I have noticed that while encyclopedias and diagrams of armour components tend to identify shoulder plate armour as a "Spaulder", at least a couple of armourers utilize a different spelling, "Spaudler." I will not name specific ones, but at least a couple sources assert that "Spaudler" is the more accurate term historically.

I would like to know if "Spaudler" is a more accurate term, or is specific to a certain style of shoulder defense such as early segmented shoulder protection harness used in "transition armour."

Hello all!

Jared,

In his work European Armour Circa 1066 to Circa 1700, Claude Blair calls them "spaudlers". Here is what he said regarding the word's meaning and root:

Claude Blair wrote:

After c. 1450 rerebrace tends to disappear and thereafter pauldron is used for the shoulder-defence. The word spaudler also referred to the shoulder-defence, but presumably in a more restricted sense than rerebrace and not including the plates for the upper arm... Spaudler I shall confine to the small, cap-like form of the shoulder defence... It is clearly an anglicised form of espalier, a term found frequently in English documents from the early 13th to the early 14th century. It seems at first to have denoted some form of padding for the shoulder, for an inventory of armour belonging to Falk de Breaute made in 1224 includes amongst linen armour an "espaulier de nigro Cen[all]".

The word is spelled and used the same (spaudler) in The Complete Encyclopedia of Arms & Weapons, edited by Leonid Tarassuk and Claude Blair, as well as Arms and Armour of the Medieval Knight by David Edge and John Miles Paddock, A Knight and His Armour by Ewart Oakeshott, and English Medieval Knight 1300-1400 by Christopher Gravett. It seems to be a common spelling among books about arms and armour.

I hope this helped!

Hello again!

This web page:

http://www.arador.com/articles/spaulders.html

has a very interesting discussion about the spaudler (called spaulder by the author).

It also has some interesting images.

I hope this helps!

Stay safe!

I have moved this topic to the Off-topic Talk forum.

Please note the description for this forum:

"Discussions of general history and other miscellaneous topics relating to arms and armour that do not specifically fit our other forums"

This is really a terminology discussion, so OT is probably best for it.

Thank you.