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William P




Location: Sydney, Australia
Joined: 11 Jul 2010

Posts: 1,523

PostPosted: Wed 04 Apr, 2012 8:54 am    Post subject: the Knight: Noble Warrior of England 1200-1600         Reply with quote

Recently i stumbled upon Christopher Gravetts book Knight: Noble Warrior of England,1200-1600
ive come to like it a great deal, its been providing a great coverage of the changs to armour and weapons as the cdecades, then centuries, roll by showing the development of the knight rom ithe man in maile fresh out of the crusades, to the last, heavy mounted lancers and pistoliers of the late 16th century. and every development in armour in between.

the book divides the chapters to represent a successive century, i.e chapter 1 is te 13th century, and chapter 4 is the 16th (or tudor period )

though apparently this book is merely a recompiling of 4 of his other books,

im curious if the book has heard of christopher gravett and what people think of his books , both in general, and more specifically in terms of this particular book

there are some notable flaws, for example it was the book that stated 'tests have revealed that an arrow can drill into plate, or something of that fashion.. absurdity of the highest order....
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Chad Arnow
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PostPosted: Wed 04 Apr, 2012 8:59 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

It's basically several of his titles for Osprey publishing all bound together. Osprey is known for its many series of small books on warriors, battles,campaigns, etc. Some of their titles are quite good, others are not so much. The illustrations vary widely in accuracy based on which artist was used. Again, some are great and others less so.

I have that book, but confess I haven't done much more than thumb through it. It was cheap and I bought it more for the pictures it has (originals and period art) than for the text.

Happy

ChadA

http://chadarnow.com/
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Jojo Zerach





Joined: 26 Dec 2009

Posts: 288

PostPosted: Wed 04 Apr, 2012 12:09 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I was thinking about getting this book to.
(I was wanting to get his "English medieval knight 1300-1400", but then I saw this is supposed to combine the 4 osprey books in the series into one book.)
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Quinn W.




Location: Bellingham, WA
Joined: 02 May 2009

Posts: 197

PostPosted: Wed 04 Apr, 2012 10:29 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I own the book, and I quite like it. I've used it as a regular reference and cited it in several undergraduate academic papers.
I try not to give it too much weight on its own, but it's not too hard to find alternate sources to back his information up. Gravett also offers a nice mix in my opinion. He's general enough for you to get the idea without thumbing through hundreds of pages of dense academic work, but he isn't afraid to give detail and throw out technical terms when necessary. It's certainly not "Knights for Dummies." Most books on knights suffer from over-generalization, but the century-by-century breakdown helps to avoid this issue.
I would say it's ideal audience is someone who has a pretty decent grasp of medieval knights and warfare, but wants a book they can grab and quickly access the information they are seeking.

"Some say that the age of chivalry is past, that the spirit of romance is dead. The age of chivalry is never past, so long as there is a wrong left unredressed on earth"
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William P




Location: Sydney, Australia
Joined: 11 Jul 2010

Posts: 1,523

PostPosted: Wed 04 Apr, 2012 11:55 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Quinn W. wrote:
I own the book, and I quite like it. I've used it as a regular reference and cited it in several undergraduate academic papers.
I try not to give it too much weight on its own, but it's not too hard to find alternate sources to back his information up. Gravett also offers a nice mix in my opinion. He's general enough for you to get the idea without thumbing through hundreds of pages of dense academic work, but he isn't afraid to give detail and throw out technical terms when necessary. It's certainly not "Knights for Dummies." Most books on knights suffer from over-generalization, but the century-by-century breakdown helps to avoid this issue.
I would say it's ideal audience is someone who has a pretty decent grasp of medieval knights and warfare, but wants a book they can grab and quickly access the information they are seeking.

ive found it to be a good supplement to the stuff here on myArmoury, and if neccesary i can probably air any doubts i have about the material there, on here for example the statement about arrows boring into breastplates, which i reckoned was non sense but i figured truth being stanger than fiction, id ask you guys here

what i like the MOST is the images showing a knights gear circa a particular year usually about 2-3 per century which gives a nice look at the evolution of the knights gear
that and the fact alot of his information in those 'plates' is cited in a general sense i.e saying its based off THIS effigy or from THIS armoury.. or from THAT archaeological site

and i like how hes not afraid to illustrate and speculate about 'mysterious' things apparently present on effigies
for example in the early 13th C knight, he notes the 'apparent' appearence of what might be a kind of chin defense based on a slightly oddly clad effigy.

in my opinion it shows the trend of increasingly better cited books about warriors, its a lot more rare to see knights portrayed as clumsy at fighting etc
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Robert Hinds




Location: Whitewater, Wisconsin USA
Joined: 15 Sep 2010
Likes: 4 pages

Posts: 249

PostPosted: Thu 05 Apr, 2012 7:26 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I have this book also and I quite like it. Not only are the illustrations and pictures great, but the author goes into small details a lot of other authors would leave out.
"Young knight, learn to love God and revere women; thus your honor will grow. Practice knighthood and learn the Art that dignifies you, and brings you honor in wars." -Johannes Liechtenauer

"...And he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one..." Luke 22:36
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Phil D.




Location: Texas
Joined: 23 Sep 2003
Reading list: 56 books

Posts: 594

PostPosted: Thu 05 Apr, 2012 7:38 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

If anyone is interested in a copy and don't mind that they may be missing the dustcover...I found 5 that are listed at Half.com for $1.48.
"A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world." -- Louis Pasteur

"A gentleman should never leave the house without a sharp knife, a good watch, and great hat."
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William P




Location: Sydney, Australia
Joined: 11 Jul 2010

Posts: 1,523

PostPosted: Wed 27 Jun, 2012 10:43 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

heres the illustration of english plate from the book chapter on the knight from 1400-1500.

the poleaxe is apparently bsed off the the 'fitzherbet effigy c 1475



 Attachment: 61.82 KB
cZuWhIdc-40.jpg
English armour, 1450-1500
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