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Leg: Chausses: Mail hosen, either knee-high or covering the whole leg. Poleyn: 13th: Plate that covers the knee, appeared early in the transition from mail to plate, later articulated to connect with the cuisses and schynbald or greave. Often with fins or rondel to cover gaps. Schynbald: 13th to 15th: Antiquity, lost but later reintroduced.
Chausses (/ ˈ ʃ oʊ s /; French:) were a Medieval term for leggings, which was also used for leg armour; routinely made of mail and referred to as mail chausses, or demi-chausses if they only cover the front half of the leg. They generally extended well above the knee, covering most of the leg.
Splint armor is most commonly found as greaves or vambraces. It first appears in a Scythian grave from the 4th century BC [ 1 ] then in the Swedish Migration Era ; [ 2 ] and again in the 14th century as part of transitional armour , where it was also used to form cuisses and rerebraces .
However, various medieval authors used the term to refer to hand axes as well as throwing axes. [69] The archaeological record indicates that the throwing axe was no longer in use by the seventh century, and it does not appear in the Frankish Ripuarian Law. This decline in usage may indicate the rise of more sophisticated battle formations. [70]
Cuisses (/ k w ɪ s /; / k w i s /; French:) are a form of medieval armour worn to protect the thigh. [1] The word is the plural of the French word cuisse meaning 'thigh'. While the skirt of a maille shirt or tassets of a cuirass could protect the upper legs from above, a thrust from below could avoid these defenses. Thus, cuisses were worn on ...
Poleyn, 1555–60. The poleyn or genouillere was a component of Medieval and Renaissance armor that protected the knee. During the transition from mail armor to plate armor, this was among the earliest plate components to develop.
The tibia, or shinbone, is very close to the skin, and is therefore extremely vulnerable to just about any kind of attack. Furthermore, a successful attack on the shin results in that leg being rendered useless, greatly hampering one's ability to maneuver in any way. [1] Greaves were used to counteract this.
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. 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.