Tailoring In Metal
January 30, 2018 3:08 PM Subscribe
Nothing remains of the Royal Armor Workshops at Greenwich. What does remain are many of the great masterpieces of the Greenwich armorers, which allow us to stand in the presence of great princes and knights long dead. For those who take the time to look, they live on in ways their makers could never have imagined-Tobias Capwell
One of them lists the total weight as between 32-36 kg, which is both lighter than I would have guessed, and heavier than I'd want to wear.
posted by Dip Flash at 4:02 PM on January 30, 2018
posted by Dip Flash at 4:02 PM on January 30, 2018
I recognized some these from this Arms and Armor book that I read to death when I was a kid.
posted by lagomorphius at 8:14 PM on January 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by lagomorphius at 8:14 PM on January 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Mister Bijou at 12:20 AM on January 31, 2018 [1 favorite]
They have a few examples of these at the Royal Armouries in Leeds in the Tournament Gallery. They are absolutely amazing works of art with such intricate detail. The horned Helmet although not from Greenwich, must have been quite a nice gift to Henry VIII. The entire place is well worth the visit (and tell me if you're going and I'll probably drop along as well).
posted by koolkat at 1:25 AM on January 31, 2018
posted by koolkat at 1:25 AM on January 31, 2018
posted by
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:07 AM on January 31, 2018 [3 favorites]
Every time we took our kids to the Met Museum, the first thing we had to see was the armour. We had a postcard of that one very elaborate suit with all the gold and black. Knights in armour never cease to fascinate.
posted by mermayd at 4:12 AM on January 31, 2018
posted by mermayd at 4:12 AM on January 31, 2018
There's a fun Time Team episode about this! (I am obsessed with this show.)
posted by orrnyereg at 7:32 AM on January 31, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by orrnyereg at 7:32 AM on January 31, 2018 [1 favorite]
Nice. There’s a Time Team episode for everything it seems.
Some day, I would love to hear Phil Harding (PhD, University of The Shire) say “Don’t let ‘im turn me into anything… unnatural, Mr Frodo!”
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 1:16 PM on January 31, 2018
Some day, I would love to hear Phil Harding (PhD, University of The Shire) say “Don’t let ‘im turn me into anything… unnatural, Mr Frodo!”
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 1:16 PM on January 31, 2018
-Koolkat: The horned helmet was a gift from the Holy Roman Emperor Maximillian, and is apparently his own face in effigy.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 1:18 PM on January 31, 2018
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 1:18 PM on January 31, 2018
Given that Henry VIII sustained a serious jousting injury that negatively impacted his health for the rest of his life, he would have been better off giving this sort of thing a miss (as his father did).
posted by Chrysostom at 7:48 AM on February 12, 2018
posted by Chrysostom at 7:48 AM on February 12, 2018
His father was considered a greedy, misanthropic "dark prince" who riddled the country with spies and informers and gouged the nobility for every penny his lawyers could screw out of them.
Henry fils was considered a chivalric hero and "rock star" king. As the son of a usurper who slew an anointed king on the battlefield (and then crowned himself), jousting was theater, public relations, AND adrenaline. Remember, knighthood is specifically about the deployment of personal violence with weapons; doing violence is the very reason for a knight to exist.
And had the issue of succession shook out differently, we might remember Jolly Olde King Hank, the "Lancebreaker", boring his children and everyone at dinner with his stories of the tilt yard, while everyone agrees he pretty much was a badass mofo coming at you dressed in steel holding a pole. I bet he would have liked to have been remembered that way.
It cost him. But the other end of the equation is "What did he gain for that cost? And did he think it a good bargain"
No one gets out of this world alive, and anybody who gets out without serious scars or broken bones at some point would prompt a question from me re: what exactly they did with their time?
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 8:55 AM on February 13, 2018
Henry fils was considered a chivalric hero and "rock star" king. As the son of a usurper who slew an anointed king on the battlefield (and then crowned himself), jousting was theater, public relations, AND adrenaline. Remember, knighthood is specifically about the deployment of personal violence with weapons; doing violence is the very reason for a knight to exist.
And had the issue of succession shook out differently, we might remember Jolly Olde King Hank, the "Lancebreaker", boring his children and everyone at dinner with his stories of the tilt yard, while everyone agrees he pretty much was a badass mofo coming at you dressed in steel holding a pole. I bet he would have liked to have been remembered that way.
It cost him. But the other end of the equation is "What did he gain for that cost? And did he think it a good bargain"
No one gets out of this world alive, and anybody who gets out without serious scars or broken bones at some point would prompt a question from me re: what exactly they did with their time?
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 8:55 AM on February 13, 2018
Eh, you could just as easily argue that Henry VII put an end to the dynastic clashes that had dominated the last few decades, kept England out of foreign wars, and spent wisely.
I don't know. I think playing around at jousting was fine when he wasn't the heir. Once Arthur died, Henry VIII should have grown up. That's something he never did.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:13 AM on February 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
I don't know. I think playing around at jousting was fine when he wasn't the heir. Once Arthur died, Henry VIII should have grown up. That's something he never did.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:13 AM on February 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
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