From the end of the 13th Century, armour evolved from being primarily mail
to almost complete harnesses of plate, as armourers continued to respond to threats posed by better weaponry.
This knight of the late 14th Century, has an armour of the latest and best kind
comprised largely of pieces of iron plate.
It was still important to wear a layer of padding underneath the armour
and our knight is wearing a close-fitting arming doublet.
This garment not only helps to make the rigid plate armour more comfortable to wear
but the laces also act as the attachment point for several pieces of the harness.
As before, the knight begins to arm himself from the bottom up.
And when complete his armour provides several layers of defence overlapping from the top down.
Protection for the legs is provided by a number of articulated plates comprising the cuisse for the upper leg,
the pollen for the knee,
and a greave for the shin.
The plates are riveted together so that they form
a single articulated piece.
The poleyn has an extension on the outside to protect the side of the knee.
The leg harness is held in place by buckled leather straps
around the calf, knee, and thigh,
and is prevented from slipping downwards by pointing it to the underside of the arming doublet.
Protection for the upper body is provided by a short-sleeved, mail haubergeon.
Belted at the waist to take some of the weight off the shoulders.
A rigid breastplate is fastened over the haubergeon again held in place by buckled leather straps.
The V-shaped bar is a stop rib designed to deflect thrusts from skidding off the breastplate and into the wearer's throat.
The arms are protected by another articulated harness of three main sections.
Comprising of a hinged lower canon for the forearm, the couter for the elbow , and the upper canon for the upper arm.
The arm defence is attached by pointes to the arming doublet underneath the mail sleeves and held in place by buckled straps.
Although the shoulders are protected by the sleeves of the haubergeon, some knights preferred the additional
protection of a pair of spaulders.
These are made up of a number of small iron plates which are articulated by riveting them to leather straps.
The spaulders are secured by pointes passing through the rings of the haubergeon
and strapped under the arm to hold them in place.
On his head, the knight wears a padded arming cap, and then dons his helmet.
In this case, a bassinet with attached mail neck protection known as an aventail.
This bassinet has a visor which can be lowered to protect the face
or raised to allow the knight to see and breathe more easily.
The visor is attached to the skull of the helmet by a pair of removable pins so that if desired it could be taken off.
By this time separate gauntlets had evolved to protect the hands
they were of hourglass form with flared cuffs to give the wearer full movement of the wrist.
The level of protection afforded by this armour against slashing, crushing, and piercing blows is very good
so that the shield was becoming obsolete.
Some knights preferred to rely upon their armour alone
and to discard the shield altogether
and use their free hand to carry larger weapons when fighting on foot
such as this hand-and-a-half sword.