Hey Veeky Forums, I got a question about armor. In the eras where plate armor was in use, either as cermonial, for duels, or large scale combat, what did the common soldier wear? Was it simple chainmail and a helmut? Did they just wear borderline normal clothes with indicators who they're fighting for? pic related could not have been common.
Hey Veeky Forums, I got a question about armor. In the eras where plate armor was in use, either as cermonial...
Christopher Clark
Other urls found in this thread:
Andrew Walker
Most commonly they would wear either leather or chain mail.
David Lee
At the bare minimum everyone would have a helmet or at least a padded coif. Even a glancing blow to the head might kill you so if you're going to invest in one piece of armor it should be a helmet.
Most poorer soldiers might have a gambeson, slightly less poor soldiers might have a brigandine or coat of plates. Mail hauberks actually started to become less popular, because they were a lot harder to make and didn't offer enough of an advantage to justify the price.
Henry Price
I doubt that sword was ever used with that armor. A one handed dueling sword wouldn't do much good against armored opponents.
Adam Cox
That's frankly too broad of a question for a single answer. In many European and Asian armies, light foot soldiers were often just farmers wearing what essentially is a potato sack with sleeves and fighting with the same Axe they'd use to keep the wolves away from their chickens. Those kinds of soldiers didn't get armor. Besides, a lot of medieval fighting forces weren't 'armies' as we'd think of them today; the higher-ups didn't distribute materiel like armor and swords and shit. You fought with what you had. A messenger would ride into town and say "Yo, the duke started beefing with the count next door so come with us if you have a weapon you know how to swing and a desire to fuck shit up for a little food and money" and you'd go. If you where just a serf you'd maybe be asked to fight and be given an old Axe, but maybe you're a freeman who owns a decent longsword and a chainmail coat, so you take that shit and you go. That's how small feudal armies worked.
Powerful lords like the Kings of big realms such as England and France however would actually pay to outfit their army at least slightly. They'd give them bows and swords and maybe some mail or a helmet, and the archers would be required to do some target practice in the off-season to krep them sharp so they'd be allowed to keep those bows temporarily.
Then again I'm drunk so don't take my word for it dude alcohol lmao
Liam Russell
That was meant for OP, fuck me.
Blake Gonzalez
>Hey Veeky Forums, I got a question about armor. In the eras where plate armor was in use, either as cermonial, for duels, or large scale combat, what did the common soldier wear?
In the 15th century they would have worn a steel helmet and a heavy coat of padded linen. That is the bare minimum. They may also have some pieces of maille, like a thing that covers their neck. There was also a kind of set of chain-like things worn on the arms to give some protection from sword cuts. If they were luckier they'd also have a full or partial cuirass and plate armour covering their elbows and knees.
Thomas Cooper
>Then again I'm drunk so don't take my word for it
That's fortunate because your post is rubbish
Brayden Walker
>light foot soldiers were often just farmers
AGHHHHHHHHHH
STOP WITH THIS MEME
Joseph Cruz
Then what is the truth?
Isaiah Jackson
They wore whatever they could afford.
Depending on the time period that may have been a padded jack, mail armour or a gambeson. But also plate armour parts were by no means uncommon, such as a cuirass, gauntlets, and of course helmets which were worn by pretty much everyone. Even full suits of plate armour could have been worn by common men if they were rich enough to afford them.
Logan Baker
...
Hudson Parker
...
Jace Rivera
If they're actual soldiers? any dmis of gambeson, Brigandine, possible hand me down maille, and munitions grade plate.
By the time plate is in common use, changes in technology and labor costs mean it's cheaper and faster to make cheap plate than it is to make mail.
This is ESPECIALLY true of low quality plate made of iron to a standard pattern.
You're thinking of jack chains.
Justin Edwards
coat of plates/ brigandiens looks so nice
Ryder Parker
...
Justin White
In their era of full proper plate, the common soldier also wore full plate.
By the late 15th and early 16th century when plate was at its height, it was very common and very affordable, it's what a large number of soldiers, who weren't knights, would wear.
Before you have an autismo overload consider that through medieval history, contrary to popular opinion, the common soldier was never a toothless peasant with a spear but a middle class man at arms with some money. He used to wear mail, when plate was at its height, he wore plate.
> In the 15th and 16th centuries, large bodies of men-at-arms numbering thousands or even more than ten thousand men (as many as 60% of an army) were fighting on foot wearing full plate next to archers and crossbowmen. This was commonly seen in the Western European armies especially of France and England during the Hundred Years War, the Wars of the Roses or the Italian Wars.
Julian Torres
>light foot soldiers were often just farmers wearing what essentially is a potato sack with sleeves and fighting with the same Axe they'd use to keep the wolves away from their chickens.
Chase Kelly
Looks like an Estoc to me.
Thomas Green
That sword would be used with that armour, that is a sword designed to combat plate by getting in the little gaps.
James Lopez
>In many European and Asian armies, light foot soldiers were often just farmers wearing what essentially is a potato sack with sleeves and fighting with the same Axe they'd use to keep the wolves away from their chickens
Sure! If by European armies you mean peasant risings and rebellions.
Aiden Bell
would being fully decked out in armour not serve as a disadvantage since people may assume you're rich and try and kill you to steal your armour?
James Perry
Yes it would, which is why people abandoned all their armour and fought naked once people caught onto this idea. No one will kill a poor person
Jayden James
Yeah. In fact the rich would swap with the poor soldiers before battle, so all the cool dudes in plate armour are actually poor dudes.
Ryder Martinez
I want you to take a wooden 2x4 and whack it against a piece of sheet metal for four hours.
Wyatt Davis
well if you get caught you would be killed cause thats stealing.
but if it was in battle i would imagine a lot of armor was taken from the dead to be reused
Easton Harris
Or, as the handle seems to be one-handed, a rapier, a weapon which according to HEMA experts was rubbish against armour because [sarcasm]to fight against armour you obviously need a broad cutting blade to bash with against the plates or the mail, rather than pointy blades, and the long narrow-bladed estoc wasn't like a rapier at all.[/sarcasm]
Wyatt Smith
Knights don't just bash each other like in Dark Souls, user.
Elijah Scott
In battle, everyone from the other side tried to kill you desu.