Did a walk around in the St. Louis Art Museum (at Forest Park) yesterday and among the paintings, drawings, sculptures, mummies and other goodies on display were a handful of examples of medieval period armor.
Of course, the display items had been cleaned up and re-fitted; erased of rust and (one can only assume, blood) and repaired of dents and other damage likely to have been inflected from a collision with a lance or mace at horseback speed.
According to the display, a full armor suit weighed about 45 pounds. The waist up model (used with battles or “games” that were conducted behind a low fence, which supposedly protected the battler’s lower extremities, weighed around 26 pounds).
It was 101 degrees in St. Louis yesterday. I thought about clanking around in a suit of this stuff and how difficult it would have been to regain your footing if knocked off your feet (or horse).
Then my wife yanked me back to reality.
“Back when people used this stuff most guys your age . . . were dead.”
The Outdoor Notebook 