I have started using a saddle front for jousting - which is great, it gives good protection to the vitals, and doesn't interfere with my riding - but I have run into one issue. My harness is in the 1400-1410 period (or will be once I add the neck plate to my basinet) and I currently wear hourglass gauntlets. The right hand is fine, but the left is a problem; my hand ends up in front of the saddle front, as it should, but the wide cuff of the gauntlet causes problems when I try to lift my hand behind the shield to get more rein contact - it often catches on the shield and interferes with my hand movement.

So I am planning to get a manifer, which should get around this by fitting more snugly over my arm harness, and better hand protection by not having individual fingers that can get munched by a direct lance hit. So I have a few questions.

- When did manifers appear?

- How did their form change as armours changed?

- What "look" is most appropriate for my harness?

- Photos and makers would be appreciated.

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The earliest asymmetrical gauntlets I've seen were from roughly 1440. I don't consider asymmetrical gauntlets to constitute the left being a "manifer".

The evidence suggests fully developed "manifers" didn't occur until the end of the 15th century, when very specialized jousting harness and garnitures appear.

I would suggest adjusting your shield shape or curve, rather than trying to solve your interference issues by changing gauntlets. Shield shape and curvature can hugely affect vambrace and gauntlet interaction. Also, consider the idea that flared cuff gauntlets are relatively common in your chosen period which means that this style of gauntlet probably worked fine as long as the other kit was arranged appropriately, so it's more likely your shield is the issue rather than the armour.

Of course that assumes the gauntlets you're wearing are built in an historically correct way.

One side issue, you mention the saddle plate, so is it changing your normal hand position, and if the saddle plate is attached to a modern saddle, could the saddle be creating an historically inaccurate riding position requiring you to hold your hand forward of where it should be in a short and high seated medieval saddle?

What happened to your Henry V saddle?

Here's what i've been working on lately for myself:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=22496&a...=554676085

My use of the term manifer is probably looser than yours, I am using it to mean a gauntlet designed specifically for the left hand, in this case for jousting only (not mounted combat in general).

I found one interesting though not particularly useful reference, in Claude Blair's book European Armour, page 157, where the term is in use by 1387, but of course no details on just what the gauntlet looked like.

I'm still working out the interaction with the saddle plate. The plates are simply to attach to modern stock saddles so we have some groin protection; they sit in front of the ears of the saddle and are laced down. I've only been using it a few days so far, so I'm still trying to work it all out.

The Henry V saddle is still sitting here at home, I've done very little with it for some time as life, work and other issues have got in the way, and it is not a priority for me.

Your saddle project looks very interesting, I can see similarities to the Henry V funerary saddle, and other elements.

Hi peter
I have not been a member of myArmoury long and have been looking through back postings and noticed your post. Might I recommend that you try looking up a copy of. Medieval Costume Armour and Weapons ISBN number 0-486-41240-7. It has a number of excellent illustrations of medieval saddles from original sources. The one thing I noticed looking through them is the shape of the shields which are high in the center protecting groin and gut sloping down at the sides I suspect to eliminate the problem you are encountering.