Lorica Segmentata Volume I: A Handbook of Articulated Roman Plate Armour (None) PDF
Preview Lorica Segmentata Volume I: A Handbook of Articulated Roman Plate Armour (None)
This page intentionally blank Lorica Segmentata Volume I: A Handbook of Articulated Roman Plate Armour M.C. Bishop JRMES Monograph 1 THE ARMATVRA PRESS For Peter Connolly, who cajoled, inspired, and nagged over many years (I hope he thinks it was worth it) Argiletanas mavis habitare tabernas, cum tibi, parve liber, scrinia nostra vacent Martialis Epigrams I,3 Lorica Segmentata Volume I: A Handbook of Articulated Roman Plate Armour M.C. Bishop JRMES Monograph 1 THE ARMATVRA PRESS First published in 2002 in Great Britain by The Armatura Press © 2002 M.C. Bishop ISBN 0 953 9848 42 ISSN 1477-8645 Designed and typeset by M.C. Bishop at The Armatura Press Printed in Great Britain by the Tyneside Free Press All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or used in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical or by photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher and the copyright holder. The Armatura Press, Braemar, Kirkgate, Chirnside, Duns, Berwickshire TD11 3XL, UK www.armatura.co.uk More information about lorica segmentata is available online at www.loricasegmentata.org Fig.1.2 © National Museums of Scotland Fig.1.5 © Chester City Council – Grosvenor Museum Figs.1.4, 1.6, 5.11 © H.R. Robinson courtesy Mrs M. Robinson Figs.1.7, 2.1-6, 2.10-11 (left), 3.1-2, 9.3 (right), 9.7, Plates 2 & 4 © J.C.N. Coulston Figs.5.2, 5.9-10, 6.8 © Peter Connolly Figs.8.3 © Thom Richardson and The Royal Armouries Figs.8.5, 9.3 (left) © J. Amt courtesy M. Amt Fig.8.6 © Musée Luxembourgeois Fig.8.8 © M. Simkins Plate 1 © West Yorkshire Archaeological Services All other illustrations are © M.C. Bishop Contents Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2. The Evidence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 3. Early Segmental armour. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 4. The Kalkriese Type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 5. The Corbridge Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 6. The Newstead Type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 7. The Alba Iulia Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 8. Other Segmental Armour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 9. Technical Matters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 10. Development and Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 11. Reconstructing lorica segmentata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Epilogue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Appendix A: Major published finds of lorica segmentata . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Appendix B: Sources of illustrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 v Preface This monograph is about Roman segmental armour. I have thought about writing it for a numberof years(thegermof theideamayevenhavebeensownthedayIfirstmarvelledatH. Russell Robinson’s momentous The Armour of Imperial Rome in 1975), but it is only compara- tively recently that (failing to avoid a pun) all the pieces have begun to fall into place: I have seen all the major finds and important new discoveries have been made that have started to cast light into previously shadowy corners. Therewillbeasecondvolume,byDrM.D.Thomas,whichwillincludedetailedlistsandil- lustrations of the published archaeological finds of lorica segmentata and it is very much a companiontothepresentvolume,althougheachmaybeusedindependentlyof theother.For thisreason,bibliographicreferencesaregivenforfindsmentionedinthetextincasethereader doesnothaveVolume2tohand.Indrawingartefacts,Ihaveattemptedtodepictfittingsat1:1 (sincetheyaresorarelyshownatfullsizeinolderarchaeologicalreports)andlargersectionsof plates at 1:2 for the sake of consistency and to allow comparison. A companion website (www.loricasegmentata.org) provides additional material, including animations,3Ddigitalmodels,andfull-sizepatterns,whichisbeyondthelimitedcapabilities of the present cellulose-based medium. Likewise, whilst colour printing is expensive, colour images on the web are not, so more colour illustrations can be found on the website. Thisbookisbynomeansthelastwordonloricasegmentata:infact,itcouldequallybetakenas astatementof howlittleweknowaboutthesubject,asitcouldhowmuchwehavefoundout. Thusitisperhapsbothanattemptatanoverviewof howfarwehavecomesincethepublica- tion of Robinson’s book more than 25 years ago, and a perspective on how much further we still have to go. Lastly,whilstmanyseewritingabookasanendinitself,thereissomethingspecial(perhaps even self-indulgent) in writing, illustrating, designing, and publishing a volume on a subject closetoone’sheart.Itisperhapsfittingthatmyinterestinpublicationdesignwasfirsttweaked by The Armour of Imperial Rome. Here, then, is a book about lorica segmentata. M.C. Bishop Chirnside April 2002 vi Acknowledgements Aworkof thisnatureinevitablydrawsuponthekindnessesof manypeopleinitspreparation, andthinkingof –andthanking–theseprovidesaspecialsortof satisfactiontothewriter. LindsayAllason-JonesandIspentmuchtimediscussingtheCorbridgematerialwhilstpre- paringourmonographontheHoardanditgoeswithoutsayingthatIamhighlyappreciative of hercontributionstoourjointwork.SheandGeorginaPlowrightalwaysallowedmegener- ous access to the material from the Hoard held in the Museum of Antiquities at Newcastle uponTyneandatCorbridgeRomansitemuseum.ThelateCharlesDanielsprovidedreminis- cences, photographs, sketches, and even the original cardboard mockups used by him and Russell Robinson in the reconstruction process. AttheNationalMuseumsof Scotland,FraserHunterhasbeenmosthelpfulwithaccessto, andinformationabout,theNewsteadcuirassandarmguardfragments,whilsttheenthusiasm of Walter Elliot, Donald Gordon, and all the other members of the Trimontium Trust re- mindsmewhyitissomuchfuntodelveintothenooksandcranniesof theRomanarmy’stoy cupboard. JennyHallof theMuseumof LondonallowedmetoexaminetheBankof Englandbreast- plate(andhasarrangedformetoseeeverypieceof militaryequipmentknownfromRoman London... but that is another story), whilst the late Martin Howe of Peterborough City Mu- seumenabledmetostudytheLongthorpearmourfragmentsatmyleisure.DanRobinsonof the Grosvenor Museum in Chester helped untangle the history of the Chester legionary model and Chester City Council Grosvenor Museum were good enough to permit me to re- produce an image of that same soldier figure. MrsMargaretRobinsonkindlygavemepermissiontousesomeof herlatehusband’sillus- trations, and both she and Miriam Daniels were kind enough to allow me to use the photographs of the early attempt at reconstruction of the Corbridge type cuirass. Prof ThomasFischerfirsttoldmeabout,andsentphotographsof,theEiningcuirass,whilst Dr Christof Flügel, and later Dr Bernd Steidl, of the Archäologische Staatssammlung (for- merly the Prähistorische Staatssammlung) at München permitted me full access to it and generouslyprovidedfurtherphotographs.DrEgonSchallmayersimilarlymadeitpossiblefor metostudytheZugmantelfragmentsandthisandtheMünchenexpeditionweregenerously funded by the Gunning Jubilee Gift of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. I am particularly grateful to Dr Ernst Künzl and Sebastian Keil of the Römisch-Germa- nisch Zentralmuseum Mainz for the opportunity to examine the Stillfried cuirass fragments whilst they were being conserved. In Osnabrück, Dr Günther Moosbauer was most helpful in arranging for me to see the KalkriesesegmentatapiecesandDrWolfgangSchlüterverykindlyallowedaccesstothemate- rial outside normal museum hours. Manyre-enactorshavealsohelpedmeduringmystudiesof loricasegmentata.Tothose–like Matthew Amt and Sean Richards, Dan Peterson, and the indomitable Chris Haines – who haveprovideddetailedaccountsof theirexperiencesworkingwithandusingreplicaarmour, downtothehumblefootsoldiers(thePBI)whohavepatiently(oftenbemusedly)posedtoallow metophotographdetails,Imustsayahearty‘thankyou’.MichaelSimkinskindlyallowedme vii to use his photograph of his reconstruction of the Arlon mail cuirass with segmental shoulderguards and provided details of the evidence and techniques he used for it. MikeThomashasbeenaconstantsourceof inspiration,fascinatingfacts,andobscurerefer- ences(whichIhavealwaystriedtocounterwithmyown,equallyobscure).ThomRichardson of theRoyalArmouriesatLeedshasparticipatedinextremelyusefuldiscussionsontherecent Carlislefindandhelpedmewithdetailsrelatingtothisimportantdiscoveryandprovidedin- valuable advice on medieval armour, as well as a deeply instructive tour of the Royal ArmouriesinLeeds;hehasalsobeengoodenoughtoreadthroughapreliminarydraftof the text.Ioweadebtof thankstoThomandtotheRoyalArmouriesforpermissiontoreproduce Fig.8.3 from the Royal Armouries Yearbook 6 (2001). I am also grateful to Mike McCarthy, for- merlyof CarlisleArchaeology,fordrawingtheCarlislematerialtomyattentionandallowing me to examine it. My friend and colleague Dr Jon Coulston has invested much time and effort enduring my interrogationsonthesubjectof theiconographicevidence,especiallyTrajan’sColumn(about whichhehasanunparalleledknowledge),contributedgenerouslyfromhisvastphotographic archive,andprovidedaparticularlynoteworthydiscussionontheoriginsof segmentalarmour whilst driving through northern Germany. He too has, for his sins, read (and commented widely upon!) a preliminary draft of this book. Aspecialdebtof thanksisowedtoPeterConnolly.Notonlyhashebeenapersistentdriving force behind this monograph and allowed me to use some of his illustrations, but he has fre- quently provided invaluable information about his friend Russell Robinson’s involvement in theunderstandingandreconstructionof loricasegmentata.Mostimportantly,hehasbeenanun- witting inspiration: there is no more eloquent an advocate of the importance of Robinson’s work. Finally,mywifeMarthaAndrewsandmychildren,OliverandChristabel,haveshowngreat patienceinliving,breathing,andtrippingoverLoricaSegmentataforfartoolong.Forsomerea- son which defies logic, Martha nevertheless also read the final draft of the book for me. IapologisetoanyIhaveoverlookedandcaution,asIalwaysdo,thatwhilstallof theabove havehelpedmeinthepreparationof thisvolume,Imustacceptsoleresponsibilityforallhor- rors, howlers, and ill-conceived notions that may lurk within. You have been warned. Note Sitesfrommanycountriesarediscussedinthetextand,inordertoavoidconstantrepetition, informationaboutthecountryof originof anygivensiteisgivenintheindexentryasanISO 3166 abbreviation. CONVENTIONSUSEDINLINEDRAWINGS copperalloyrivet leather ironorsteel copperalloy tinningorsilvering viii
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