has anyone had any sucess in making a pavise?

daniel

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Db

There´s a nice (German) book on the construction of shields, in this case patterned after the heater shields preserved in Marburg. It is pretty well illustrated in questions of the construction, and most features of the example shown constructed of single planks insted of plywood can be adopted for the construction of a pavise as well.

Jan Kohlmorgen, Der mittelalterliche Reiterschild, Karfunkel Verlag, ISBN 3935616104
http://www.mittelalter.de/shop/produktkatalog/KarfunkelVerlag,Der,Mittelalterliche,Reiterschild_267_1123_produktkatalog_detail.html

Regards

Ivo

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From memory the construction is fairly simple, with two side boards and a central gutter which has the pronounced beak of many of the C15th pavises

daniel

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Db

This was a few years ago so I can't recall much more detail I'm afraid but I may be able to ask the maker(s).

The source information was a book in the Royal Armouries library (before they moved to Leeds) which they'd never translated ... shame they didn't notice it was translated in the back half of the book already ;-)

Regards

Ivo

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They were made in 1992, 93, one was a display pavise, the one with St George, construction based on a Tower Pavise, the other two were for use and were less elaborate and therefore we were not precious about knocks and bumps.

Anyway regarding pegging, well at the time we only had access to one book and I can't remember what it was even called except that it was late 19th early 20th and was at the time the only book dealing with pavises. If I recall it showed the development of the shield and made some interesting construction comments.
For example in some cases sinews seem to have been used, presumably criss crossed and laid over the wood to act as an extra lamination.

As for pegging, well we nailed them as well as glued them, nailing was acommon way to hold pieces of wood together whilst gluing, the nail heads were covered in tin to reduce corrosion and lifting of over layers.

Then a layer of canvas was glued in place over the whole thing. After that a layer of gesso, then after than the painted devices.

The thing to bear in mind is that designs vary quite a bit, some are narrower than others, some are obviously not intended for use as they are small and very elaborately painted and in very good condition, which suggests a decorative use or ceremonial. Some have bases spikes, some seem not to, some are slightly curved, some are not, some have gutters, some do not.

But James I guessed you might be talking pavises in the LH thread.

There is another thread in the 1150 - 1485 section where we discuss it in more detail, it is no big secret. In fact we intend to do some field testing next year using crossbows and handguns.

One of the pavises had this done but we did not take any recordings.

I have the three pavises in my possession and will be recoating them for next spring. So watch this space.

regards

Sorry James, re glue. Again a subject for conjecture, we used a casein glue, a modern cheese glue if you will. But used animal glue for the rest of the work, sizing, cloth etc.

let me know how you get on.

[ 12-08-2004: Message edited by: gregory23b ]

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Db

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Db

I've been impressed by the beauty of pavises I've seen in museums and other collections, and I've also been impressed by their apparent scarcity in LH circles (only seen a few in event photos....

Weren't they pretty common with crossbowmen and gunners in the 15th C.?

I'd like to try my hand at building one, and this thread has been helpful so far.

One more question:
How is the gutter or channel (rounded or squared-off)connected to the flat sides so that the whole thing doesn't flex and wobble? I suspect that dowels or pegs may have been glued through, but I also thought there would be horizontal braces going across from one side to the other, and have seen no evidence of this or any other secondary support. The whole structure appears to be completely self-suporting in terms of its lateral stability.

How'd they do that?

Anybody who has the knowledge AND/OR experience in proper construction methods, please let me know.

and arma bohemia offers a nice hand-pavise: http://armabohemia.cz/Novestr/shieldsA.htm

I notice that Matuls' pavises (thanks very much for that lead!)are all rounded gutter and steamed bentwood -- very nice, but not something I know how to do.

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Wolfe Argent is actually in the process of building two.

Jenn

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In that case, I'll plan to find you at the Higgins Armory Museum, and pick your brains about the whole process!

My son is a recent graduate in fine arts (I know -- how could I possibly be old enough to have a son who's out of college), and he's been filling me in on subjects like rabbit hide glue, medieval gesso, making my own egg temperas, natural pigments, etc. Sounds like a lot of work, but fascinating, just the same.

A slight rebate is what we used and as was pointed out earlier the linen and gesso hold it all together. Although I suspect the rebate to be of no extra value.

I have now got the pavises that the WCo was loaned and it would appear that the two larger ones are over designed, in that the gutters are well gutters, the bohemian ones they were based on all those years ago are three planks, so those two will no doubt be consigned to the bonfire, I will keep the side planks though.

The overly elaborated St George one (soon to be stripped) seems fine in that a curved gutter is there, again it needs looking at all over again.

But the Bohemian pavises seem to be relatively simple, ie two side panels and a central one, wood approximately an inch thick, including covering. IE you need no bending or elaborate woodwork.

It woudl also seem that the lining on the inside of the pavise is not as covered in gesso as the front, ie more on face less on inside.

But we don't know if the beaks, there is one on the Fitzwilliam pavise were made of another piece of wood and stuck or worked from the plank, the latter option would seem very uneconomical and time consuming.

In contrast to the often beautiful pavises before St Albans (2?) the archers were told to pair off and make a pavise of such materials they could find, one would hold the pavise the other would shoot. So depending on the situation you could be looking at a knocked up old door if needs be.

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It is made fram wood, with 2 layers of hemp and 3 layers of linen, glued with boneglue as a composite.
Ans than painted.

That is beautiful What sort of paints did you use? Did you base the painting on any particular example?

Keep up the great work!

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HOw heavy is it?

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