When Historical Books Show Inaccuracies

[S'mon]

There are still thousands out there who tell me a katana is the best sword quality out there. I can show them measurements and comparisons of steel quality. Do they believe the facts? Not very often.

I tend to think a good medieval katana is like a good gumbo - poor materials, great result.

 

[S'mon]

While it is a fact that armored knights at Agincourt had huge troubles moving around in the mud, this "seal with their rigid armor" is.. well, nonsense. A breastplate does not have a simple straight edge that would make a "seal" simple without mostly immersing the knight in the mud. And if he's mostly immersed in mud, the seal is the least of his problems.

Er, yeah. I believe a lot of them drowned in the mud. A lot of WW1 soldiers drowned in the (similar) Belgian clay muds, without being encased in armour.

 

[S'mon]

While it is a fact that armored knights at Agincourt had huge troubles moving around in the mud, this "seal with their rigid armor" is.. well, nonsense. A breastplate does not have a simple straight edge that would make a "seal" simple without mostly immersing the knight in the mud.

I don't see why you would need to be immersed more than a couple of inches in the mud before the seal would form. It's the same effect you get walking (in boots) across a muddy field, only with a larger cross-sectional area so more suction.