Here we see a fully assembled suit of armor int he European style. A full suit consisted of many separate parts as we can see.
The basic components consist mainly of a heavy set of underclothes which acted as padding, a full suit of chain mail, and various pieces of plate armor including a helmet, chest piece, arm and leg pieces and even armor for the hands and feet.
Here we see the helmet with a conical face piece which is hinged at the sides allowing the knight to lift the face plate without taking off the helmet which would've been attached to the rest of the suit. The holes on the side of the cone are obviously for ventilation as this was a major concern both on the tournament field and the battle field. It was not unheard of to have a knight suffocate in the heat of his suit.
Here we see the interlocking rings known as Chain Mail (or Maille). There are many kinds of chain armor and this is what's known as "Riveted Mail" as each link is closed with a rivet. The over all pattern seems to be a basic 1 in 4 technique. Mail was hand made and took a lot of time to produce but was highly prized for it's relative light weight and the freedom of movement it offered.
Here we see what is most likely two pieces of armor both covered by red velvet. What we would normally see would be a steel plate chest piece which attached to a companion back piece, below that would be a piece of steel plate armor covering the hips which was usually made of a few different plates riveted together to allow the knight to sit on his horse.
And here is the belt, something that is probably only for decoration, which incidentally was a major part of knighthood. A knight not only had gleaming armor but glistening jewels and brightly colored textiles adorning him when at court.
These wonderful boxed pistols sets are not only beautiful to behold but are practical as well. They contain both pistols and every tool you would need for cleaning the pistols and making the bullets.
Again, these were probably not intended for use in combat but were still fully functional.
This odd looking piece of armor is actually a skirt of armor which would be worn by a mounted knight to give added protection to the legs.
Here we see a fully assembled suit of armor int he European style. A full suit consisted of many separate parts as we can see.
The basic components consist mainly of a heavy set of underclothes which acted as padding, a full suit of chain mail, and various pieces of plate armor including a helmet, chest piece, arm and leg pieces and even armor for the hands and feet.
And here is the belt, something that is probably only for decoration, which incidentally was a major part of knighthood. A knight not only had gleaming armor but glistening jewels and brightly colored textiles adorning him when at court.
Here we see an old jousting shield. These were used during tournaments between knights and are designed for such. The shield itself is curved outward with a raised rib down the middle, this design was to help deflect the force of an opponent's oncoming lance and send it away from the rider. The notch cut into the top was for the lance allowing a steadier aim with the lance and the ability to keep most of one's body behind the shield while jousting. The shield would be held in the left hand with the lance in the right, the lance was then placed in the notch and aimed forward and to the left.
These shields were often decorated with images referring to it's user to help identify him on the field. The inscription around this one reads: "Just wait, you shall be beaten."
This design is slightly different but follows the same concept, the artwork on the shield represents the Knight who owned it, his colors of yellow and black and possibly the lady he fought for.
Here we see one decorated with three yellow stars, an emblem probably seen on the knight's standard or flag.
