For their website see http://kingshorses.ballarat.vic.au/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
]]>The King’s Horses Medieval Equestrian Society Inc. are a living history group based in the Victorian city of Ballarat. The group were formed in 2007 to focus on the equestrian aspects of the medieval period, especially the 13th century. The King’s Horses re-enact jousting at tournaments, where knights riding horses would do battle. The knights and horses are clad in appropriate costume, including helmets, armour, swords, lances, and shields. The group perform at medieval fairs, schools, and corporate functions.
For their website see http://kingshorses.ballarat.vic.au/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
The re-enactment group, The Sovereign Military Order of the Knights Templar Tasmania [The Dragon Order], is a full contact battle group practicing western martial arts swordsmanship combat. The group re-create combat from the whole medieval period.
For their website see http://www.dragonsrealm.com.au/
]]>The Dragon’s Realm are both a re-enactment group and a retail store based in the northern Tasmanian city of Burnie. The store opened in 2006 and is located in the CBD in a former church built in the Gothic Revival style with buttresses and lancet windows. Products are also available online and include medieval-style weapons (swords, axes, spears etc), clothing, and armour, as well as medieval-inspired items such as fantasy books and castle tower candle holders.
The re-enactment group, The Sovereign Military Order of the Knights Templar Tasmania [The Dragon Order], is a full contact battle group practicing western martial arts swordsmanship combat. The group re-create combat from the whole medieval period.
For their website see http://www.dragonsrealm.com.au/
Their website provides some information about hourglass gauntlets (http://www.medievalshoppe.com.au/hourglass-gauntlets.html):
"When fighting was almost entirely hand-to-hand, the thorough protection of the hand was necessarily of paramount importance. Armour for the head and body was, after all, but a second line of defence against the attack which penetrated the guard of the weapon. Any damage to the hand which controlled all offensive movements, as well as all parries, would place a combatant at the mercy of his antagonist. But the armourer had not only to give his attention to the protective qualities of the covering which enclosed a part so vulnerable and so likely to receive a wound, he had also to consider how he should least interfere with the use of so complicated a piece of mechanism as the human hand. It was on account of these very important considerations that one finds the gauntlet always more complicated in the details of its construction than the rest of the protective outfit.
Underneath the plate was worn a leather glove, to the fingers and thumb of which small overlapping scales were attached to complete the defence of the hand. Hourglass gauntlets are considered the zenith of medieval gauntlets. An example of this type may be seen on the brass of Sir John de Saint Quintan in Brandesburton Church, Yorkshire, which may be dated at about 1397. The famous effigy of Edward, Prince of Wales, known as the Black Prince, in the cathedral church of Canterbury depicts this masterful warrior wearing this kind of hand defence."
An image of reproduction hourglass gauntlets, sold by the Medieval Shoppe in Parkes, NSW. The Medieval Shoppe produces and sells replicas of swords, shields, armour, and other historical weapons.
Their website provides some information about hourglass gauntlets (http://www.medievalshoppe.com.au/hourglass-gauntlets.html):
"When fighting was almost entirely hand-to-hand, the thorough protection of the hand was necessarily of paramount importance. Armour for the head and body was, after all, but a second line of defence against the attack which penetrated the guard of the weapon. Any damage to the hand which controlled all offensive movements, as well as all parries, would place a combatant at the mercy of his antagonist. But the armourer had not only to give his attention to the protective qualities of the covering which enclosed a part so vulnerable and so likely to receive a wound, he had also to consider how he should least interfere with the use of so complicated a piece of mechanism as the human hand. It was on account of these very important considerations that one finds the gauntlet always more complicated in the details of its construction than the rest of the protective outfit.
Underneath the plate was worn a leather glove, to the fingers and thumb of which small overlapping scales were attached to complete the defence of the hand. Hourglass gauntlets are considered the zenith of medieval gauntlets. An example of this type may be seen on the brass of Sir John de Saint Quintan in Brandesburton Church, Yorkshire, which may be dated at about 1397. The famous effigy of Edward, Prince of Wales, known as the Black Prince, in the cathedral church of Canterbury depicts this masterful warrior wearing this kind of hand defence."