[Nathan Johnson]

My brother recently joined the group i'm in and I'm not sure but I get he felling he might like to bring his fiance
along at some point, problem is she's Indonesian.

He doesn't really mind what persona or gear I give him and the group's time period is 1st quarter of the 16thC so
I was thinking the only way I could work this was if any one asked he could be Portuguese

Anyway I Know next to nothing about Portuguese arms and armour and my searches keep finding food

basically what I need to know is:
Is it similar to Spanish?( ie:could you get away with using Spanish gear as stand in)
or is it a whole other style?
Could he use a Montante?( he really likes two handed swords)
Did Portuguese who traveled to Southeast Asia change or use some equipment more than was usual
( like the conquistadors in the Americas) or did it remain the same.

this whole thing might never be necessary but would be good to be prepared, and fun to do something different.

[William Carew]

[José-Manuel Benito]

[Matthew P. Adams]

HA!

I actually clicked on this link after seeing the title and hoping for a Montante discussion!

[Vincent C]

The Portuguese were in Malaysia during the early 1500's. The controlled Makassar and Timor in indonesia, and also had control of the Maluku islands. All before 1520.

If he wants to carry a montante, a good kit would probably include:
-A breasplate with shoulder and extended leg protection, possibly reaching and covering the knees.
-An open-faced burgonet helm or cheek-plated morionesk helm, both WITHOUT a high crest (assuming he wants to be able to fight multiple opponents effectively using Godhino's rules of the montante).
-Either long gauntlets (almost to the elbow) or full arm protection.

A crossbow (rarely, usually only in advantuer duties). I don't think montante wielders typically carried harquebuse. The richer ones during later periods carried pistols. I don't know about that in the early 1500's though

If he has a montante, chances are he doesn't have rapier. Not for any class or monetary reasons, simply because in battle he would most likely be staring down multiple opponents, so an arming sword would allow him to better defend against multiple aggressors, and allow for more money to spend on his montante.

The Iberian system does have plays for fighting with two swords to defend vs. multiple opponents, but I have yet to hear or read of people actually carrying two into battle, chances are they would grab the second sword from the battlefield. a buckler or parrying dagger would be more common as a secondary.

If he's in Indonesia with a montante, chances are he's either a guard, advantuer, or heavy infantry(front, standard guardsman, or flanks).

[William P]

and id like to add another question while were on the topic of 16th century gear.
what was the armour style worn by partuguese and spanish, particularly the heavy lanncer cavalry not unlike the gendarmes.
and did that armour have a particular style? (like greenwich, gothic, maximillian, and milanese armour styles)
but what other styles were used once gothic and milanese fell out of use?
was the spanish cavalry armour the same as the armour a french gendarme might have?

[Gottfried P. Doerler]

hm, never heard of the montante

is this just the iberian expression for "twohanded sword" or is it a different style, if yes, what are the charakteristics, what does it differentiate from german "zweihänder" or italian "spadone a due mani" ?
and does maybe someone have a photo illustrating the point?

lg

[Kurt Scholz]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think these Portuguese had small crews on their ships with professional marines.
Since the siege of Lisbon Portugal and England have good connections, including English longbowmen in Portuguese armies. Neither should you underestimate the crossbow that played much longer a more important role in naval than in land warfare as are liable infantry weapon. The African crossbow is a direct offspring of maritime, likely Portuguese, influence http://www.diaspora.uiuc.edu/A-AAnewsletter/newsletter16.html .
David Nicolle writes in his Medieval Sourcebooks about cotton armour in especially Latin American and African context. Add to this that the Portuguese first took part in the West African gold trade and later on added East African slave soldiers, so they were very likely influenced by African warfare, especially bodyarmour if I understand that correctly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Macau
is a good point to start your search.
Richard J. Garrett, The Defences of Macau: Forts, Ships and Weapons Over 450 Years. Hong Kong University Press, 2010.
Will contribute you much information and further links

[Daniel Wallace]

Gottfried, the montante has been getting a little bit of publicity lately around there. you are right it is a sword that's terminology fits a description of "two hander" however i've been looking into a few and finding design difference.

a montante is like a slender two hander with short parrierhaken and limited ricasso between those and the guillions unlike it's german cousin. heres a few pics below of what a montante looks like

it's kind of vague as to how these swords were used. weather they were actual war swords or something more personal such as a dueling weapon. i've been going after information on them for a while but my job has switched over to night shift so there's actually very little i'm getting done right now with them.

[Vincent C]

This is going to get reeeeeeally long, and I'm sorry. The montante is something I've been focusing on recently, and I like talking about it.

[Gottfried P. Doerler]

thats very informative, thanks a lot for your time.

the montante really is a faszinating weapon, and an eye-candy with these long, slender and elegant lines .

[Daniel Wallace]

Vincent, ah finally someone else how i may be able to pick their brain about the Montante sword once i get back into the swing of things (2 more weeks of night shift), the cleveland swords are fairly near to where i live and hopefully i get go out and get a close look at them this summer.

i got some information on one and after i put together some sketches i was quick to notice that not only are these swords elegant, but they are quick and have a pretty good smack to them. most of the pictures i've been able to track down all seem to have a hexagonal cross section which i believe attributes to a good concentration of mass even with a slender blade.

"There are many, many manuscripts detailing its use, but currant most of them are still in interpretation. The montante was used by non-formation fighting troops to engage and kill multiple opponents, they were used to defend people and standards, attack rioters, defend buildings, and assault formations. They were also used by dueling weapons."

I was coming to this conclusion Vincent - some of these swords are highly decorated (yet also battle damaged) which seems to tell that they've had a higher role. not just a standard issue warring weapon, its much more an individual weapon that saw some kind of action. i was forwarded a few videos from another forum member showing the interpretations on it's use and it truly looks like a versatile weapon.

i wish the market had something that i could get my hands on to better understand the weapon, but everything i look at still needs to be heavily modified to fit the dimensions i have gathered up.

[Eric S]

The Portuguese of that period used matchlock firearms, it was the Portuguese that brought the matchlock to Japan in 1543.

[William P]

what do we know about portuguese aventurros
in the game medieval 2 total war, they appear as high end pikemen, as being a bunch of brash young nobles i.e adventurers

what records do we have regarding them

[Vincent C]

In the portuguese military, advanturers were forward-deployed non-formation fighting troops. The montante is used by these troops more than most others, simply because they were typically outnumbered, they had room to use them effectively, and you can only fire a crossbow or gun so many times before they figure out where you are and attack. Advanturers overseas were more likely to have less armor than their continental counterparts, I forget why.

If not a montante, similar but less expensive weapons would be the flail (fully extended, it was only slightly smaller than the montante, at least the ones covered in verdadera destreza) or a halberd. I would personally prefer the montante because I can use it more effectively up close than a halberd (I found it difficult to fight once they get inside the axe head), that said halberds terrify me. I have little idea how the flail was actually used, though such manuscripts exist.

Those long quillons are seriously useful in grappling, assuming it ever comes to that, and it shouldn't when using the montante, but it does happen. The extended ricasso comes in handy too.

I personally would think using a pike for non-formation tactics would be a very bad idea.

As time progressed there was a trend, in Spain a lot more than Portugal, where the base of the montante was less wide. Consequently you have some later period montante that look more like rapiers, these were used exclusively for dueling. So when looking at historical examples keep this in mind. Typical battle montante were usually around 1.5" wide at the base.

[William P]

[Daniel Wallace]

i get hooked on that game almost every winter since i got it. but i wouldn't put too much faith in much historical accuracy in it.

if you want to find out some ideas of what a Advanturer was like, check out this video i found (if the link works correctly)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol_ozXTH8_U&feature=related

there was another that i had found on youtube of one man armed with montante that was fending off 3 attackers each from different positions.

i was able to track down a document since vincent's post earlier, after reading it. and watching a few videos about it. anyone with a montante - means serious business.

[Steve Hick]

[Lafayette C Curtis]

[Benjamin H. Abbott]