Armors
From Karate, Kungfu, Wrestling, Mixed Fighting Information Source
Armors are defensive covering, as of metal, wood, or leather, worn to protect the body against weapons.
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Aketon
It is the quilted garment worn under armour to absorb shock and impact. The term originated with Crusaders and is said to derive from the word "cotton."
Brigandine
- See main article Brigandine Armor
A type of coat-of-plates with hundreds of small, overlapping plates, providing great mobility at a slight cost in protection. Popular in the 15th and 16th centuries, the brigandine was usually worn over padding, but not mail.
Cuirass
- See main article Cuirass
A full, plate body-armour, comprised of a breastplate, backplate, and sometimes, tassets.
Cuisse
It is the armour for the thighs. Early cuises were simply quilted garments, like an aketon, but term also later applied to plate defenses.
Gauntlets
Gauntlets as separate pieces of armor first made their appearance about the beginning of the 14th century; previous to this the hands had either been bare or were covered by the long sleeves of the hauberk. The first gauntlets were leather gloves covered with mail or leather scales. By the middle of the century the back of the hand and wrist were covered by a single plate, and the fingers by scales fastened to the glove. A little later the plates protecting the fingers were articulated to the hand plate and the gauntlet assumed essentially the form that persisted with slight modifications as long as they were worn.
Hauberk
- See main article Chain Mail
A long coat of mail, knee-length or longer, initially with half-sleeves, which by the 12th century, had extended to the wrist. Later, the hauberk sleeve became even closer fitting and ended in mail mittens called mufflers. The hauberk of mail was the principle body armour of the 11th - 13th centuries.
Jupon
- See main article Jupon
A short, fitted surcoat, worn over armour in the 14th and early 15th centuries. Made of several thicknesses of fabric, the other layer was often a rich velvet or silk, with the owner’s arms embroidered or appliqued on.
Lammellar
The Lamellar is believed to have originated in Asia, a semi-rigid form of armour consisting of short metal plates pierced, overlapped, and laced together. Lammellar was used from Antiquity until the 20th century, but outside of Eastern Europe (and to a lesser extent, Scandinavia and Sicily) it was known, but never popular, in the West.
Surcoat
A long, tunic-like, cloth garment worn over the armour, in a variety of forms, from the 1170s to the 1420s. The early surcoat was almost heel length, and progressively became shorter and tighter-fitting. Surcoats served a variety of purposes. Firstly they kept a certain amount of rain and dirt off of the armour. Secondly, they provided a screen to keep the metal armour from the sun’s heat. Third, they became a background for the display of the wearer’s coat of arms.
Full Plate
- See main article Full Plate
Full plate describes a suit of armor made entirely from plate mail armor. There are hundreds of examples of full suits of armor of plate mail construction. Uncounted books have been written on the subject of plate armor. Until the development of firearms there were as many styles of plate armor as there were nations and monarchies in medieval Europe. Plate mail was very expensive, thus only knights and nobles could afford it.
Gothic Armor
- See main article Gothic Armor
Evolving in Germany in the last quarter of the 15th century, Gothic armor is considered to be the most attractive armor ever designed. Its tall, lean, sweeping lines reflected the current trends in art and architecture of its day. However, make no mistake; this is a highly functional suit of armor in addition to being a work of art.
Greaves
Armor accessories for the legs, particularly the shins, leg greaves replaced thongs of leather that combatants used to protect their shins prior to the standardization of leather hardening and plate mail construction. Greaves covered and protected the shinbone almost exactly like soccer shin guards do today. Originally constructed of leather, during the middle ages in Europe chain mail greaves became common with plate mail greaves replacing them as technology advanced.
Solerets
- See main article Solerets
Plate armor for the feet. They appeared in the 13th century as strips of metal riveted to leather, later the plates were riveted to each other in such a way as to give the required flexibility.
Others
- Pair of Plates - a body defense, with larger plates than a standard coat-of-plates, but still not a solid breastplate.
- Pauldron - plate armour for the shoulders, devised of several, overlapped and articulated plates.
- Poleyn - plate armour for the knee.
- Rerebrace - armour for the upper arm.
- Sabaton - articulated, steel foot armour.
- Tassets - Overlapping plates that cover the juncture of hip and thigh in a full suit of plate armour.
- Buff-coat - A heavy coat of buff-leather, used a pikeman and gunner’s armour in the Renaissance, alone or under a breastplate. Buff-coats were also often worn as light protection when dueling with rapiers or swords.
- Byrnie - A mail shirt, mid-thigh length, with elbow-length sleeves. This was the principal body defense for wealthy warriors from late Antiquity until the early 11th century.
- Chausses - Mail leggings, tied to the belt by leather thongs, and usually worn over quilted chausses.
- Coat-of-Plates - Steel, bone, or hardened leather plates riveted or sewn inside a leather or heavy fabric covering, to provide a flexible form of plate armour. In the late 13th and 14th centuries, the coat-of-plates would have been worn over a mail haubergeon.
- Vambrace - armour guarding the forearm.
- Boss - The round or cone-shaped metal plate at the center of a shield, protecting the hand. Also called an umbo.
