Some questions about weapons, armor, and the cold.

[Sam Wright]

First let me state that i am new here so i hope you will forgive me if i make any mistakes. I will list my questions separately bellow.

1. Dose ARMA do any training involving projectile weapons such as bows on the same subject do you do any training involving fighting from horseback.

2. I read an article on the ARMA web site that if i understood it correctly stated that with the introduction of full plate armor the sword fell out of popularity as a battlefield weapon and became more of self defense and city weapon. is this correct.

3. Dose anyone know how metal armor was dealt with in regions where it was so cold that the metal would freeze to skin.

I have more questions but i think that is a good start. thank you all in advance.

[Greg Coffman]

1. No we do not, for either. In mounted combat, horsemanship actually plays as much of a role as martial arts. And projectile weapons have always required distinct skill sets which are also separate from martial arts.

2. That is incorrect. I don't know where you read that, but I don't know that any of the ARMA material online says anything like that. Swords were still used quite heavily during the time of full plate harness.

3. Armor really wasn't ever worn next to the skin. It was worn over some garment. In the case of maille, the garment was meant to give padding. In the case of plate, the armor attached to the garment directly. Sometimes, clothing would be worn on the outside of armor too. Sometimes, pieces of plate would be covered in cloth. See myarmoury.com for more armor questions.

[Stacy Clifford]

I would add that training in mounted combat is not outside of our mission in any way (it's certainly part of the martial art), it's simply outside of our practical means to do so. Most of us just don't have horses, let alone ones trained not to freak out while crazy people are swinging things around over their heads.

[s_taillebois]

"3. Dose anyone know how metal armor was dealt with in regions where it was so cold that the metal would freeze to skin. "

As M. Coffman noted, aketons and other like garments were worn under armour. And with a coat of plates (early form of plate armor) cloth was used as part of the construction.

And in general fighting during the medieval period tended to lay off in the winter because of logistical limitations. Feeding a large numbers of men, and horses, by chevelchee in hostile country during winter could be very problematic.
And given the basic nature of their transport, medieval armies usually went into fortified bases until the cold season was over. For example the Vikings at York. If the winds had delayed William the Conqueror into the winter, the Norman invasion likely would have been delayed into the next spring or summer.

In general if the leadership could do it, campaigns requiring large movements of men and material took place in the summer, early fall when the crops were in (or could be looted) and the weather was less of a factor for moving and feeding troops. Agincourt, Crecy, Patay and others were in the summer & fall for that reason.

Sieges could go into winter, as the siege of Orlean's did, but that kind of thing usually entailed raids for cutting off supplies (the battle of the Herrings), and going at it with siege engines. So many involved did not necessarily need to go about in full harness in cold weather.

More likely, heat may have been a larger factor, aketon's and armor had to have been complete misery to wear in late summer and early fall.

And anyway many medieval battles were pitch affairs which both sides had some time to armor prior to commencement of hostilities.
........................................
And as M. Coffman noted swords did stay in common use well after highly developed plate armor was around. At Barnett for example the sword (and other melee weapons) came into their own because the weather conditions precluded the effectiveness of longbows and artillery.
Plus swords were used even when missile weapons were usable, either for the press or to knock off fallen men as the ranks passed them (or murdering prisoners-some of the Towton dead were killed with swords).

[Allen Johnson]

#2

Swords were still being used as a primary weapon as late as the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion in Scotland. Granted that is probably a big reason why they lost, but sword and shield charges did occur at Culloden in 1746. Swords were still present, though rarely used in the American Revolutionary War and even the American Civil War.