Early Medieval Art Analysis

In order to trace some of the most noticeable developments of the transitional period, let us turn to an excellent example put forward by Eduard Wagner within his seminal Medieval Costume, Armour and Weapons. Here, Wagner compares how two master painters - the Master of Vyšší Brod, from about the middle of the century (c.1350), and the Master of Třeboň (c.1380), about thirty years later - depicted knights in their paintings of the same scene, namely the Resurrection. Thus we can clearly see the developments across three highly innovative decades. Firstly, within the altar of Vyšší Brod [fig.6] we can see three chainmail clad knights underneath Christ, the far-right figure is adorned with a hauberk in which the sleeves and gauntlets are in one piece; he has mail stockings or chausses with plate poleyns and leg coverings or greaves, probably made of leather and over his chain armour he

An argument could also be made that the proponderence of plate had a lot to do with the visual impact of the material over mail. Undeniably, a full suit of armour hold more intimidation. Warfare simultaneously influenced and was influenced by armour. As described in 15th and 16th century fencing manuals, single combat consisted not of cutting or slicing attacks, but of thrusting, grappling and trapping, with special emphasis on half swording, wrestling and the use of daggers. While cavalry men could be loaded with heavy armour and sent into battle without consideration for close combat, the armour of infantry required enough mobility for techniques such as half-swording, in which the sword is gripped by the blade and used with both hands like an axe. This was required for getting close enough to a well armoured enemy to make an effective damage, thus the skills of battle had to keep in step with developing