12-07-2007, 08:09 PM
Unfortunately that's a question that'd be difficult to answer Andy- we have no idea what size the guy who wore the Newstead or any other manica was. Being Roman soldiers it's probably safe to expect they weren't little scrawny guys LOL But just how much of the arm the armor was intended to cover is up for debate. The thing that would help would to know what other maximum lame sizes there are out there- but so far I only have measurements for the one.
It may not be a mistake to expect some variation, but it is a pitfall to expect too much from armor of any sort- clearly every little possibility for injury was not taken into account in its design, so it's easy to over-imagine things. The lorica segmentata, for example, had a lot of open spaces, and yet was still used for probably on the order of 150 years before only some were 'closed'. In the case of a MANICA, it's supplementary defense- optional, not at all strictly necessary, so only doing a reasonable job of protecting the most vulnerable areas is perfectly logical. I think it's very important to always bear in mind that armor is a last line of defense and is never intended to be hit- the main protection is the shield and simply moving around, so armor doesn't need to be all-protecting and too much armor is definitely a liability as it affects movement, which IS a primary defense...
It may not be a mistake to expect some variation, but it is a pitfall to expect too much from armor of any sort- clearly every little possibility for injury was not taken into account in its design, so it's easy to over-imagine things. The lorica segmentata, for example, had a lot of open spaces, and yet was still used for probably on the order of 150 years before only some were 'closed'. In the case of a MANICA, it's supplementary defense- optional, not at all strictly necessary, so only doing a reasonable job of protecting the most vulnerable areas is perfectly logical. I think it's very important to always bear in mind that armor is a last line of defense and is never intended to be hit- the main protection is the shield and simply moving around, so armor doesn't need to be all-protecting and too much armor is definitely a liability as it affects movement, which IS a primary defense...
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