Weapons that Made Britain: Armour (Part 1)

Historian Mike Loades shows the history behind the weapons that helped to forge Britain, as well as demonstrating their use.

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Education

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• Kisk79
• Mike
• Loades
• Weapons
• that
• made
• Britain
• Armour
• History

[Kisk79]

@SpiritBearTotem Bodkin was designed to penetrate chainmaille, not plate.

[cqc75]

Thank you for posting

[aerik9]

@OriginalOwner777 Also, steel had been in use for centuries, even during Roman times. Purpose-made as an alloy of carbon and iron, its quality tended to increase as the centuries passed and new metallurgy techniques were used. Anything close to pure iron would've been a horrendous material to make any armor or weapons out of. It is far too soft. Artwork of the period from 1400 onward frequently shows knights in battle protected by full plate, including manuals on armored combat.

[aerik9]

@OriginalOwner777 full plate for the battlefield would be different than full plate for the tourney field. Tourney armor had specialized use in the joust, and so were relatively thick with extra plates often added to areas such as the left shoulder/neck. Most knights from 1400 onwards would likely have worn significant amounts of plate, mounted or not. The weight of a mounted knight's armor wouldn't be "insane" or else they really wouldn't be able to get up after being unhorsed.

[OriginalOwner777]

@aerik9 I am talking full plate armour however most knights on the battle field did not wear full plate armour unless they where mounted troops only. For mounted troops the weight of full plate was insane however for foot knights the armour was a lot lighter due to legs and arms being often just protected by leather and strategic plates. The 80 pounds suit was the toledo made full plate using the first steel over the previous iron

[aerik9]

@aerik9 Regarding the most advanced full plate of the time, the winner would have to go to Gothic harness, which weighed around 45 lb. This was very light when distributed over the whole body, and was very maneuverable because of this low weight. Breathability in armor like that would be stifling, but it would far worse to fight in the kinds of immensely heavy armors you suggest. This simply isn't feasible. I believe the Master Armourer you speak of was referring to advanced tourney armor.

[aerik9]

@OriginalOwner777 Are we talking about combat-usable armor here? If so, an 80 lb. suit would be pretty stifling, but if other suits were to weigh twice that or more, they would be absolutely cripplingly heavy and worthless in battle. If you're referring to tournament armor, however, this makes much more sense. Tournament armor didn't require all that much maneuverability for the joust, since horses moved in relatively straight lines. The suits did weigh as much as 100 lb., and were thicker.

[OriginalOwner777]

@aerik9 The Lightest and most advanced version of full plate armour was the spanish plate which weighed in at 80 pounds under half the weight of any other full plate armour at the time and where did I get this information?? Leeds Royal Armories Master Armourer and history it is also documented historically that the 80 pound spanish armour was under half the weight of any other full plate armour at the time and 200 pounds in armour that would make a night less than 10 stone

[aerik9]

@OriginalOwner777 where are you getting 200 lb. from? Are you saying they wore 200 lb. worth of armor on themselves? If so, this is ludicrous. If you mean 200 lb. for the total weight of the man, though, then that makes much more sense. Regarding 30 minute combat times, there is really no way to know how long a knight would have continuously fought, even in a pitched battle. It seems likely that they would have retreated behind any friendly lines to rest and resupply and reform if possible.

[Domo230]

Mike Loads has the best job in the world.