The Armourer and His Craft: From the XIth to the XVIth Century

by Charles ffoulkes

Standard reference offers comprehensive, detailed record of 500 years of European armor — manufacture, materials, tools, cost, weight, and more. Over 100 illustrations. Bibliography.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1988

About the author

Charles John ffoulkes (1868–1947) was a British historian, and curator of the Royal Armouries at London.

Reviews

[Stephen Simpson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The images contained in this book are amazing - that alone is reason to get this if you're interested in armor of the medieval period.

The text ... Well...

First, remember, it was written 100 or so years ago by a British dude (or dudette - apparently his wife ghostwrote a lot of his stuff) who was, I believe pretty well educated and upper class. Soooo.... you definitely see some biases and whatnot come out that wouldn't be accepted today.

Also, the text is meandering. Full of interesting anecdotes and asides, but tough to follow. The information is really interesting, but the organization can be frustrating-to-painful at times.

Also on the text ... at least my version was printed in incredibly large font that was actually, in its own way, hard to read. With regular type face, the book would have been incredibly short absent the pictures.

Again, though, the pictures really make this book worthwhile. Those, and the interesting little anecdotes and information about specific armorers and so on.

[Alex Chiltern · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally published over 100 years ago, and while a good compendium of facts across a broad scope, it suffers from the original author's tendency to quote in Latin or medieval French and assume the reader understands. Still, a useful reference book, well illustrated.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

research book

[Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book not only describes what armour is and how it was used, but also how it was tested, built, and proven in times of battle. I enjoyed how the author described armour as being effective based on a handful of defining characteristics and how they were ranked in accordance to protectiveness and aesthetics.

[Joel Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Dover edition large-font oversized paperback by Ffoulkes is nicely organized with wonderful detail. The pictures and illustrations are balanced with the text. The book is not lavish, and is aimed towards those doing research or aficionados of medieval and Renaissance armor, but is not a 'how to' for making armor. The original publication date by Methuen is 1912. The glossary is comprehensive enough without being over tedious for a someone like myself who is not a historian. Thank you Dover for keeping this seminal work available.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is one of the first in depth medieval informative books that I couldn't put down in a long time.