Corslet

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English helmet and corslet, ca. 1620 BLW Armour, V&A.jpg
English helmet and corslet, ca. 1620

A corslet is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "a piece of defensive armour covering the body." In ancient Egypt, Ramesses II is said to have worn a similar device in some battle(s). In Ancient Greek armies, the "hoplite", or heavy infantryman, wore a bronze corslet or known as the thorax (or a linen version known as the linothorax) to protect his upper body. The corslet consisted of two plates connected on the sides via hinges and bronze pins. By the 16th century, the corslet, also spelled corselet, was popular as a light-half-armour for general military use, e.g., by town guards. It was made up of a gorget, breast covering, back and tassets, full arms and gauntlets.

In the 10th and 11th century, the depiction of some Byzantine troops wearing a metallic corselet lamellar armour (besides the lorikion scale armour that was widely used by the Stratioti) is shown in the Skylitzes and Madrid Skylitzes chronicles and of the Menologion of Basil II. There were also seen being used by the imperial guardsmen in Constantinople. The armor itself lasted until the fall of Constantinople, as Constantinos Palaiologos himself is recorded as wearing one during the fall.

The word "corslet" was adopted as a so-called "occupational surname," later altered to Coslett, Cosslett, Coslet, etc., following the arrival of an expert in the manufacture of osmond iron, Corslet Tinkhaus, to Wales from his native Westphalia in 1567.

According to Webster's Third New International Dictionary, corslet also refers to a soldier equipped with a corslet.

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Coslett is an uncommon surname with origins in 16th-century Wales. Main spelling variants are Cosslett and Coslet, though Corslet, Coslette and other spellings have been recorded.

For most of its history, the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire did not use heraldry in the Western European sense of permanent motifs transmitted through hereditary right. Various large aristocratic families employed certain symbols to identify themselves; the use of the cross, and of icons of Christ, the Theotokos and various saints is also attested on seals of officials, but these were often personal rather than family emblems. Likewise, various emblems were used in official occasions and for military purposes, such as banners or shields displaying various motifs such as the cross or the labarum. Despite the abundance of pre-heraldic symbols in Byzantine society from the 10th century, only through contact with the Crusaders in the 12th century, and particularly following the Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) and the establishment of Frankish principalities on Byzantine soil from 1204 onwards, did heraldic uses penetrate in Byzantium. A native Byzantine heraldry began to appear in the middle and lower rungs of aristocratic families in the 14th century, coinciding with the decline of imperial authority and with the fragmentation of political power under the late Palaiologan emperors. However, it never achieved the breadth of adoption, or the systematization, of its Western analogues.

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