Locating Knights in Toronto
- 13 April 2016 | T. Russo
Arms and Armour collection at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada consists of shields, breast plates, helmets, gorgets, gaunlets, leg harness, weaponry in both military and civilian contexts. Western samples are located in the European rooms while an Eastern collection is located in the Asian rooms on the first floor. The collection displays contrasts of daily life of the Middle Ages that are useful for discussing subcategories of social and political practices and social class in the Ancient Civilizations curriculum (Ministry of Education, Ontario) while contrasting these topics in the European tradition and Medieval China for heritage and identity of early societies to the 1500s.
Medieval Armor/Armour in the European Collection, Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), Canada (rom.on.ca)
In the CIBC Discovery Gallery at the ROM, children can try on costumes from many cultures and eras including a hauberk from a knight’s medieval armour and women’s costumes from the era. The hauberk is made from chainmail and can consist of a tunic or just a head piece to protect the knight’s head and neck. The chainmail is heavy and requires leather piece to cover the head before placing the hauberk over the head; the ROM has both gears to demonstrate a medieval knight’s arms. Within the order of chivalry, the hauberk is considered symbolic of a fortress against weaknesses ad vices as explained by Ramon Llul in his treatise on the order of chivalry.
CIBC Discovery Gallery, October 19, 2019 (photograph of medieval clothing in the gallery)
Chainmail used to make hauberk
Initially the hauberk was just over the shoulders and then it was made larger (medievalarmour.com).
How to cite blog:
Russo, Teresa. "Medieval Armour and Weaponry at the ROM: Locating Knights in Toronto." Teaching the Middle Ages, April 13, 2016; updated 2022, https://www.teachingthemiddleages.com/post/medieval-armour-and-weaponry-at-the-rom
Resources for Teachers:
The Archaeology of Weapons: Arms and Armour from Prehistory to the Age of Chivalry (Dover Military History, Weapons, Armor)
The Art of Swordsmanship by Hans Lecküchner (Armour and Weapons), translated by Jeffrey L. Forgeng
Medieval Arms and Armour: a Sourcebook. Volume I: The Fourteenth Century (Armour and Weapons, 10), Ralph Moffat
