Plate armour

Full plate armour for man and horse owned by Sigismund II Augustus (r. 1548–1569)

Plate armour is a historical type of personal armour made from iron or steel plates, culminating in the iconic suit of armour entirely encasing the wearer. While there are early predecessors such as the Roman-era lorica segmentata, full plate armour developed in Europe during the Late Middle Ages, especially in the context of the Hundred Years' War, from the coat of plates worn over mail suits during the 13th century. In Europe plate armour reached its peak in the late 15th and 16th centuries, and the full suit of armour, commonly perceived as "medieval", was actually only a feature of the very end of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Full suits of Gothic plate armour were worn on the battlefields of the Burgundian and Italian Wars. The most heavily armoured troops of the period were heavy cavalry such as the gendarmes and early cuirassiers, but the infantry troops of the Swiss mercenaries and the landsknechts also took to wearing lighter suits of "three quarters" plate armour, leaving the lower legs unprotected.

The use of plate armour declined in the 17th century, but remained common both among the nobility and for the cuirassiers throughout the European wars of religion. After 1650, plate armour was mostly reduced to the simple breastplate (cuirass) worn by cuirassiers. This was due to the development of the flintlock musket which could penetrate armour at a considerable distance, severely reducing the payoff from the investment in full plate armour. For infantry, the breastplate gained renewed importance with the development of shrapnel in the late 18th century. The use of steel plates sewn into flak jacket dates to World War II, replaced by more modern materials such as fibre-reinforced plastic since the 1950s. It is a common misconception that the plate armour of European soldiers adversely affected mobility in a significant manner, but in fact plate armour was less heavy and featured more even weight distribution than a full complement of a modern firefighter's gear.

Early history

Bronze cuirass, Italy, ca. 350–300 BC

Further information: Lorica segmentata, Manica (armguard), and Coat of plates

The Sassanian heavy cavalry units known as Clibanarii seem to have approached the full late medieval suit of armour, but little detail of exactly what they wore is known. Partial plate armour, which protected the chest and the lower limbs, was used by the ancient Greeks and Romans, but it fell into disuse after the collapse of the Roman Empire because of the cost and work involved in producing a piece of metal plate or cuirass. Single plates of metal armour were again used from the late 13th century on, to protect joints and shins, and these were worn over a mail hauberk. Gradually the number of plate components of medieval armour increased, protecting further areas of the body, and in barding those of a cavalryman's horse. Armourers developed skills in articulating the lames or individual plates for parts of the body that needed to be flexible, and in fitting armour to the individual wearer like a tailor. The cost of a full suit of high quality fitted armour, as opposed to the cheaper munition armour (equivalent of ready-to-wear) was enormous, and inevitably restricted to the wealthy who were seriously committed to either soldiering or jousting. The rest of an army wore inconsistent mixtures of pieces, with chain mail still playing an important part.

Late Middle Ages

Further information: Gothic plate armour

By the end of the 14th century, larger and complete full plates of armour had been developed. A full suit of plate armour would have consisted of a helmet, a gorget (or bevor), pauldrons (or spaulders), couters, vambraces, gauntlets, a cuirass (back and breastplate) with a fauld, tassets and a culet, a mail skirt, cuisses, poleyns, greaves, and sabatons. The very fullest sets, more often made for jousting than war, included pieces of exchange, alternate pieces suiting different purposes, so that the suit could be configured for a range of different uses, for example fighting on foot or on horse.

A complete suit of plate armour made from well-tempered steel would weigh around 20 kg (44 pounds). The wearer of such a suit remains highly agile, able to move freely, jump and run, the weight being well spread over the body. The armour was articulated and was covering a man's entire body completely from neck to toe. In addition it was much more easy to move, run and fight in a suit of plate armour than commonly believed, since it weighted 15-20 kg. and the weight was spread evenly on the body so a man wearing it was not an easy target for agile footmen. In fact many men wearing full plate were usually fighting on foot, especially in the 15th century.

European leaders in armouring techniques were northern Italians and southern Germans. This led to the styles of Milanese from Milan, and Gothic from the Holy Roman Empire. But styles were diffused around Europe, often by the movement of armourers; the Renaissance Greenwich armour] was made by a royal workshop in London that had imported German craftsmen, though it soon developed its own unique style. Ottoman Turkey also made wide use of plate armour but incorporated large amounts of mail into their armour, which was widely used by shock troops such as the Janissary Corps.

Effect on weapon development

15th-century depiction of a melee. A breast plate is pierced by a sword

Plate armour was virtually invulnerable to sword slashes. It also protects the wearer well against spear or pike thrusts and provides decent defence against blunt trauma.

The evolution of plate armour also triggered developments in the design of offensive weapons. While this armour was effective against cuts or blows, their weak points could be exploited by long tapered swords or other weapons designed for the purpose, such as pollaxes and halberds. The effect of arrows and bolts is still a point of contention in regards to plate armour. Longbows and crossbows could also pierce plate armour up to ranges of 200 metres (660 ft) with a lucky shot, notably in battles such as the Battle of Visby. The evolution of the 14th-century plate armour also triggered the development of various polearms. They were designed to deliver a strong impact and concentrate energy on a small area and cause damage through the plate. Maces, war hammers and the hammer-heads of pollaxes (poleaxes) were used to inflict blunt trauma through armour.

Fluted plate was not only decorative, but also reinforced the plate against bending under slashing or blunt impact. This offsets against the tendency for flutes to catch piercing blows. In armoured techniques taught in the German school of swordsmanship, the attacker concentrates on these "weak spots", resulting in a fighting style very different from unarmoured sword-fighting. Because of this weakness most warriors wore a mail shirt (haubergeon or hauberk) beneath their plate armour (or coat-of-plates). Later, full mail shirts were replaced with mail patches, called goussets, sewn onto a gambeson or arming jacket. Further protection for plate armour was the use of small round plates called besagews that covered the armpit area and couters and poleyns with "wings" to protect the inside of the joint.

Renaissance

Further information: Maximilian armour and Gendarme (historical)

Plate armour for Henry II of France, made around 1555, with elaborate ornamental embossing.

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, son of Maximilian I in a painting by Titian, wearing an elaborate Renaissance-era suit of armour.

Renaissance-era Maximilian armour was typically denoted by fluting and decorative etching, as opposed to the plainer finish on 15th-century white armour. Highly decorated armour is often called parade armour, a somewhat misleading terms as such armour might well be worn on active military service. This era also saw the use of closed helms, as opposed to the 15th-century-style sallets and barbutes. During the early 16th century the helmet and neckguard design was reformed to produce the so-called Nürnberg armour, many of them masterpieces of workmanship and design.

As firearms became better and more common on the battlefield the utility of full armour gradually declined, and full suits became restricted to those made for jousting (see below) which continued to develop. The decoration of fine armour greatly increased in the period, using a whole range of techniques, and further greatly increasing the cost. Elaborately decorated plate armour for royalty and the very wealthy was being produced. Steel plate armour for Henry II of France made in 1555 is covered with meticulous embossing, which has been subjected to blueing, silvering and gilding.

Infantry

Further information: munition armour and Almain rivet

Reduced plate armour, typically consisting of a breastplate, a burgonet, morion or cabasset and gauntlets, however, also became popular among 16th-century mercenaries and there are many references to so-called munition armour being ordered for infantrymen at a fraction of the cost of full plate armour. This mass-produced armour was often heavier and made of lower quality metal than knight armour.

Jousting

The Stechzeug of John the Constant (ca. 1500)

Specialized jousting armour produced in the late 15th to 16th century was heavier, and could weigh as much as 50 kg (100 pounds), as it was not intended for free combat, it did not need to permit free movement, the only limiting factor being the maximum weight that could be carried by a warhorse of the period.

The medieval joust has its origins in the military tactics of heavy cavalry during the High Middle Ages. These became obsolete during the 14th century, and since the 15th century, jousting had become a sport (hastilude) without direct relevance to warfare. During the 1490s, emperor Maximilian I invested a lot of effort into perfecting the sport, for which he received his nickname of "The Last Knight". Rennen and Stechen were two sportive forms of the joust developed during the 15th century and practiced throughout the 16th century. The armours used for these two respective styles of the joust was known as Rennzeug and Stechzeug, respectively. The Stechzeug in particular developed into extremely heavy armour which completely inhibited the movement of the rider, in its latest forms resembling an armour-shaped cabin integrated into the horse armour more than a functional suit of armour. Such forms of sportive equipment during the final phase of the joust in 16th-century Germany gave rise to modern misconceptions about the heaviness or clumsiness of "medieval armour", as notably popularized by Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The extremely heavy helmets of the Stechzeug are explained by the fact that the aim was to detach the crest of the opponent's helmet, resulting in frequent full impact of the lance to the helmet.

By contrast the Rennen was type of joust with lighter contact. Here, the aim was to hit the opponent's shield. The specialized Rennzeug was developed on the request of Maximilian, who desired a return to a more agile form of joust compared to the heavily armoured "full contact" Stechen. In the Rennzeug, the shield was attached to the armour with a mechanism of springs and would detach itself upon contact.

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  Stechzeug; note that the parts protecting the lower body and the legs were incorporated as part of the horse armour (not shown).
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  Rennzeug
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  Armour designed for the Kolbenturnier, dated to the 1480s. The Kolbenturnier was a late form of the tournament, unlike the joust played with two teams using wooden clubs (Kolben) to hit opponents' helmet crests.

Early Modern period

Further information: Cuirass

Firing cuirassier, early 17th century

Plate armour was widely used by most armies until the end of the 17th century for both foot and mounted troops such as the cuirassiers, dragoons, demi-lancers and Polish hussars. The infantry armour of the 16th century developed into the Savoyard type of three-quarters armour by 1600.

Full plate armour was expensive to produce and remained therefore restricted to the upper strata of society; lavishly decorated suits of armour remained the fashion with 18th-century nobles and generals long after they had ceased to be militarily useful on the battlefield due to the advent of inexpensive muskets.

Decline

The development of powerful rifled firearms made all but the finest and heaviest armour obsolete. The increasing power and availability of firearms and the nature of large, state-supported infantry led to more portions of plate armour being cast off in favour of cheaper, more mobile troops. Leg protection was the first part to go, replaced by tall leather boots. By the beginning of the 18th century, only field marshals, commanders and royalty remained in full armour on the battlefield, more as a sign of rank than for practical considerations. It remained fashionable for monarchs to be portrayed in armour during the first half of the 18th century, but even this tradition became obsolete. Thus, a portrait of Frederick the Great in 1739 still shows him in armour, while a later painting showing him as a commander in the Seven Years' War (1760s) depicts him without armour.

Body armour remained in use throughout the 18th century with cavalry units, especially cuirassiers, including front and back plates that could protect the wearer from distanced fire and either helmets or "secrets", a steel protection they wore under a floppy hat.

Japan

Main article: Japanese armour

A Japanese (samurai) 16th century suit of plate armour with a western-style cuirass

In Kofun period Japan, during the 4th and 5th centuries, very advanced iron plate cuirasses called tanko and helmets were made. Plate armour was used in Japan during the Nara period (646-793), both plate and lamellar armours have been found in burial mounds and haniwa (ancient clay figures) have been found depicting warriors wearing full armour.

In Japan the warfare of the Sengoku period (15th and 16th centuries) required large quantities of armour to be produced for the ever growing armies of foot soldiers (ashigaru). Simple munition quality (okashi or "lent") chest armours (dou or dō) and helmets (kabuto) were mass-produced.

In 1543, the Portuguese brought matchlock firearms (tanegashima) to Japan. The Japanese started to manufacture the Portuguese acquired matchlocks and the use of these firearms in warfare caused the gradual decline in the use of the centuries old lamellar armour that the samurai were known for; the Japanese armour makers started to use solid iron plates in their armour designs which were based on European armours, and eventually plate armour became the standard for samurai warriors. The new style Japanese plate armours were called tosei gusoku (new armours) in order to differentiate from the old style lamellar armours. Japanese armour makers designed bullet proof iron and steel plate armours called tameshi gusoku or (bullet tested), which allowed them to continue wearing armour despite the heavy use of firearms in the late 1500s.

In the 1600s warfare in Japan came to an end but the samurai continued to use plate armour until the end of the samurai era in the 1860s, with the known last use of samurai armour occurring in 1877 during the satsuma rebellion.

20th century and modern body armour

Body armour made a brief reappearance in the American Civil War with mixed success. However, the armour vests of the time were expensive and thus bought by individual troops and not issued, meaning that the effectiveness of the armour varied widely depending on its maker. Plate armour was successfully implemented by Australian outlaw Ned Kelly and his gang, giving them a large advantage in their gunfights against police. The cavalry armour of Napoleon, and the French, German, and British empires (heavy cavalry known as cuirassiers) were actively used through the 19th century right up to the first year of World War I, when French cuirassiers went to meet the enemy in armour outside of Paris. During the war both sides experimented with shrapnel armour and some soldiers used their own but dedicated ballistic armour such as the American Brewster Body Shield, although not widely produced.

French cuirass of WWI after fire testing

In 1916 General Adrian of the French army provided an abdominal shield which was light in weight (two pounds) and easy to wear. It was made of an oblong plate of metal bent in a curve and moulded somewhat to the abdomen, hip and groin guards were added to the abdominal shield. General Adrian devised a breastplate which joined the abdominal defence which was also provided with a gorget. About three thousand of these defences which weighed about five and a half pounds were made and they were given practical tests.

During World War I, a number of British officers recognized that many casualties could be avoided if effective armor were available. Isolated efforts at developing armor were made, and soldiers could make individual purchases or efforts, but there was no armor issued to the troops. As it is today, issues of weight, cost, availability of materials and/or environmental stability complicated the issue of developing armor that would also be effective. For example, soft armor made of silk was tried on a small scale based on Japanese designs, but this material did not last well under the harsh environmental conditions.

The first usage of the term “flak jacket” refers to the armour originally developed by the Wilkinson Sword company during World War II to help protect Royal Air Force (RAF) air personnel from the flying debris and shrapnel thrown by German anti-aircraft guns' high-explosive shells (flak itself is an abbreviation for the German word "Fliegerabwehrkanone" (anti-aircraft gun)). The idea for the flak jacket came from Col. Malcolm C. Grow, Surgeon of the US Eighth Air Force in Britain. He thought that many wounds he was treating could have been prevented by some kind of light armor. In 1943 he was awarded the Legion of Merit for developing the flak vest.

Unfortunately, flak jackets proved to be too bulky for wear within the confines of the RAF's standard bomber aircraft, the Avro Lancaster. The Royal Air Force subsequently offered the jackets to the United States Army Air Forces, which adopted them as a Defense Standard.

Materials

Japanese iron helmet and armour with gilt bronze decoration, Kofun period, 5th century. Tokyo National Museum

The first plate armour was that of bronze, being worn by elite soldiers in Greek armies in particular. Bronze, whilst easier to work with, was much less commonly available (requiring copper and tin, which are almost never found in close proximity). Iron was, however, adequate enough for the task, eventually becoming more popular because of its strength as well as its far greater availability to be used in the advanced militaries of Europe and the Middle East.

Gradually methods of making steel were perfected and steel replaced iron in most capacities except munition armour. Steel was continually being made stronger and thicker to protect from bullets but eventually the needed protection was too heavy and expensive for most troops.

In the 20th century titanium and super-hardened "ballistic steel" came to be used for trauma plates. Eventually ceramic plates made from aluminium oxide and silicon carbide were introduced as well.

See also

• Components of medieval armour
• Ballistic vest
• Plated mail
• Proofing of armour
• Mirror armour

Further reading

• R. E. Oakeshott, European weapons and armour: From the Renaissance to the industrial revolution (1980).