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The Swiss Vetterli rifle in America. From soldier to coal miner Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2024-03-07 Stephen Wren
This article examines the connections between Switzerland and America that led to the development of the Vetterli infantry rifle. Using primary archival research, it shows why the Swiss Army was so...
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A Cultural History of the Medieval Sword: Power, Piety and Play Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2024-03-07 Iason-Eleftherios Tzouriadis
Published in Arms & Armour (Vol. 21, No. 1, 2024)
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Research on the Manufacturing Process and Restoration of a Brigandine of the Ming Dynasty – A Case Study of the Brigandine Exhibited in Hangzhou Arts and Crafts Museum Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2024-02-27 Chunyu Li, Fang Chen
The Ming brigandine was a suit of armour with riveted plates concealed inside the cloth cover, which is different from the armour of previous dynasties, which strung the plates with one plate overl...
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New light on the Warwick Shaffron: understanding horse and shaffron size through the collections of the Royal Armouries Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2024-02-26 Oliver H. Creighton, Alan K. Outram, Eleanor Wilkinson-Keys
The Warwick Shaffron, held in the collections of the Royal Armouries (VI.446) is the earliest extant example of a European medieval shaffron on public display anywhere in the world. In addition to ...
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Sixteenth century recessed armour: evaluating links with the Spanish Armada Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2024-01-11 David R. Bellwood, Orpha Bellwood, Hannah R. Bellwood, Oliver R. Bellwood
Several black and white Italian cabassets, and associated armours, are described. All share an unusual, recessed construction and typically bear an etched family crest on the front. The cabassets a...
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Smoke & steel: Weapons concealed as tobacco pipes & smokers’ accessories in early modern Japan Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2024-01-09 N. R. Jenzen-Jones
Tobacco quickly found favour in Japan after its introduction in the late sixteenth century, leading to the development of the kiseru—a distinctive Japanese tobacco pipe. Building upon a long-standi...
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The Crimean War, Sevastopol, and British Military Collecting Strategies in the Black Sea Region c.1829–1856 Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2024-01-02 Malcolm Mercer
Between 1854 and 1856 the shape of private and public collections of arms, armour, and ordnance were influenced directly by the conflict with Russia, especially from the main theatre in the Crimea ...
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The Arms and Armour of the Bishopric of Winchester in the Thirteenth Century Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2023-11-14 Dan Spencer
This article examines the inventories of arms and armour stored at the castles of Taunton and Farnham that are recorded in the pipe rolls of the bishopric of Winchester in the thirteenth century. R...
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Firearms accidents in sixteenth-century England Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2023-11-14 Steven Gunn, Tomasz Gromelski
Source material for the use of firearms in sixteenth-century England outside military contexts is sparse. This article uses coroners’ inquest reports to examine who used guns of what types, for wha...
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Guns of the Khoe-San: the firearms used by indigenes for the first two hundred years of colonisation at the Cape Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2023-11-14 Brent Sinclair-Thomson
The Cape Khoe-San experienced a significant change in weapons technology when Europeans began colonising the Cape in the seventeenth century. Khoe-San first adapted their military tactics to counte...
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Chassica Kirchhoff, The Thun-Hohenstein Album. Cultures of Remembrance in a Paper Armory Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2023-11-14 Marina Viallon
Published in Arms & Armour (Vol. 20, No. 2, 2023)
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An Obituary: Professor David S. Weaver – 30th June 1940 – 24th September 2023 Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2023-11-14 John Burgoyne, Graeme Rimer
Published in Arms & Armour (Vol. 20, No. 2, 2023)
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The Cumae armour group: a South Italic panoply at the Royal Armouries Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2023-11-14 Jaime Kaminski
In 1853, at the sale of the collection of the Count of Milan of Sicily, the Ordnance Office at the Tower of London purchased a South Italic panoply, ostensibly from Cumae, for £200. The set include...
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British development of infra-red weapon sights, 1938–1953 Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2023-11-14 Christian Wellard
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 t...
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Armour plates of the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19th – early 20th century: origin and evolution Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2023-11-14 Rimma Timofeeva
The history of armour protection and that of engineering advances run parallel within the context of a unified system. That being the case, development in the framework of this system should be con...
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Under or Over (or Both)? Textile Armour and the Warrior in the High Middle Ages Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2023-05-25 Stephen Bennett
To compliment significant research into knightly arms and armour, such as the mail hauberk and iron helmet, to shield design and types of swords, this article considers textile clothing worn in conjunction with metal armour in the High Middle Ages (1050–1250). It analyses potential nuances in the use of terminology to improve our understanding of the degrees of protection available to elite warriors
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Thomas Green, Gunmaker, and Persecuted Popish Recusant Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2023-04-20 David S. Weaver, Brian Godwin
Thomas Green came from the small northern market town of Kirkby Stephen in Westmorland, served his apprenticeship in the Gunmaker’s Company under Edward Nicholson 1686 − 1693, and established an active gunmaking business in the Minories, close to the Tower of London. His business was commercially successful despite his being persecuted as a Popish Recusant and being forced into exile for allegedly
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A Memorial by the Royal Armouries of Her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2023-04-06 Graeme Rimer
Published in Arms & Armour (Vol. 20, No. 1, 2023)
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The Elusive Musekin—Interpreting a Mysterious Piece of Medieval Armour Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2023-03-31 António Conduto Oliveira
The field of medieval arms and armour abounds with terms whose meanings are, as yet, lost to us. Of these, none is perhaps as recurrent or as widespread as the term musekin, amply present in a variety of European sources and languages between the 13th and the 16th centuries. Although familiar to experts, and included in a number of seminal works, no one source has of yet provided a definite, well-researched
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The Viking Age shields from the ship burial at Gokstad: a re-examination of their construction and function Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2023-03-24 Rolf Fabricius Warming
The early find of the 64 Viking Age round shields from the Gokstad ship burial has almost singularly shaped our understanding of the construction and role of shields from this period. Despite their significance, however, the shield material has never been published in full nor been subjected to any substantial examination since their discovery in 1880. The current understanding of the shields is thus
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Gareth Glover & Paul Morrison, eds, A New System of Cavalry Swordsmanship by Lt-Col Charles Edward Radclyffe 1st (Royal) Dragoons Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2023-03-11 Henry Yallop
Published in Arms & Armour (Vol. 20, No. 1, 2023)
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A Forgotten ‘Merchant of Death’. Auguste Schriever, the deal-maker of Liège Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2023-02-28 Stephen Wren
Most scholarship on the arms trade of the late nineteenth century has focused on the big players in the industry; the ‘Merchants of Death’ whose activities are said to have made war inevitable. However this article focusses on a smaller, but no less troubling, aspect of the arms business: the trade in new and surplus military rifles and on one largely forgotten dealer; Auguste Schriever of Liège. Using
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Frederick (‘Fred’) Wilkinson Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2022-11-21
Published in Arms & Armour (Vol. 19, No. 2, 2022)
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British Pattern 1907 Bayonets Marked to the Royal Air Force: An Archaeo-Historical Investigation Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2022-11-14 Julian Bennett, John M. Ballard
A known total of 83 World War One period Pattern 1907 bayonets for the ‘Rifle, Short, Magazine, Lee-Enfield, Mark III’ have pommel markings indicating issue to the Royal Air Force, formed on 1st April 1918. They bear alpha-numeric serial markings best interpreted as stock-taking marks, suggesting a maximum total of 70,000 were allocated for use by that air force. The written sources indicate that from
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Between war and patronage: the life of Caspar Kohl, etcher of arms and armour Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2022-11-08 Elsabeth Alicia Dikkes
This study focuses on the life of Caspar Kohl (1594-1652), father of the more widely known David Casparsson Kohl (1628-1685), who contributed significantly to the transformation of Scandinavian arms and armour production from the early to late seventeenth century. Both Caspar and David Casparsson specialised in steel etching and took the lead in several Swedish and Danish arms and armour workshops
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Duel to the Death? The Emblematic Decoration of Fifteenth Century Pole Hammers Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2022-11-07 Lech Marek
This study presents the interpretation and contextualisation of apotropaic imagery and inscriptions found on two fifteenth century hammers for use on foot. One of them resides at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Acc. No. 14.25.1336). The other, its counterpart known only from archival sources, is missing from the collection of the Badisches Landesmuseum in Karlsruhe (Acc. No. G43). The nearly
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The King George V Gensuitō: An Imperial Japanese rarity in the Royal Collection Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2022-10-20 N. R. Jenzen-Jones
In 1918, a Marshal’s sword (Gensuitō) was introduced into the Japanese honours system, to be presented to specially recognised admirals and generals of the Imperial Japanese military who had been awarded the honorific title of Gensui. Later that year, a very fine example of such a sword was presented to King George V at Buckingham Palace, on behalf of Emperor Taishō. These swords were made to the highest
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Ralph Moffat, Medieval Arms and Armour: A Sourcebook. Volume I: The Fourteenth Century Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2022-09-29 Fabian Brenker
Published in Arms & Armour (Vol. 19, No. 2, 2022)
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Fabricated Cannon Revived and Then Abandoned in the Antebellum United States Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2022-09-24 Robert Gordon
Fabricated wrought-iron cannons made in 1844 demonstrated the superiority of welding with a hydraulic press instead of forge hammers. Daniel Treadwell in an early example of additive manufacturing welded multiple discs together to make cannon that then required only finishing on a lathe and attaching trunnions. His cannon sustained proof testing what would have quickly destroyed equivalent cast-iron
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John Cookson, gunmaker Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2022-06-20 David S. Weaver, Brian Godwin
The name John Cookson is associated with Lorenzoni-type magazine repeating flintlocks of high quality, assumed to have been made in London during the last decade or so of the 17th century. Nothing is known of this gunmaker. A John Cookson is known to have been a gunsmith in Boston during the first half of the 18th century and, while he is given credit in the US for inventing the magazine repeater,
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The American Naval Boarding Axe Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2022-06-09 David Lee
This paper presents the current state of knowledge of American naval boarding axes from the colonial period to the Civil War. It spans the time when most naval axes were either manufactured in Britain or were locally made copies, through the brief life of the Continental Navy and to the formation of the United States Navy which issued the first government pattern axes. It examines the three types of
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The Welrod .32 silent pistol Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2022-05-30 Mark Murray Flutter
The history of the development and use of the Welrod .32 silenced pistol by Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War is little understood. This paper is designed to present a detailed narrative, using, where possible, references to original documents detailing that development and then its subsequent use. It covers the Welrod’s development by Station XI, its testing, evolution
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A word ‘I was delighted to meet’: why we must now bid Auf Wiedersehen to Hounskull as the name for the ‘pig-faced’ basinet Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2022-05-09 Ralph Moffat
This article examines the introduction and use of the word hounskull and its variants in arms and armour scholarship. Assessing the definition through previous studies and original sources, it demonstrates that the word has been misinterpreted and misused as a name for a specific type of medieval helmet from the late-nineteenth century to the present day. Some (very tentative) speculation is offered
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Of knights, cranes, hoists and winches…; the myth of how knights mounted horses Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2021-11-19 Robert C. Woosnam-Savage
It is sometimes erroneously claimed that medieval knights, weighed down in their plate armour, could only mount horses with the aid of some mechanical device. This myth is found not only in some popular accounts of the Middle Ages but is also in the works of modern academics. It has been repeatedly claimed that it originated in the work of Mark Twain. However, even this is nothing but another myth
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Book review: a rebuttal Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2021-10-18 Wilfried E. Tittmann
(2021). Book review: a rebuttal. Arms & Armour: Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 259-262.
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From stonebow to bullet crossbow; and the evolution of the English crossbow Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2021-10-05 Guy Wilson
(2021). From stonebow to bullet crossbow; and the evolution of the English crossbow. Arms & Armour: Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 256-258.
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A new approach to the Hasanlu gold bowl: interpreting its weapons depictions Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2021-09-30 Zahra Kouzehgari
The Hasanlu gold bowl was discovered in 1958 by Robert H. Dyson, Jr. Since the bowl was discovered in a milieu without text, its origin and the ethnological context of its manufacture have been long discussed. Most of these studies are concentrated on the description of the figures and scenes depicted on the bowl. Among these images, there are representations of weapons depicted separately or in the
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Dutch Muskets, Aspects of Eighteenth Century Firearms and Gunmaking in The Netherlands Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2021-09-30 Mathieu Willemsen
This article gives an insight in some new aspects of Dutch military firearms and gunmaking. This information is mostly based on archival research, with the main focus on recently discovered contracts of gunmakers in the city of Utrecht in the period 1650–1750. It deals with aspects like the transition from matchlock to flintlock muskets, and the reglementary use of muskets with double locks, the introduction
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The Evolution of Black and White or Fleur-de-lis High Comb Morions Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2021-09-30 David R. Bellwood, Orpha Bellwood, Thomas Ilming
Black and white or fleur-de-lis high comb morions are distinctive helmets of the late 16th century and early 17th century. We constructed a typology of black and white high comb morions, identifying 52 forms and seven major types. We then used cladistic analyses to explore the potential relationships between forms. The analyses suggested that morion forms evolved rapidly in the late sixteenth century
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Brigadier William Richard (‘Dick’) Mundell OBE Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2021-09-29
(2021). Brigadier William Richard (‘Dick’) Mundell OBE. Arms & Armour: Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 263-266.
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Pillin: A Family of Sword Cutlers Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2021-09-20 James Elstob
To many with an interest in British military swords the name of Pillin will be very familiar. Yet, for a firm which traded for at least 65 years there is little information available about its activities beyond a few bare dates and addresses often quoted from the same sources. The original source of much of this information is unclear and some of this now appears questionable. In writing this article
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Correction Notice Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2021-09-14
(2021). Correction Notice. Arms & Armour: Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 267-268.
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Special pattern swords of the 7th (Queen’s Own) Hussars 1857 to 1900 Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2021-04-14 John Sheard
The use of special pattern swords by cavalry officers of the British and Indian Army is well documented. Whilst these swords were usually custom made to meet the requirements of individual officers, others bore regimental insignia and, more rarely, are known to have been approved as regimental patterns in lieu of the then current regulations. To date there has been very little documentation to show
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A Call for Arms! Supplying the Sultan’s Army, 1916-1918 Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2021-03-05 Julian Bennett
A common feature of Turkey’s principal military-focused museums and of many local ones also, are displays of military equipment used in the First World War and in Turkey’s War of Independence (1919–1923). In many cases these are rifles and bayonets supplied by Germany to the Ottoman Empire during two specific periods: from 1887 to 1903, when Germany supplied all the modern infantry weaponry used by
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Jenks carbines in the Royal Armouries collection Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2021-03-02 Ralph Spears
Among the firearms in the extensive Royal Armouries collection are three unusual carbines based on the patent of William Jenks. The story of how they entered the Armouries collection highlights an important time in the development of firearms technology. The tale of these three carbines is the story of two men, William Jenks and Doctor Alexander Jones.
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‘A lock so tallying in all its parts, that any part of one lock may fit another’: exploring the standardisation and interchangeable manufacturing of New Land Pattern Musket Locks Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2021-03-01 David Williams, Philip Abbott, David Harding
A Select Committee Report of 1817 states that the New Land Pattern Musket has ‘a lock so tallying in all its parts, that any part of one lock may fit another’. This is the earliest claim of interchangeability to have been found for Board of Ordnance firearms. It has focussed the authors’ attention on understanding the British efforts in the interchangeable manufacturing of firearms in the early 19th
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Brian and moira gittos. Interpreting medieval effigies, the evidence from yorkshire to 1400 Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2021-02-15 Keith A Dowen
(2021). Brian and moira gittos. Interpreting medieval effigies, the evidence from yorkshire to 1400. Arms & Armour: Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 140-141.
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The path to an American sporting Mauser: Examining the Winchester ‘Alphabet’ series rifles Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2021-02-10 Daniel Michael, N. R. Jenzen-Jones
This article examines the ‘Alphabet’ series of prototype rifles which were developed at Winchester between 1912 and 1934, ultimately culminating in the Models 54 and 70. Drawing upon original research conducted in the Winchester archive at the Cody Firearms Museum and through physical examination of extant ‘Alphabet’ rifles, the authors have been able to more fully map the lineage of the influential
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Correction Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2020-11-18
(2020). Correction. Arms & Armour: Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 222-222.
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Book Review Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2020-07-22 Jan Piet Puype
(2020). Book Review. Arms & Armour: Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 213-218.
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Italian arms and armour for the royal household of Edward IV Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2020-07-02 Dan Spencer
The remittance of the custom duties due on a consignment of Italian military equipment imported into England provides valuable information on the type of equipment used by men-at-arms during the Wars of the Roses. It offers insights into royal procurement during the early part of the reign of Edward IV and evidence of a revival of the use of heavy cavalry in English warfare.
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The artillery of the Portsdown1 Forts with special reference to Fort Nelson Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2020-07-02 Philip A. Magrath
Fort Nelson and the Portsdown Forts were constructed between 1862 and 1871 in order to strengthen the defences of Portsmouth following fears of a French invasion and the recommendations of an 1859 Royal Commission.2 As the greatest peace-time fortification construction ever seen in Britain it is perhaps an unfortunate omission, especially for the student of artillery, that neither a detailed study
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Lord Eden of Winton PC, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Armouries 1986–95: A Personal Tribute Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2020-07-02 Guy Wilson
In May this year Lord Eden died peacefully at home at the age of 94. He lived a long and active life dedicated to public service, but for us in the Royal Armouries he will be remembered with fondne...
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Professions and past times: the British ordnance office establishment and the investigation of Mediterranean antiquities, c.1800–1859 Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2020-07-02 Malcolm Mercer
The nineteenth century has long been seen as a century where European powers were acquiring antiquities for display in their national museums. At the forefront of this trend was the British Museum which worked in conjunction with the Foreign Office and Admiralty to bring them back to Britain. Yet current historiography of the region has ignored the role played by another leading government department
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History of the Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield Lock, during the the First World War, prepared in Historical Records Branch by Miss C. M. Irons, 4.7.1921 MUN 5/366 Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2020-05-14 Philip Abbott
This short history of the Royal Small Arms Factory (RSAF) at Enfield Lock prepared by Miss Constance Mary Irons is just one of the many supplementary notes on the contributions made by individual research establishments and manufacturing branches during the First World War which were prepared by the Historical Records Branch but never included in the official History of the Ministry of Munitions when
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The English blunderbuss and its ballistics Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2020-03-20 David S. Weaver
Few firearms have attracted as much attention, curiosity, and mythical attributes as the blunderbuss. Indeed, it often seems that fiction has overwhelmed the facts. To add to the mystery, the literature is conflicting with regard to defining exactly what a blunderbuss is, what it was used for, and how it performed. What is the difference between a blunderbuss and a musketoon? Is the blunderbuss really
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The Last Knight: The Art, Armor and Ambition of Maximilian I Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2020-01-02 Robert C. Woosnam-Savage
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The weapons of Bonnie Prince Charlie – a new examination Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2020-01-02 Edward Corp, Graeme Rimer
It is well documented that the Jacobite 3rd Duke of Perth gave Prince Charles Stuart, then in Rome, some Highland weapons and armour in 1739. Two swords and a targe in Scottish collections have been traditionally described as possibly forming part of that gift, but a different sword has recently been identified as a more likely candidate to be the one given by Perth to the prince. A re-examination
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A New Halberd Typology (1500-1800): Based on the Collection of the National Military Museum, The Netherlands Arms & Armour Pub Date : 2020-01-02 Casper J. Van Dijk
European halberds as the subject of research has been partly neglected in mainstream historical academic discourses. The research that has been primarily focused on trends in development of halberd...