Transitional armour
14th century European armour
Transitional armour describes the armour used in Europe around the 13th and 14th centuries, as body armour moved from simple mail hauberks to full plate armour.
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Transitional armour[1] describes the armour used in Europe around the 13th and 14th centuries, as body armour moved from simple mail hauberks to full plate armour.
The couter was added to the hauberk to better protect the elbows, and splinted armour provided increased protection for other areas. The coat of plates (plus variants such as the jack of plate and brigandine) emerged as a supplement or replacement for mail and is the most commonly-cited example of transitional armour. It consisted of a segmented jacket of overlapping metal plates riveted inside a cloth or leather garment, covering the entire torso; mail was often retained to protect the extremities. The number of plates varied by time, place, and individual, but there were always more than there would be in a proper suit of plat armour.
Armourers in general began experimenting with various forms of rigid defense. They worked in a variety of materials, including wrought iron, latten, leather, cloth and even bone to substitute rigid materials for mail as the knight's harness progressed. Toward the end of the century and into the following one, updates to armour took place at an accelerated rate.
The use of multiple materials is the key stylistic element of the period. For instance, a set of transitional style arm defenses could employ steel pauldrons, leather rerebraces, steel elbow cops and leather vambraces. These items would be strapped with leather and might have brass or bronze fittings and buckles. This use of varied materials gave the armour different coloring, textures and more elegant appearance.
Swordfighting re-enactors such as the Society for Creative Anachronism wear personalized transitional armour for safety reasons, composed of a combination of thick leather, mail and plate armour.
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References
- ↑ Strong, Douglas (2018). Surviving Examples of Early Plate Armour (1300-1430): Volume I: Bascinets. United Kingdom: Freelance Academy Press. ISBN 9781937439460. Retrieved 9 November 2025 – via Google Books.