What was some of the earliest armor knights wore in the medieval ages?

Answer 1

Basic medieval armor for a knight was called mail. Mail is made by a very labor intensive process where wire is formed into small interlocking links and secured with small rivets. In modern times this has been referred to as chain-mail, but the term was not used during the medieval period. Mail was very expensive, both due to its metal content and the amount of labor required to produce a set.

Mail covered the chest, back. upper arms, and would hang to somewhere between the waist and knees. Such a mail garment was called a hauberk. Additional arm and legs protection, commonly made of hardened leather, were also sometimes worn. Under the mail the knight would wear a long garment made of multiple layers of quilted cloth called a gambeson. The gambeson was to protect the knight from being chafed by the metal armor, and also to add additional protection against blunt force. Even if a weapon was stopped by the mail, a tremendous amount of kinetic energy was still delivered, and people in medieval battles were often effectively beat to death even if their armor managed to deflect the edges of weapons.

Common soldiers would sometimes wear a gambeson or similar garment without the benefit of mail. While far less protective that the metal mail, the gambeson would sill afford some protection, especially against blunt weapons such as clubs, maces, and hammers. There is also some chance that bladed or pointed weapons may become deflected or tangled by the multiple layers of quilted cloth, particularly if the blow was weak or glancing.

It is also possible, but not entirely certain, that soldiers that could not afford mail might have also worn hardened leather doublets or jackets. No such leather pieces are extant, but there is some documentary evidence that armored leather doublets were made. A document in the Ashmole manuscripts in the Bodleian Library describes a process of making a "defensive doublet" by taking two partially cured layers of leather and laminating them together with a middle layer of glue, pulverized glass, and iron filings, and then attaching the leather to a shaped frame to dry.

Soldiers both common and aristocratic would have worn helmets of various styles. Also, a neck guard, known as a gorget, of either leather or metal, may have been worn.

As the middle ages progressed armor became more complex and elaborate. Additional pieces, such as joint guards, splint armor, and coats-of-plate were added as supplements to the mail. This type of armor is known as transitional armor, as it is in transition from simple mail to the full fledged plate armor. There were many designs, the exact details of which are beyond the scope of this post, but all essentially were attempts to add additional protection to the mail hauberk. Genuine plate armor came only in the last century of the middle ages.