European Coat of Plates Knight Armor

Timeline

1. 1161–1170England and France · FranceIn border conflicts and internal wars under Henry II, Louis VII, and their successors, wealthy knights increasingly wore a coat of plates over mail to resist crossbow bolts and blunt weapons; documents and later archaeology indicate that by this period the coat of plates in Western Europe was no longer an individual experiment but a standardized option for heavy cavalry.
2. 1164Lincoln · LincolnshireAt the Battle of Lincoln (1164), heavily armored knights of the English royalists and rebel nobles clashed, providing a field test for the Western European armor system of the time (mail, coat of plates, shield, and helmet); post-battle equipment losses and replacement needs further raised the rate of coat-of-plates equipping among English knights.