Will McLean's A Commonplace Book

Readers who have enjoyed my translations of Charny's Questions on War may be interested in Will McLean's A Commonplace Book.

Will is an independent scholar from a re-enactor background (that's him in his armor above). He's been doing serious research in late medieval combat, especially individual deeds of arms, for well over a decade, reading, translating, analyzing and even illustrating sources. His work was one of the things that inspired me to look into Froissart and other writers of the fourteenth century, which led me to write Jousts and Tournaments and Deeds of Arms.

Will puts anything he likes into his "commonplace book" but a great deal of it concerns medieval evidence for what "men at arms" actually did in the lists. His most recent post, for instance, discusses whether thrown spears could have been effective against the full plate armor of the 15th century. For the surprising answer and the relevant evidence, go over there right now.