11-14-2010, 03:22 AM
Hi Robert
How much compensatory body defence would he have needed, then, if survival had been the issue and not quick-replacement?
Neck and throat: I've seen on the Comitatus site an assertion that a mail coif was used by late Romans. Could that have been worn under the Intercisa type helmet?
Trunk: Mail or lamellar armour (or late-surviving segmentata)?
Arms: A target shield for the left with the standard (as with Principate signiferi) and a (late-surviving) manica or long, mail sleeve for the sword arm?
Legs: (?)
McBride's painting envisages the draconarius as being protected by a neighbour from missiles. To me, placing the standard-bearer in the front line would have the potential to effectively "neuter" his two nearest colleagues there. Surely attackers would learn to exploit these weak points? I remember reading that, in the Principate, there were "positions" of signiferi-in-waiting. These guys would jump out and grab the standard once its previous bearer had passed his use-by moment. I would have thought that there was a more conservative mindset in the later armies, there not being so many willing people to go around (Albeit, I'm thinking of Vegetius on recruitment in that statement).
You say the draconarius disappeared from the Eastern Empire armies about the 6th century. Maybe a backwards look would help inferring what the draconarius' role and battlefield placement was. Were there significant changes in infantry unit organisation and deployment in that period? Do we have evidence of what kind of battlefield communication was favoured then? These questions are somewhat hyperbolic as I'll be reading your linked articles and references, Maurice and whatever else falls to hand. However, there's no harm in asking what someone may already know.
I imagine Fectio has done re-enactments including Draconarii. Has the group looked at the vulnerability of the draconarius to missile fire? (How you'd do that within today's safety requirements :roll: I don't know but ....). Late edit: I seem to be encroaching on this thread here: How decisive were missile weapons in battle?
Cheere
Howard / SPC
Quote:...Angus McBride also once painted a draconarius (below), but I doubt that he would have survived for very long..
How much compensatory body defence would he have needed, then, if survival had been the issue and not quick-replacement?
Neck and throat: I've seen on the Comitatus site an assertion that a mail coif was used by late Romans. Could that have been worn under the Intercisa type helmet?
Trunk: Mail or lamellar armour (or late-surviving segmentata)?
Arms: A target shield for the left with the standard (as with Principate signiferi) and a (late-surviving) manica or long, mail sleeve for the sword arm?
Legs: (?)
McBride's painting envisages the draconarius as being protected by a neighbour from missiles. To me, placing the standard-bearer in the front line would have the potential to effectively "neuter" his two nearest colleagues there. Surely attackers would learn to exploit these weak points? I remember reading that, in the Principate, there were "positions" of signiferi-in-waiting. These guys would jump out and grab the standard once its previous bearer had passed his use-by moment. I would have thought that there was a more conservative mindset in the later armies, there not being so many willing people to go around (Albeit, I'm thinking of Vegetius on recruitment in that statement).
You say the draconarius disappeared from the Eastern Empire armies about the 6th century. Maybe a backwards look would help inferring what the draconarius' role and battlefield placement was. Were there significant changes in infantry unit organisation and deployment in that period? Do we have evidence of what kind of battlefield communication was favoured then? These questions are somewhat hyperbolic as I'll be reading your linked articles and references, Maurice and whatever else falls to hand. However, there's no harm in asking what someone may already know.
I imagine Fectio has done re-enactments including Draconarii. Has the group looked at the vulnerability of the draconarius to missile fire? (How you'd do that within today's safety requirements :roll: I don't know but ....). Late edit: I seem to be encroaching on this thread here: How decisive were missile weapons in battle?
Cheere
Howard / SPC
Spurius Papirius Cursor (Howard Russell)
"Life is still worthwhile if you just smile."
(Turner, Parsons, Chaplin)
"Life is still worthwhile if you just smile."
(Turner, Parsons, Chaplin)
