late 14th/early 15th century; based on extant and literary sources
The suit will be finished in a knightly grade, though I am not sure if I will add laten (brass) edging.
While I am a body builder and I had to account for musculature, a number of late 14th to early 15th century leg harnesses display curvature in their thigh profile. They were not flat tubes! It is curious that this development seems to have given way to flatter 'two piece' cuisses (thigh plate) by the 1430s and beyond but the curved one-piece cuisse returns in the 16th century. I suspect the upper cuisse lamination, ie, a second plate, may have accommodated this natural thigh musculature though slight angling of the plates which effectively mimic the thighs curvature. They also add some flexibility in the upward movement of the leg. Again, the style of leg armour in these photos, albeit unfinished, is circa 1400.
If anyone ever tells you that making historically accurate greaves (shin armour) replete with numerous compound S-curves which adhere to the real leg's shape are 'easy' as compared to the totality of a full suit of armour.....they're either lying, dont know what they're talking about.... or they were armourers in another lifetime! Seriously historically accurate greaves are not simple tubes wrapped around a tube as some initially think. They require considerable hammer shaping, replete a combination of flaring, raising, drawing and planishing. The real beauty of greaves is when a continuous form is achieved; that is to say, when the shape evolves gracefully throughout its entirety but strongly mimics the compound curvatures of the human lower leg. This greave is only about 85% done; it needs to be shaped more, widened a bit, recieve a crease down its front, to be ground and polished, and then the back halves connected. Connecting front and back halves is a whole 'nuther story!
( SPECIAL THANKS to 'Mac,' William Hurt, Doug Odom, and my good friend and 'e-mentor' James 'Arlen' Gillespie for the many interesting email and telephone discussions on greaves over the years. )
Historically speaking, most high quality armour featured minimal gaps between the plates. This obviously served to keep weapons from gaining entrance via the chink in the armour, but it also kept the sound at a minimal level when the wearer moved. This pair of legs has not been polished yet. The closeness of the lames (minimal gaps) will be more evident when its polished.
PHOTO JOURNAL ....check back as I add new photos
WORK IN PROGRESS: This greave needs to be windened a bit. Typically a piece will curl inward when being worked heavily. It will be trimmed, have a little more frontal S-shaping about 3/4 up, recieve ankle bone 'hollows,' a nice crease. There will probably be clamshell, meaning they will contain a front (seen) and back (not seen). I think the biggest problem I have is my size. I am 6'7 so the greave alone is almost 2 feet tall. As such I have to work a guage or two thicker than standard greaves to account for growing weakness over such a long area.
Note the flush cop, lames and cuisse articulation. Generally speaking, it is more common to see this in higher end historical harnesses. It takes a lot of patience make sure the metal layers lay very close when open or closed.
Seen here is an 85% finished cuisse with a
welded greave inserted to hold up the cuisse.
Note that the finished leg harness will have forged greaves, see below.
Forged greaves are easier to control the crease line and tweaking the general fit. Welded greaves are rather unforgiving in that respect.
