Interesting short video on Henry VIII's battle armor.
The weight was surprising at 86+ lbs for the battle armor without the tilting additions.
Neat! A lot heavier than I had imagined. Apparently this is a jousting armor, not for actual battle?
Quote from: Eric Diaz on March 29, 2023, 10:38:06 AM
Neat! A lot heavier than I had imagined. Apparently this is a jousting armor, not for actual battle?
Believe the armor set is battle armor, but there was another separate piece that was bolted on for jousting. It's in the video on a separate stand.
As young Henry was an athletic, strong Chad; he probably got around in that without too much trouble.
Quote from: LordBP on March 29, 2023, 11:06:09 AM
Quote from: Eric Diaz on March 29, 2023, 10:38:06 AM
Neat! A lot heavier than I had imagined. Apparently this is a jousting armor, not for actual battle?
Believe the armor set is battle armor, but there was another separate piece that was bolted on for jousting. It's in the video on a separate stand.
The increased weight up from the earlier typical 60lbs 'Medieval' suit of armor seems about right for the era...
By 1540 we are well into the Arquebus/wheelock era. There was an arms race to still keep armor relevant in the face of the increasing effectiveness of firearms.
(i.e. breast plates began to be "proofed" against stray bullets.)Of course it was a gradual transition because the slow rate of fire kept melee combat somewhat relevant. But even by the early 1600's wearing lots of armor was largely the province of Pikemen and cavalry.
By around 1700 when flintlock firearms became widespread (Improving the rate of fire), "armor" in the form of largely just a breast plate and helmet was virtually the exclusive province of
*Cavalry by that point.
* For good reason: "Proofing" breastplates against bullets (i.e. stray shots on the battlefield) was done by shooting a pistol at them at a very specific range (Not close up). Close up shots from a musket would naturally punch right through. They were made very thick in the middle so that they would deflect the pistol ball from a straight on shot. Naturally as firearms got more effective, they would have to be made thicker and thicker.
Which is why you see heavy cavalry from 1500-1700 gradually go from full armor, to half-armor, to just a breastplate and helmet, with pikemen, and non-firearms wielding foot-soldiers largely disappearing from the battlefield.
By the flintlock era the additional weight was only really practical for heavy cavalry to have, as being mounted, the added weight could be borne without overly tiring the wearer:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/An_Officer_of_the_Cuirassiers-_by_Edouard_Detaille.jpg/220px-An_Officer_of_the_Cuirassiers-_by_Edouard_Detaille.jpg)
When you also take into consideration that the Cavalry was the typical posting for the aristocracy serving in the military, it becomes even more understandable why such expensive and heavy personal protection measures lingered on...
But once the percussion cap came into widespread use, the increased rate of fire just made all that metal armor shit pointless.
Found another video on two versions he had made.
More info on the first armor in the video
https://collections.royalarmouries.org/object/rac-object-19.html (https://collections.royalarmouries.org/object/rac-object-19.html)
More info on the second armor in the video
https://collections.royalarmouries.org/object/rac-object-20.html (https://collections.royalarmouries.org/object/rac-object-20.html)