Renaissance Armors
From Karate, Kungfu, Wrestling, Mixed Fighting Information Source
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Here are simple definitions of European Renaissance armors used by the military and the knight during their exploits.
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Body Armors
Parts of armors or types of armors that cover the body, from the chest down to the legs and the hands.
Boss
The round or cone-shaped metal plate at the center of a shield, protecting the hand. Also called an umbo.
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.
Head Armors
These are armors that covers that head and the face, it could be simply called helemts.
Armet
It is a close-fitted, visored helmet that appears to have originated in Italy sometime before 1450 and remained in use through 15th and 16th centuries. The armet was lighter and more protective than the bascinet it surplanted and made use of a new innovation of hinged cheek pieces. This way, the helmet could be closed around the head, and the weight taken up by the gorget and the shoulders. The armet was supplanted by the close-helmet, in turn.
Bascinet
- See main article Bascinet
A basin-shaped helmet, that evolved out of the small steel skull-cap worn beneath the great helm. The bascinet was initially open-faced, but as it supplanted the helm as the primary defense, a variety of hinged visors were developed. Bascinets were in use from the mid-14th through the mid-15th centuries, and were still occassionally used by foot soldiers into the early 16th century.
Bevor
Also called a baviere or beavor, The bevor was a 15th century piece of armour that protected the lower part of the face when worn with a sallet. It could be afixed to the helmet of the breatsplate, and was often hinged, so that it could be lowered when not in use.
Burgonet
This helmet was popular throughout England and Scotland during the 16th century. It provided protection to the neck as well as the head and face. It boasted a fully articulated visor that was secured by leather straps, that could be adjusted to allow for better airflow and visibility.
Camail
A curtain of mail, hanging from the bottom of the helmet, as a defense for the chin, neck, throat and shoulders.
Close-helmet
A form of close-fitting, full helmet, of the 16th and 17th centuries. The close helm clearly derived from the armet, which it supplanted.
Coif
A hood of fabric or mail, worn under the helmet.
Great Helm
The first helmet in the Middle Ages to encompass the entire head, usually made of four or five iron plats riveted together, and worn over a mail coif, and sometimes a small steel skull-cap. Great helms first appeared in the last decade of the 12th century, and became wide-spread in the 13th and early 14th centuries. They remained the dominant form of tournament helmet into the Renaissance, becoming progressively heavier and more massive. After 1420, the helms came down to the shoulders and were bolted to the chest and back.
Kettle hat
A plain iron hat with a broad brim, nearly identical to the civil defense helmets of the 20th century, or those of English “doughboys” in the First World War. The kettle-hat was common defense from the 12th through 15th centuries.
Morion
A late form of helmet with a strongly curved brim and high “comb” on top. Associated in popular imagination with the Spanish Conquistadores, the style actually developed after Spain’s initial conquests in the Americas.
Salade/Sallet
It is a helmet of the 15th and 16th centuries, often with a small, hinged visor, and a long, articulated tail, to protect the back of the neck. Variants existed for both footsoldiers and men-at-arms.
Cabasset
- see main article Cabasset
The cabasset is an open-faced helmet characterized by its almond shaped top (often called pear shaped) and the curious little point projecting from the apex of the helmet. The cabasset was most popular among infantry soldiers and pikemen during the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe.
Casque
Similar in shape to a burgonet, a Casque was a light, open helmet. Casques were popularized as parade and ceremonial helmets, or embossed with grotesques (macabre looking faces, horns, and embellishments added to give the wearer a more fearsome appearance. The two most famous kinds were horned Casques of the Scandanavians and Britons, and the conical casques worn by the Assyrians, Germanic tribes, Gauls, and Normans.
Chapel De Fer
This was generally a domed helmet, made in three or more pieces, with a wide brow around the outside. During the 14th century it was widely used by English and French men-at-arms and bachelier knights who could not afford a bascinet. Squires and other retainers probably also wore them, and they were often the helmet of choice amongst archers, since if an archer were to lower his head when a salvo of arrows was expected, the whole face would be momentarily covered.
Shields
A broad piece of armor made of rigid material and strapped to the arm or carried in the hand for protection against hurled or thrusted weapons.
Targe
The targe, or target, was the traditional Scottish round shield (square versions existed but were rare). The shield was generally made of wood and covered in leather, but later versions combined steel with wood. The targe was almost always embossed or decorated with brass studs and bosses. Rarely more than 20 inches in diameter, its primary function was to parry an opponent’s attack rather than completely shield the body. The targe was used most often in conjunction with a broadsword or other one-handed weapon. It was very similar in use and function to a buckler.
Buckler
- See main article Buckler
The buckler was a small shield which saw wide popularity in Europe beginning in the late 16th century. Normally not much wider than the fist holding it, the buckler was used primarily to parry an opponent's attack rather than cover the wielder's body. As the size of weapons began to decrease and sword play became more in vogue (as a result of the development of firearms), the buckler became the ideal shield choice. The times of barbarians with six-foot swords past, the small, light buckler was extremely effective in a fast-moving fight. While most bucklers were round, some were rectangular or square.
