Master Armourer Chris Dobson

13th Century Great Helm and Cuir Builli Vambrace

Back in 2003 I produced a hardened leather 'cuir bouilli' vambrace for a paper given at the 2003 International Arms and Armour Conference in Florence, showing how hardened leather armour was actually made, using special partially-tanned leather, animal glue and gesso. In 2009, Castlerock Museum asked me to produce equipment for a figure of a 13th Century Knight, so I made a great helm, and incorporated the existing vambrace.

In the 13th Century, hardened leather armour was made by laminating partially tanned leather, glued together with animal glue. This was then 'cooked' with dry heat while nailed onto wooden lasts (not boiled in water). Once dry, it was given several coats of gesso (an animal glue-based plaster), and then painted. While there are plenty of artistic references, such as the tomb of Guglielmo di Durfort, and the San Gimignano frescoes, only one actual piece of hardened leather armour from the 13th Century is known to survive, an upper right vambrace (now held in the British Museum, London). It is very heavily tooled, and despite being excavated, there are still minute traces of the gilding that must once have covered it entirely.

For full details of how this vambrace was made, together with full step-by-step photography, see the 2003 International Arms and Armour Conferences publication, available from the Online Shop page of this website.

Since no examples survive for the great helm, I had to use period art alone as reference. It was therefore based on sculptures on the West Front of Wells Cathedral and frescoes in the Palazzo Pubblico in San Gimignano. When it came to the decoration of the brass reinforces, I got some inspiration from aquamanili of the period (for instance in the Bargello, Florence), which are covered in fine engraved geometrical decoration. Because the figure was meant to have a ‘campaign’ look, the blue oxide finish was distressed, and the brass decorative bands dulled down.