Armour

Armour serves two functions. It is reasonable proof against the weapons of the day and it is an artistic expression of the warrior’s identity.

Mike has always had a deep interest in armour on each of these counts. He has written about it extensively in both Swords and Swordsmen and in The Longbow and has spoken about it in numerous television appearances.

He used to own a full harness of replica 15th century plate armour in the Gothic style (left). Until he gave up competitive jousting in 2006, he jousted in it regularly, he appeared in numerous action scenes for tv wearing it and, for one programme, he demonstrated that medieval plate armour was not the encumbrance that it commonly believed to be – wearing full plate armour, he threw himself off a galloping horse and immediately sprang to his feet.

Mike has thirty years experience of wearing all manner of armours from mail, to scale to plate; he is accustomed to wearing armour and understands the practical issues of using it in combat. He can speak about its evolution, its function and its design for war, tournament and parade.

He has been involved in a number of tests designed to assess the effectiveness of armour against bows, swords and lances. It has also been his great privilege to be able to handle and wear various pieces of original armour housed in museum collections, including a variety of medieval helms which he donned to ascertain the differing fields of vision offered by each design.