Today we look at how throwing a spear in armor works, and how Fiore's defense against thrown spears functions. This builds on our previous post about the danger of thrown spears to armored combatants (see this previous video, so if you haven't seen that already you might want to check it out.
Even for a heavily armored 14th/early 15th century knight, a thrown spear was very dangerous if it struck you somewhere covered in maille rather than plate, such as the inside of the elbow, the shoulder joint, or the groin. In today's experiment, Nathan throws an Arms and Armor Norseman Spear at an archery butt while wearing full upper-body armor (I didn't want to put my leg harness on ;-) Next, Nathan throws several rubber-tipped spears at Patrick Naleway, who defends from a low guard as Fiore dei Liberi describes in his ~1400AD fight book.
Thanks to our friend Emily Braizen for this cool action shot!
Parrying from the low guard is quite effective at displacing the business end of the spear from the target areas, though care must be taken not to deflect it into other parts of the body. Additionally, parrying from low to high leaves the fighter with the sword raised and in a natural position to counter-attack the newly spear-less opponent who must now draw his sword or dagger quickly to fight back.
As always, our swords are entirely made by us, by hand, at our shop in Minneapolis, MN. The blades are hand ground of 6150 carbon steel, hardened and tempered to 50-52 Rockwell. All of our products are made to look, feel, and function just like the historical originals on which they are based. Arms & Armor is dedicated to quality and authenticity. For over four decades we have worked with museums, collectors, and scholars around the world to develop a deep understanding of European weapons; knowledge we use to make products that exemplify the finest qualities of the very best historic pieces. When we select historic items to reproduce, being pretty isn't enough, they have to move with grace and beauty, and beg to be used when in the hand. These are pieces that feel as good as they look, and that work as well as they feel. Our mission is to craft items that recreate the look, feel, and function of the best historic originals.
Nathan Clough, Ph.D. is President of Arms and Armor and a member of the governing board of The Oakeshott Institute. He is a historical martial artist and a former university professor of cultural geography. He has given presentations on historical arms at events including Longpoint and Combatcon, and presented scholarly papers at, among others, The International Congress on Medieval Studies.
Craig Johnson is the Production Manager of Arms and Armor and Secretary of The Oakeshott Institute. He has taught and published on the history of arms, armor and western martial arts for over 30 years. He has lectured at several schools and Universities, WMAW, HEMAC, 4W, and ICMS at Kalamazoo. His experiences include iron smelting, jousting, theatrical combat instruction and choreography, historical research, European martial arts and crafting weapons and armor since 1985