Medieval Armor From Head to Toe (FightWrite™)

Many of the writers I work with are fantasy writers. As such, I get a gracious plenty of questions about the fantasy period, and not just about swords and their use.

(Fight Scene Edit: Embrace the Red (FightWrite™))

I am also asked quite a bit about armor. Because I’ve written several times on edged weapons such as swords, in this month’s post I thought we’d look at armor. We will go over its weight, pieces, how to put them on, and more sensitive topics such as how to use the privy while wearing it.

Who Wore Armor

During the medieval period, armor was worn by anyone who could afford it and had a battlefield position that required it. Not only was armor a costly investment, but one that required heavy maintenance, and sometimes a buddy. A fully involved set of armor had ties that were difficult to reach and required assistance to manage. Depending on the type of armor, whether or not you had it laid out and if your buddy knew how to help, putting it on took around 10 minutes. Taking it off was significantly faster.

Weight and Cost

It is hard to place an exact weight or price on armor. The number of pieces worn, the type needed, the size of the wearer, and the occasion of the dress (ceremonial versus tactical) all impacted the price. However, historical sources tell us that it could take a nobleman eight to 16 months wages to dress as a man-at-arms, which meant his body would be fully covered in armor that was suitable for fighting on foot or as cavalry. Though it wouldn’t be impossible for a lesser paid man to arm himself, he would have to save for years to do so.

Using the Loo in Armor

While wearing armor, going number one wasn’t an issue. Armor could easily be pulled aside. However, armor is metal and makes noise so the act wouldn’t be silent. Going number two was a bit more involved and therefore noisier. But again, possible.

Unfortunately, medieval battles didn’t generally allow “potty time.” So, in battle, if you had to go, you just went in your armor. And, since dysentery was quite common in battle camps, soiling armor probably happened more often than we would imagine. There’s no “holding” dysentery. It’s an unstoppable force and honestly should be a college sports mascot. It’s way deadlier than a lion or bear.

Lastly, you may read that while fighting you don’t have to go to the restroom. That is false. Though not common, I have had teammates soil themselves in the cage and on the competition mat. And I’ve seen fighters vomit en media res. Bless…

Movement, Comfort and Maintenance

Ease of movement with armor depended on the armor. Jousting armor was likely the worst for movement, as it was the heaviest. And wearing any amount of armor caused you to tire quicker than normal. Thank heavens for adrenaline! But yes, you could move on the battle field, you could even throw punches, tackle, and run, albeit slowly.

Because of its metal material, armor took on the ambient temperature like a shovel in the snow or a pot on a stove. Even with substantial underlayers, a soldier could freeze to death. And, if it was hot, well, the wearer could be cooked alive. This is why during the crusades knights often fought without armor but with only chainmail covered by cloth.

Amor had to be maintained almost daily depending on how wet the weather. Rust had to be tended and uncomfortable dents removed. Black smiths accompanied armies to battle for many reasons. Straightening out armor was one.

Order of Armor

Different resources will say different things. But generally, this is the order in which one puts on armor. If an armored warrior is putting on armor alone, the order might need to be changed and some items omitted. If he was joisting, there may be more pieces needed.

The name of each piece may vary by region. If the region of your setting is central to your work, be certain the name of the armor coincides with it. If the plural of the item is different than how we normally pluralize a noun, I will point it out.

Undergarments: A layer of padding is worn under armor to protect the skin from the metal as well as provide some shock absorption against impact weapons. One type of padded garment was a gambeson. A gambeson was jacket padded so thickly that it could be worn alone against some edged weaponry.

Chainmail: If chainmail is worn, it is placed over the padded undergarments. Some types of chainmail may also be placed on top of certain types of amor. A habergeon (habərjən) was a commonly worn sleeveless coat of chainmail. Chainmail sleeves and thigh covering could be used as well.

Groin: Protection specific to the groin was not always worn. The groin area could be protected by the tasset or skirt of the armor or the bottom of a chainmail tunic. But, if your warrior is wearing groin protection, they need to put it on before going further.

Shoes: Metal covering for shoes, called sabatons, may be independent or attached to the greaves. Some sabatons had sharp points at the toes. Not all warriors wore sabatons. Sometimes only chainmail covered the feet.

Shins: A shin covering is known as a greave.

Knees: A knee covering, known as poleyn, was often attached to the greave or cuisse.

Thigh: A thigh covering is known cuisse (kwis). A pair may also be called floating thighs as each leg was independent and tied to both the leg and the belt.

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Chest: A breastplate and backplate, also known as a cuirass (kwi-RAS) was placed over the torso. It may have had a skirt, known as a tasset, attached that helped cover the top of the cuisses and the hips.

Arms: If the arms were attached to a padded shirt, that would go on before the cuirass. Otherwise, they would come next. They were often a single piece. The upper arm was known as the rearbrace, the elbow joint was the couter (KOO-ter), and the lower arm was the vambrace.

Shoulders: This single or overlapping piece of metal, known as a pauldron or spaulders, protected the shoulders. Pauldrons tended to be larger and covered the arm pit as well as parts of the back and chest.

Neck and Collar Bones: Gorgets covered this sensitive arterial and bone portion of the body. Later, they were given padding and known as bevors. Bevors could also extend down on the chest. Both gorgets and bevors could come up high to protect the lower face as well.

Helmet: Also known as a helm, the helmet protected the head with metal as well as padding. There were many styles of helmet. Sometimes there were one large piece. Sometimes they had visors that folded down to cover the face. When the face was covered, the spaces that allowed for breathing were called breaths. The spaces that allowed for sight were called, well, sights.

Helmet Horror: Breathing behind the closed visor of a medieval helm was difficult. It was necessary to breath out very hard through the breaths so carbon dioxide wouldn’t collect inside the helmet. If the soldier did not breathe correctly, they could actually suffocate from lack of oxygenv. Even if the soldier breathed correctly, claustrophobia could occur and cause the soldier to panic which increased his breathing, heartrate, and risk of suffocation. For this reason, some soldiers lifted their visors often or chose not to wear them down.

Hands and Wrists: A gauntlet was an armored glove that covered the hands from fingertips to over the wrists. There were many kinds and all had a specific purpose.

Sounds of Armor

How does armor sound? Well, to make the sounds of armor for video games, game creators do a few different things. For general movement they rub two hand saws together or metal platters against one anothervii. For more involved movement, creators may slide a lid over a pot, put it on then pull it off. Heavy footfalls may be a metal pot full of metal utensils and chain, banged against the floor.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything on how video game creators made armored fighting sound effects. From my personal experience, it sounds like crumpling empty cans. Swords clashing can have a ring and the pitch is higher for lighter swords. Also, just a little point of interest here, if you hit two swords’ edges (sharp part) together hard enough, they will bite into one another and stick. True story.

And there you have it. Armor head to toe, and certainly enough information to get your armored character clanging across the battle field. If you have any questions about Medieval battles in your work, or any subject for that matter, reach out to me through the contact form on FightWrite.net. Until next month with FightWrite® on the WD blog, get blood on your pages.

Struggling to choose a fighting style for your character? The struggle is over. The way your character does battle isn’t up to you. It’s up to the story. The time and place of the work, the society in which your character lives, their inherent and fostered traits and the needs of the story will determine how your character responds to aggression.