Components of medieval armour

A full suit of Italian plate armour circa 1450

This table identifies various pieces of armour worn from the medieval to Early Modern period in the West, mostly plate but some mail, arranged by the part of body that is protected and roughly by date. No attempt has been made to identify fastening components or various appendages such as lancerests or plumeholders or clothing such as tabards or surcoats which were often worn over a harness.

There are a variety of alternative names and spellings (such as cowter/couter or bassinet/bascinet/basinet or besagew/besague) which often reflect a word introduced from the French. Generally, the English spelling has been preferred (including mail instead of the lately used maille or the inauthentic term chainmail).

Summary Comparison of Components of Medieval European Harness

Name	Example	Period (Century)	Description
Head
Mail Coif	96px	400BC? to 15th	Mail hood, often worn with a hauberk.
Great helm		Late 12th to 14th	Started as a simple cylinder with a flat top but later developed a curved "sugar loaf" pointed top to deflect crushing blows. Has small slits for eyes and breathing/ventilation which may be decorative as well as functional. Often removed after the initial "clash of lances" as it impedes sight and breathing and is very hot. Often worn with another helm underneath. A stereotypical knight's helm from the crusader period.
Cervelliere		Late 13th	Steel skullcap worn underneath a great helm.
Bassinet		Early 14th to early/mid 15th	Originally worn underneath a great helm and had no visor but did develop "nasals" to protect the nose. By the mid-14th century it replaced the great helm and was fully visored, often "dog faced" (the conical hounskull visor), often worn without a visor for visibility and 'breathability'. Worn with an aventail then later with a gorget. Visors on English bassinets have a hinge at each side whereas German bassinets have a single hinge attached at the middle.
Armet		15th	A bowl helmet that encloses the entire head with the use of hinged cheek plates that fold backwards. A gorget was attached and a comb may be present. May also have a rondel at the rear. Later armets have a visor. A stereotypical knight's helm. Favoured in Italy.
Sallet	96px	Mid-15th	When worn with a bevor as is usual, a sallet covers the entire head. It is distinguished by a long, sometimes pointed (if Italian) tail that extends to cover the back of the neck and by a single, long eye-slit. It has no ventilation holes as there is a gap where the helm and bevor meet. A favoured helm in England and Western Europe, including Germanic areas (the tail may have influenced design of German helmets in World War 2).
close helmet or close helm		Mainly 16th century.	A bowl helmet with a moveable visor, very similar visually to an armet and often the two are confused. However, it lacks the hinged cheekplates of an armet and instead has a bevor.
Barbute		15th	Close fitting helmet with a characteristic Y- or T-shaped slit for vision and breathing, reminiscent of ancient Greek helmets
Burgonet		Early 16th	Open face bowl shaped helmet with a neck collar, a peak, a very characteristic comb, sometimes with cheek pieces. Sometimes has a buffe (a visor that is raised, rather than lowered).
Neck
Aventail or Camail	96px		Detachable mail hung from a helmet to protect the neck and shoulders, often worn with bassinets.
Gorget	96px		Steel collar to protect the neck and cover the neck opening in a complete cuirass. Quite unlike a modern shirt collar in that as well as covering the front and back of the neck it also covers part of the clavicles and sternum and a like area on the back.
Bevor			Worn with a sallet to cover the jaw and throat (extending somewhat down the sternum). May also cover the back of the neck if worn with a bassinet rather than a sallet. May be solid or made of lames. Sometimes worn with a gorget.
Torso
Brigandine		late12th to 16th	Cloth garment, generally canvas or leather, lined with small oblong steel plates riveted to the fabric.
Hauberk or Haubergeon		? to 15th (mostly died out during the 14th and 15th centuries. Remained more popular in Asia and some parts of Europe up till the 17th century)	Mail shirt reaching to the mid-thigh with sleeves. Early mail shirts generally were quite short. During the 11th century hauberks became longer, coming down to the knee or lower. A hauberk is a long mail coat. A haubergeon is a short one.
Cuirass	96px	14th to 17th	Covers the breast, not the back, however the name is sometimes used to describe the breast- and backplates together. Developed in antiquity but became common in the 14th century with the reintroduction of plate armour, later sometimes two pieces overlapping for top and bottom. Whether of one piece or two, breastplate is sometimes used to literally describe the section that covers the breast.
Pixane, Standard or Bishop's mantle	96px		A mail or leather collar. In common with a gorget, it is not like a modern shirt collar. Rather, it is a circle with a hole for the neck to fit through. It covers the shoulders, breast and upper back, perhaps like an extremely small poncho.
Plackart			Extra layer of armour to cover the belly.
Faulds	96px		Bands to protect the front waist and hips, attached to cuirass.
Culet			Small, horizontal lames that protect the small of the back or the buttocks, attached to a backplate or cuirass.
Arm
Couter or cowter	96px		Plate that guards the elbow, eventually became articulated, may be covered by guard of vambrace (see below).
Spaulder			Bands of plate that cover the shoulder and part of upper arm but not the armpit.
Pauldron	96px	15th	Cover the shoulder (with a dome shaped piece called a shoulder cop), armpit and sometimes the back and chest.
Gardbrace			Extra plate that covers the front of the shoulder, worn over top of a pauldron.
Rerebrace or Brassart or Upper Cannon (of Vambrace)			Plate that covers the section of upper arm from elbow to area covered by shoulder armour.
Besagew			Circular plate that covers the armpit, typically worn with spaulders. See also rondel.
Vambrace or Lower Cannon (of Vambrace)	96px	14th	Forearm guard. May be solid metal or splints of metal attached to a leather backing. Bracers made of leather were most commonly worn by archers. Developed in antiquity but named in the 14th century. Vambrace may also sometimes refer to parts of armour that together cover the lower and upper arms.
Gauntlet	96px		Gloves that cover from the fingers to the forearms, made from many materials.
Guard of vambrace			An additional layer of armour that goes over cowter, in which case it is proper to speak of the lower cannon of the vambrace which is the forearm guard, and the upper cannon of vambrace which is the rerebrace.
Leg
Chausses			Mail hosen, either knee-high or cover the whole leg.
Poleyn	96px	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. Plate that covered only the shins, not the whole lower leg.
Greave			Covers the lower leg, front and back, made from a variety of materials, but later most often plate.
Cuisse			Plate that cover the thighs, made of various materials depending upon period.
Sabaton or Solleret	96px		Covers the foot, often mail or plate.
Tasset or Tuille			Bands hanging from faulds or breastplate to protect the upper legs.
Various
Gousset		14th	Mail that protects areas not covered by plate.
Lame			Band of steel plate, put together severally so that several bands can articulate on various areas like around the thighs, shoulders or waist. Such pieces are named for the number of bands, for instance, a fauld of four lame.
Arming doublet or Gambeson			Padded cloth worn under a harness.
Rondel			Any circular plate. Rondels protecting various areas may have particular names, such as a besagew protecting the shoulder joint.

Japanese analogues

The following components of Japanese armour roughly match the position and function of certain components of occidental armour:

• Kusari zukin (mail coif)
• Mengu (mask)
• Kabuto (helmet)
• Do (armour) (cuirass)
• Kote (vambrace & lower pauldron)
• Han kote (Gauntlet)
• sode (roughly pauldron)
• Suneate (greave)
• Kusazuri (fauld or tasset)
• Wakibiki (bezagews)
• Nodowa (gorget)
• Kusari katabira (Hauberk)
• Kikko katabira (Brigandine)
• Kôgake (Sabaton)
• Kusari shikoro (Aventail )