Every time I see a picture of super shiny, polished armor I want to kick a Victorian.
They deserve it!!!
the more history you learn, doesnt matter what history, the more you hate the victorians
This disclaimer should be read, signed, and archived for anyone interested in history.
Wait but WHY
Because the Victorians had a nasty habit of viewing all history through the lens of a world-view that justified their imperialist patriarchal and white suprematist society. As a result, they reinterpreted, ignored and outright erased anything that contradicted that world view.
On an ethical level, that.
On a personal level - they polished medieval armor to a mirror finish thinking that was what it was supposed to look like, when most armor was finished with bluing, blacking, enamel, or paint to be outlandish and gaudy and gorgeous, and most importantly - resist rusting.
They did the same thing to ancient statues, assuming that they were meant to be bare white marble (as their paint had since flaked and worn away), when in fact they looked like stunningly gorgeous pop art of the ancient world.
So victorians whitewashed history…by literally whitewashing history…
they also ate all the mummies