13th-Century Knightly Armor

Timeline

1. c. 1200–1250Holy Roman Empire · Holy Roman EmpireIn the first half of the 13th century, knights still wore long mail hauberks, iron helmets, and kite shields as standard; elbow and knee defenses and iron gauntlets began to spread to counter crossbow bolts and slashing blows in the Crusades and civil wars in northern Europe and Germany.
2. c. 1250–1280Levant · LevantAfter the 1250s, plates were sewn or riveted onto mail to form a coat of plates; flat-topped great helms were widely used in tournaments and on Levantine battlefields. During the Eighth Crusade of the 1270s, Western European knightly equipment already showed a clear trend toward plating.
3. c. 1280–1400England · EnglandEdward I's wars against Wales and Scotland drove further hardening of defenses: breastplates, greaves, and visored helmets gradually took independent form. By the early 14th century, transitional armour became standard for noble knights, paving the way for full plate during the Hundred Years' War.