Armour from the Battle of Wisby [Hardcover]

Bengt Thordeman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2001

On a hot July day in 1361, 1,300 poorly armed men stood their ground to defend their city of Wisby against the pressure of King Waldemar. Unfortunately, the defenders were slaughtered. It was three days before the besieged city capitulated and the defenders were finally able to come out to bury the dead. Putrifying in the hot sun, pits were dug in the peat bogs and the bodies hurriedly cast in and buried. In the 1920s, Bengt Thordeman and a team of archeologists excavated at the site of the burial and produced a work that has stood the test of time. The 900+ photographs and illustrations record in great detail the coat of plate cote armours, brigandine finger gauntlets, dress accessories and wound pathology for many of the victims.Reproduced for the first time since 1939 with a new introduction by "Techniques of Medieval Armour Reproduction" author Brian R. Price, this elegantly printed single volume version of the original 2 volumes is a must for any library on medieval knighthood, arms and armour, archeology or warfare.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Bengt Thordeman led the various excavations of the Wisby battlefield site from 1919-1929, earning international renown for the scope and quality of his work.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 664 pages
• Publisher: Chivalry Bookshelf (July 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1891448056
• ISBN-13: 978-1891448058
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 9 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #627,999 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #80 in Books > History > Europe > Sweden

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A scholarly masterpiece finally reprinted, October 11, 2001

By 

Steve Muhlberger "stevem1621" (North Bay, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Armour from the Battle of Wisby (Hardcover)

I have read and used the original 1939 edition of this work, and found it to be a scholarly masterpiece. Unusual resources and care were mobilized to investigate the burial pit from the Battle of Wisby, and the writing, the diagrams, and the photos were all first rate. The only investigation of a medieval battle even close to this one is the recent *Blood Red Roses*, on the English Battle of Towton.

The book treats many more subjects than the armor alone -- it says much about the human cost of battle -- but the sections on the armor were pioneering in their time and unsurpassed today.

Brian Price and Chivalry Bookshelf are to be congratulated for making this book, formerly available in only a few scholarly libraries, accesible for those with a serious interest in medieval armor and warfare.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It works!, October 30, 2001

By 

Ellen Kuhfeld (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Armour from the Battle of Wisby (Hardcover)

I've made armor using the diagrams of existing armor types from this book. I didn't much care for some of the strapping arrangements described, so I designed my own. (Hey, this is the armor the regular fighters left behind - Wisby was defended by the teens and the oldsters to judge from the age of the bodies. This suggests the men of prime fighting-age were elsewhere, with their primary armor.) It worked, well, and protected me in combat. And the illustrations and text were clear, clear, clear.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, October 19, 2001

By 

Kelly Tvrdik (Laramie, WY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Armour from the Battle of Wisby (Hardcover)

This is the complete version of the orginal book all in one book, not two sets like the first. There is just a little intro added by Price. BUY THIS BOOK! It has wonderful information on the skeletal finds, plus it shows the orginal armor that was found, sketches of it, and recreations done by Bengt and company. I am thrilled they republished this book! It is impossible to find the orginal two volume set.