[KarlInOhio]

What about you? did you see it? If so, did you enjoy it?

Saw it at the local Renfest. To me it had the same feel as the Kentucky Derby, lots of warm up which bored me, followed by moments of excitement. I don't know if the jousters were doing it for real or if they had already decided who was going down in that bout. I'm betting the second just because even a blunt lance can be pretty dangerous if it hits the knight oddly or he falls when not planning for it.

Another History Channel show about medieval combat showed that the knights in armor were pretty darn nimble and were able to roll over and spring to their feet pretty quickly in armor. I had expected them to be like turtles on their backs, but I guess with years of training and hundreds of years of making armor taught them how to make it heavy enough to be protective but still light and flexible enough not to be too great of hindrance.

[do the dhue]

The show on history channel was not like that. Must have taken the warm ups out. It seemed pretty real. Also, showed some pretty intense practice. One of the Team Leaders took a heck of hit. It took him a while to get off the ground. Also, they showed previews of upcoming shows and they will be drawing blood. It looks pretty real to me. I don't want to see folks bleed, but I think it could make it as a sport. I had more fun watching this then I do watching golf.

[PapaBear3625]

Another History Channel show about medieval combat showed that the knights in armor were pretty darn nimble and were able to roll over and spring to their feet pretty quickly in armor. I had expected them to be like turtles on their backs, but I guess with years of training and hundreds of years of making armor taught them how to make it heavy enough to be protective but still light and flexible enough not to be too great of hindrance.

Full armor was about 50 pounds, evenly distributed. Modern infantry are expected to run around with that amount of weight (between body armor, ammo, rifle, various odd bits).

Armor which was too heavy to fight in would have been worthless.

[Ramius]

Actual plate armor wasn’t as heavy as people tend to think. A fighter had to remain nimble. Running and jumping were essential. They also had a surprising freedom of movement. Pretty much full range, in a well made set (called ‘harness’) from a good armorer.

And... I’d say this calls for a sword ping!

[Flag_This]

"Another History Channel show about medieval combat showed that the knights in armor were pretty darn nimble and were able to roll over and spring to their feet pretty quickly in armor."

Jousting and tournament armor eventually became very specialized for the sport and was the not the same as armor for combat. You'll see some suits with heavy plate on the left side - which is great if you are tilting, but not so great in a free-for-all battle.