Here at Arms and Armor we have been pioneers in researching historical swords and other weapons for decades. Indeed, our research partnerships have been an integral aspect of our process since at least the 1990s when, in the course of pursuing new knowledge about how medieval and Renaissance swords actually work we became close friends with Ewart Oakeshott - leading to the creation of our sister non-profit, The Oakeshott Institute - and David Edge of the Wallace Collection. We worked with both of these giants of the sword world to disseminate and integrate their knowledge about swords, even helping to publish and publicize their research.
We are continuing our pioneering work today with new partnerships and initiatives, the results of which we work hard to share with the sword community. We are working closely with Dale Utt, owner of True Edge Archive on cutting edge 3D modeling applications to learn about and document swords in our collection, and in collections across the US such as the Higgins Armory Collection at the Worcester Art Museum and the collection at the Cleveland Museum. We have also recently collaborated with researchers from the University of Minnesota to test medieval quenching recipes for producing hardened steel weapons, see the lecture here.
We are happy to be continuing this research by sponsoring a lecture by Jess Finley this evening, Friday Nov. 17 at 6:30pm at the Oakeshott Institute where she will present new findings and theories on the forms and utility of cloth armor in the late medieval period. This lecture will be recorded and live streamed, join us!
Nathan Clough, Ph.D. is Vice President of Arms and Armor and a member of the governing board of The Oakeshott Institute. He is a historical martial artist and a former university professor of cultural geography. He has given presentations on historical arms at events including Longpoint and Combatcon, and presented scholarly papers at, among others, The International Congress on Medieval Studies.
Craig Johnson is the Production Manager of Arms and Armor and Secretary of The Oakeshott Institute. He has taught and published on the history of arms, armor and western martial arts for over 30 years. He has lectured at several schools and Universities, WMAW, HEMAC, 4W, and ICMS at Kalamazoo. His experiences include iron smelting, jousting, theatrical combat instruction and choreography, historical research, European martial arts and crafting weapons and armor since 1985