from A SHORT HISTORY OF ARMOUR
AND WEAPONS
http://www.nps.gov/colo/Jthanout/HisArmur.html
The first known use of armour was by the Egyptians (1500 B.C.) The armour
was a cloth, shirtlike garment overlapped with bronze scales or plates sewn
to it. The armour was very heavy, causing this style of protection to be short-lived.
The Assyrians (900-600 B.C.) developed lamellar armour; small rectangular
plates or lames were sewn to a garment in parallel rows. This style of armour
was used into the 16th c. A.D. The Assyrians also used bronze helmets, shields
and arms.
In 8th c. B.C., Greek technology refined armour by fashioning bronze plates
to fit over distinct parts of the body, i.e., following the musculature of the
body part it was protecting. Their armour was the bronze breastplate and backplate,
termed the cuirass, greaves, which protected the shins, and brass helmets. The
Greeks used a massive shield called an argive which covered the body from chin
to knee.
Rome was founded in 753 B.C., but 500 years of warfare were needed for Rome
to gain dominance of the Italian peninsula. The Romans borrowed heavily from
the Greeks using their version of the argive (scutum), greaves, helmets and
cuirass.
By the 3rd c. B.C., Romans developed a cuirass of linen covered with bronze
lames and a shirt of interlocking metal rings called mail. It is believed mail
was a Celtic invention. (Celts were ancient people of western and central Europe
including Britons and Gauls.) Mail, or chainmail, was made by winding wire tightly
around an iron rod, cutting the wire into rings, and interlocking the rings
together by soldering or riveting each individual ring closed. A mail shirt
weighed between 14 to 30 pounds.
Roman military technology changed throughout the years of the Empire, and
by the first c. A.D. they had developed the lorica segmentata, a body armour
of iron bands fastened together with leather straps. Bronze or iron helmets
were still used, as were mail and scale armour, and the scuta, a shield of laminated
wood covered with linen and/or hides with a metal boss for holding the scuta.
Rome fell in 456 A.D., and bronze armour was rarely used for many centuries,
instead leather and mail armour predominated.
Charlemagne (king of
the Frankish Empire, 768-814 A.D.) introduced the first tenants of feudalism
by requiring military service to the king through ownership of land and a byrnie
(bûr.n_). The byrnie was a waist length mail
shirt.
The Normans invaded England in 1066 and defeated the Saxons at the battle
of Hastings. The Bayeux Tapestry
is the best documentation of armour and arms used at that time. Hauberks
(hô.bûrk) were worn, long tunics, knee or shin length, made of riveted
mail. The warriors wore some type of gown under the mail for further protection
from weapons and chafing. Their legs were covered by chausses of mail or by
cloth or leather. They also wore coifs,
a mail hood, under their conical iron or bronze helmets. They carried wooden
shields covered with leather and paint, with two leather hand grips versus the
single metal boss of the scutum.
By 1250, the use of plate armour became more pronounced, reaching its apogee
by 1450 with the knights being completely covered by a suit
of armour, i.e., "cap-a-pie" (head
to foot). At first the hauberk was enhanced with mail mittens, and later with
plate armour attached to the mail to cover the most vulnerable places such as
the arms and legs. Eventually, all parts of the knight's body were covered with
plate armour. A full suit of armour weighed approximately 60 pounds, but contrary
to popular belief it did not incapacitate the knight if he fell on his back.
The weight of the armour was evenly distributed about the body. Armour was finely
articulated and served its primary purpose well, providing a defensive casing
around the knight while allowing him to attack his adversary. The introduction
of firearms to the battlefield in the 16th c., however, doomed the full suit
of armour or the "harness" as it was called.
Here is a video about making armour today
with rubber instead of metal.
BIBLIOGRAPHY/ILLUSTRATIONS
Bull, Stephen, An Historical Guide to Armes and Armour.
Fleischman, John, "Royal Armor Makes Great Escape From Tower of London,
" Smithsonian Magazine, vol. 13, no. 7, October 1982.
Funcken, Lilane and Fred, Arms and Uniforms: The Age of Chivalry, vol. 1,
2, and 3.
Martin, Paul, Armour and Weapons.
Send email comments reference this page to kirk_kehrberg@nps.gov
http://www.christianfletcher.com
http://www.christianfletcher.com/
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