Laminar armour (from Latin : lamina – layer) is an armour made from horizontal overlapping rows or bands of, usually small, solid armour plates called lames, [1] as opposed to lamellar armour, which is made from individual armour scales laced together to form a solid-looking strip of armour. Prominent examples of such armour are lorica segmentata of Ancient Rome [2] and certain versions of samurai armour.
Less known examples were present in Asia from Iran to Mongolia, including Central Asia. Laminar armour from animal skins has also been traditionally made and worn in the Arctic areas of what are now Siberia, Alaska and Canada.
In the 16th century laminar and lamellar armour was superseded by plated mail in the Middle East and Central Asia, remaining mainly in Mongolia. However, laminar armour did appear briefly in some form in Europe during the 16th to the 17th century with the main feature that distinguished it from other forms of laminar armour being the metal strips being fastened using sliding rivets. This was known as anima and was invented in Italy. Notable examples include the Earl of Pembroke's Armour and the armour worn by the Polish hussars. The technique was also used create segmented armour to protect the neck, upper limbs, and hips as seen in the Almain rivet, the zischagge, falling buffe, and faulds.
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Laminar cuirasses were manufactured in Japan as early as the 4th century. [3] Tankō (laminar), worn by foot soldiers and keikō (lamellar), worn by horsemen were both pre-samurai types of early Japanese cuirass constructed from iron plates connected by leather thongs.
At the beginning of the Sengoku period Japanese armour typically had two versions – expensive and inexpensive. The difference was that expensive versions were made from hundreds or even thousands of individual leather and or iron scales laced together into armor strips (lamellar), this was a very time-consuming process. [4] The two most common types of scales which made up the Japanese lamellar armors were hon kozane which were constructed from narrow or small scales, and hon iyozane which were constructed from wider scales.
Laminar armor proved to be inexpensive and easier to construct, although was often made to look like simulated lamellar plates. This is known as Kiritsuke iyozane. Kiritsuke iyozane is a form of laminar armor constructed from long strips of leather and or iron which were perforated, laced, and notched and made to replicate the look of real lamellar plates. These strips of simulated lamellar plates were much more rigid than real lamellar and they were assembled into armor items in the same way that the rows of lamellar armour were.
After about a century of the ceaseless civil war during the Sengoku period simulated lamellar plates and true lamellar plates become less popular as plate armor started to be used more frequently. The laminar cuirass evolved to become the okegawa dō, constructed of horizontal strips of armour joined not by laces, but by rivets or staples (imitating laces).
According to Bobrov, until the end of the 15th century the most popular armour in certain regions including Central Asia and Persia was lamellar armour, brigandines, and laminar armour. However, in Iran since the 15th century lamellar and laminar armour were typical only in the south, while during the 15th century the typical armour in the north was plated mail.
Initially for centuries laminar armour was just a less expensive version of lamellar armor. Laminar was just made from horizontal strips of armour laced like strips of lamellar plates, but without extra-lacing and notches imitating strips of lamellar armour. And like in lamellar armour these laces could be occasionally cut during battle; the laces also frayed when an armour was worn for long periods without being mended.
Later at the beginning of the 15th century construction of laminar armour had significantly changed; instead of lacing being used, strips of new laminar armour were riveted to broad straps (like in lorica segmentata). As a result, laminar armour became more reliable than lamellar armour: hidden straps couldn't be cut without the armour being penetrated, the broad straps did not require continuous mending, and the straps were stiffer and more durable than the thinner lacing that was used previously. Laminar armour eventually became more popular than lamellar armour, and almost fully replaced lamellar armour by the end of 15th century.
Pure lamellar armour became very rare; however, different combinations of laminar and lamellar armour were very popular. This happened because even though laminar armour was much more reliable than lamellar, laminar armour was not flexible enough, while lamellar armours were very flexible. Laminar cuirasses could be worn with lamellar pauldrons and tassets (worn with separate bracers, greaves and helm). Less common was the opposite combination of lamellar cuirass worn with laminar pauldrons and tassets. Both could be optionally worn with lamellar or laminar cod-piece and loin-guard, or even with mirror plate reinforcement.
At the end of 15th century, when laminar armour became much more popular than lamellar ones, both armour types began to be replaced by plated mails. Initially plated mail was made only as cuisses, but soon by the beginning of 16th century plated mail was utilized in both pauldrons and cuisses, as they could better envelop body and fully replaced laminar and lamellar pauldron and tassets. So a typical laminar armour of that period was just a laminar cuirass which could be worn over brigandine with sleeves supplemented by plated mail cuisses. (Helm, bracers and greaves are not mentioned here as they were conventional for that region). Sleeves of brigandine worked as pauldron, and if a brigandine was long enough its laps could work as tassets. Another option was wearing a laminar cuirass without any brigandine, but with plated mail pauldrons and cuisses. Both variations of laminar armour could be re-enforced by mirror plate (even though laminar armour would have been enough protection from steel weapons, a metal mirror was worn as protection from the "evil eye"). Finally by the end of the 16th century laminar and lamellar armour practically disappeared in the Middle East and Central Asia regions.
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Armour of Chukchi and Siberian Yupik had very similar construction, also used by the Tlingit. [5] According to different sources, Chukchi armour could have only one enormous pauldron extending to the waist, used as a shield, and looking rather like a wing or had both "wings". Both Chukchi and Yupik armour could have lamellar or laminar constructions unlike other regions were lamellar and laminar armour typically had different construction and were made from different materials. Similar lamellar armour with "wing" pauldrons was used by Koryak people.
Classic lamellar armour was made from hard materials (initially from natural materials like bone, tusk, baleen, and even wood as arrow-heads initially were from bone or stone) and in the shape of a short cuirass or even consisted only of a breast-plate. While laminar armour was made from hardened seal leather and often knee long, or even longer. However late lamellar armour made from metal (iron or steel or even brass) and could be as long as laminar armour. Both lamellar and laminar armour usually were worn with a high collar (protecting neck and head) integral with one or two laminar pauldrons (used rather as shield than ordinary pauldron). This collar and its pauldrons usually were made from leather and wood.
Usually at least one part of an armour (a pauldron) was laminar, but sometimes a pauldron was comparatively "short" and instead of being laminar constructed from a few wooden planks it instead used only one big plank, and the rest of the hand was protected by splinted or lamellar vambrace. Besides optional vambraces an armour could optionally have a lamellar helm, and splinted or lamellar greaves.
Armour or armor is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or from a potentially dangerous environment or activity. Personal armour is used to protect soldiers and war animals. Vehicle armour is used on warships, armoured fighting vehicles, and some combat aircraft, mostly ground attack aircraft.
A cuirass is a piece of armour that covers the torso, formed of one or more pieces of metal or other rigid material. The word probably originates from the original material, leather, from the French cuirace and Latin word coriacea. The use of the term "cuirass" generally refers to both the breastplate and the backplate pieces; whereas a breastplate only protects the front, a cuirass protects both the front and the back of the wearer.
Plate armour is a historical type of personal body armour made from bronze, iron, or steel plates, culminating in the iconic suit of armour entirely encasing the wearer. Full plate steel armour developed in Europe during the Late Middle Ages, especially in the context of the Hundred Years' War, from the coat of plates worn over mail suits during the 14th century, a century famous for the Transitional armour, in that plate gradually replaced chain mail.
Lamellar armour is a type of body armour, made from small rectangular plates of iron or steel, leather (rawhide), bone, or bronze laced into horizontal rows. Lamellar armour was used over a wide range of time periods in Central Asia, Eastern Asia, Western Asia, and Eastern Europe. The earliest evidence for lamellar armour comes from sculpted artwork of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the Near East.
White armour, or alwyte armour, was a form of plate armour worn in the Late Middle Ages characterized by full-body steel plate without a surcoat. Around 1420 the surcoat, or "coat of arms" as it was known in England, began to disappear, in favour of uncovered plate. Areas not covered by plate were protected by mail sewn to the gambeson underneath.
A brigandine is a form of body armour from the late Middle Ages and up to the early Modern Era. It is a garment typically made of heavy cloth, canvas, or leather, lined internally with small oblong steel plates riveted to the fabric, sometimes with a second layer of fabric on the inside.
Korean armour is armour that was traditionally used in ancient times by Koreans, those fighting in and on behalf of Korea, or Koreans fighting overseas. Examples of armour from the Korean Peninsula date back to at least the Korean Three Kingdoms period. Depending on the tactical situation, Korean armour also included horse armour and other kinds of early anti-ballistic armour before the 20th century.
Scale armour is an early form of armour consisting of many individual small armour scales (plates) of various shapes attached to each other and to a backing of cloth or leather in overlapping rows. Scale armour was worn by warriors of many different cultures as well as their horses. The material used to make the scales varied and included bronze, iron, steel, rawhide, leather, cuir bouilli, seeds, horn, or pangolin scales. The variations are primarily the result of material availability.
Cuisses are a form of medieval armour worn to protect the thigh. The word is the plural of the French word cuisse meaning 'thigh'. While the skirt of a maille shirt or tassets of a cuirass could protect the upper legs from above, a thrust from below could avoid these defenses. Thus, cuisses were worn on the thighs to protect from such blows. Padded cuisses made in a similar way to a gambeson were commonly worn by knights in the 12th and 13th centuries, usually over chausses, and may have had poleyns directly attached to them. Whilst continental armours tended to have cuisses that did not protect the back of the thigh, English cuisses were typically entirely encapsulating, due to the English preference for foot combat over the mounted cavalry charges favoured by continental armies.
Chinese armour was predominantly lamellar from the Warring States period onward, prior to which animal parts such as rhinoceros hide, rawhide, and turtle shells were used for protection. Lamellar armour was supplemented by scale armour since the Warring States period or earlier. Partial plate armour was popular from the Eastern and Southern dynasties (420–589), and mail and mountain pattern armour from the Tang dynasty (618–907). Chain mail had been known since the Han dynasty, but did not see widespread production or battlefield use, and may have seen as "exotic foreign armor" used as a display of wealth for wealthier officers and soldiers. During the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), brigandine began to supplant lamellar armour and was used to a great degree into the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). By the 19th century most Qing armour, which was of the brigandine type, were purely ceremonial, having kept the outer studs for aesthetic purposes, and omitted the protective metal plates.
The ō-yoroi (大鎧) is a prominent example of early Japanese armor worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan. The term ō-yoroi means "great armor".
"Banded mail" is a neologism, coined in the 19th century, describing a type of composite armour formed by combining the concepts behind the Roman lorica segmentata with splint armour. Its historicity is doubtful. It has become entrenched in the popular consciousness as a result of its inclusion in the armour list for Dungeons & Dragons.
A lame is a solid piece of sheet metal used as a component of a larger section of plate armor used in Europe during the medieval period. It is used in armors to provide articulations or the joining of the armor elements. The size is usually small with a narrow and rectangular shape. Multiple lames are riveted together or connected by leather straps or cloth lacing to form an articulated piece of armor that provides flexible protection. The armor worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan used lames in the construction of many of their individual armor parts. The Japanese term is ita, which can both refer to the lame or its borderings.
Splint armour is armour consisting of strips of metal ("splints") attached to a cloth or leather backing. It is most commonly found as limb armour such as greaves or vambraces.
A coat of plates is a form of segmented torso armour consisting of overlapping metal plates riveted inside a cloth or leather garment. The coat of plates is considered part of the era of transitional armour and was normally worn as part of a full knightly harness. The coat saw its introduction in Europe among the warring elite in the 1180s or 1220s and was well established by the 1250s. It was in very common usage by the 1290s. By the 1350s it was universal among infantry militias as well. After about 1340, the plates covering the chest were combined to form an early breastplate, replacing the coat of plates. After 1370, the breastplate covered the entire torso. Different forms of the coat of plates, known as the brigandine and jack of plates, remained in use until the late 16th century.
Mail and plate armour is a type of mail with embedded plates. Armour of this type has been used in the Middle East, North Africa, Ottoman Empire, Japan, China, Korea, Vietnam, Central Asia, Greater Iran, India, Eastern Europe, and Nusantara.
Mirror armour, sometimes referred to as disc armour or as chahār-āyneh or char-aina, was a type of cuirass used mainly in Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe; including India, Persia, Tibet, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire. It literally translates to "four mirrors" which is a reflection of how these pieces looked, which resembles four metal discs or rectangular armour plates. Mirror armor was used in some cultures up to the 20th century.
Scholars agree that Japanese armour first appeared in the 4th century, with the discovery of the cuirass and basic helmets in graves. During the Heian period (794–1185), the unique Japanese samurai armour ō-yoroi and dō-maru appeared. The Japanese cuirass evolved into the more familiar style of body armour worn by the samurai known as the dou or dō, with the use of leather straps (nerigawa), and lacquer for weatherproofing. Leather and/or iron scales were also used to construct samurai armours, with leather and eventually silk lace used to connect the individual scales (kozane) of these cuirasses.
Dō or dou (胴) "breastplate, cuirass" is one of the major components of Japanese armour worn by the samurai and ashigaru or foot soldiers of feudal Japan.