Ottoman Armor 11th - 15th century AD/CE

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Ottoman Armor 11th - 15th century AD/CE

Postby Teej » Fri Jun 11, 2010 1:26 pm

I've been doing some google/wiki searches but really havent come up with a good resource other than a couple mails and rough pictures on the wiki. I did, however, come across this website... not much armor on it though... http://www.theottomans.org/english/index.asp

My persona is roughly a pre-firearm blend of pirates... mostly based off corsairs/barbary pirates with some viking influence (trying to avoid the flintlock, frock coat, and parrot look). I try to keep all these influences subtle as I'm a member of the Cu Sith and don't want to differ too much from the rest of my unit...

Anyway I've been having a hell of a time finding any Ottoman armor typical of my targeted era which widely spans across 4 centuries...

Any good sources?
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Re: Ottoman Armor 11th - 15th century AD/CE

Postby warwell » Fri Jun 11, 2010 8:02 pm

Teej,
Interesting idea. I poked around the Armour Archive and other sites a bit. What I found most was mail and plate. Examples can be found here -
http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/ ... ht=ottoman (scroll down)

I did not find any pictures of corsairs in armor. I suspect they wore little or no armor on ship, but I cannot confirm this.

If you are looking for a Middle Eastern look but aren't concerned with historical accuracy, leather lamellar might give a good look. For example, http://www.theinnerbailey.com/armorlamellar2.htm

I'm sure I'll get some flak from our resident historians for suggesting leather ;) but I hope they post some more historical info. I am very curious.

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Re: Ottoman Armor 11th - 15th century AD/CE

Postby Teej » Fri Jun 11, 2010 10:02 pm

warwell wrote:What I found most was mail and plate.


My exact same problem, though your resource gives me a LOT more to work with.

warwell wrote:I did not find any pictures of corsairs in armor. I suspect they wore little or no armor on ship, but I cannot confirm this.


I imagine the result would be a death sentence if the individual went overboard. I'm sure there was no 'lean back and bicycle kick' like in modern combat loads. My Osprey Publishing book (god, I love the series) on 'Pirates of the Far East' even pictures Wokou wearing mostly just chest pieces, and in other pictures, little clothing under armor.

warwell wrote:If you are looking for a Middle Eastern look but aren't concerned with historical accuracy, leather lamellar might give a good look. For example, http://www.theinnerbailey.com/armorlamellar2.htm


I tend to lean towards the side of fantasy, but I always start out with historical accuracy then work my way to what I want... settling with a compromise that would not be too far-fetched.

And... to be frank, I prefer leather.
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Re: Ottoman Armor 11th - 15th century AD/CE

Postby Arrakis » Mon Jun 14, 2010 8:17 pm

Wait.

You want to be a genericelt irish pride kilt wearing pirate from the ottoman empire between the heyday of maille and the height of plate armor before the development of the pike square.


...



No.
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Re: Ottoman Armor 11th - 15th century AD/CE

Postby Kyrian » Mon Jun 14, 2010 8:49 pm

I have a book titled "Oriental Armour" by H. Russell Robinson, ISBN 0-486-41818-9, and it has a chapter dedicated to Turkey. Here's the link at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Oriental-Armour-H-Russell-Robinson/dp/0486418189/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276569135&sr=1-1

It looks like it might be out of print but you could find it at a used books store or at a ren faire.

Chapter headings:

I. Origins of oriental armor
II. Persia
III. Turkey
IV. The Middle East
V. India, Ceylon, Philippine Islands
VI. China, Korea, Tibet, Bhutan
VII. Japan

Also, the chapter mentions the Mamluks. In doing an initial google search, this image came up:

Image

I also checked "Mamluk" in Wikipedia and this image was in the article:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Ottoman_Mamluk_horseman_circa_1550.jpg

Might be a place to start...
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Re: Ottoman Armor 11th - 15th century AD/CE

Postby Teej » Mon Jun 14, 2010 9:18 pm

Arrakis wrote:Wait.

You want to be a genericelt irish pride kilt wearing pirate from the ottoman empire between the heyday of maille and the height of plate armor before the development of the pike square.


...



No.


I'm not saying I want to be an elven werecat ninja archer extraordinaire... capable of carrying 32 weapons at once. I'm in a Celtic unit; I, however, am going with a blend of middle eastern influences. I am not trying to personify any historical empire (or a character with 50 origins), nor am I trying to depict any set year... this is a made up persona; again, going off historical influences. I'll write an equation so you can understand the concept later bub, no biggie.

In regards to Kyrian's response. Thanks for the reference... I'm digging that lamellar armor; chances are, I'm going to go with something similar (minus the shoulders) considering all of my search results thus far.
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