Can You Move in Medieval Armour? An Experiment in Mythbusting - Medievalists.net
Many believe the myth that medieval armour was hard to move in. However, with Boucicaut as an example, our video proves that late medieval armour allowed for surprising mobility.
ok cool. So you are aware that the chivalric literature of the high middle ages make absolutely no mentioning of overly heavy amour, that the romantic medievalist revival of the 19th century with novels like Invahoe or A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court very clearly depicted medieval arms and amour as extremely heavy for the first time even though the types of arnour described didn't even exist during the time of Arthur or the 12th century?
Here's a sample from Mark Twain:
Completely nonsensical but Mark Twain was one of the most read authors of his time, his works were incredibly popular, so his description of arms and armour reached literally millions who until then had learned little to nothing about medieval arms and armor. .
Cool. I expected you espouse being a HEMA practitioner.
I loved Ivanhoe, and while it mentions armor in any specificity, the most interesting point is how the arrows of the men of the Sherwood Forest bounced off the plates of the opposing knights, as Richard the II leads them in a siege against a castle. Ivanhoe goes much against the myth of the longbow. It doesn't depict armor as cumbersome per se, as much as protective, and the physical ferocity of Richard is well noted.
As for CT Yankee, well, I saw the movie years ago. I will leave your quote as it is, but I can only surmise that you've not read much Mark Twain, because he uses comedic hyperbole in both that quote and as one of his comic tropes.
As for my assertion that the "enlightenment" portrayed all those who came before them as, well, "unenlightened," the primary evidence alone is in the name they gave their age.
Except of course that English knights didn't wear plate in the 12th century and longbows would have been very efficient against the maille that they would have worn.
I'm not debating the historicism of Ivanhoe, but rather the origin of the idea that plate armor (specifically high medieval) was cumbersome and the knights were unable to move well in it.
And depending on the range, and draw weight of the bow, mail is somewhat effective. Plenty of Youtube vids on this.
Anyway, you may be right, it could be 19th century fiction...but the origin came from a number of sources high disconnected with both the time period and martialism.