirts (haubergeons) over them bearing two handed weapons (sparths, axes and longswords) with no forearm defence.



no forearm defence? really? how accurate can that be? bear with me a second..............

First my experience in longsword is that the number one place I get hit when fencing is my forearms, I would imagine that the same would hold true with polearms and a friend of mine who practices quarterstaff agrees.

Second, almost all of the depictions of Scots and Irish warriors within period seem to show some kind of forearm defence, certainly all effigies do, as well as a nearly all within period depictions



This usually takes the form of mail to the wrist, or the quilted cotun to the wrist, and in some cases (Butler at Jerpoint or the Glinsk effigy) splinted or gutter shaped steel vambraces on the forearms. Or it takes the form shown on the Ashmolean drawing, with an ionar which has full sleeves over the leine.

Finally, I just can not get my head around having the wealth to possess a helm and mail shirt and mail pisane collar and a leine made with yards and yards of saffron dyed material and some nice two handed weapons but not have the means to buy or own forearm defence. it just makes no sense to me whatsoever to go into battle dressed in that manner.

I am sorry to pick at little details, and certainly I am not trying to be a bother or a critic of certain authors and their recently published works, but I am concerned that this might be another one of those inaccurate memes that has gotten started and is currently gaining momentum.

Now having said all of that there is one depiction from 1521 by Durer of the Irishman with the two handed sword and bow who has a helm, mail haubergeon and mail collar but no forearm defence.


but as far as I know, its the only one that shows someone outfitted in that manner and the man to his left has a full sleeved cotun protecting his forearms. As much as I love that illustration I do wonder about how accurate that particular depiction is or how "typical" that would be.................. tr

Ever tried to shoot a bow in fully mailled sleeves? Or heavily quilted ones? That right there might be your answer.

See Derrick's images of Ireland for the equipment of the kerns. Durer was right on the mark, IMHO. We know he was quite accurate in most of his art, well except for the rhinoceros.... :p

good point. but my concern still is that the Durer drawing of the man with the bow has been extrapolated to "typical" or standard kit for armored kerne and gg in general........... that is fighters without bows bearing primarily two handed weapons. tr

ps. In general I am shying away from referencing or pointing people to Derricke's images of Ireland. Although I agree that it is a piece of history worth reviewing, personally I find them offensive propaganda and there are many inaccurate depictions in those drawings, starting with the ionars.

Hi Thom and Kel

I'd wondered about the half length sleeves as well but it seems that there were all sorts of variations - possibly due to the wealth of gallowglass or personal preference. The Osprey Galloglass 1250 - 1600 describes wrist length and elbow length maille and those who just wore cotun. The tomb effigies and illustrations from maps seem to bear out the mix. John Marsden's book seems to have similar variations.

My experience in WMA (I have a gallowglass kit that I train in) is similar to Thom's - exposed forearms get hit. I wear maille and plate gauntlets - there does seem to be some justification for the plate part anyway in some images.

To follow Kel's point re bows - a lot of the illustrations/representations I've seen of kern seem to suggest that they didn't wear much armor or wore jerkins

cheers

mike

Hi guys,

The pattern I used for my leine was from Reconstructing History, http://www.reconstructinghistory.com/products/rh304-mans-leine-1, and the one I used for my ionar, http://www.reconstructinghistory.com/products...n-outfit-1 . The leine ends at my elbow, even though it looks like it goes to the wrist in their drawing and the ionar covers the rest of my arm. I don't know how accurate the leine pattern is, since a lot of art work looks like the leine goes to the wrist. But I've also seen some leines where the sleeves go to the wrist, but the body ends at mid-thigh. So I'm not so sure how accurate any leine reproduction is. I'm also very interested in the length of leine sleeves.

When I practice, I wear leather vambraces since I get hit a lot there as well.

Zach

Hey guys, just wondering but does anyone here know where I could find a better quality image of the picture of an Irishman holding a dart by Hieronymus Tielssch posted by Bob Gresh on the first page of this topic.