I'm afraid my knowledge of historical armour and weapons is certainly lacking

My question is this: What would the average 13th century man-at-arms/knight be wearing and wielding (a bit more specific than a sword and chainmaille please :p )? What style of sword, what type of shield (if any), other weapons, type of chainmaille (both ring number [4 in 1, 6 in 1, etc...] and length), what helm, and finally what undergarmets (clothes, boots, etc..).



Thanks for your help! I'm a bit new here, so pardon my ignorance :)

I am interested too. I have been calling around today for a small (100 pound or 50 kilogram range) forging anvil to assist in making riveted chain and trasition era pieces of plate (elbow and knee cops, helmet.)

If we narrow this down a bit (lets say close to 1250 A.D.), and separate man at arms from "elite knight" there are probably more definative answers..... There was a lot of change between 1250 to 1300 (increasing use of plate.)

There is a range of things that could be passed off during this century as appropriate to men at arms and knights, but I suspect some equipment appeared on knights first.....

Hi there,

The best pictorial reference for the information you are after is the Maciejowski Bible, which is dated somewhere between the mid 13th, and very early 14th centuries, depending on who you ask.

There is an ugly, but useful site which contains the entire thing, and some detail pictures at this URL:
http://www.medievaltymes.com/courtyard/maciejowski_bible.htm

You should also try and track down a copy of Arms and Armor of the Medieval Knight by David Edge and John Miles Paddock which also has a lot of the information you are after.

I would also recommend having a look through the Manesse Codex, which is dated to the early/mid 14th century, but which depicts fashions and accoutrements more readily associated with the mid-late 13th century.

There is a facsimile of the entire manuscript available online at:
http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/cpg848