Might be worth emailing the relevant curators and asking? Some might be happy for you to publicise their departments, providing you can do it at a time convenient for them.
I wonder if there were similar rules regarding the Celtic beasts we see on ancient swords as the heraldic beasts we see on crests. Perhaps the monsters on things like the sutton hoo (I think I misspelled that) sword have real life counterparts that they too don't really look like.
One question regarding the berdiche axe. Why was the head so large? When you make the area of impact that large don't you ruin its armor piercing qualities pretty bad?
"You can work that out in the end or something" Matt Easton laughs either nervously or ironically. CONFIRMED! Tobias Capwell does not watch your UA-cam channel.
Yeah. It might not pay that well but I'd still say it is worth it :-) The big problem with the field is that getting a job like this is pretty hard and if you don't get it your qualification is pretty much useless for most other fields (albeit some archeologists know quite a bit about things like computer modelling etc., as those are useful tools in modern archeology and so that can be applied in other fields as well).
Matt, from now on you should wear Catt Easton on top of your head in this manner to honor your bygone Kings as well as for our amusement in all of your videos.
The "Song of Lewes" from c1264, a poem/song about the Second Barons war makes a joke about Edward I (Then just Lord Edward) , calling him two faced by saying he is both a lion and a leopard, indicating that it could be interpreted as both, depending on if you wanted to give the king a positive or negative connotation. The song of Lewes: "Whereunto shall the noble Edward be compared? Perhaps he will be rightly called a leopard. If we divide the name it becomes lion and pard; lion, because we saw that he was not slow to attack the strongest places, fearing the onslaught of none, with the boldest valour making a raid amidst the castles, and wherever he goes succeeding as it were at his wish, as though like Alexander he would speedily subdue the whole world, if Fortune's moving wheel would stand still for ever; wherein let the highest forthwith know that he will fall, and that he who reigns as lord will reign but a little time. And this has, it is clear, befallen the noble Edward, who, it is agreed, has fallen from his unstable position. A lion by pride and fierceness, he is by inconstancy and changeableness a pard, changing his word and promise, cloaking himself by pleasant speech. When he is in a strait he promises whatever you wish, but as soon as he has escaped he renounces his promise. Let Gloucester be witness, where, when free from his difficulty, he at once revoked what he had sworn. The treachery or falsehood whereby he is advanced he calls prudence; the way whereby he arrives whither he will, crooked though it be, is regarded as straight; wrong gives him pleasure and is called right ; whatever he likes he says is lawful, and he thinks that he is released from law, as though he were greater than the King. For every king is ruled by the laws which he makes; King Saul is rejected because he broke the laws; and David is related to have been punished as soon as he acted contrary to the law; hence, therefore, let him who makes laws, learn that he cannot rule who observes not the law; nor ought they, whose concern it is, to make this man king."
Dr. Capwell is right about the heraldry. In England, a leopard is a lion looking forward. In France it's a bit more complicated because they make a distinction between "lion-leopardé" (lion passant: lion on 4 legs like an english leopard) and "leoparde-lionné" (lion rampant guardant: on two legs and looking to the front)
On the other side of the world, the Japanese artists weren't much better. They could do remarkable depictions of horses, but Tigers and lions looked like large floppy rubber boned domestic cats. All they had to go on were animal skins.
I humbly thank you and Dr. Capwell and, of course, Augusto for sharing such amazing knowledge with the community! Sometimes we forget just how damn lucky we are living in this day and age of information
Huh, the only difference between leopards and lions is the direction that they're looking. I can't wait to get down to the zoo and correct them! I now have historical sources to quote.
I was inspired to go to the Wallace Collection Museum after the last video. Never knew it existed to be honest. Nice place, nice armour on display, although I think majority of it was jousting armour. Cheers for the recommendation Matt
another amazing video with Dr. Tobias! I became fan of the Dr. since he appeared on your channel and his way to explain the aspects of armour is just fantastic! Matt, please, bring Dr. Capwell more often on your channel! God bless both of you (and also the cameraman)! Cheers from Brazil!
I thought that the large crests would have been Balsa wood or something similar . Cool video Matt thank you . Toby , thank you as well , you must love your job .
The etymology kind of shows how it might have been confused. Leopard is Leo pard. Lion beard. I.e. A lion with a mane. I'm not sure when it started being applied to what we think of as a leopard now. I would guess not systematically till Europeans started seeing them regularly once they had acquired colonies in places where leopards actually exist. Maybe not even till lineus and the like started categorising animals etc...
Will there be pictures available of the creation process of the crest (perhaps in a publication)? It's fascinating listening to the process of forming leather over a wooden interior etc., but I think it would be much more enlightening to be able to see some of the stages - what did the initial wooden form look like, the unpainted leather over the form, the unpainted leather once it's taken off the form etc. That is something I would very much like to see.
I heard the same thing about heraldic lions/leopards, in fact here in Normandy they call the beasts on the flag "leopards" even though they look like lions. And since that's where the "feline section" of the English CoA comes from, it only makes sense that they still called it a leopard, I suppose.
It sure is! In fact one can hear football fans mention "our leopards" in some stadium anthem. Fun fact, Caen's HEMA club badge has two leopards looking like actual leopards rather than lions.
We have the Norman Leopards on our flag (and coat of arms) too in Jersey. Sometimes its funny becaue in the past people sometimes got Leopards and Lions mixed up. I have a source which is a late 17th century map and they have spots, even if the description is correct "Gules Three Leopards passant gardent Or" there was actually a big debate about it, then they decided that no spots was correct and spots was due to a misunderstanding later widely adopted in the centuries following the publication of the map: www.theislandwiki.org/index.php/The_leopards_of_England_and_the_Channel_Islands
King: I want a lion in my coat of arms! Tailor: Yes, your Majesty! King: But I want it looking out. Tailor: Ah, yes, that'll be a leopard, then. Tailor: /*depicts a baboon*/ King: Wonderful! It looks just like a lion!
Heraldric lions were probably not taken from the African Lion of the horn of Africa, but from by-then extinct European and North African lion species(es?), which lacked the mane (of the "lyonne" in heraldry, IIRC, which was the maned species).
My family have our own coat off arms. It is a beast holding a cut off head. But it does not allways look the same threw houndreds off years,sometimes it is painted a little different. Because different people want to it to look like their own in different times in history. My family is Danish high nobility and Swedish ancient nobility. That goes back before the viking age,until now. It's a really old norse family,with extreme amount off power in the old days.Maybe you have heard off Gustav Trolle and the bloodbath off Stocholm? He is just one off them,but maybe one you have heard about.He was even a story in the cartoon the fantom,he was the evil one off course:-)) You know the fantom from Bengal jungle who lives in a sceleton head cave. Thanks so much for your vids,i love them. You are my nr one youtuber. And i really like the most nerdy ones;-)) I iam a huge sword collector uoy know. Keep the vids comming.
Heraldry is such a rich subject, and is still very much alive and thriving as a living practice and artform. It's a shame it's such an obscure, neglected subject. It should be taken more seriously, given how many historical details these devices can contain that aren't recorded by any other means.
Nice job, good video, but... Almost three years later, it is still impossible to find a single photo of this reconstruction online. What is the point of doing this type of historical work, if the result will be completely hidden from the public eye?
The latch on the back is actually very clever and has to do with mitigating impact. Before the helms became sleek and shaped in a way that was more deflective, if you got struck in your helm having that latch allowed it to absorb the impact by tilting the helm backwards. It’s a lot like why cars are built to crumple, because if they didn’t then the person inside takes the full force of the hit.
On the jousting image with swords why are their sword arms on the outside so that they strike across their bodies? I dont know anything about swordsmanship let alone mounted combat but this seems odd. Would be good if you could explain that matt. Cheers.
Its a tangent, but one of things I liked about A Song of Ice and Fire was that there were a lot of crests on helmets described. You don't get that, beyond a random character or two, in most other fantasy novels. Wish they'd've carried that into the show, but as we can see here, the effect is a bit silly to modern sensibilities.
I have studied the exact same thing about Leopard vs Lion in Heraldry : Leopard when the head is facing the "viewer", Lion when the head is facing forward.
Just saw Tobias in a new episode of Nova, "Secrets of the Shining Knight". Make sure next time you meet up to say how cool it was for your viewers to see him showing off the hardware.
Toby; "you can edit it later or something." Matt; "hhhahahahha!"
lol
Good old Toby Capwell. I like how he can be informative and casual without being patronising
Patronising is not a word I was expecting to read in the comments section of this video
I wish I had Matt's status in the community. I wanna be able to just walk into museum storerooms with a camera. #jealous
Might be worth emailing the relevant curators and asking? Some might be happy for you to publicise their departments, providing you can do it at a time convenient for them.
You want his status. +EnglishMartialArts want his subscribers. In an ideal world, you'd both get what you wanted.
Capwell and Easton, my favorite tv show
I had no idea that the construction method would be so interesting.
Excellent video !!! Tremendously interesting.
I wonder if there were similar rules regarding the Celtic beasts we see on ancient swords as the heraldic beasts we see on crests. Perhaps the monsters on things like the sutton hoo (I think I misspelled that) sword have real life counterparts that they too don't really look like.
Looks remarkably similar to the Earl of Surrey/Duke of Norfolk's
One question regarding the berdiche axe. Why was the head so large? When you make the area of impact that large don't you ruin its armor piercing qualities pretty bad?
Not on my helmet, museum dude!
Alatriste THE ONLY GOOD PIKE AND SHOT ERA MOVIE I KNOW OF AND HAVE SEEN PLEASE DO A REVIEW ON IT PLEAAAASSSSSSEEEE FOR THE LOVE OF BABY JESUS MATT
Lion, leopard... that thing looks like a mandrill to me.
What kind of dog is that? Looks weird.
Jesus... it looks liks something from poundland
I know he's not in shot, but I like to think Augusto is emphatically agreeing with all of this :)
*Nods*
There is a video interview just with Augusto coming soon. He nods a bit, but not that much.
I did indeed agree. And nod emphatically.
Augusto Boer Bront?
Capwell is a living legend.
"You can work that out in the end or something"
Matt Easton laughs either nervously or ironically.
CONFIRMED! Tobias Capwell does not watch your UA-cam channel.
I could listen to Toby talking for hours. What a fantastic job he must have.
Yeah. It might not pay that well but I'd still say it is worth it :-) The big problem with the field is that getting a job like this is pretty hard and if you don't get it your qualification is pretty much useless for most other fields (albeit some archeologists know quite a bit about things like computer modelling etc., as those are useful tools in modern archeology and so that can be applied in other fields as well).
Matt, from now on you should wear Catt Easton on top of your head in this manner to honor your bygone Kings as well as for our amusement in all of your videos.
Came here to post this. Knew I wouldn't be the first.
*Catt Easton
Corrected. Thx.
The "Song of Lewes" from c1264, a poem/song about the Second Barons war makes a joke about Edward I (Then just Lord Edward) , calling him two faced by saying he is both a lion and a leopard, indicating that it could be interpreted as both, depending on if you wanted to give the king a positive or negative connotation.
The song of Lewes:
"Whereunto shall the noble Edward be compared? Perhaps he will be rightly called a leopard. If we divide the name it becomes lion and pard; lion, because we saw that he was not slow to attack the strongest places, fearing the onslaught of none, with the boldest valour making a raid amidst the castles, and wherever he goes succeeding as it were at his wish, as though like Alexander he would speedily subdue the whole world, if Fortune's moving wheel would stand still for ever; wherein let the highest forthwith know that he will fall, and that he who reigns as lord will reign but a little time. And this has, it is clear, befallen the noble Edward, who, it is agreed, has fallen from his unstable position. A lion by pride and fierceness, he is by inconstancy and changeableness a pard, changing his word and promise, cloaking himself by pleasant speech. When he is in a strait he promises whatever you wish, but as soon as he has escaped he renounces his promise. Let Gloucester be witness, where, when free from his difficulty, he at once revoked what he had sworn. The treachery or falsehood whereby he is advanced he calls prudence; the way whereby he arrives whither he will, crooked though it be, is regarded as straight; wrong gives him pleasure and is called right ; whatever he likes he says is lawful, and he thinks that he is released from law, as though he were greater than the King. For every king is ruled by the laws which he makes; King Saul is rejected because he broke the laws; and David is related to have been punished as soon as he acted contrary to the law; hence, therefore, let him who makes laws, learn that he cannot rule who observes not the law; nor ought they, whose concern it is, to make this man king."
Dr. Capwell is right about the heraldry. In England, a leopard is a lion looking forward. In France it's a bit more complicated because they make a distinction between "lion-leopardé" (lion passant: lion on 4 legs like an english leopard) and "leoparde-lionné" (lion rampant guardant: on two legs and looking to the front)
And when you only have images of heraldic lions, your taxidermy get like this: www.ulrikagood.com/2011/04/lion-of-gripshoms-castle.html
On the other side of the world, the Japanese artists weren't much better. They could do remarkable depictions of horses, but Tigers and lions looked like large floppy rubber boned domestic cats. All they had to go on were animal skins.
I humbly thank you and Dr. Capwell and, of course, Augusto for sharing such amazing knowledge with the community! Sometimes we forget just how damn lucky we are living in this day and age of information
Huh, the only difference between leopards and lions is the direction that they're looking. I can't wait to get down to the zoo and correct them! I now have historical sources to quote.
That's certainly a fancy hat
I was inspired to go to the Wallace Collection Museum after the last video. Never knew it existed to be honest. Nice place, nice armour on display, although I think majority of it was jousting armour.
Cheers for the recommendation Matt
LordRoss thats the beauty of UA-cam, I’m finding out about things I never knew before as i did about the Wallace Collection.
It's breathtaking, it's magnificent, it's.....hideous.
another amazing video with Dr. Tobias! I became fan of the Dr. since he appeared on your channel and his way to explain the aspects of armour is just fantastic! Matt, please, bring Dr. Capwell more often on your channel! God bless both of you (and also the cameraman)! Cheers from Brazil!
I thought that the large crests would have been Balsa wood or something similar . Cool video Matt thank you . Toby , thank you as well , you must love your job .
Balsa is from South America. The lightest wood they would have had would probably have been cedar, which would still be quite heavy.
neat video Matt. Also i would totally watch a Capwell & Easton TV series where y'all go around and talk about things like this.
The etymology kind of shows how it might have been confused. Leopard is Leo pard. Lion beard. I.e. A lion with a mane. I'm not sure when it started being applied to what we think of as a leopard now. I would guess not systematically till Europeans started seeing them regularly once they had acquired colonies in places where leopards actually exist. Maybe not even till lineus and the like started categorising animals etc...
Will there be pictures available of the creation process of the crest (perhaps in a publication)? It's fascinating listening to the process of forming leather over a wooden interior etc., but I think it would be much more enlightening to be able to see some of the stages - what did the initial wooden form look like, the unpainted leather over the form, the unpainted leather once it's taken off the form etc. That is something I would very much like to see.
Unfortunately this crest and helmet was created long before I turned up with a camera.
Good to see Dr. Tobias Capwell in one of your videos again
Excellent video!
I heard the same thing about heraldic lions/leopards, in fact here in Normandy they call the beasts on the flag "leopards" even though they look like lions.
And since that's where the "feline section" of the English CoA comes from, it only makes sense that they still called it a leopard, I suppose.
Interesting!
It sure is! In fact one can hear football fans mention "our leopards" in some stadium anthem.
Fun fact, Caen's HEMA club badge has two leopards looking like actual leopards rather than lions.
We have the Norman Leopards on our flag (and coat of arms) too in Jersey.
Sometimes its funny becaue in the past people sometimes got Leopards and Lions mixed up. I have a source which is a late 17th century map and they have spots, even if the description is correct "Gules Three Leopards passant gardent Or"
there was actually a big debate about it, then they decided that no spots was correct and spots was due to a misunderstanding later widely adopted in the centuries following the publication of the map: www.theislandwiki.org/index.php/The_leopards_of_England_and_the_Channel_Islands
King: I want a lion in my coat of arms!
Tailor: Yes, your Majesty!
King: But I want it looking out.
Tailor: Ah, yes, that'll be a leopard, then.
Tailor: /*depicts a baboon*/
King: Wonderful! It looks just like a lion!
Heraldric lions were probably not taken from the African Lion of the horn of Africa, but from by-then extinct European and North African lion species(es?), which lacked the mane (of the "lyonne" in heraldry, IIRC, which was the maned species).
These are so awesome!! I learn so much about people and places I’ve studied for years, thank you!!
My family have our own coat off arms. It is a beast holding a cut off head. But it does not allways look the same threw houndreds off years,sometimes it is painted a little different. Because different people want to it to look like their own in different times in history. My family is Danish high nobility and Swedish ancient nobility. That goes back before the viking age,until now. It's a really old norse family,with extreme amount off power in the old days.Maybe you have heard off Gustav Trolle and the bloodbath off Stocholm? He is just one off them,but maybe one you have heard about.He was even a story in the cartoon the fantom,he was the evil one off course:-)) You know the fantom from Bengal jungle who lives in a sceleton head cave. Thanks so much for your vids,i love them. You are my nr one youtuber. And i really like the most nerdy ones;-)) I iam a huge sword collector uoy know. Keep the vids comming.
Those jousts must have been insanely expensive, like, on the order of the Olympics today.
Makes me wonder how long sword fighting actually took - after watching this its seconds. Thoughts? ua-cam.com/video/4GoQlvc_H3s/v-deo.html
Heraldry is such a rich subject, and is still very much alive and thriving as a living practice and artform. It's a shame it's such an obscure, neglected subject. It should be taken more seriously, given how many historical details these devices can contain that aren't recorded by any other means.
Nice job, good video, but...
Almost three years later, it is still impossible to find a single photo of this reconstruction online. What is the point of doing this type of historical work, if the result will be completely hidden from the public eye?
The latch on the back is actually very clever and has to do with mitigating impact. Before the helms became sleek and shaped in a way that was more deflective, if you got struck in your helm having that latch allowed it to absorb the impact by tilting the helm backwards. It’s a lot like why cars are built to crumple, because if they didn’t then the person inside takes the full force of the hit.
It's a golden retriever on crack.
someone needs to make a jousting helmet with a papier-mâché Cat Easton.
On the jousting image with swords why are their sword arms on the outside so that they strike across their bodies? I dont know anything about swordsmanship let alone mounted combat but this seems odd. Would be good if you could explain that matt. Cheers.
Fascinating as usual. Leather and modern plastic fill such similar niches.
Also, my daughter wonders if you are a nice guy.
Lions, leopards be damned. That has all the poise of a Jack Russell terrier.
The lion on the helmet looks like the one in Gripsholm Castle, Sweden. Not very regal or imposing... :p
I want to see more goofy heraldic shit represented in movies :'(
"It's a noble beast!" I love that, it's basically the heraldic equivalent of 'good enough, 'sa cat i'nnit?'
Three leopards on my shirt, Jules Rimet still gleaming doesn't have the same ring! hahaha
somehow im sure they cut there, cause Matt dropped down the helmet
Its a tangent, but one of things I liked about A Song of Ice and Fire was that there were a lot of crests on helmets described. You don't get that, beyond a random character or two, in most other fantasy novels. Wish they'd've carried that into the show, but as we can see here, the effect is a bit silly to modern sensibilities.
its a precuser to the jousting helm
I really feel like it needs a pheasant feather.
Yee ol' pinp helmet
I have studied the exact same thing about Leopard vs Lion in Heraldry : Leopard when the head is facing the "viewer", Lion when the head is facing forward.
Good boy Shep.
6:36 screenshotted that
Da fuck lol.
Just saw Tobias in a new episode of Nova, "Secrets of the Shining Knight". Make sure next time you meet up to say how cool it was for your viewers to see him showing off the hardware.
Honestly, I like the browned look for the helmet better, despite the damage associated with it.
AWESOME! (machicolations)
Good stuff. I can't help but wonder what a reconstruction like that costs and where they found a craftsman that could pull it off.
Hey Matt, I think there's a cat on your helmet.
It is a little known fact that Henry suffered from Chiwahwahs humping his helmets.
Its a dog with a crown though
What powerful ruler would want an unrealistic yellow thing on top of his head?
It's a good thing he was dead when he was wearing it. Otherwise he'd bang his head on every door he walked through.