By the 13th century, armour had evolved and armourers had developed new pieces.
The primary form of protection was still mail and padding, and this knight of around 1250 begins by putting on a pair of mail leggings
known as chausses.
The Bayeux Tapestry shows that mail leggings were coming into use at the end of the 11th Century,
but by the mid-12th Century they were in common usage.
These covered his legs from thigh to ankle, and later pairs also extended to cover the foot.
Some probably had leather soles so that separate boots were not needed.
The chausses were presumably fastened to a belt around the waist
and held in place by laces known as pointes
which passed through the mail at the ankle and the knee.
Some illustrations show another type of chausses laced up the back from ankle to thigh.
Once the chausses were secured, the knight would put on his gambeson.
This is a thickly padded garment designed to give protection against crushing blows.
It would be followed by a mail shirt.
Because of the additional leg protection, the mail shirt did not need to be as long as in previous centuries
and our knight is wearing a shorter version known as a haubergeon.
By now both the gambeson and the haubergeon have full-length sleeves
with the mail extending to form a mitten over the hand.
The soft, leather palm of the mitten is slashed
enabling the wearer to remove his hand without having to take the whole garment off.
Like the chausses, sleeves are secured in place by pointes passing through the mail at the wrist and elbow.
Although mail was still the main type of armour for a knight
it was vulnerable to certain types of attack.
A thrust from a lance or a sword could burst through those links.
Whilst heavy, concussive blows from maces or axes could shatter the bones beneath.
Arrows of course were always a major threat.
Armourers looked at ways of increasing the protection of armour
and one solution was to create rigid defenses such as the coat of plate.
This was a series of overlapping, iron plates, riveted to a fabric cover - in this case leather.
It was put on over the head and buckled up at the back.
It provided an additional layer of defence over the mail and padding.
Pieces of rigid armour made out of metal or leather were also developed
to cover the arms and the legs.
Once the body armour was in place
the knight would put on a surcoat
displaying his heraldic coat of arms and his sword belt would be buckled over it.
The sword is still of the same single-handed, slashing type.
It would be followed by an arming cap and then the coif of mail.
This one is equipped with a flapped aventail which is laced at either side and drawn up to protect the neck and lower face.
There were several different types of helmet to choose from
in this case the knight is wearing a great helm.
It completely covers his head.
Although this offers very good protection it leaves only narrow slits and holes to see and breathe through.
Due to the added protection to the legs provided by the chausses the shield no longer needed to be as large
and the old kite shape was discarded in favour of a smaller, lighter version known as a heater shield.