Tuesday, April 1, 2014

A Is For Arsenal...

Welcome to the April A-Z Blogging Challenge!

I'm sort of prepared for this. I signed up late. (Was transferring computers into a more conducive writing area...) And I sort of have a theme.

Medieval Armet
So, if you will join me in my trek through medieval armor and weaponry, I will do my best to make it through the month! But please note: all the info I have gathered on the weaponry and armor is from Wikipedia.


So for today, we have 'A'.

Armet ~ This is a type of helmet developed in the 15th century. It encompasses the entire head, but has hinges near the cheeks to expose the face. Later variations of this had a visor. This type of helmet was typically used in Italy, France, Spain, England, and the low countries. (Found on Wikipedia)

 

Aventail ~ Detachable mail usually hung from a helmet to cover the neck and shoulders. This used to be riveted right to the helmet, but later on became detachable. These often served as replacements for a full coif. The earlier versions of aventails were around the 1300’s, in Western Europe. By the 15th century, they replaced the coifs completely.
Medieval Aventail



So you might be asking yourself, why this theme? Well, honestly, I'm a fantasy writer. And if you have ever read fantasy, I mean Sword and Sorcery fantasy, sometimes they throw in all sorts of armor and weapon descriptions that leave you going, "Huh???".

So hopefully, this will shed some light on some of those things. Plus, I am the Queen of Useless Trivia, so I thought I'd share. Happy blogging!!

13 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I'd think fighting in an Armet would be difficult because you'd have such a limited vision.

D.G. Hudson said...

I can handle useless trivia, so bring it on. I find weaponry and armaments interesting. I get a lot of my ART theme details from Wikipedia as well.

Anonymous said...

i love useless trivia. Might a PIRATE of medieval times where such garb?

Tonja said...

Fun theme!

Crystal Collier said...

Works for me. I used to be obsessed with medieval torture devices. Don't know why. I guess because they were creative? I'm all for some trivial facts. Never know when they'll be needed. =)

http://crystalcollier.blogspot.com/

Roland D. Yeomans said...

I believe Alex is right: such limited vision would be a hindrance in combat -- and hot!!

Anonymous said...

Aventail! so that's what those things are called. This is a very useful A to Z theme, I always kind of blip over the names of this stuff in high fantasy b/c I never really know what it is. (Like I skim all the halyards and riggings and sails and such in historical naval adventure stories ;-p)
Victoria Hodge
http://victoriahodge.wordpress.com/

M said...

Interesting! Would never have wanted to wear it!
Happy A-Z April!

Unknown said...

Love the trivial knowledge bits. Good luck with A to Z.

Unknown said...

I learned something new! Thanks. I agree an Armet would be difficult - but for the time very needed.

Anonymous said...

Have to save your A to Z post - very interesting. I use Myths & Magic: The Complete Fantasy Reference for my armour bits BUT having yours as well will be good... better field of vision ;-)

Mel Chesley said...

@ Alex ~ Yes, vision was VERY limited.

@ Pam ~ Nope, Pirates didn't wear heavy armor. Which is what this is considered. I'll get into pirate stuff later. ;)

@ Crystal ~ Hmm...torture devices...

Thanks for dropping by, everyone!

Anonymous said...

I *love* swords & sorcery fiction, so it's great to find armour descriptions with visual representations, as opposed to having to make up images in my minds eye to fill the gaps the writers leave.

I found your blog through the AtoZ challenge btw, and will endeavour to follow your posts throughout the month :)

Flip