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 (popular in late 13th and early 14th century) worn over mail suits during the 14th century, a century famous for the Transitional armour, in that plate gradually replaced chain mail.
In Europe, full plate armour reached its peak in the 15th and 16th centuries. The full suit of armour, also referred to as a panoply, is thus a feature of the very end of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance period. Its popular association with the "medieval knight” is due to the specialised jousting armour which developed in the 16th century.
Mail armour is a layer of protective clothing worn most commonly from the 9th to the 13th century, though it would continue to be worn under plate armour until the 15th century.[2]Mail was made from hundreds of small interlinking iron or steel rings held together by rivets. It was made this way so that it would be able to follow the contour of the wearer's body, maximizing comfort. Mail armour was designed mainly to defend against thrusting and cutting weapons, rather than bludgeons.[3] Typical clothing articles made of mail at the time would be hooded cloaks, gloves, trousers, and shoes. From the 10th to the 13th century, mail armour was so popular in Europe, that it was known as the age of mail.
Partial plate armour, made out of bronze, which protected the chest and the lower limbs, was used by the ancient Greeks, as early as the late Bronze Age. The Dendra panoply protected the entire torso on both sides and included shoulder and neck protections. Less restrictive and heavy armour would become more widespread in the form of the muscle cuirass during classic antiquity before being superseded by other types of armour. Parthian and Sassanian heavy cavalry known as Clibanarii used cuirasses made out of scales or mail and small, overlapping plates in the manner of the manica for the protection of arms and legs. Plate armour in the form of the Lorica segmentata was used by the Roman empire between the 1st century BC and 4th century AD.
Single plates of metal armour were again used from the late 13th century on, to protect joints and shins, and these were worn over a mailhauberk. Gradually the number of plate components of medieval armour increased, protecting further areas of the body, and in barding those of a cavalryman's horse. Armourers developed skills in articulating the lames or individual plates for parts of the body that needed to be flexible, and in fitting armour to the individual wearer like a tailor. The cost of a full suit of high quality fitted armour, as opposed to the cheaper munition armour (equivalent of ready-to-wear) was enormous, and inevitably restricted to the wealthy who were seriously committed to either soldiering or jousting. The rest of an army wore inconsistent mixtures of pieces, with mail still playing an important part.
A Japanese 16th–17th century suit of plate armour with a western-style cuirass (nanban dō gusoku)
In the Kofun period (250–538),[4] iron plate cuirasses (tankō) and helmets were being made.[5] Plate armour was used in Japan during the Nara period (646–793); both plate and lamellar armours have been found in burial mounds, and haniwa (ancient clay figures) have been found depicting warriors wearing full armour.[5]
In Japan, the warfare of the Sengoku period (1467–1615) required large quantities of armour to be produced for the ever-growing armies of foot soldiers (ashigaru). Simple munition-quality[6] chest armours (dō) and helmets (kabuto) were mass-produced.
In 1543, the Portuguese brought matchlock firearms (tanegashima) to Japan.[7] As Japanese swordsmiths began mass-producing matchlock firearms and firearms became used in war, the use of Lamellar armour (ō-yoroi and dō-maru), previously used as samurai armour, gradually decreased. Japanese armour makers started to make new types of armour made of larger iron plate and plated leather.[8] This new suit of armour is called tōsei gusoku (gusoku), which means modern armour.[9][10][11][12] The type of gusoku, which covered the front and back of the body with a single iron plate with a raised center and a V-shaped bottom like plate armour, was specifically called nanban dou gusoku ("Western style gusoku") and was used by some samurai.[8] Japanese armour makers designed bulletproof plate armour called tameshi gusoku ("bullet tested"), which allowed soldiers to continue wearing armour despite the heavy use of firearms in the late 16th century.[13][14]
In the 17th century, warfare in Japan came to an end, but the samurai continued to use plate armour until the end of the samurai era in the 1860s, with the known last use of samurai armour occurring in 1877, during the Satsuma rebellion.[15]
By about 1420, complete suits of plate armour had been developed in Europe. A full suit of plate armour would have consisted of a helmet, a gorget (or bevor), spaulders, pauldrons with gardbraces to cover the armpits as was seen in French armour,[16][17] or besagews (also known as rondels) which were mostly used in Gothic Armour, rerebraces, couters, vambraces, gauntlets, a cuirass (breastplate and backplate) with a fauld, tassets and a culet, a mail skirt, cuisses, poleyns, greaves, and sabatons. The very fullest sets, known as garnitures, more often made for jousting than war, included pieces of exchange, alternate pieces suiting different purposes, so that the suit could be configured for a range of different uses, for example fighting on foot or on horse. By the Late Middle Ages even infantry could afford to wear several pieces of plate armour. Armour production was a profitable and pervasive industry during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.[18]
A complete suit of plate armour made from well-tempered steel would weigh around 15–25kg (33–55lb).[19] The wearer remained highly agile and could jump, run and otherwise move freely as the weight of the armour was spread evenly throughout the body. The armour was articulated and covered a man's entire body completely from neck to toe. In the 15th and 16th centuries, plate-armoured soldiers were the nucleus of every army. Large bodies of men-at-arms numbering thousands, or even more than ten thousand men (approximately 60% to 70% of French armies were men-at-arms and the percentage was also high in other countries), were fighting on foot, wearing full plate next to archers and crossbowmen.[citation needed] This was commonly seen in the Western European armies, especially during the Hundred Years War, the Wars of the Roses or the Italian Wars.[citation needed]
European leaders in armouring techniques were Northern Italians, especially from Milan, and Southern Germans, who had somewhat different styles. But styles were diffused around Europe, often by the movement of armourers; the Renaissance Greenwich armour was made by a royal workshop near London that had imported Italian, Flemish and (mostly) German craftsmen, though it soon developed its own unique style. Ottoman Turkey also made wide use of plate armour, but incorporated large amounts of mail into their armour, which was widely used by shock troops such as the Janissary Corps.
Effect on weapon development
15th-century depiction of a melee. A breast plate is pierced by a sword
Plate armour gave the wearer very good protection against sword cuts, as well against spear thrusts, and provided decent defense against blunt weapons.
The evolution of plate armour also triggered developments in the design of offensive weapons. While this armour was effective against cuts or strikes, their weak points could be exploited by thrusting weapons, such as estocs, poleaxes, and halberds. The effect of arrows and bolts is still a point of contention with regard to plate armour. The evolution of the 14th-century plate armour also triggered the development of various polearms. They were designed to deliver a strong impact and concentrate energy on a small area and cause damage through the plate. Maces, war hammers, and pollaxes (poleaxes) were used to inflict blunt force trauma through armour. Strong blows to the head could result in concussion, even if the armour is not penetrated.
Fluted plate was not only decorative, but also reinforced the plate against bending under striking or blunt impact. This offsets against the tendency for flutes to catch piercing blows. In armoured techniques taught in the German school of swordsmanship, the attacker concentrates on these "weak spots", resulting in a fighting style very different from unarmoured sword-fighting. Because of this weakness, most warriors wore a mail shirt (haubergeon or hauberk) beneath their plate armour (or coat-of-plates). Later, full mail shirts were replaced with mail patches, called gussets, which were sewn onto a gambeson or arming jacket. Further protection for plate armour was the use of small round plates called besagews, that covered the armpit area and the addition of couters and poleyns with "wings" to protect the inside of the joint.
German so-called Maximilian armour of the early 16th century is a style using heavy fluting and some decorative etching, as opposed to the plainer finish on 15th-century white armour. The shapes include influence from Italian styles. This era also saw the use of closed helms, as opposed to the 15th-century-style sallets and barbutes.[citation needed] During the early 16th century, the helmet and neckguard design was reformed to produce the so-called Nürnberg armour, many of them masterpieces of workmanship and design.[20]
As firearms became better and more common on the battlefield, the utility of full armour gradually declined, and full suits became restricted to those made for jousting which continued to develop. The decoration of fine armour greatly increased in the period, using a range of techniques, and further greatly increasing the cost. Elaborately decorated plate armour for royalty and the very wealthy was being produced. Highly decorated armour is often called parade armour, a somewhat misleading term as such armour might well be worn on active military service. Steel plate armour for Henry II of France, made in 1555, is covered with meticulous embossing, which has been subjected to blueing, silvering and gilding.[21]
Such work required armourers to either collaborate with artists or have artistic skill of their own; another alternative was to take designs from ornament prints and other prints, as was often done. Daniel Hopfer was an etcher of armour by training, who developed etching as a form of printmaking. Other artists such as Hans Holbein the Younger produced designs for armour. The Milanese armourer Filippo Negroli, from a leading dynasty of armourers, was the most famous modeller of figurative relief decoration on armour.
Reduced plate armour, typically consisting of a breastplate, a burgonet, morion or cabasset and gauntlets, however, also became popular among 16th-century mercenaries, and there are many references to so-called munition armour being ordered for infantrymen at a fraction of the cost of full plate armour. This mass-produced armour was often heavier and made of lower quality metal than fine armour for commanders.[22]
Specialised jousting armour produced in the late 15th to 16th century was heavier, and could weigh as much as 50kg (110lb), as it was not intended for free combat, it did not need to permit free movement, the only limiting factor being the maximum weight that could be carried by a warhorse of the period.
The medieval joust has its origins in the military tactics of heavy cavalry during the High Middle Ages. Since the 15th century, jousting had become a sport (hastilude) with less direct relevance to warfare, for example using separate specialized armour and equipment.
During the 1490s, emperor Maximilian I invested a great deal of effort in perfecting the sport, for which he received his nickname of "The Last Knight". Rennen and Stechen were two sportive forms of the joust developed during the 15th century and practiced throughout the 16th century. The armours used for these two respective styles of the joust were known as Rennzeug and Stechzeug, respectively. The Stechzeug in particular developed into extremely heavy armour which completely inhibited the movement of the rider, in its latest forms resembling an armour-shaped cabin integrated into the horse armour more than a functional suit of armour. Such forms of sportive equipment during the final phase of the joust in 16th-century Germany gave rise to modern misconceptions about the heaviness or clumsiness of "medieval armour", as notably popularised by Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.[23][24]
The extremely heavy helmets of the Stechzeug are explained by the fact that the aim was to detach the crest of the opponent's helmet, resulting in frequent full impact of the lance to the helmet.
By contrast, the Rennen was a type of joust with lighter contact. Here, the aim was to hit the opponent's shield. The specialised Rennzeug was developed on the request of Maximilian, who desired a return to a more agile form of joust compared to the heavily armoured "full contact" Stechen. In the Rennzeug, the shield was attached to the armour with a mechanism of springs and would detach itself upon contact.
Stechzeug; note that the parts protecting the lower body and the legs were incorporated as part of the horse armour (not shown).
Rennzeug
Armour designed for the Kolbenturnier, dated to the 1480s. The Kolbenturnier was a late form of the tournament, unlike the joust played with two teams using wooden clubs (Kolben) to hit opponents' helmet crests.
Plate armour was widely used by most armies until the end of the 17th century for both foot and mounted troops such as the cuirassiers, London lobsters, dragoons, demi-lancers and Polish hussars. The infantry armour of the 16th century developed into the Savoyard type of three-quarters armour by 1600.
Full plate armour was expensive to produce and remained therefore restricted to the upper strata of society; lavishly decorated suits of armour remained the fashion with 18th-century nobles and generals long after they had ceased to be militarily useful on the battlefield due to the advent of inexpensive muskets.
The development of powerful firearms made all but the finest and heaviest armour obsolete. The increasing power and availability of firearms and the nature of large, state-supported infantry led to more portions of plate armour being cast off in favour of cheaper, more mobile troops. Leg protection was the first part to go, replaced by tall leather boots. By the beginning of the 18th century, only field marshals, commanders and royalty remained in full armour on the battlefield, more as a sign of rank than for practical considerations. It remained fashionable for monarchs to be portrayed in armour during the first half of the 18th century (late Baroque period), but even this tradition became obsolete. Thus, a portrait of Frederick the Great in 1739 still shows him in armour, while a later painting showing him as a commander in the Seven Years' War (c. 1760) depicts him without armour.
Body armour made a brief reappearance in the American Civil War with mixed success. During World War I, both sides experimented with shrapnel armour, and some soldiers used their own dedicated ballistic armour such as the American Brewster Body Shield, although none were widely produced. The heavy cavalry armour (cuirass) used by the German, British, and French empires during the Napoleonic Wars, were actively used until the first few months of World War I, when French cuirassiers went to meet the enemy dressed in armour outside of Paris. The cuirass represents the final stage of the tradition of plate armour descended from the Late Middle Ages. Meanwhile, makeshift steel armour for protection against shrapnel and early forms of ballistic vests began development from the mid-19th century to the present day.
Plate armour was also famously used in Australia by the Kelly Gang, a group of four bushrangers led by Edward "Ned" Kelly, who had constructed four suits of improvised armour from plough mouldboards and whose crime spree culminated with a violent shootout with police at the town of Glenrowan in 1880. The armour was reasonably effective against bullets and made Kelly seem almost invincible to the policemen, who likened him to an evil spirit or Bunyip with one constable reporting that "[I] fired at him point blank and hit him straight in the body. But there is no use firing at Ned Kelly; he can't be hurt", however it left sections of the groin and limbs exposed; during the infamous "Glenrowan Affair", gang member Joe Byrne was killed by a bullet to the groin, Kelly was captured after a fifteen-minute last stand against police (having sustained a total of 28 bullet wounds over his body), and the remaining two members are thought to have committed suicide shortly after. Although the recovered suits were almost immediately mismatched, they have since been reorganized and restored and today remain as a powerful symbol of the Australian outback.
In 1916, General Adrian of the French army provided an abdominal shield which was light in weight (approx. one kilogram) and easy to wear.[25] A number of British officers recognised that many casualties could be avoided if effective armour were available.[26]
The first usage of the term "flak jacket" refers to the armour originally developed by the Wilkinson Sword company during World War II to help protect Royal Air Force (RAF) air personnel from flying debris and shrapnel. The Red Army also made use of ballistic steel body armour, typically chestplates, for combat engineers and assault infantry.[27]
After World War II, steel plates were soon replaced by vests made from synthetic fibre, in the 1950s, made of either boron carbide, silicon carbide, or aluminium oxide. They were issued to the crew of low-flying aircraft, such as the UH-1 and UC-123, during the Vietnam War.[28][29] The synthetic fibre Kevlar was introduced in 1971, and most ballistic vests since the 1970s are based on kevlar, optionally with the addition of trauma plates to reduce the risk of blunt trauma injury. Such plates may be made of ceramic, metal (steel or titanium) or synthetic materials.
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.
Chain mail is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh. It was in common military use between the 3rd century BC and the 16th century AD in Europe, while it continued to be used in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East as late as the 17th century. A coat of this armour is often called a hauberk or sometimes a byrnie.
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.
Ashigaru were infantry employed by the samurai class of feudal Japan. The first known reference to ashigaru was in the 14th century, but it was during the Ashikaga shogunate that the use of ashigaru became prevalent by various warring factions.
Cuirassiers were cavalry equipped with a cuirass, sword, and pistols. Cuirassiers first appeared in mid-to-late 16th century Europe as a result of armoured cavalry, such as men-at-arms and demi-lancers discarding their lances and adopting pistols as their primary weapon. In the later part of the 17th century, the cuirassier lost his limb armour and subsequently wore only the cuirass, and sometimes a helmet. By this time, the sword or sabre had become his primary weapon, with pistols relegated to a secondary function.
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.
Kabuto is a type of helmet first used by ancient Japanese warriors that, in later periods, became an important part of the traditional Japanese armour worn by the samurai class and their retainers in feudal Japan.
Body armor, personal armor, armored suit (armoured) or coat of armor, among others, is armor for a person's body: protective clothing or close-fitting hands-free shields designed to absorb or deflect physical attacks. Historically used to protect military personnel, today it is also used by various types of police, private security guards, or bodyguards, and occasionally ordinary citizens. Today there are two main types: regular non-plated body armor for moderate to substantial protection, and hard-plate reinforced body armor for maximum protection, such as used by combatants.
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.
The harquebusier was the most common form of cavalry found throughout Western Europe during the early to mid-17th century. Early harquebusiers were characterised by the use of a type of carbine called a "harquebus". In England, harquebusier was the technical name for this type of cavalry, though in everyday usage they were usually simply called 'cavalry' or 'horse'. In Germany they were often termed Ringerpferd, or sometimes Reiter, in Sweden they were called lätta ryttare.
Heavy cavalry was a class of cavalry intended to deliver a battlefield charge and also to act as a tactical reserve; they are also often termed shock cavalry. Although their equipment differed greatly depending on the region and historical period, heavy cavalry were generally mounted on large powerful warhorses, wore body armor, and armed with either lances, swords, maces, flails (disputed), battle axes, or war hammers; their mounts may also have been protected by barding. They were distinct from light cavalry, who were intended for raiding, reconnaissance, screening, skirmishing, patrolling, and tactical communications.
Munition armour was mass-produced armour stockpiled in armouries to equip both foot soldiers and mounted cuirassiers.
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.
Greenwich armour is the plate armour in a distinctively English style produced by the Royal Almain Armoury founded by Henry VIII in 1511 in Greenwich near London, which continued until the English Civil War. The armoury was formed by imported master armourers hired by Henry VIII, initially including some from Italy and Flanders, as well as the Germans who dominated during most of the 16th century. The most notable head armourer of the Greenwich workshop was Jacob Halder, who was master workman of the armoury from 1576 to 1607. This was the peak period of the armoury's production and it coincided with the elaborately gilded and sometimes coloured decorated styles of late Tudor England.
A plackart is a piece of medieval and Renaissance era armour, initially covering the lower half of the front torso. It was a plate reinforcement that composed the bottom part of the front of a medieval breastplate. They were predominantly worn in the 15th century. Sometimes they were worn with a metal finish, while the top part of the cuirass was covered in material, the difference in finish making a contrast.
Laminar armour is an armour made from horizontal overlapping rows or bands of, usually small, solid armour plates called lames, 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 and certain versions of samurai armour.
Tatami (畳具足), or tatami gusoku, was a type of lightweight portable folding Japanese armour worn during the feudal era of Japan by the samurai class and their foot soldiers (ashigaru). The Tatami dō or the tatami katabira were the main components of a full suit of tatami armour.
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.
Armour in the 18th century was minimalist and restricted almost entirely to cavalry, primarily to cuirassiers and, to a lesser degree, carabiniers and dragoons. Armour had been in rapid decline since the Thirty Years' War, although some archaisms had lingered on into the early years of the 18th century, like Austrian cuirassiers with buff coats and lobster-tailed helmets or Hungarian warriors with mail armour and shields. With the exception of Poland-Lithuania, which still made use of hussars wearing suits of plate armour, armour in Europe was primarily restricted to a breast- and backplate, the cuirass, and a simple iron skull cap worn under the hat. By the later 18th century, there were two contradicting developments. Many cuirassier regiments were discarding their cuirasses, while helmets in the form of so-called dragoon helmets, made of brass or leather, made a comeback among the cavalry and infantry.
↑ David Nicolle, French Armies of the Hundred Years War, Osprey Publishing, series Men-at-Arms #337, 2000.
↑ David Nicolle, Fornovo 1495: France's bloody fighting retreat, Osprey Publishing, series Campaign #43, 1996.
↑ Curl, Michael. "The Industry of Defence: A Look at the Armour Industry of the Fourteenth, Fifteenth and Sixteenth Century". Medieval Warfare, vol. 2, no. 1, 2012, pp. 38–42. JSTOR48578631. Accessed 17 June 2021.
↑ James, Lawrence (2003). Warrior Race: A History of the British at War. St. Martin's Press. p.119. ISBN0-312-30737-3.
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