Insights from Historical Artwork From
the 13th century Maciejowski Bible, a battle scene of several interesting points. On the
far left a helm is cut into by a sword and a mace strikes another, next to it on the right
an axe bites deep into a conical helm and a sword splits another. Below, a lance
pierces a rider's mail, his own broken in two places. Both round and heater shields
are evident on mounted fighters. In the back on the far left a large unique chopping
blade rises between a sword and two spears. On the ground below the fight are
several bodies showing gruesome wounds. A severed head on the left, next to it a
body with large wounds to the back of the neck, the shoulder and the forearm, next to this
a mal-coifed head is almost severed from its body and a figure lies with a blade stuck
through his side and his large helm cleaved almost in two. From the color of the
conical helms it is not clear whether they are of hardened leather with metal rims or
fully steel. Many conical helms tend to be light and flat top helms provide an angle that
allows a sword edge to bite into and does not deflect blows as easily. When evaluating
historical images of weapons against armor from this period, keep in mind that armor was
not standardized and quality did vary. Helms of this period were not as heavy
as later ones and the quality of steel in armor of the 10th 13th
centuries is not considered to generally be as hard as that of the 14th - 16th.
Additionally, many of todays replica armor is often made of stronger steel
and thicker steel than the actual historical pieces from the 1200s (whereas in
contrast, the quality of modern replica sword blades is generally not as fine as the
historical pieces).
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