![]() ![]() In Japan, the warfare of the Sengoku period (15th and 16th centuries) required large quantities of armour to be produced for the ever-growing armies of foot soldiers ( ashigaru). Plate armour was used in Japan during the Nara period (646-793) both plate and lamellar armours have been found in burial mounds, and haniwa (ancient clay figures) have been found depicting warriors wearing full armour. In Kofun period Japan, during the 4th and 5th centuries, iron plate cuirasses called tankō and helmets were made. The rest of an army wore inconsistent mixtures of pieces, with mail still playing an important part.Ī Japanese 16th–17th century suit of plate armour with a western-style cuirass ( nanban dō gosoku) The cost of a full suit of high quality fitted armour, as opposed to the cheaper munition armour (equivalent of ready-to-wear) was enormous, and inevitably restricted to the wealthy who were seriously committed to either soldiering or jousting. Armourers developed skills in articulating the lames or individual plates for parts of the body that needed to be flexible, and in fitting armour to the individual wearer like a tailor. Gradually the number of plate components of medieval armour increased, protecting further areas of the body, and in barding those of a cavalryman's horse. Single plates of metal armour were again used from the late 13th century on, to protect joints and shins, and these were worn over a mail hauberk. Plate armor in the form of the Lorica segmentata was used by the Roman empire between the 1st century BC and 4th century AD. Parthian and Sassanian heavy cavalry known as Clibanarii used cuirasses made out of scales or mail and small, overlapping plates in the manner of the manica for the protection of arms and legs. Less restrictive and heavy armor would become more widespread in the form of the muscle cuirass during classic antiquity before being superseded by other types of armor. The Dendra panoply protected the entire torso on both sides and included shoulder and neck protections. Partial plate armour, made out of bronze, which protected the chest and the lower limbs, was used by the ancient Greeks, as early as the late Bronze Age. The use of steel plates sewn into flak jackets dates to World War II, replaced by more modern materials such as fibre-reinforced plastic since the 1950s.īronze muscle cuirass, Italy, c. For infantry, the breastplate gained renewed importance with the development of shrapnel in the late Napoleonic wars. This was due to the development of the flintlock musket, which could penetrate armour at a considerable distance. ![]() After 1650, plate armour was mostly reduced to the simple breastplate ( cuirass) worn by cuirassiers. ![]() The use of plate armour declined in the 17th century, but it remained common both among the nobility and for the cuirassiers throughout the European wars of religion. The most heavily armoured troops of the period were heavy cavalry, such as the gendarmes and early cuirassiers, but the infantry troops of the Swiss mercenaries and the Landsknechts also took to wearing lighter suits of "three quarters" munition armour, leaving the lower legs unprotected. Its popular association with the " medieval knight” is due to the specialised jousting armour which developed in the 16th century.įull suits of Gothic plate armour were worn on the battlefields of the Burgundian and Italian Wars. The full suit of armour, also referred to as a panoply, is thus a feature of the very end of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance period. In Europe, plate armour reached its peak in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Full plate steel armour developed in Europe during the Late Middle Ages, especially in the context of the Hundred Years' War, from the coat of plates worn over mail suits during the 14th century. Plate armour is a historical type of personal body armour made from bronze, iron, or steel plates, culminating in the iconic suit of armour entirely encasing the wearer. Armour for Gustav I of Sweden by Kunz Lochner, c.
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