The Basics of Medieval Armor...?

Question

I'm working on an important project, and I just wanted to know a little bit more about the plate armor that knights wore in the Middle Ages (no particular dates/years). Now, I know that knights wore this armor to protect themselves in battle. Did they just wear it during battle, or could they wear it for any other special occasion? And how much could plate armor weigh? Was it light enough for someone of average strength to deal with, or did you have to be in shape to wear it? How easy was it to move in plate armor? Could someone in plate armor to things like sprinting, jumping on/off a horse, rolling, climbing, and even swimming? Did knights ever wear anything under their plate armor (besides underwear, of course), like basic clothing? Or did thy keep their clothing limited, to avoid getting hot and sweaty? Did putting on plate armor take the help of an extra person (like a servant) to put it on, or could someone do it by themselves? And what about gauntlets--did they cover your...

entire hand (like gloves), or did they leave your hands free?

I know that these are a lot of questions, but any thorough feedback you can give me would be extremely helpful. Also, if you know of any good, informative websites, please feel free to mention them. Thanks in advance!!!

Answer 1

In a world where small battles and full-scale wars were a part of everyday life, it should come as no surprise that the history of medieval armor is rich.

Protecting oneself in battle was an absolute must, especially for the knight classes who could be called upon at a moment’s notice to rally behind their liege.
The history of medieval armor truly begins with chain, but this was a luxury reserved for the wealthy. Other forms of armor, less effective of course, were worn on the field of battle by warriors and peasants alike prior to its rise in popularity and even long after.

For those who could not afford chain, leather and cloth padded armor was often the only means of protection available. The history of medieval armor is marred by the simple fact that finding high quality metals to make effective armor and weapons was sometimes difficult due to low quality iron reserves. Bog iron, found in parts of Europe, was not as strong and supple as more pure reserves in other parts of the world. Since the metals used in chain were often substandard, and were always expensive to have worked, leather and cloth do hold their place in the history of medieval armor.

Despite its drawbacks, chain armor entered the history of medieval armor with a bang. This type of armor involved thousands of interlocking rings woven together to form pieces of a suit such as the tunic or headpiece. Chain worked well to deflect slicing blows, such as those from the edge of a sword and thus earned its place in the history of medieval armor. Chain also earned its place in the history of medieval armor for its ability to move with its wearer. Though difficult to make and hard to don and remove, the heavy links and separate pieces worked well together with leather or cloth armor to provide adequate protection to the knight classes.

The history of medieval armor does show, however, that chain had some serious weaknesses. Arrows could sometimes make the mark and pierce through the layers of protection by finding just the right angle. Also shown in the history of medieval armor was the fact there were weak spots in between the pieces of chain. If a sword, axe or even arrow found the gap between the armor, the wearer would rue the day his opponent practiced aim.

As chain made its mark on the history of medieval armor, so too did plate. Plate began to make its appearance around the 13th and 14th centuries. This armor was at first used to protect vital areas such as the chest. Eventually the use of plate evolved into complete suits, perhaps the most famous image from the history of medieval armor. Plate was used in the history of medieval armor in conjunction with chain oftentimes, since as with its woven counterpart, plate was very expensive. The two combined protected a knight well, but with the advent of gunpowder in the next centuries, it too became ineffective.

It was a time of battle and warfare on many fronts, from the crusades to infighting among nobles. Inasmuch as the history of the Middle Ages is rich and wondrous, so too is the history of medieval armor.

Plate Armor
Plate armour is personal armour made from large metal plates, worn on the chest and sometimes the entire body. Plate armour protecting the chest and the lower limbs was worn by the ancient Greeks and Romans, but it fell into disuse after the collapse of the Roman Empire. It came into fashion again from the late 13th century on, at first as single plates protecting joints and shins, worn over the full chainmail armour current in the 13th century. By the end of the 14th century, full plate armour had been developed, first in the so called gothic style. During the early 1500s the helmet and neckguard design was reformed to produce the so called Nürnberg armours, many of them masterpieces of workmanship and design. The slotted head screw and correspondingly the screwdriver were invented at the same time in Germany to make production and maintenance of these armour suits practical.

Full plate armour was very expensive to produce and remained therefore restricted to the upper strata of society, and lavishly decorated suits of armour remained the fashion with 17th century nobles and generals, long after they had ceased to be militarily useful due to the introduction of firearms in the battlefield. Reduced plate armour, typically consisting of a breastplate, a burgonet, morion or cabasset and gauntlets, however, became also popular among 16th century mercenaries. From the 16th century on, armour specifically designed for jousting (rather than for battle) and parade armours also became popular. Many of the latter were decorated with biblical or mythological motifs.


Evolution of plate armour also triggered developments in the design of offensive weapons. While they were effective against cuts or blows, they could be pierced by bolts fired by powerful crossbows, and also by long-tapered

designed for the purpose. Maces could be used not to pierce the armour, but to inflict blunt traumata in spite, and through, the armour. The weak points of plate armour (compared to chainmail) were the joints, where the plates overlapped, but would expose unprotected gaps in certain stances of the wearer, through which gaps sword and dagger blades could penetrate. In the armoured techniques taught in german school of swordsmanship, the attacker concentrates on these cracks , resulting in a fighting style very different from unarmoured sword-fighting. Because of that weakness, it was common to wear a shirt of chainmail beneath a plate armour. The armpits could further be protected by round plates called besagews.

Plate armour could have consisted of a helmet, a gorget, pauldrons, couters, vambraces, gauntlets, a back and breast plate with a culet, a fauld and tassets, a skirt, cuisses, poleyns, greaves and sabatons. While it looks heavy, a full plate armour could be as light as only 40 pounds if well made, and so well spread over the body that a fit man could run, or jump into his saddle. That it was necessary to lift a fully armed knight onto his horse with the help of pulleys is a myth originating in Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and has no historical base. Even knights in enormously heavy jousting armour were not winched onto their horses. This type of "sporting" armour was meant only for ceremonial lancing matches and the design had to be extremely thick to prevent severe accidents, such as the one causing death king Henry II of France.

If you could afford a suit of plate armour then you would probably have a retinue of servants and help to dress. There's a set of Henry VIII's armour which is very elaborate and decorated with love knots to celebrate his and Catherine of Aragon's union which is undoubtedly as much for show as for function.

Answer 2

Medieval Armor Parts

Answer 3

Medieval knights wore thickly padded cloth under the armor to prevent chaffing. The armor was very heavy indeed (70 to 100 pounds or more) and certainly required a good level of fitness (but then again so does any combat skill). However if the armor was properly fitted, and fit was very very important as each suit of armor was made specifically for one person, one could move about quite well with practice and skill.

One could sprint a short distance but that wouldn't be wise because you would be using up too much precious energy, leaving you spent for combat. A knight in armor could not mount a horse without help (thats where the squire comes in) and once off their horse a heavily armored knight would be in trouble. However on a horse and with a lance or other large weapon they were the 'tanks' of their day with nobody able to damage them much and being able to dish out a lot of punishment.

Armor was certainly worn on ceremonial occassions, in fact those who could afford it had a separate set of ceremonial armor (lighter, shinier, less functional). Though armor would not be worn in day to day situations, and certainly not while resting.

Swimming would be out of the question. I would guess that even getting stuck in mud would be a problem.

A knight did need help putting on the armor (squire again) and the gauntlets just covered the back of the hands, wrists and forearms leaving the palms open so you could grip a weapon (though they would probably have worn a light leather glove underneath, if they were smart anyway).

Overheating and exhaustion would certainly have been an issue (depending on the climate) but a little heat stroke or dehydration is still better than an arrow in the belly or an axe in the skull.

Answer 4

Plate armor is quite heavy, at least 80 lbs for a full suit; so you generally needed to be in decent shape to wear it all day; and your horse needed to be in excellent condition to carry you around.

Plate armor used series of rivots and pivots to keep certain parts mobile, like the hands, arms; and sometimes the chest too. Places like arm-pits and the neck were often also protected by chain mail.

Under the suit they would wear a padded shirt, to help protect against bludgening blows, which would do at least as much damage as a sword strike.

Most had a squire or other servants to help put the armor on. Fastening the chest and other pieces is physically impossible to do by yourself.

The gauntlets were generally armor pieces sewn or fastened to a pair of gloves basically.