Last modified 01/06/2004

This cross-indexed glossary defines terms for European Medieval armor. Different terms could mean different things at different times, so the terminology can be confusing. I have tried to give commonly agreed upon definitions.

This glossary is based heavily on the glossary in Arms and Armor of the Medieval Knight by David Edge and John M Paddock, published by Crescent Books. This is an excellent book covering European weapons and armor from the eleventh century to the sixteenth century.

A

Action

Aketon

Ailettes

Thirteenth to fourteenth-century flat pieces of leather or parchment worn on the point of the shoulder to display a coat-of-arms

Almain rivet

Sixteenth-century German munition half-armor or corslet

Aketon

Padded and quilted garment worn under armor or as armor by itself

Anima

Anime

Anime

Cuirass made of horizontal overlapping lames

Armet

Fifteenth-century Italian helmet consisting of a skull, two hinged cheek pieces which fasten at the front, and a visor

Arming cap

Padded cap or hood worn inside a helmet

Arming Doublet

Fifteenth-century and later quilted garment worn under armor that is equipped with arming points to attach mail gussets and other pieces of armor

Arming points

Ties to secure armor in place

Aventail

Mail, attached to the bottom edge of a helmet, often by vervelles, covering the neck and shoulders

Backplate

Plate armor for the back

Barbote

Spanish high bevor with a falling lame containing eyeslits

Barbut

One-piece Italian helmet often with a T-shaped face opening

Barbuta

Italian Barbut

Barbute

Barbut

Bascinet

Basinet

Bases

1) Sixteenth-century cloth skirts worn over armor
2) Tonlet

Basinet

Open-faced helmet with a rounded or pointed skull, often worn with an aventail and visor

Basnet

Basinet

Bavier

Bevor

Bellows visor

Sixteenth-century visor with horizontal ridges

Besegew

Circular plate protecting the armpit

Bevor

Plate armor for the chin and lower face, sometimes including a gorget

Birnie

Mail shirt

Bishop's mantle

Sixteenth-century mail cape covering the shoulders

Bouche

Notch in the top corner of a shield to help support a lance when jousting

Bracer

1) Fourteenth-century armor for the lower arm
2) Archer's forearm guard to protect from the bowstring

Brassart

Vambrace, definition 2

Breastplate

Plate armor for the front of the torso

Breaths

Holes for ventilation in the faceplate or visor of a helmet or in the lames of a falling buffe or bevor

Brigandine

Flexible torso armor of small plates riveted inside a covering of leather or fabric

Buckler

Small round shield

Buffe

Sixteenth-centry bevor worn strapped to an open-faced helmet

Burgonet

Sixteenth-century open-faced helmet with a peak over the brow, a combed skull, and hinged ear-pieces

Byrnie

Birnie

Cabacete

Fifteenth-century Spanish helmet with a turned-down brim and an almond-shaped skull ending in a stalk-like projection

Cabasset

Spanish morion with an almond-shaped skull ending in a stalk-like projection, derived from the cabacete

Camail

French Aventail

Cannon

Plate armor encircling the upper and lower arm

Cap-a-pied

French "From head to foot", meaning fully armored

Casque

Fifteenth to sixteenth-century open-faced helmet, often of classical design, similar to a burgonet

Casquetal

Casque

Celata

Fifteenth-century Italian open-faced sallet

Cervelliere

Steel skull cap

Chapel de Fer

Kettle hat

Charnel

Fourteenth-century staple or bolt used to secure the helm or great basinet to the breastplate and backplate

Chausses

Mail leggings enclosing the leg and foot, or strips of mail laced to the front of the legs

Close-helmet

Helmet with a full visor and bevor that completely encloses the head and face

Coat armor

Fourteenth-century quilted garment worn over armor

Coat of fence

Jack

Coat of plates

Fourteenth-century torso armor of large plates riveted inside a cloth or leather garment

Cod-piece

Covering for the groin

Coif

Hood, usually of mail

Collar

Gorget

Comb

Ridge on the skull of a helmet that runs from front to back

Comb morion

Morion with a high central comb on the top of the skull

Corselet

Corslet

Corslet

1) Sixteenth-century half-armor consisting of a gorget, breastplate, backplate, tassets, full arm armor, and gauntlets
2) Sixteenth-century cuirass

Couter

Plate armor for the elbow

Cowter

Couter

Crest

Thirteenth-century and later heraldic device attached to the top of the helm

Cuirass

Breastplate and backplate made to be worn together

Cuir bouilli

Rigid leather hardened by saturation in water or boiled in wax

Cuirie

Thirteenth-century cuirass originally made of cuir bouilli

Cuishes

Cuisses

Cuisses

Armor for the thighs

Culet

Hooped plate armor of horizontal lames for the buttocks

Dog-faced basinet

Hounskull

Double-pieces

Exchange pieces

Elbow cop

Couter

Elbow gauntlet

Gauntlet with a cuff that reaches up the arm to the elbow, replacing the lower cannon of the vambrace and the couter

Enarmes

Straps attached to the inside of the shield for holding it with the arm

Espalier

Thirteenth-century and later shoulder armor, usually laminated

Exchange pieces

Extra pieces of armor which could be added or exchanged to customize a harness for different uses, such as for foot combat and for different types of jousts

Fall

Peak on the brow of a helmet, sometimes pivotted at the sides

Falling buffe

Sixteenth bevor made of several lames held in place by a latch that, when released, allows the lames to slide down to expose the face for better vision and ventilation

Fauld

Armor for the abdomen, usually of horizontal lames attached to the lower edge of a breastplate

Fence

Jack

Field armor

Armor made for war, "for the field"

Finger gauntlet

Gauntlet with each finger protected by its own separate set of lames

Frog-mouthed helm

Fourteenth-century and later helm, usually attached to the breastplate and backplate, where the lower edge of the sight projects well beyond the upper edge

Gadlings

Protruding studs on the the knuckles of a gauntlet, sometimes spiked, jewelled, or in the shape of animals

Gambeson

Quilted doublet with a skirt worn either under armor, over armor, or as armor by itself

Gamboised cuisses

Thirteenth to fourteenth-century padded and quilted cuisses

Gardbrace

Fifteenth-century and later reinforcing plate attached to the pauldron

Gard-cuish

Tilting socket

Gard-cuisse

Tilting socket

Garde-rein

Armor for the buttocks

Garniture

Sixteenth-century and later complete harness with and additional 20 or 30 matching exchange pieces

Gauntlets

Armored gloves for the hands, either of mitten type or with individual fingers

Gipon

Jupon

Gorget

Plate collar covering the neck and tops of the chest and shoulders

Gothic

Fifteenth-century German armor style characterized pointed, thin lines and fluting, often in fan-shaped designs

Grand guard

Large plate for the joust attached to the left side of the breastplate to reinforce it, the armor for the left arm, and the left side of the visor

Great basinet

Basinet with attached plate armor for the neck instead of an aventail

Great helm

Helm

Greave

Plate armor for the leg from the knee to the ankle, initially only covering the front of the shin, but later made of two hinged plates encircling the lower leg

Greenwich armor

Sixteenth-century armor style made at Greenwich in England at the workshops set up by Henry VIII

Guard chains

Fourteenth-century chains which linked the sword, dagger, and helm to the breastplate to prevent them from being lost in battle

Guige

Strap attached to the inside of the shield by which it could be slung around the neck

Gussets

1) Fifteenth-century mail sleeves covering the armpits and other portions of the arm not covered by plate armor
2) Sixteenth-century lames at the armpit of the breastplate

Habergeon

Short hauberk

Half armor

Armor for the the torso and arms, but leaving the legs unprotected

Haqueton

Aketon

Harness

Complete "suit" of armor

Haubergeon

Habergeon

Hauberk

Sleeved shirt of mail or scale reaching down to the hip or knee

Haute-piece

Plate attached to the pauldron that sticks up to protect the neck

Heater shield

Shield with a flat top and sides that curve to a point

Heaume

Helm

Helm

Helmet enclosing the entire head and face and reaching down almost to the shoulders

Hosting armor

Field armor

Hounskull

Fourteenth and fifteenth-century nickname for a type of pointed visor on a basinet

Hour-glass gauntlet

Fourteenth-century gauntlet with a large plate covering the back and sides of the hand that narrows at the wrist and flares out to form a short cuff

Jack

Doublet or jacket usually lined with small metal plates, but sometimes just padded

Jamb

Schynbald

Jambart

Schynbald

Jamber

Schynbald

Jambiere

Schynbald

Jupon

Fourteenth to fifteenth-century tight-fitting padded garment worn over armor, often displaying a coat-of-arms

Kastenbrust

Fifteenth-century German breastplate with angular lines

Kettle hat

Simple open-faced helmet consisting of a skull with a wide brim

Kite-shaped shield

Tenth to thirteenth-century large shield of elongated triangular shape with a rounded top

Klapvisier

Fourteenth-century German globular visor attached to the basinet by a central hinge over the forehead

Knee cop

Poleyn

Lamellar

Semi-rigid armor made of small plates laced together

Lames

Narrow strips of plate often used to provide articulation

Laminated

Constructed entirely or partially of lames

Lance rest

Support bolted onto the breastplate to help hold a couched lance

Mail

Flexible armor made up of interlocking metal rings

Manifer

Plate armor for the left hand and and lower left arm, usually worn for jousting

Maximilian armor

Sixteenth-century armor style popular during the reign of Emperor Maximilian (1494-1519) and characterized by narrow, parallel fluting

Mitten gauntlet

Gauntlet with a single set of lames covering all of the fingers

Morion

Sixteenth-century helmet consisting of a skull with a broad brim turning upwards at the front and back

Muffler

Mitten-like extension to the sleeve of a hauberk to cover the hand

Munition armor

Sixteenth century mass-produced, cheaply-made armor for the common soldier

Munnions

Articluated lames, usually attached to the gorget, protecting the shoulders and upper arms

Nasal

Plate attached to the front of a helmet to protect the nose and middle of the face

Norman helmet

Eleventh-century helmet with a conical skull and a nasal, made either in one piece or of Spangenhelm construction, often associated with the Normans

Orle

Wreath or twisted circlet worn on the skull of a helmet

Pair of curates

Cuirass

Pair of plates

Coat of plates

Pasguard

Plate reinforcement for the left elbow for jousting

Pauldron

Laminated armor for the shoulder extending at the front and rear to protect the armpit

Pavise

Large shield carried by infantrymen, often equipped with a prop to set them upright on the ground

Pieces of exchange

Exchange pieces

Pig-faced basinet

Hounskull

Plackart

Plate reinforcement for the lower part of the breastplate

Plates

Coat of plates

Points

Arming points

Poldermitten

Plate reinforcement for the right arm for jousting

Poleyn

Plate armor for the knee, usually equipped with a side wing protecting the outside of the knee

Pomme

Fifteenth-centry spherical helmet decoration worn instead of a crest

Pot

Simple common soldier's helmet

Proof

Armor "of proof" is made strong enough to resist a shot from a bow or musket

Puffed and slashed armor

Sixteenth-century armor style characterized by embossing resembling a civilian style of dress where puffs of colored material were pulled through slashes in the sleeves and body of a contrasting outer layer of material

Queue

Sixteenth-century bar bolted to the breastplate to steady the lance for jousting

Rennhut

One-piece sallet designed for jousting with sharpened lances

Renntartsche

Large shield for jousting with sharpened lances bolted to and covering the breastplate and bevor

Rennzeug

Armor for jousting with sharpened lances

Rerebrace

Armor for the upper arm

Rondache

Buckler

Rondel

Metal disk on the rear of an armet to protect the strap for the wrapper

Rump guard

Fifteenth-century oblong plate hung from the lower edge of the culet

Sabaton

Plate armor for the foot consisting of lames ending in a toecap

Salade

Sallet

Sallet

Helmet, either open-faced or equipped with a visor, that has a tail to protect the neck

Scale

Armor made from small overlapping plates sewn or laced to a cloth or leather garment

Schynbald

Plate armor for the lower leg which protected only the shin

Sight

Vision slit in a helmet or visor

Skull

Part of a helmet that covers the top, back and sides of the head above the ears

Skull cap

Simple metal cap

Solleret

French Sabaton

Spangenhelm

Conical helmet made of a number of plates riveted together

Spanish morion

Cabasset

Spaulder

Laminated armor for the shoulder and top of the arm

Splint

Fifteenth and sixteenth-century gutter-shaped plates protecting only the outside of the arm, usually found on munition armor

Standard

Mail collar

Stechhelm

Frog-mouthed helm which was bolted to the brestplate for jousting with blunted lances

Stechtartsche

Small rectangular shield tied onto the breastplate for jousting with blunted lances

Stechzeug

Armor for jousting with blunted lances

Stop rib

Small bar riveted to plate armor to prevent the point of a weapon from sliding into a joint or opening

Stud and splint armor

Armor made of metal strips and studs riveted onto a leather backing

Sugarloaf helm

Helm with a conical skull

Suit of armor

Harness

Surcoat

Twelfth-century and later flowing garment worn over armor, either sleeved or sleeveless and usually reaching to the mid-calf, often displaying a coat-of-arms

Tabard

Short garment with open sides and short sleeves worn to display a coat-of-arms

Taces

Tassets

Target

Small round shield

Tassets

Fifteenth-century and later armor for the tops of the thighs that hangs from the fauld to cover the gaps between the breastplate and cuisses

Tilting socket

Large reinforced cuissses worn for jousting with sharpened lances

Tonlet

Fifteenth and sixteenth-century deep, hooped skirt of steel worn on armors designed for foot combat

Turning joint

A circular joint on the rerebrace that allows the arm to twist, formed by a flange that rotates inside a groove

Umbo

Shield boss that covers the hand as it holds the grip

Vambrace

1) Armor for the lower arm
2) Entire arm armor except for the pauldron

Ventail

Thirteenth-century mail flap on a coif that draws across the mouth to protect the face

Vervelles

Staples attached to the lower edge of a helmet for attaching an aventail

Visor

Part of a helmet that protects the eyes and face, often pivoted to the skull

Volant-piece

Reinforcing plate on the brow of a helmet

Waist lame

Horizontal lamination in the breastplate or backplate at waist level

War hat

Kettle hat

White armor

Armor of plain, polished steel without any attached covering

Wrapper

Reinforcing armor strapped to the front of the helmet that covers the chin and the lower half of the visor

Return to Greg's Armoring Page