Valerius School: The modern school of
armourers established within the SCA under the founding partners Aaron Toman (AKA SCA Count Valerius Paencalvus, Knight, OL-Middle Kingdom) and Wade Allen (no longer in the SCA). The first armourers in this country who were successful at blending artistic quality with historical accuracy and safety on the tournament field. They taught a small generation of armourers who followed them, all of whom attained the rank of "laurel" in the SCA. These in turn have spawned yet a third generation, who are currently very active in the SCA armour world. "Valerius" pieces are known for being of very high quality, highly durable, highly
polished, and to have a very sleek line, in addition to being extremely accurate in terms of historical style.
Vambrace: "tubular" or "gutter" defenses for the forearm, developing first during the 14th century. During the whole
transitional period, many materials were experimented with
leather, sometimes reinforced with longitudinal strips;
iron; with or without separate
couters. Generally laced directly to the underlying
mail, by 1335 in England the mail was reduced and the
vambrace was attached to the couter via
lames and
rivets (see
arm harness). The use of iron was essentially introduced at that time.
Splinted vambraces were popular in Germany and in Italy during the whole of the 14th century, featuring heavy, possibly tooled leather and reinforced with longitudinal strips of metal. (Blair p. 64)
Vamplate: The metal or leather guard for the hand or arm on a lance. Such are nicely depicted in an illumination depicting a joust of war between Sir John Astley and Pierre de Massey.
Ventail: (see also
aventail) These were
mail or plate skirts attached to
bascinets to defend the throat during the latter half of the 14th and to the mid 15th century.
Vervelles: Bronze, brass or
latten "staples" that attached to a bascinet to enable the leather cuff of an
aventail to be secured to the helmet.
Visor: Protection for the eyes and face, affixed to the helmet from the side or top center. On a
bascinet, the visor is known as a
klappvisier, or hundskul.
Overview
