JBR:

ACBookworm:

jt400:

knight of rook:

 

ACB, and JBR, You appear to know what chain mail is, but a good one, depends on the metal, and how closely and well each individual link is put together, a chain is only as strong, as it's weakest link. The plate you are probably thinking of, is called a breast-plate, it is seperate from the chain mail. And yes, you can have both on at the same time.

 

Am I right Justin, or am I off?

That sounds right to me. Typical armor for a knight, I believe, consisted of a padded leather or cotton arming jacket, then a chain mail hauberk, then plate armor (a breastplate). For the most part, it was the same for the whole body. The best chain mail that I know of, for combat, is made of welded steel rings. I don't know if the welded steel is historically accurate though, do you knight? If I was going to buy a hauberk I would probably buy one with butted aluminum rings, not very strong, but lightweight and it would not rust.

Didn't the knights ever suffer from heat stroke or something like that? It seems like they wore allot of clothing, and I would think that it would be overpowering.

I think they did. 

jt400:

JBR:

ACBookworm:

jt400:

knight of rook:

 

ACB, and JBR, You appear to know what chain mail is, but a good one, depends on the metal, and how closely and well each individual link is put together, a chain is only as strong, as it's weakest link. The plate you are probably thinking of, is called a breast-plate, it is seperate from the chain mail. And yes, you can have both on at the same time.

 

Am I right Justin, or am I off?

That sounds right to me. Typical armor for a knight, I believe, consisted of a padded leather or cotton arming jacket, then a chain mail hauberk, then plate armor (a breastplate). For the most part, it was the same for the whole body. The best chain mail that I know of, for combat, is made of welded steel rings. I don't know if the welded steel is historically accurate though, do you knight? If I was going to buy a hauberk I would probably buy one with butted aluminum rings, not very strong, but lightweight and it would not rust.

Didn't the knights ever suffer from heat stroke or something like that? It seems like they wore allot of clothing, and I would think that it would be overpowering.

I think they did. 

Thinking about it more, I do think that some would have died from the heat, especially when they were wounded and laying in the sun. At least the gambeson like I was talking about would breathe!

In most of the stories I have read (i.e., Winning His Spurs by Henty) plenty of the men do actually die.

I'm glad that I don't have to wear armor like that! If I was a man, and a soldier, I wouldn't want to! LOL! 

Yes, a lot of them die, but do they die from heat? 

 I think a gambeson would be neat!

jt400:

Yes, a lot of them die, but do they die from heat? 

 I think a gambeson would be neat!

 

I meant to say that many of the men die from the heat, as well as battle. I forgot to add that in!  

 Interesting, I had never noticed that before. Are they about Crusaders? Most of the books I have read were in England, probably not as hot. Just wondering.

jt400:

 Interesting, I had never noticed that before. Are they about Crusaders? Most of the books I have read were in England, probably not as hot. Just wondering.

Winning His Spurs is about the Crusades, so yes. 

 Ok, thanks for the info. I would probably die from the heat in the middle east, armor, or no armor! LOL!

jt400:

 Ok, thanks for the info. I would probably die from the heat in the middle east, armor, or no armor! LOL!

Too bad Lady A isn't here! I'm sure there's a sweating smiley...

You'd like Winning His Spurs. I just finished it about a week and a half ago.
 

 LOL! She probably does!

It does sound good! 

So is this gambeson really strong? Would it repell a blow?

 Yes, pretty tough. It depends on where you get hit, if you get hit on the plates no, if you get hit in between, you're in trouble. An arrow would likely hit one of the areas in between the plates, but a sword would probably not. Did you see the pictures?

 .

Only the one of Wallace and the knight on the horse, my computer blocked all of the others.

 That is too bad, it showed how the plates look on the back. I will see if I can post a link.

 Here they are:

Gambeson

Making of gambeson 

Swatch of maile 

I hope that works!