Armour

Armour, garments of various materials, used to protect the body against missiles or cutting and stabbing weapons. There is no trace of armour among the early stone-using peoples, though it is probable that the value of hides or skins was early recognised as being difficult to pierce. Worsaae suggests that the first helmets were simply the head skins of beasts mounted on a wooden framework; and the term "cuirass," probably derived from the word cuir, points to the use of leather for body armour. In Assyrian sculptures the helmet is pointed and seems formed of metal, the body alone being covered by a close jacket of twisted cords or possibly metal mail. The Greeks of the Homeric age wore crested helmets, and greaves made of a "pewter-like metal" guarded the leg, the body being protected by a shield covering it from neck to ankle. When cuirasses were introduced is doubtful, but they appear later on, when the whole of the armour was of bronze, and the shield had decreased in size. The thighs were covered with strips of leather in one or more layers pendent from the edge of the cuirass, which was sometimes moulded to the shape of the body. The Persians and many other Asiatics used tunics of quilted linen, as the Chinese until recently employed dresses of quilted cotton most difficult to penetrate; and in many cases on these were sewn metal scales overlapping each other. The armour of the Roman soldier consisted of back and breast pieces of laminated metal, supported over the shoulders by metal straps; but those of higher rank wore a cuirass similar to the Greek and much ornamented. Both forms left the arms and legs bare, the tunic covering the former and hanging below the leather strips pendent from the cuirass, which protected the lower part of the body and thighs. The legs were undefended. The scale armour, "lorica squamata," originally of leather only, had eventually scales of steel, or even metal chains, sewn on the leather tunic. The "Velites," or light troops, wore only the quilted coat. The helmet was less lofty than the Greek and resembled a closely fitting skull cap with cheek pieces; but the centurions and officers seem to have had this surmounted with feathers. The shields were mostly rectangular, richly decorated, and made of wood and leather. The northern races seem to have long been without any defensive armour but the circular shield or "war board" of wood or leather, strengthened by cross bars of iron springing from a central boss or "umbo" of the same metal, though in the Sagas chain mail is rarely referred to. Usually the head dress was of leather on a metal framework, and as time went on they adopted the padded coats, scaled or mailed (from the British word "mael" or iron) tunics, and other armour similar to those worn by the nations with whom they came in contact. As a rule the legs were left bare or covered with "leg bands" of cloth or leather.

Both the Anglo-Saxons and early Normans of the time of the Conquest were practically dressed alike, with close-fitting steel helmets, having a vertical bar or "nasal" in front, and with usually a long surtout of leather, having short sleeves and reaching below the thigh, covered with either circular or lozenge-shaped (mascled) scales, or rings of iron. The shields were long and pointed at the base, with occasionally rude figures painted on them. The long mailed shirt or hauberk soon became shorter and was made of interwoven rings of steel (chain mail), with a hood of the same material, over which fitted the iron helm, now without a "nasal;" and by the thirteenth century the armourer's craft had so far improved that the mail coat had sleeves covering the arm and hand, and the legs were throughout similarly protected. Instead of the small open iron cap, a large helmet, or heaume, which nearly reached the shoulders and had a closed visor, was substituted about the time of Henry II. This, the period of "chain mail," lasted until the reign of John, and was followed by that of "mixed armour" of plate and mail. First the iron cap that covered the mail hood replaced it altogether, the neck being protected by a strip of mail depending from the helmet. This was the camail. Then over the knees, elbows, and shoulders were strapped plates of iron to strengthen these parts, followed by arm, thigh, and leg guards, and the helmet still open became more conical in form. Finally mail ceased more and more to be worn, except as a small skirt or apron in front of the lower part of the body, and the whole body was encased in steel; while the helmet was closed with a visor through which the knight could see and which could be raised if he chose. For mounted knights the leg armour of course only protected the front part of the legs. This, the period of plate armour, terminated practically in the reign of Henry VIII. The shield at first was small, triangular, and suspended at the neck of the warrior; but it soon fell into disuse. The parts of the armour were named: - Head, helmet, helm, salade, or bassinet; neck, gorget; shoulders, pauldrons; arms (upper) brassarts, (lower) rambraces; elbows, coudieres; hands, gauntlets; body, corslet or hauberk (breast plate and back piece); loins (front), tasses, (rear) garde de reins; thighs, chausses or cuisses; knees, poleyns or genouillieres; ankles, jambes; and feet, sollerets. The latter shared the general change in the fashion of dress, being pointed in the reign of Edward IV., and broad with square toes in that of Henry VII. and VIII. Similarly the cuirass frequently altered its shape, and was in the last mentioned reigns globose. In some cases it resembled the long doublet, and was called the "peascod-bellied" corslet. The rapid improvement in firearms that occurred as the sixteenth century advanced led to the rapid diminution in the amount of armour worn. Helmets became more open as the need for personal direction arose; greaves and sollerets went first, long boots taking their place; the tasses were replaced by cuissarts or thigh pieces from the hips to the knees; pauldrons, gauntlets, and arm-pieces gradually disappeared as it became necessary to thicken the defensive cuirass against musket balls; the foot soldiers wore only the open morion with a buff coat. By Charles II.'s time only the breast plate and back piece, with an open helmet, having at first a triple bar and later a single bar in front to guard the face, remained; and when James II. reigned the latter also disappeared. The legs were covered with enormously thick and heavy jack boots, and the head with a feathered hat. When William III. came to the throne only a large gorget of steel was worn round the neck, and this gradually diminished until it became merely an ornament or badge of office, made of brass and suspended by a riband in front of the collar. It was in use in the English army till some years after the Peninsular War. The modern cuirass is merely an ornament and is valueless against bullets. Michel's Brigade of Cuirassiers charging the Eleventh German Corps armed with the needle gun was practically destroyed. For rough chronological remembrance it may be taken that the twelfth century was that of ringed mail; the thirteenth of true chain mail; the fourteenth of mixed mail and plate; the fifteenth, plate-armour; the sixteenth, fluted and globular plate-armour; and the seventeenth, half-armour.