There wasn’t quite so much armour-gazing on this trip. Previously I’ve collected some great photos from the Tower of London, the Royal Armoury at Leeds and the Metropolitan Museum in New York, all of which house some wonderful armour and attendant equipment. But there were some amazing pieces in the Wallace Collection, in London, notably the horse armour, as well as the Yorkshire Museum. Here are some of the astonishing pieces I saw … some captioned, some not, but all telling a fabulous story!

 

The York helmet, in amazing condition. Anglo-Saxon magnificence.

 

 

 

This is a horseman’s hammer. Skeletal remains from various battlefields bear witness to its efficiency in despatching a downed enemy – or a helpless prisoner.

 

 

 

 

This is an elaborate harness for the carrying of a horn. The harness attaches to a belt and the horn clips onto the hooks.

Indian, this one, not European, so not directly relevant — but beautiful!

 

 

How much did I want to break the glass case and look at every page of this astonishing 14th century fight manual?

A dress spur belonging to Charlemagne, circa 800 AD. My mind continues to boggle …

Another Asian piece. Doesn’t it look like a batleth?

And here we have a Tudor archer’s leather wrist guard. Amazing.

 

This last one is of course well out of period, but I include it because I think it’s extraordinary. Would you believe these are Roman era feet protectors? Roman soldiers wore open sandals …