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#1 |
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
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There is a discussion on another forum, and I have no answer.
From my visits to the museums, most suits of armor seem to be made for pretty short people. I am sure there is very good information about that. Can somebody provide info re. how tall suits of armor are in reality and an approx. distribution of heights? |
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#2 | |
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Join Date: Oct 2007
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0 .0 Quote:
With out digging too deep, it can be seen across many countries that people where shorter in the day, heck look at the Italians or if it just the inlaws at my place that give me this impression... Have a look here, page 5 shows a good graph; http://www.meteohistory.org/2005hist...epke_baten.pdf Your visual notations in the museums should be guide enough to share in some detail. The kind of info in the graph supports what it is you already see first hand. Perhaps the very weight of armour over the years kept them short ![]() ![]() Gav Last edited by freebooter; 4th July 2010 at 02:39 PM. |
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#3 |
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Armour im museums realy seems to be made for short people. On the other side, excavated scelletons of so called Great Moravia soldiers were allegedly nearly 2 meters tall
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#4 | |
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Join Date: Mar 2006
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henry the eighth was over 6 ft. i hear that king edward of braveheart fame was also. H8's armour is HUGE.
roman legions had a 5 ft. 8 in. minimum (originally 5' 10", but dropped their standards later on) read somewhere that the middle ages human would still be on our modern gaussian bell curve tho a bit towards the lower end rather than the mean. a couple of the other sword forums have similar tho inconclusive discussions: an excerpt from the metropolitan museum of art Arms and Armor—Common Misconceptions and Frequently Asked Questions Quote:
Last edited by kronckew; 4th July 2010 at 09:07 PM. |
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#5 |
Lead Moderator European Armoury
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Portugal
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Most precious information contained in the links provided by Gav and Wayne.
Thanks for sharing. I too beleive our ancestors were in average short guys, exception given to some well fed (?) nobility individuals and the traditional exuberation about our heroes, kings and so. It is popularily spread that the sword of Dom Afonso Henriques (Portugal founding king) was so heavy that a common man could not bear it, but such sword never showed up and the king wasn't proven to be bigger than an average person. Fernando |
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#6 |
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The same appears to apply to Victorian era military uniforms. Most that I have seen will not fit the average person of today, so the comment above that states that stature has increased during the 20th and 21st centuries in my experience is largely correct. I assume that when we are talking of armor here, that we are talking (mainly) about English and western European suits?
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