[Gordon Frye]

[Nate C.]

So Gordon,

Where's the pic of you wearing the Dresden? I'm especially interested in the suspension you are using.

Cheers,

[Gordon Frye]

Nate;

Here are a couple of pics from the last School of the Renaissance Soldier, held in April in Sacramento, CA. The buckles were made by Richard Lanni of Florida, who unfortunately has since broken some part of his casting apparatus and is for the present not producing any more, which is quite unfortunate indeed. Hopefully he'll be back in business soon, as his buckles are quite nicely done.

BTW, the arm harness of my armour (pauldrons, rerebraces, couters and vambraces), as well as the gorget, were made for me by Allan Senefelder of Mecenary's Tailor. They are quite nice, and perfect for a good quality munitions armour (just what I wanted, in fact!)

Allons!

Gordon

[Bill Grandy]

Very cool photo!

Is the elbow vambrace/couter period correct? It looks more like it belongs on a transitional harness from the mid- to late-14th century. I haven't seen any Renaissance pieces that look quite like that, but I'll confess to knowing less about Renaissance armour.

[Gordon Frye]

Bill;

Thanks! We had a grand time, and the weather cooperated by supplying us with nice Northern European climate of plenty of rain and cool breezes. AKA pretty darned cold and wet, but great for wearing lots of wool and iron.

As far as I can tell, the arm harness is indeed period correct. It's all of a piece, pulled on rather like a sleeve and then buckled to the gorget, rather than the later style of fixing the separate pieces to the arming doublet via arming points. The upper part of the rerebraces rotate, and are riveted to the pauldrons at that point. The couters form a complete circle, encasing the elbow joint completely (though of course there is plenty of room to allow for movement, or the penetration of a sword point as well), where as many of the high-tone versions had articulations within the couter. The armour I'm wearing isn't dead-on-the-money I'll freely admit, but it's pretty decent stuff, especially when you consider that it's pretty much off-the-shelf from Allan's workshop.

Here's an illustration from Kreigkunst zu Pferde, by J J von Walhausen, 1616, showing the one-piece arm defenses.

Allons!

Gordon

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Bill Grandy]

Ah, thanks for the info and pics, Gordon!

(And I must say, you look pretty hard core with the arms armoured like that!)

[Gordon Frye]

Jean;

Thanks for the correction! Yup... "earlier" is indeed what I meant. I'm still tired from doing the past two weekends of Equestrian Shows at the local Western Washington Renaissance Faire (So's my horse!) so cognitive ability isn't to the fore at the moment.

As far as I am aware, the fashion for attaching all of the pieces of the arm harness together is pretty much 16th-17th Century, perhaps from the fazing out of the arming doublet (though perhaps the arming doublet became passe because they didn't need to tie armour pieces on anymore, too. Not sure on that one). As I recall the use of arming points was going out towards the end of the 16th Century on high-quality armours, but had become a thing of the past in munitions grade armours some decades previous. As I recall, that is...

Bill;

Thanks for the complements! Now to really get used to wearing the durned things. It's easy to wear, and mount my horse, and ride, in the cuirass and gorget, but when you add on the arm harness, it starts getting complex! Add a vision-restricting helmet, and you see why it took LOTS of practice and training to make a proficient Gendarme. Gentlemen such as fellow posters Rod Walker or Lloyd Clark can speak to this far better than I, they've been doing it a LOT longer!

Allons!

Gordon

[Nate C.]

Thanks Gordon,

Those are really cool looking pics. Once I get out of school and Start making the big bucks, I am definitely going to have to get a decent half armor and accoutrements. I'll also need to learn to ride .

Cheers,

[Gordon Frye]

Nate;

Go for it! Once you get into riding, it becomes pretty all-consuming, but by "tempering" it with a love of swords, armour, and other weapons, one can quite easily turn a Large Fortune into a Small Fortune in a short amount of time! Just take lots of lessons in horsemanship, ride a LOT before you take the plunge and buy a horse so that you don't get a "problem horse" that you then fall in love with, and then, pic a period!

Gads, I love this stuff!

Allons!

Gordon

[Nate C.]

Hey Gordon,

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm trying to get into the riding class at my school this fall. we'll see how that works out. As to the large fortune to small fortune conversion, I unfortunately have never had inexpensive hobbies . Which current riding style (western/English) is closer to cavalry/military riding?

Cheers,

[Gordon Frye]

Nate;

Good fellow! Riding is, of course, a primary skill for a well rounded Gentleman, so I'm glad that you are pursuing it.

Per riding styles, I would suggest beginning with English, as you learn to use your legs and keep your balance early on. They tend to prefer to use both hands on the reins, which I still find weird, but there it is. Once you have a good seat, with confidence in your abilities, move on the Western where you learn neck-reining and riding with long stirrups.

Military riding has sort of bounced between the two extremes, depending upon the era, and of course both are in a way decended of styles of riding developed for warfare. It's good to be able to use your leg aids, such as with English/European riding, while you also need to be able to use your right hand for a weapon (or a riata, as the case may be) as in Western. So learning both, and then perhaps also experimenting, and finally attaching yourself to a joust troupe or Cavalry Troop of reenactors would give you a good polish on a good start. There you can learn the use of weapons in your right hand while controlling the horse with your left, and your legs. Good Luck!

Anyway, Bully!

Allons!

Gordon