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Early Plate Armor Equipment
Wrought-iron and steel-plate protective equipment gradually adopted by European knights and elite infantry in the mid-to-late 14th century, assembled…
Timeline
- 1360–1363Milan · LombardyNorthern Italian armor workshops forged single breastplates (cuirasses) and greaves for noble knights, strapped over the mail, forming the standard early configuration mixing plate and chain mail.
- 1364–1367Northern France · PicardyElite knights of both England and France wore early plate armor on Hundred Years' War battlefields; combat proved breastplates could effectively deflect crossbow bolts and oblique longbow shots, prompting more knights to invest in segmented steel protection.
- 1368–1369Nuremberg · FranconiaSouthern German armorers developed articulated vambraces and pauldron plates, riveted with breastplates and greaves into a more complete half-plate system, reducing limb restriction and representing an important advance in plate armor craft by the late 1360s.
Sources
- European Armour, circa 1066 to circa 1700 — Claude Blair (2018)
- The Knight and the Blast Furnace: A History of the Metallurgy of Armour in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period — Alan Williams (2003)