Arming The Knight

This page contain a selection of Photographs showing knights and man-at-arms preparing for battle.  The photos show various stages of the arming up process so give a good look at what is under the armour.  See the Under the Armour page for a closer look at the clothing and mail worn under the full plate.

These are typical scenes in our encampment before battle as squires and ladies help the knights put on their armour. We often do this with a commentary as a display for the public, with each step and piece of armour described as  it is strapped in place. It takes most of the knights a minimum of 30mins to go from unarmoured to fully armoured, with a squire who knows what they are doing, with less skilled help it takes longer. If there is a real hurry and two squires help then it can come down to about 20mins.

Sir Edmund De'thorpe

This Photo shows Sir Edmund De'thorpe arming up, helped by his squire. Sir Edmund has most of his armour on, with only the pauldrons, tassets, gauntlets and helmet to go. You can see the mail gussets attached to the arming doublet to protect the armpits, and the mail skirt worn to protect the groin area, the mail collar is also just visible at the neck, this is not yet fully buckled up so is sitting lower than it would normally. The lacing points at the shoulder used to hold the arm in place are also visible.
(click on the image to see him completely armoured)

Sir Thomas Fauconburg

Here Sir Thomas Fauconburg is preparing for battle aided by one of the ladies. He has the leg and arms already fitted and is making a final adjustment to the buckle on the elbow. You can see the padded arming doublet worn under the armour, and the lacing points used to attach the arms and pauldrons. The rest of his armour is laid out ready in front of him.  In the background sir Edmund is also arming up, see the previous photo for details. 
(click on the image to see him completely armoured)

Squire Aymer De'Valence

Here Squire Aymer De'Valence is being armed up(he's been knighted since this was taken). He has just the legs on so far and is currently having the mail skirt buckled on, this is belted at the waist (sometimes it attaches to arming points to help hold it in place). The padded arming doublet is clearly visible as are the arming points at the neck and shoulder for his pouldrons and arms.

(This was taken at a practice so authentic footwear is not necessary and it was very muddy that day!, hence the trainers,  we tend to avoid getting the authentic footwear all muddy where not necessary).

Sir Edmund after the battle

This is actually the other end of things and shows a rather exhausted Sir Edmund after the battle. He has removed all the upper armour to help cool down so the arming doublet, mail gussets and skirt are clearly visible.
This was taken at a show at herstmonceux castle, on the August bank holiday 2003.  This was a very hot weekend, so you can imagine the effect of wearing 5stones of padding and steel!. Armour comes off a lot quicker than it goes on, especially in those conditions!

Sir Waterley

Here Sir Waterley of the White Vale is being armed up. He has his arming doublet on and the mail skirt is being fitted. His mail skirt is suspended from a belt and has a harness over the shoulders to take the weight..