What was knights armor made out of

This was a solid plate that covered the elbow. The couter did not bend, but the knight could bend his arm inside it. Early knights wore padded clothes and a mail jacket. Mail was a type of flexible armor made of iron rings linked together. It gave less protection than plate armor against swords. Hard steel plates were better, but a whole suit of plate armor was harder to move around in.

Toggle text. The small, square, convex shield of the time the targe was eventually relegated to use in tournaments, since improved body armor made it unnecessary. A new form of helmet joined the all-encompassing great helm and the wide-brimmed chapel-de-fer war hat. This was the more streamlined, close-fitting bascinet, with a curtain of mail camail from chin to shoulders, which frequently had a movable visor.

By the late s, solid breastplates first appeared to protect the chest as part of the short, tight-fitting coat of plates called a brigandine, while smaller plates covered the abdomen, hips, and back.

Within a few years, by about , full head-to-toe plate armor was in use, completing the image of the knight in shining armor. Norris, Michael. Nickel, Helmut. Strayer, vol. New York: Scribner, Visiting The Met? Two Shield Bosses Umbos. He had a hood of mail called a coif covering his neck, head and chin, and a metal helmet with only eye holes, and slits to breathe through. When a knight was wearing one of these helmets, it was very difficult to know who he was. He might be killed by a friend in battle by mistake.

So crests on the helmets sometimes in the shape of animals like lions and bears or the colours and designs on the gonfalon the flag on the lance or the knight's shield had to let others know his name or his family.

Knights wore mail on their arms and covering the backs of their hands like mittens. The palms weren't covered, so the knight could still grip his sword firmly. The legs were protected by mail leggings called chausses , or by mail stockings held up round the waist. A knight wore spurs on his heels to prick his horse and make it move. Spurs were a sign of knighthood, for being on horseback was an important part of being a knight.