Lorica Segmentata Volume I: A Handbook of Articulated Roman Plate Armour (None)

124 Pages·2002·11.41 MB·English

by  M.C. Bishop

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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