Medieval History
Michael Vlahos offers a fascinating article in The Atlantic about how "hundreds of thousands of lives" in World War I could have been saved if soldiers wore helmets and body armor just as medieval knights did hundreds of years earlier.
He writes, "medieval armorers and men-at-arms knew a secret that would have spared perhaps 30 percent of those who died in battle. We have the evidence right at the Metropolitan Museum itself."
For example, when helmets were introduced (two years into the war) the British and French made them in a way that wasn't very effective at protecting the head and neck. Meanwhile, the Germans based their design on the medieval Salade (or Sallet) helmet, which was much better preventing injuries or deaths.
Bashford Dean, an expert on medieval armor at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, even designed a battle harness that would offered strong protection against shrapnel from exploded bombs and even bullets from pistols, but the American army never made use of it when they entered the First World War.
You can read more at Could Body Armor Have Saved Millions in World War I?
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- Albanian Metalwork
Helmet of George Castriota; called Scanderbeg, Prince of Albania. Scanderbeg, Albania. 1405-1468 I love to think this is a metalwork version of helmets made for generations before, harnessing the power of beasts in battle! Goblet, Avar or Byzantine,...
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Medieval History
Why the soldiers of the First World War should have looked more like medieval knights
He writes, "medieval armorers and men-at-arms knew a secret that would have spared perhaps 30 percent of those who died in battle. We have the evidence right at the Metropolitan Museum itself."
For example, when helmets were introduced (two years into the war) the British and French made them in a way that wasn't very effective at protecting the head and neck. Meanwhile, the Germans based their design on the medieval Salade (or Sallet) helmet, which was much better preventing injuries or deaths.
Bashford Dean, an expert on medieval armor at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, even designed a battle harness that would offered strong protection against shrapnel from exploded bombs and even bullets from pistols, but the American army never made use of it when they entered the First World War.
You can read more at Could Body Armor Have Saved Millions in World War I?
- Priceless Manuscripts Missing In Timbuktu
The fabled city of Timbuktu, a place of enigma for centuries, has now given the world another mystery: What happened to thousands of priceless, ancient manuscripts that have vanished into the dusty Sahara winds? When hundreds of French soldiers...
- Weapons Maker To The World: Meet The Go-to Man For Battle Attire
On the outskirts of New Delhi, in a cramped concrete workshop where the air shimmers with the light of welding torches, an Indian businessman has become a master craftsman of Napoleonic swords. And medieval chain-mail armour. And Second World War hand...
- Higgins Armory Museum Opens Medieval Castle Exhibit
A new exhibit in Massachusetts is offering a glimpse at life inside a medieval castle. The Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester is opening its interactive Castle Quest exhibit this weekend. The new exhibit features battle tactics games and a castle...
- Albanian Metalwork
Helmet of George Castriota; called Scanderbeg, Prince of Albania. Scanderbeg, Albania. 1405-1468 I love to think this is a metalwork version of helmets made for generations before, harnessing the power of beasts in battle! Goblet, Avar or Byzantine,...
- Death Of St Thomas Of Canterbury - Another Wallpainting
We are back again in the north aisle at South Newington in Oxfordshire, a bit further west of the glorious image of the Virgin and Child we saw in an earlier post. This time we have a panel depicting the martyrdom of Archbishop Thomas Becket, who was...