Tobias Capwell

Capwell's interest in chivalric combat was aroused when he visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York at the age of four or five, and was so impressed by an exhibit of a man in plate armour on horseback that he knew that that was what he wanted to be when he grew up. Few individual pieces, let alone full suits, of such armour, either for warfare or for sport (tournaments), have survived. He therefore based his researches not only on those, but also on Continental armour of the time, documentary sources, illustrations, artworks, and especially English monumental brasses and funerary sculptures, the last of which often have highly accurate detail. In 2012, archaeologists discovered the burial place of King Richard III of England (1452–1485), who had been killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field. Capwell was a member of the multidisciplinary academic team which studied the remains. In 2015, he was one of the two mounted men in full armour who escorted the king's coffin to his reburial site in Leicester Cathedral. He was the Curator of Arms and Armour at the Wallace Collection, London, from 2006 to 2022. He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 2011. ==Publications and media appearances==

Capwell has published several books relating to his speciality. Among them is an authoritative trilogy of works, Armour of the English Knight 1400–1450 (2015), Armour of the English Knight 1450–1500 (2021), and Armour of the English Knight: Continental Armour in England 1435–1500 (2022). Reviewing the first volume in The English Historical Review, David Palliser wrote that it "...should revolutionise the study of early fifteenth-century armour, and it is one which document-based historians would neglect to their cost... [He] is that rare scholar, an internationally-renowned expert in his field, who is also a seasoned practitioner of combat in full plate armour, one who can speak with real authority on armour as a practical and functional aspect of medieval life". He has taken part in scientific experiments designed to measure the effectiveness of the couched lance as a weapon in knightly combat. English sculptor Henry Moore (1898-1986) was a frequent visitor to the Wallace Collection, and drew inspiration from it. In his later years, he produced several sculptures based on helmets displayed in that museum. In 2019, Capwell and Hannah Higham, in a book titled The Helmet Heads, analysed those sculptures from the perspective of the original helmets. His television appearances have included Timewatch: The Greatest Knight (2008, BBC2, contributor), The Private Life of a Masterpiece: Caravaggio: The Taking of Christ (2010, BBC2, contributor), ''Metalworks: The Knight's Tale (2012, BBC4, writer and presenter), Richard III: The New Evidence (2014, Channel 4, presenter and armour advisor), and A Stitch in Time'' (2018, BBC4, contributor). ==Selected publications==

Capwell's publications include: • • • Apollo Magazine Book of the Year 2012. • • Military History Monthly Illustrated Book of the Year 2017. • • • • • • • • ==References==