armour

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There are relatively few surviving pieces of medieval date, so the study of armour is largely dependent on the evidence of monumental effigies, manuscript illuminations, and documentary sources. Three periods of development have been identified. The first period, c.11th-13th cents., saw the predominance of mail. A knee-length mail hauberk, sometimes hooded, was worn over a padded garment (aketon). By the mid- to late 12th cent., a surcoat of linen was commonly worn over the hauberk. Helmets were at first conical with a descending plate to protect the nose, but developed into rounder, cylindrical forms with visors (the great helm). In the third period, from the late 14th to early 16th cents., full plate armour was worn, covering the trunk as well as the legs and arms. A padded coat (or arming doublet) would be worn under a solid breast- and backplate. Helmets came in many shapes, often protecting the whole head by means of a visor. Even in this third period mail might still be worn to protect the groin and armpits. The second period links the first and the third but overlapped with both. It saw the development of the coat of plates, a cloth-covered body armour which was essentially a fabric garment reinforced internally with metal plates (subsequently called the brigandine). This might be worn with mail, and also with solid, and later articulated, plate protection on the arms, hands, legs, and feet. The great helm persisted but was giving way to the head-hugging bascinet, which sometimes had a visor. Our picture of armour is too often derived from the top of the range—the most expensive apparel of the aristocratic and knightly classes. The rank and file continued to rely on mail shirts, reinforced cloth armours (brigandine and jak), and simpler headgear (sallets, kettle hats, etc.). Tournament armour can be misleading. Because of the desire to protect life in what was, after all, a sport, it tended to be heavier and more defensive than armour for war: visors, for instance, were de rigueur, whereas in battle faces might be left uncovered. The most expensive and most fashionable armours in the later Middle Ages came from northern Italy and southern Germany. Generally speaking, however, the rank and file had to make do with locally produced, and probably often recycled, armour.