Royal Armouries

While historians have largely examined the Allied policy towards co-belligerent Italy in military and political contexts, little attention has been paid to the measures adopted on armament matters. This article demonstrates, first, how the decisions made by commanders regarding the provision of armaments to Italy influenced the overall framework of co-belligerency; second, it documents Britain's increasing engagement in Italian military affairs, culminating in the assumption of national supply responsibilities for the rearmament of the Italian Army in mid-1944, which was in response to the reduced military role of the United States in Italy and the escalating Soviet influence in the Mediterranean.

The aim of this article is to examine in detail a Swiss baselard in the Royal Armouries collection, IX.3482. The original catalogue entry for the object described it as a 14th or early fifteenth century English baselard. However, by comparing IX.3482 with similar examples held in Swiss institutions, monumental effigies and contemporaneous artistic depictions, this article will seek to establish a more accurate identification, reinforced by careful analysis of previous scholarship. In addition, the article will also seek to further explore the broader typology of baselards, focussing specifically on the Swiss sub-types and how we might clarify both the typology, and the terminology currently applied to them.

Literature and popular media in the past decade have served to introduce the broader public to the infra-red night vision developments of the Second World War, yet focus has primarily fallen upon those devices made and used by Germany and the USA. Through archival research this paper explores the British perspective, detailing the history and design of an infra-red weapon sight produced experimentally before the war’s end, as well as the organisations and companies involved in the process. This is followed by an assessment of Britain’s immediate post-war efforts in the field, showing why it was instead American equipment which was used in Britain’s first martial deployments of infra-red weapon sights in the early 1950s.

Das große Kruzifix in der Haller Katharinenkirche galt noch im Kirchenführer von 1996 als spätgotisch 1 , obwohl es durch eine Stifterinschrift in s Jahr 1739 datiert ist. Im neuen Kirchenführer wird es dann dem Öhringer Bildhauer Josef Ritter zugeschrieben 2 • Für diese Angabe soll hier die Begründung nachgeliefert werden. Der 200 cm hohe Gekreuzigte 3 hat einen kräftigen, wohlproportionierten Körper, der -trotz Anlehnung an spätgotische Kruzifixtypen -nach barocker Weise in weichen Übergängen modelliert ist (Abb. 1). Die Rückseite des Leibes ist tief ausgehöhlt. Der Kopf neigt sich nach links (zur rechten Körperseite), die Beine sind nach der gleichen Seite hin angewinkelt. Im Antlitz spiegelt sich die Erlösung nach vollbrachtem Todeskampf, die Augen sind geschlossen. Von dem dunklen Haar fällt eine Strähne nach vorne über die rechte Schulter, eine andere nach hinten über den Nacken. Der kurze Bart umrahmt Mund und Kinn , seine Enden sind eingerollt. Der Brustkorb ist deutlich markiert, am Brustbein durch eine Reihe von Grübchen, an den Flanken durch knorpelige Gebilde. Die Adern überraschen stellenweise durch höchst eigenwillige Formen: flammenartige an der linken Leiste, astartige an der unteren Seite der Unterarme. Von allen fünf Wundmalen ziehen sich Blutspuren abwärts; das Blut der Hände rinnt an der Unterseite der Arme herab , an der rechten Seite dem Körper entlang bis unter das Knie. Das vergoldete Lendentuch wird durch einen Strick gehalten, der an der linken Hüfte sichtbar wird . Es bildet vor dem Körper ein Gefüge von fünf scharfwinkligen Dreiecksfalten und an der linken Hüfte einen Bausch. Die Zipfel des Tuchs sind unterschiedlich groß, der linke kurz, der rechte hängt hinter dem linken Oberschenkel bis zur Kniekehle herab -als Gegengewicht gegen die Ausladung von Kopf und Beinen zur anderen Seite. Die Dornenkrone besteht aus einem lockeren Geflecht knorriger Zweige. Die zwölf vergoldeten Strahlen des Nimbus sind in eine runde Holzscheibe mit

This eagerly anticipated and invaluable publication is the product of more than forty years of meticulous research by husband and wife team and founder members of the of the International Society f...

The Royal Armouries possesses two scythe blades of pre-mechanised manufacture, mounted axially on straight hafts to form weapons. An inventory of 1686 lists eighty-one scythe blades at the Tower of London (by 1694 described as booty captured from the Duke of Monmouth’s rebels at Sedgemoor) and the surviving pair was probably among them. The Duke’s shortage of standard-issue equipment made improvisation essential, and the choice of re-hafted scythe blades owed to their widespread, well known and effective use by irregular forces in Britain and Europe since the late Middle Ages. Monmouth’s ‘sithmen’, some hundreds strong, took part in skirmishes and in the battle of Sedgemoor itself. Of interest to the Tower authorities as curiosities and for their propaganda value, the scythe blades were displayed, in diminishing numbers, from the seventeenth until the nineteenth century, and these two until the 1990s. In the future they will be displayed again, representing Monmouth’s rebels and countless others, and a weapon type that deserves a greater level of study and recognition.

The Polish city of Szczecin, located on the Odra river in north-west Poland, has a complex history which is reflected in its excavated material culture. The most remarkable artefacts among the numerous finds of arms and armour from the city are two late twelfth century kite shields found in the area of the early medieval stronghold. Based on our current state of knowledge, these are the only surviving examples of such shields in the world. Of the two shields recovered from Szczecin, the painted example has been published several times in Polish journals and yet it remains largely unknown to the wider European audience. The unpainted shield, however, was only recently identified and its importance fully appreciated. As such this study aims to update the information on the painted shield based on the latest research, and integrate it and the unpainted shield into the wider European archaeological context.