Testing Mobility in Medieval Armor
15th July 2016
Jean II le Meingre Boucicaut (c.1366-1421) was a French knight of high renown in his own day. Aside from his chivalrous comportment, he was famous for his mastery of the physical demands of fighting in full plate armor.
A description of Boucicaut’s physical conditioning program survives to this day. To test its effectiveness and the practicality of wearing full armor, Daniel Jacquet performed those exercises and more while wearing a 58-pound suit of armor. He jumped on a horse, ran, chopped wood, did cartwheels, and more. And although Boucicaut did not call for it, at the end of the video, Jacquet danced to Elvis Presley’s “Don’t Be Cruel” in the steel suit.
Reminds me of a number of amusing S.C.A. stories.