Thank you! This is exactly the reason why I make videos like this, I've always learned better from visuals and in-depth video guides rather than text in books so I'm glad that others appreciate it too:)
I'm legitimately looking forward to more of these. I actually went and used your huscarl vid as the inspiration for an outfit for a character I am writing (wanted his kit to be authentic even though it's in a fantasy setting).
Thanks! They are my favourite types of videos to make at the moment, unfortunately reenactment season is now over so I'll have to wait until next year to make more. Feel free to share on your channel!! :)
Reminds me of the gastikaponen. The lusitanian warriors of the lower nobility who would wear great round shields and iron helmets, they would form the main line along the tarkanen the warriors who carried smaller shields and swords
Great video. I've been wondering about Anglo Saxon and Viking padded armor lately. I feel like if they were wearing the multi layered linen gambosons we would hear more about them. Thick wool makes a lot of sense.
They were certainly multi layered, unfortunately this perishable material rarely survives in any state which is useful to archaeologists but we do know that they likely had thinner gambessons than the 12th century equivalent.
It's so crazy to think europe went from every roman legionaire wearing hamata or segmentata to maille being so rare and expensive even a lord wouldn't necessarily have it
It's not too difficult to do. Plus they had shield straps so they could pull the strap over the shoulder and wear it on the side with the hand on the reins. We have multiple high end Saxon graves with horses and a lot of horse equipment present in the graves so, from that, we understand that Saxons did use cavalry for combat, or at least the higher classes used cavalry for combat. Also, horses were very common in Saxon England but just like cars today, horses came in multiple types of breeds and were used for different things.
Saxons certainly did fight on horseback, the Snape burials even had horses buried with the owners :) Hastings was just an outlier where the Saxons were on foot.
why wouldn't they be? red isn't THAT hard of a color to get man, it isn't blue. even that could be gotten without too much struggle if you wanted it just had to put up with the smell
@ARC5 don't know the dying process for either lol (I mean granted I could look it up). But to clarify my comment was an "oh I didn't know that" not being snide ^^
Haha don't worry I know what you meant, and I appreciate your intrigue :) If you watch my recent "Hidden Secrets of Norwich Cathedral" video, I discuss the quest for colour during the medieval period and why it meant so much to them :)
So if he COULD afford Maile would he wear it over the Kaftan? I know some guys wore Gambesons (I probably spelled that wrong) underneath their chain, would the Kaftan serve the same purpose?
Yes he certainly would have. Gambessons weren't really a thing during the Saxon period, that was more of a thing beginning in the 12th century. The Romans did have a form of padded shirt similar to a gambeson though.
I didn't actually get very long to speak to him, the little time I had to chat was spent mainly talking about the Shorwell helmet as that was the main component I knew about. I've been told by various people that the wide belts are a Larp thing but no one has ever actually been able to tell me why. In my own personal use, wide belts help support maille a lot better, keeps everything tucked in and allows me to breath through my chest better rather than lower in my diaphragm so I have nothing but good things to say about wide belts. Of course, I have no solid evidence one way or the other.
It wouldn't surprise me, this kit is only from a couple hundred years after the Romans formally left Britain, and the majority of Romano British were still living alongside the Saxons during the 6th century
@@AlexTheHistoryGuy The Sutton Hoo belt buckle is quite wide for the time, not as wide as this one though. So maybe there are wider belts, but not as wide as this? I've never seen anything this wide as a material find, or in any art from the period.
Nearly everything I normally wear as a viking.As for the belt I do have a thicker belt but I was kept being told it was to thick so I got thin ones. But the thicker one is still used if I carry my sword on my belt I find it more comfortable.And my helmet has the nose guard. But I was thinking of get the same sort as in the video as they probably was the most common from around the 4 to 14th century they was cheap.But I read somewhere that someone was found with a cook pot on his head. And they might have used boiled leather helmets.The problem is people expected things like leg wraps but they was not really used as much as you think.My spear is how long as I can get in my car. Nearly every one carries a sword but I think axes are more fun.
It's a tricky one. I only have a certain amount of footage so there's a limit to how long I can show text on screen until the footage moves onto another scene so I only have a small amount of time to display the text. So yes, pausing may be your best bet haha.
The Anglo-Saxons certainly had long coats that looked like what we call kaftans today (as I am sure most cultures did), but they didn't call them kaftans. The proper Asian kaftan wasn't really introduced into the west until late Victorian times.
'Knight' is a norman word but it's essentially the same thing. I highly doubt lance on horseback is useless without a stirrup as cavalry were using lances for thousands of years before the stirrup was invented. Less impactful, sure. Useless, no.
@@AlexTheHistoryGuy Associated with the Norman period and beyond, but worth noting that the word itself comes from Anglo-Saxon "cniht", a young man or servant, rather than from Norman French.
@@AlexTheHistoryGuy Even a simple Roman soldier who served on a remote frontier was equipped in a similar way. But in a time of anglo-saxonic period only the village nobility could afford to equip themselves in this way?
This way of learning about history is so much more lively and interesting than books, thanks for the shot!
Thank you! This is exactly the reason why I make videos like this, I've always learned better from visuals and in-depth video guides rather than text in books so I'm glad that others appreciate it too:)
I'm legitimately looking forward to more of these. I actually went and used your huscarl vid as the inspiration for an outfit for a character I am writing (wanted his kit to be authentic even though it's in a fantasy setting).
Very good craftsmanship in recreating the gear/armory (?) and clothing! ❤
Thank you, the Saxon in question is a friend of mine from a reenactment group, his wife makes most of his kit :)
I like these kind of video's, thank you!
Thanks! They are my favourite types of videos to make at the moment, unfortunately reenactment season is now over so I'll have to wait until next year to make more.
Feel free to share on your channel!! :)
Really interesting video and demonstration in 'kitting' up for battle.
Thank you :) yes indeed, not everything has to be armour!
Reminds me of the gastikaponen. The lusitanian warriors of the lower nobility who would wear great round shields and iron helmets, they would form the main line along the tarkanen the warriors who carried smaller shields and swords
Really interesting video 👍
Thank you :)
Awesome aesthetics and style. Have you ever checked out Schwerpunkt's work on the teghns?
Great video. I've been wondering about Anglo Saxon and Viking padded armor lately. I feel like if they were wearing the multi layered linen gambosons we would hear more about them. Thick wool makes a lot of sense.
They were certainly multi layered, unfortunately this perishable material rarely survives in any state which is useful to archaeologists but we do know that they likely had thinner gambessons than the 12th century equivalent.
It's so crazy to think europe went from every roman legionaire wearing hamata or segmentata to maille being so rare and expensive even a lord wouldn't necessarily have it
Well, that's what happens when you have a complete breakdown of a continental-wide industry haha
I didn't think Anglo Saxons used cavalry much at all. Would be difficult to ride into battle with that shield
It's not too difficult to do. Plus they had shield straps so they could pull the strap over the shoulder and wear it on the side with the hand on the reins.
We have multiple high end Saxon graves with horses and a lot of horse equipment present in the graves so, from that, we understand that Saxons did use cavalry for combat, or at least the higher classes used cavalry for combat.
Also, horses were very common in Saxon England but just like cars today, horses came in multiple types of breeds and were used for different things.
My understanding is that the Saxons did not fight on horseback. So the 'lance' is actually a spear.
Saxons certainly did fight on horseback, the Snape burials even had horses buried with the owners :) Hastings was just an outlier where the Saxons were on foot.
@@AlexTheHistoryGuy werent they more like mounted infantry? Just like the normans were?
I thought they rode to the battlefield on horseback, but then dismounted to fight on foot (apart from some light cavalry/skirmishing units).
@@JohnyG29 this is true, even after the Norman conquest, the English knights went back to dismounting before fighting.
Were saxons that brightly coloured material wise then? Awesome.
why wouldn't they be? red isn't THAT hard of a color to get man, it isn't blue. even that could be gotten without too much struggle if you wanted it just had to put up with the smell
@ARC5 don't know the dying process for either lol (I mean granted I could look it up). But to clarify my comment was an "oh I didn't know that" not being snide ^^
Haha don't worry I know what you meant, and I appreciate your intrigue :)
If you watch my recent "Hidden Secrets of Norwich Cathedral" video, I discuss the quest for colour during the medieval period and why it meant so much to them :)
@@AlexTheHistoryGuy I shall certainly do that!
what about padding underneath the helmet ?
I believe he had an internal liner sewn into the helmet
So if he COULD afford Maile would he wear it over the Kaftan? I know some guys wore Gambesons (I probably spelled that wrong) underneath their chain, would the Kaftan serve the same purpose?
Yes he certainly would have. Gambessons weren't really a thing during the Saxon period, that was more of a thing beginning in the 12th century. The Romans did have a form of padded shirt similar to a gambeson though.
@ that’s super cool thank you for answering
The very wide belt with double strap pouch intrigues me. Is there a direct reference to that in Grave 47 or other Saxon finds?
I didn't actually get very long to speak to him, the little time I had to chat was spent mainly talking about the Shorwell helmet as that was the main component I knew about.
I've been told by various people that the wide belts are a Larp thing but no one has ever actually been able to tell me why.
In my own personal use, wide belts help support maille a lot better, keeps everything tucked in and allows me to breath through my chest better rather than lower in my diaphragm so I have nothing but good things to say about wide belts.
Of course, I have no solid evidence one way or the other.
Bears a strong resemblance to a late-Roman military belt "balteus".
It wouldn't surprise me, this kit is only from a couple hundred years after the Romans formally left Britain, and the majority of Romano British were still living alongside the Saxons during the 6th century
@@AlexTheHistoryGuy The Sutton Hoo belt buckle is quite wide for the time, not as wide as this one though. So maybe there are wider belts, but not as wide as this? I've never seen anything this wide as a material find, or in any art from the period.
Nearly everything I normally wear as a viking.As for the belt I do have a thicker belt but I was kept being told it was to thick so I got thin ones. But the thicker one is still used if I carry my sword on my belt I find it more comfortable.And my helmet has the nose guard. But I was thinking of get the same sort as in the video as they probably was the most common from around the 4 to 14th century they was cheap.But I read somewhere that someone was found with a cook pot on his head. And they might have used boiled leather helmets.The problem is people expected things like leg wraps but they was not really used as much as you think.My spear is how long as I can get in my car. Nearly every one carries a sword but I think axes are more fun.
interesting degene meant a knight in old german
Why are you displaying the text info so quick?
I had the same issue. Kept having to pause it to read.
It's a tricky one. I only have a certain amount of footage so there's a limit to how long I can show text on screen until the footage moves onto another scene so I only have a small amount of time to display the text.
So yes, pausing may be your best bet haha.
What a lifestyle, prepared to defend and kill at the summons of the king.
How fun!
a well-aimed arrow and poor Thegn is no more 😞
Sad times :(
That's what the shield is for.
A Kaftan you say. In 6th century Saxon Britain. Dsmn globalization.
The Saxons certainly had kaftans!
@AlexTheHistoryGuy I don't doubt it. I'm poking fun at modern anti-globalists.
The Anglo-Saxons certainly had long coats that looked like what we call kaftans today (as I am sure most cultures did), but they didn't call them kaftans. The proper Asian kaftan wasn't really introduced into the west until late Victorian times.
@@RasheedKhan-he6xx I'm anti-globalist, what you saying? Come at me.
If you were truly anti-globalist then you wouldn't want him to come at you. In fact, you'd want him to stay exactly where he is. :^)
how/when did 'thegn' became 'knight'? lance on horseback is useless without stirrup
'Knight' is a norman word but it's essentially the same thing.
I highly doubt lance on horseback is useless without a stirrup as cavalry were using lances for thousands of years before the stirrup was invented. Less impactful, sure. Useless, no.
@@AlexTheHistoryGuy Associated with the Norman period and beyond, but worth noting that the word itself comes from Anglo-Saxon "cniht", a young man or servant, rather than from Norman French.
His equipment looks worse than the Roman limitanei.
Explain
You have to consider that Rome had far more resources and wealth than the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms
@@MarcoCaprini-do3dq I know. Jus a fact of tecnology degradation.
@@AlexTheHistoryGuy Even a simple Roman soldier who served on a remote frontier was equipped in a similar way.
But in a time of anglo-saxonic period only the village nobility could afford to equip themselves in this way?
@@EykisCorporation Thegns were often minor nobility, warriors like earls and huscarls would have worn maille