How to Armor a Knight
Despite the wide array of materials used to construct armor, such as leather, plate, ring, scale, brigandine, splinted and mail, they all accomplished similar goals. A medieval knight required armored protection for his head, neck, arms, legs, torso, feet and hands. Most of this armor connected together with thick straps or chain links. Just as in medieval times, today's knight should have an assistant help suit the knight into his armor, because it will be prohibitively difficult if done alone. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Chausses
- Long sleeved shirt
- Chainmail
- Greaves
- Sabaton
- Vambrace
- Spaulders
- Besagews
- Gauntlets
- Culet
- Codpiece
- Cuirass
- Faulds
- Tassets
- Gorget
- Helmet
Instructions
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Pad your body. Wear chausses, which look like pants, to protect your legs and a thick, long sleeved shirt to protect your body. Chainmail should be worn underneath the plate armor for reinforced protection.
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Armor the lower body. Strap greaves onto your calf and leg, and attach the sabaton to the knights boot.
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Armor the arms. Equip your arms with a vambrace, which is a long piece of armor that covers the bicep and forearm and bends with the elbow. Attach spaulders to the top of the vambrace to protect your shoulders. Fasten two besagews to the spaulders; these will protect your armpits.
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Armor your hands with gauntlets. The gauntlet is an armored glove designs to protect the hand and sometimes reach up the forearm. Put the gauntlet on in the same way that you would a winter glove.
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Protect the goods. The culet was the armor used to protect the butt. Sometimes the culet was simply overlapping plates, while other times it resembled a skirt. And just as the buttocks has its own armor, so do the genitals in the form of a codpiece, though this is not essential to the full suit of armor.
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Attach chest protection. The cuirass is made of two separate pieces of armor and is connected by straps at the sides. Attach faulds to the cuirass to protect your hips and waist.
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Attached to the bottom of the cuirass the knight's tassets or cuisses. These were smaller pieces of armor designed to protect the knight's thigh.
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Armor your neck and head with the use of a gorget. The gorget is a collar designed to protect the neck and throat, and comes in two pieces that will strap together at each side.
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Put on a helmet. The helmet is donned in the same way you would put on a hat. Helmets with open faces should be combined with a visor to fully protect the face.
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Tips & Warnings
Chainmail adds significant weight to the already heavy suit of armor, and may overburden the wearer.
References
Resources
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