Questions tagged [armour]
Use this tag for any kind of defensive layer or covering that protects a person, or animal, or vehicles, ships and planes, from damage.
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How would a Spartan have held his shield?
I am astonished at the weight of a Spartan shield, which I have read would have weighed 30 lbs (13.5 kg). This is, of course, extremely heavy for most people.
Ergo, it raised the question for me: ...
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Why were helmets and other body armour not commonplace in the 1800s?
Before the widespread use of firearms, various kinds of plate armour were in widespread use. As muskets (and later, rifles) became widespread, full plate became less effective and fell out of use.
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Why did the grip-centered viking shield fall out of use relative to the kite shields?
Did Normans have battle advantage with strapped kite shields over Saxons and Vikings with their grip-centered shield style of fighting?
What often comes to my mind are battles like Hastings (1066). ...
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How did knights who required glasses to see survive on the battlefield?
Googling this has been less than helpful on the history factor, and a quick look at HEMA rules and regulations says it's easier to use fencing masks instead, which isn't what I'm asking. (This was ...
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How long does it take to craft the kinds of armour worn by typical medieval warriors in europe?
In various fantasy roleplaying games I've seen different estimations on how long it takes to craft various armour (largely different forms of plate armour, and chain armour).
Do we have a credible ...
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After the fall of the Roman Empire, where did their armor go? Was it used by any dark ages forces?
It is my understanding that the plate armor manufactured in the time after the fall of Rome was far inferior to anything that the Romans used in their legions. (Of course, if I am wrong on any of this ...
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Why was there an Anglo-Saxon law banning sheepskin covered shields?
The Law of King Athelstan states:
Fourthly: that no shieldwright cover a shield with sheep's skin; and if he so do, let him pay thirty shillings.
(http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/halsall/...
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How were the holes for the guns in battleships' turrets protected?
I'm interested in knowing how the guns' holes in battleships' turrets protected, if and when they were, and how was that protection designed and arranged, specially in relation to the guns' elevation ...
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Why did only Anglo-Saxon kings wear helmets?
According to this article on the BBC news website only Anglo-Saxon kings wore helmets. Here is the full quote:
"Only Anglo-Saxon kings wore helmets and this is one of a very small number ever to be ...
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Why did helmets have this metal thing between the eyes?
I have seen many medieval helmets that looked like this:
Why did they have that metal thingy between the eyes? What is the point? To me, it would be harder to see if I had something like that there. ...
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Was bronze ever used for chainmail?
I was reading the Wikipedia article on mail, more commonly known as chainmail, when I saw a mention that mail could be made with bronze. The section in general did not appear to be talking about ...
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What metallurgy advancement allowed the transition from mail hauberk to plate armor?
Why did it happen in the 14th century, when the blast furnace was invented much earlier? Can someone explain, how medieval blacksmiths figured it out? What discovery enabled them to create plate ...
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Plate armour worn by men-at-arms fighting on foot 1380-1415
I am interested in how much plate and what exactly plate elements have been worn by men-at-arms/soldiers at the turn of the 14th century in different parts of Europe.
I have established that a ...
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Is there any evidence that Celts produced chain mail?
Since I started to interest myself in history of the northen Europe, and especially the history of Celtic people, I read a lot about their inventions, in terms of warfare.
The quote from wiki
...
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Were people of different body types (height/weight/shape) able to have field armour adjusted to them?
Take this field armour of King Henry the VIIIth or armour from this time period (~1500s). How much give or excess room would there be for a person who was taller/shorter or fatter/slimmer that wore ...
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Is the term "chainmail" historically accurate, or a modern invention?
I've heard the claim that the armour widely known today as "chainmail" or "chain mail" was never historically never called by that name in the era when it was used in Europe, rather known as "mail" or ...
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Alexander Nevsky's helmet
I've seen a claim that Alexander Nevsky's helmet has Arabic writing on it, saying something like "With Allah's help" and "Speedy victory".
The claim sounds about right, giving Alexander's close ...
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Percentage of helmet owners in 15th century Europe
There already is a similar question, but it has been closed as unclear. I will attempt to post a clear question instead.
Time : 15th century
Country: medieval Europe excluding Eastern Roman
Empire, ...
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When Were Morions Last Worn By Spanish Soldiers?
Around when were morions last worn by Spanish soldiers, particularly in the Western Hemisphere?
I can't find much about this online.
I'm also wondering what they were replaced with at the time.
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Did armored cavalry have an advantage over unarmored cavalry in 18th/19th century?
Armor was being phased out during the 1500's as muskets capable of penetrating armor proliferated. By the 18th century, hardly any units on the European battlefields wore armor. Except for one - the ...
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Did medieval guards wear heavy armor for long periods of time?
We've all seen guards in movies walking around with full plate mail, clunking with each step.
Now, I know that plate mail was much more mobile, and much less heavy, than movies and literature imply. ...
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Why did greaves go in and out of fashion?
I made a very counterintuitive find. Wikipedia says:
Greaves were common until around the ninth century, when they largely disappeared.There is not much evidence of their use until the second ...
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What percentage of people in 14th century England owned any armour? [closed]
Original:
What percentage of England's 14th-15th century population actually owned or wore armour?
Comments:
I am particularly interested in 14th century England when asking this question. Was leather ...
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When has a military force used their own people as human shields?
I am looking for instances/examples (and sources) throughout history of times an army used it's own people as a buffer between itself and an opposing force.
While it is fairly common for an army to ...
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What is the history of zirah bagtar armor used in India?
I am looking for information on zirah bagtar style of plate and chain armor.
I am currently recreating a suit of that armor in this style and a history of its use and development have been ...
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Why was metal armor phased out after gun powder was weaponized?
I have wondered this question for a long time. The metal armor has enjoyed its heyday through the early human warfare history right into the renaissance. Then guns and cannons entered the fighting ...
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In the 19th century, do we know how armor changed with respect to guns of the time?
I know that the 19th century was relatively peaceful in Europe according to Wikipedia. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_warfare#Land_warfare) Interestingly, industrial technology has aided in ...
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Can you name a battle in 14th C (?) in which many knight got killed because of pointed shoes?
At some point in the 14th C, if I remember correctly, mounted knights and nobles followed a fashion to wear poulaines or sabatons, which were really pointy shoes as part of their armor.
Unfortunately,...
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How was plate armour attached and secured?
I can see from this quora post leather straps were used throughout history, but was that all that was used, and where typically (if there's well defined types of attachment) did various parts attach ...
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How did knights in full suits of armor eventually die in combat? What were the most common causes of death for soldiers in full-body plate armor? [closed]
I've heard about the battle of Agincourt that many knights probably died of drowning as they fell and their helmets filled with mud. It got me thinking: If you're going into battle on foot and in full-...
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Riveted mail - flat or round rings? Die cut rings mixed with riveted ones?
I'm interested in the chainmail worn in the 14th and 15th century. As far as I know, almost all chainmail found in Europe has been riveted and woven 4 in 1. But I hear that there were chainmails made ...
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What did cataphract units wear under the armour?
As I understand it, scale armour, such as the Sassanid Iranian cataphract units wore, required some sort of padding under it. In Europe, a gambeson was used for this purpose, and also served as the ...
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Was the quality of Roman armor really worse than the armor of knights of the XII-XIV centuries?
When I was studying the metallurgy of ancient Rome, I saw a rather controversial study done by Michael Fulford, David Sim and Alistair Doig called "The production of Roman ferrous armour:a ...
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Did battle results prompt the retirement of metal armour in any European army? [duplicate]
Everyone has heard the conventional wisdom, that metal armour became obsolete, as guns improved. It should be fundamentally correct, but I am interested in understanding the process in more detail, ...
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History about Triplex Plate Armour?
An example of triplex plate armour was discovered and dated to the War of the Roses at the Royal Armoury of Leeds. They even had a reproduction made by A Plaisance Armouries for a crossbow and musket ...
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M4A1 sherman vs StuG III ausf. G — what were the odds in favor of the Sherman?
We've all heard stories after stories of how a lone Tiger or Panther made a practical scrapyard of Shermans by ambushing all day.
But I can't find enough information on what happened when a Sherman ...
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Hunting in Armour in Medieval Europe?
Someone has told me that all nobility, when they hunted animals, it is in armour. They are further convinced that depictions of normally clothes hunters, are either not nobles, or they are wearing ...
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Was Textile Armour More Effective at Stopping Arrows than Mail?
You hear accounts of guys trundling around with a dozen arrows sticking out of their padded armour, looking like pin cushions. This has lead to the belief padded cloth armours could stop arrows ...
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How late where plumed helmets and muscle cuirasses used by Roman/Byzantine soldiers?
According to the osprey book Byzantine Imperial Guardsmen by Raffaele D’Amato, Byzantine imperial guardsmen where known to have worn muscle cuirasses and also plumed helmets.
Its gotten me curious ...
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How much did medieval horse armor cost?
I have a number of sources I use to get examples & documentation of costs in the medieval period of knightly implements such as armor, weapons, horses, supplies, etc. However, all of my usual ...
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Who destroyed the leading brigade of the 6th Guards Tank corps?
From Tony Le Tissier, Slaughter at Halbe:
With Koniev’s exhortations urging it on, 3rd Guards Tank Army succeeded in covering sixty kilometres on 20 April [1945], taking Baruth during the course of ...
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Why the belt or strap in some plate armor and some other armor exposed in the middle front side?
(the belt or strap locate at the middle side of the breastplate or the plackart)
Won't the belt become easy target to be cut or to be worn out? Making the armor prone to break up or unable to cover ...
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How effective was medieval horse armor?
Medieval longbows seem now to have been only marginally effective against armoured knights of early fifteenth century although Henry Fifth was wounded in the face at Shrewsbury in 1403 with a limited ...
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What was the heaviest example of horse armor (barding) from 16th and 17th centuries?
I would like to ask what the heaviest known example of armor for war horses is. Specifically, I'm asking about horse-armor in the 16th and 17th centuries (European, primarily, but I will accept other ...
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