92. Armour of the English Knight: A 25-Year Quest

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14:00 - 14:45

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Fri, 27 June

92. Armour of the English Knight: A 25-Year Quest

Henge

Toby Capwell

Join author, curator, horseman and historical martial artist Dr. Toby Capwell for a lively discussion of his 3-volume, 1200-page work Armour of the English Knight (published 2015, 2021, 2022). In 1999 Toby embarked on an ambitious exploration, in unprecedented detail, of the evolution of knightly armour in England during the fifteenth century. His truly monumental work features many previously unknown visual and documentary sources which reveal the existence of a uniquely English style of armour design.

Here we discover that late-medieval English armour was different – technologically and artistically – from the products of continental armour-producing centres such as Milan, Bruges, Augsburg and Nuremberg. As wearable art, English armour was an expression of a burgeoning sense of English identity. As war gear, it was perfectly suited to the combat requirements of English knights famous throughout Europe for their dismounted tactics and their sheer prowess, fighting on foot with the pollaxe, spear and longsword.