Dirk recently has gone on some exciting trips for Arms and Armor!
The reconstructed armor, showing the arming chains.
First, in March Dirk visited the the Bavarian Army Museum in Ingolstadt, Germany to work on an exciting project, nicknamed the Puzzle Armor! At the museum Dirk worked with other curators on the armor, including Alfred Geibig (Kunstsammlungen Veste der Coburg), Toby Capwell (Wallace Collection, London), Dr. Raphael Beuing (Bavarian National Museum, Munich), and the host, Dr. Tobias Schönauer (curator of the Bavarian Army Museum). The puzzle armor is special due to the rarity of existing mid fourteenth-century body armor. Although it was common armor in its time, few examples remain today. Discovered in the remains of a German castle by an amateur archaeologists much is unknown about the armor. Together the experts gathered and examined the special armor! For more information on the piece and the group’s findings check out Toby Capwell’s Behind the Scenes post on the Puzzle Armour.
Dirk in action!
This July, Dirk journeyed to Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and Italy. He met with
Sorry, but the tournament looked nothing like this…
colleagues, studied effigies, and took lots of photos! The most exciting part of Dirk’s trip (in our opinions) is the tournament that he visited. (And we’re not talking about unrealistic family dinner theater featuring staged medieval-style games…) Dirk attended The Great Tournament of Schaffhausen, which took place in a town near the German border in northern Switzerland from July 10 – 20. The tournament was hosted by the Museum zu Allerheilegen (Museum of All Saints). Some of the injuries included a hand impalement by a sword and a face being stabbed by a lance. Toby Capwell (this should be a familiar name to you by now) has a great video from the tournament, explaining his love for jousting! Check it out!
Chivalry is not dead!
