Actually, it's not all that realistic. It's more so than most movie sword fights, I grant you, but it still isn't all that realistic. The movements of the combatants were much too slow and ponderous. Lots of people still think that medieval swords were heavy, clumsy things, and that there was little science to the swordplay of the middle ages. Both conceptions are complete myths, and nothing could be further from the truth. In a real fight in that era, while it wouldn't have had all the graceful, acrobatic nonsense Hollywood loves today, the combatants would have moved a lot faster, and wouldn't have tired as quickly.
As for the armor that Shaw wore... I don't blame him for not wanting to wear it. There were two things about it I noticed at once in the scene where the Sheriff puts it on. The first was that his arms and legs and head were covered by mail. But the entire torso area of the hauberk was leather. In other words, the part of the armor that covers his vital organs -- the very part that needs protecting the most -- is basically unarmored. This is nonsense. The only leather garments with armored sleeves that would have been used historically would have been those from later than the 12th century, where the leather part would have been covered by a solid breastplate. The second thing I noticed was the total lack of padding. Shaw puts the armor on over his bare torso. NO ONE wore mail like that -- those "chain wounds" to which you refer are why. Mail worn on bare skin would chafe like nobody's business, and would also not offer the proper protection. Warriors wore padded gambesons under their mail shirts both to prevent that kind of chafing, and because the padding absorbed some of the shock of any blow, and increased the protection offered by the mail.
reply
share