Oh my. A quick search just turned up a page about this from a weblog by Will McLean. I know him -- he's an armorer on the East Coast (formerly SCA, now with Belle Compagnie) and does top-flight work, so I trust his eye.
http://willscommonplacebook.blogspot.com/2006_08_01_archive.html The name of the entry is "Belts Worn with Armor by a Late 14th-early 15th c. Man-at-Arms," and he names many examples. Here's the paragraph: <<A horizontal belt worn low on the hips may not be a good way to hold up a heavy sword, so it's not uncommon to see a diagonal, often fairly narrow belt instead of or in addition to the low one. Sir Humphrey Littlebury wears both. (I suspect from his gauntlets that he may be somewhat earlier than 1365.) Lord John de Montacute also has a second belt, in this case neatly rolled around his scabbard.>> The picture link (it went to Gothic Eye) is dead, but the description would make sense of that bit of decoration I saw off the waist, which went down at an angle and might be a diagonal narrow belt holding the scabbard on the right. If he means the same image, then Will thinks it's armor. --Robin _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
