About Blankenshield Armoury

Mathew Cross and one of his students sword fighting on a roof of a booth at the Northern Renaissance Fare.

Blankenshield Armoury is the oldest source for historically based combat ready armour in the western hemisphere possibly the world. The history of Blankenshield is the history of one man, Mathew Cross. Beginning his odyssey on the path of the sword in the late nineteen sixties he has lived as a practicing swordsman for well over thirty years. Touring as a professional sword fighter for over twenty years and jousting for over a decade. He joined the first renaissance faire any where in its first few seasons and using the paradoxes of defense by Silver he developed a system for choreographing stage combat that is still the standard of general practice. Moving into more extemporized performances he developed what was then called semi choreographed combat where systems of three to five move sequences were memorized using seven basic moves and blocks and these sequences combined at random. These performances became more contest like and in the early seventies took on a new name.

1983

As each performance began, men with poles held sideways pressed back the crowd to make room and the announcer cried out;“Good my lords and ladies welcome to another performance of, “LIVE STEEL”! By which was meant the kinetic sculpture of the chainmail and plate clad men performing. A prominent group fighting with rattan (you know who I mean) started a boycott of that fair because of “live steel” and in a newsletter of some sort threatened to boycott any fair or festival featuring “live steel”. Eventually this uproar faded away but a new term had entered the vocabulary. Now live steel means to fight in a sporting context with steel weapons. In the early seventies though, the use of weapons in sport was illegal and dueling laws applied against all but the most blatantly non sword like sporting weapons. The use of swords with blunt edges being at that time prohibited. At least that is how the law was applied. However by breaking ground with a performance that started out choreographed then semi choreographed then an all out contest, it became possible to establish an openly practiced sport with blunt steel swords and full armour. The first of its kind in modern times. That “sport” is still practiced with an uninterrupted continuity by the martial artists of Tournament Productions. However many different groups now exist that all in some way owe the fact that their sport exists to the ground breaking efforts of this pioneer of the modern martial arts of Chivalry. Starting in nineteen seventy six Mathew started an armour smithing demonstration and sales booth at the renaissance faire. The first of its kind. Called simply “The Armoury”. It was based on the fact that in the sixteenth century armour was more tightly regulated than handguns in California and the whole process was administered by district armouries. There, in the booth, armour was made right in front of patrons of the fair. And always sword fighting. Early on Mathew started standing on the top of a peaked roof. Balanced at the very edge of the ridge beam with twelve feet of air at his back and invite any accomplished martial artists to take up a weapon and knock him off. Making this challenge at least twelve weekends a year for nine years. Also taking on such daring challenges as fending off thrown spears and swords unarmoured and fighting groups of several attackers with spears. Even fighting unarmoured against armoured foes in spur of the moment challenges that became part of his daily routine. Eventually there came to be many copycat armour booths each calling themselves this armory or that armory. Being simply The Armoury was no longer sufficient so Mathew took the quote from Ivanho. Who is this Blankenshield? Ill omened knave. In black from crest to spur and Blankenshield Armoury was born. From the mid eighties Mathew put the traveling armour booth away and took Tournament Productions on a tour of the smaller fairs that sprang up all over. Blankenshield Armoury operated then as it does now from a small ranch in central California. The tour of Tournament Productions involved at least one weekend performance per month ten months a year and began to include jousting events. During this time Mathew made it a policy to fight at least twenty fights per day at any given show. Frequently fighting far more than that. While maintaining a private jousting arena and the horses and equipment to invite a half a dozen jousters at a time to do combat. Fighting in public arenas till the late nineties Mathew broke over twenty bones and five teeth. Mostly from fighting in chain mail against plate armoured foes and jousting with no shields. To this day if any one suggests that they are an accomplished martial artist Mathew's first question is do they have all their teeth. If so they are not trying hard enough. Over the last three decades plus the products from Blankenshield have been tested in the most punishing forms of combat practiced in the twentieth century by that centuries most experienced professional tournament sword fighter. Now in the twenty first century Blankenshield Armoury is able to offer complete armours that are made entirely by hand, according to the measurements of an individual client, and that can withstand full contact live steel sports and continue to function flawlessly when equipment from the competitors has long since left the arena. In the AEMMA and WMA competitions in Toronto and Chicago where armours from many makers meet in open competition. It has proven that the Blankenshield equipment is functioning flawlessly throughout the competitions whereas those of the competitors are taking up much arena time with repairs and dysfunction's. Even while staying together most suits fielded with full pauldrens did not work correctly and flying pauldren disease was common. Here at Blankenshield we believe that armour has to fill several basic missions. One it has to be safe to wear in extremely difficult conditions. Second it is protective gear for extreme martial arts with steel weapons possibly sharp ones. Third it is a flexible garment and must be comfortably worn by an individual practicing extreme martial arts. And fourth it must strongly resemble specific historical models in appearance, articulation, and weight .

We have found ways to make a product that is light, strong, flexible, and attractive. Above all we go the extra distance. Our prices are competitive, but we treat our customers better than the other guys. We feel a major investment like a suit of armour is deserving of top of the line treatment. Individual fitting is a must. Communicating with the customer is important. Several dozen e-mail's is common and we are happy to make and send many drawings to make sure that the product finally settled on is exactly what the customer wants and above all what they really need. We are open to any project no matter how specific or different. Our pricing on custom work is based on reasonable hourly rates and fundamentally all work done by Blankenshield is custom work. We eagerly accept the challenge of any size or shape of person. Our delivery times as of 2003 are some of the fastest in the business at eight to ten weeks. Some off the rack outfits can not claim as much. So if you want an armour that you can climb in, crawl in, fall off a running horse in and above all fight in and you want it made to measure quickly and just how you want it then you had better buy Blankenshield.

mathew cross amroursmith is using a hammer on an avil to shape his sheets of metal into armour, behind him is a roll of fighting swords hanging on the wall.

1984