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.
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.