Vir Novus

Greetings, everyone, and pax vobiscum.

By way of introduction, I should say, as my avatar might suggest, that Edward III, not Edward II, is my favorite English medieval king. That said, however, I think this attempt to salvage Ed II’s reputation is a very necessary enterprise, and I’m willing to do what I can to help.

To introduce myself: I am a currently unpublished author who is beginning research on a historical novel set in England during 1325-1330. Although it’s not really about Edward, the political turmoil of the day will have an impact on the story, and Isabella, Roger Mortimer, and Ed III will all make brief appearances. I stumbled across Alainore's blog while searching for information about the Tynemouth incident in 1322, which I hope to feature as a prologue scene.

Medieval history and society are great hobbies of mine, although I’m not an expert in the field and still have much to learn, which is part of the reason I joined the forum. I also love Latin, and am an avid swordsman. I hope to learn a good deal here.

G'day and welcome!

Your soon to be published work sounds very interesting - hop you keep us all posted on your progress.

Salve!

Do you happen to know of any good books on medieval swords, armour etc?

I do know of several, but to make a good reccomendation I would depend on what period you're needing the info for, particularly where swords are concerned.

14th century England . I've only heard of E. Oakeshott's books and have recently ordered some of them.

From what I understand, the early 14th century (up to around 1330) didn't differ too drastically from the late 13th as far as weaponry went. I think that plate armor for the arms and legs was becoming pretty common by the 1320's, but mail still covered the torso. I say this simply because it can often take quite a bit of reading from scattered sources to piece together exactly what kind of equipment was being used in a particular period. :-)

As far as books go, I'll try to come up with a better list, but at the moment Fighting Techniques of the Medieval World (by several authors) comes to mind. It analyzes the development of infantry, cavalry, naval and siege warfare throughout the middle ages, and has a wealth of detail, lots of helpful illustrations, and some pretty good explanations of how various weapons were actually utilized in the field. One good thing about it is that it talks about common soldiers as well as knights. Another would be Arms and Armor of the Medieval Knight by David Edge and John Miles Paddock. It has, if I'm not mistaken, a pretty thorough chapter for each century of the middle ages. You might also look into the Osprey books. I'm not sure if they have anything in this precise period, but I've found them to be very helpful even though they're short, since they focus each book entirely on one kind of warrior in a pretty well defined period.

Mail shirts and probably leather hacquetons underneath...

Thank you, I'll definitely look for the books!

And not forgetting the coat of plates. I think that style of armor was pretty much unique to the 1310-1340 period.

Welcome! Your book sounds fascinating.

Please do post the list when you've remembered more titles!