How is armor made

Rather than showing each interlinking ring, the small links were stylized by dots, slashes, S-shapes, circles, and the like, which readily lent themselves to misinterpretation. To give a definitive answer to this question is impossible for several reasons. First, hardly any evidence survives that would provide a complete picture for any given period. Scarce evidence is available from the fifteenth century onward as to how armor was ordered, in what time the order was completed, and how much the parts or entire armor cost.

Second, a complete armor could comprise elements made by several specialized armorers. Pieces might also be held in stock half-finished and then fitted for a specific commission. Finally, the matter is complicated by regional and national differences. Throughout the German-speaking lands, most armorer workshops were controlled by strict guild regulations , which limited the number of apprentices, and thus had a direct effect on the number of pieces that could be produced by one master and his small workshop.

In Italy, on the other hand, no such regulations existed, and workshops could accordingly be much larger, which undoubtedly must have enhanced speed and quantity of production. In any case, one must bear in mind that the production of arms and armor was a thriving business throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Armorers, blade smiths, gun makers, crossbow and bow makers, and fletchers were found in every large town. Then as now, their market was regulated by supply and demand, and time-efficient work must have been an essential part of a successful business.

The answer to this question is therefore perhaps as simple as it is elusive. The time it took to make armor depended on several factors, namely, who ordered the work, from whom the work was commissioned i. Two famous examples may serve to illustrate this point. The armorer informs Sir John that he can make the requested suit of armor as soon as the English knight tells him what pieces he requires, in which fashion, and when the armor must be completed unfortunately, no time frame is given.

In court workshops, the production of garnitures for a princely client appears to have required more time. We do not know whether Seusenhofer and his workshop were also working on other commissions during that time. The lance rest appeared soon after the emergence of the solid breastplate in the late fourteenth century and remained in use until the decline of armor. This serves to stabilize and balance the lance, permitting a better aim.

Furthermore, the combined weight and speed of horse and rider are transferred onto the point of the lance, making it a most formidable weapon.

It is noteworthy that on most field armors, the lance rest can usually be folded upward so that it would not impede the mobility of the sword arm, after the lance had been discarded. The history of the armored codpiece is closely related to its counterpart in civilian male costume. From the mid-fourteenth century onward, male garments for the upper body had occasionally become so short as to almost reveal the crotch.

In these times prior to the development of trousers, men wore leggings tied to their undergarment or a belt, and the crotch was hidden with a flap secured to the upper inside edge of each legging. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, this flap began to be padded and thus visually emphasized. As such, the codpiece remained commonplace in European male costume until the end of the sixteenth century.

On armor, the codpiece as a separate piece of plate defense for the genitals appeared during the second decade of the sixteenth century and remained in use and fashion until about Thickly padded on the inside, it is attached to the armor at the center of the lower edge of the skirt. While its early form was rather cuplike, it remained under direct influence of civilian costume, and later examples are somewhat more pointed upward.

It was, however, not typically worn with armor for use on horseback; first, because it would get in the way, and second, because the armored front bow of the war saddle usually offered enough protection for the groin area.

Thus the codpiece is usually found on armor used for fighting on foot, both in war and tournament, and, although of some protective value, it has always been as much an element of fashion as one of defense. One of the most enduring and popular images of a medieval warrior is that of a Viking , made immediately recognizable by his helmet adorned with a pair of horns.

There is, however, little evidence to suggest that Vikings ever used horns as decoration for their helmets. The earliest use of a pair of stylized horns as a crest appears to be the small group of helmets surviving from the Celtic Bronze Age, particularly in Scandinavia and the area of modern-day France, Germany, and Austria.

These crests were embossed out of bronze, and could take the shape of two horns or of a flattened triangular profile, sometimes both. These helmets probably date to the twelfth or eleventh century B. Two thousand years later, from about onward, pairs of horns again became popular throughout Europe and remained one of the most widely used heraldic crests on helmets for battle and tournament alike during the later Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

It is easy to see that neither of these periods coincides with the period usually associated with the Scandinavian raids of the late eighth to the late eleventh century. Helmets used by Viking warriors were usually of conical or hemispherical shape, sometimes made from a single piece of metal, sometimes constructed of segments held together by connecting metal lames Spangenhelme.

A number of them appear to have been fitted with a face defense. The latter could be in the form of a simple metal bar extending over the nose nasal , or a faceplate comprising a nasal with additional protection for the eyes and upper cheekbones made of plate, or finally, a full protection of the entire face and neck made of mail.

Generally speaking, the above statement is correct as long as it is stressed that it was the ever-increasing efficiency of firearms, not firearms as such, that led to an eventual decline of plate armor on the battlefield. Since the first firearms appear to have been in use in Europe as early as the third decade of the fourteenth century , and the gradual decline of armor is not noticed before the second half of the seventeenth century, firearms and plate armor coexisted for more than years.

During the sixteenth century, attempts had been made to render armor bulletproof, either by hardening the steel or, more commonly, by thickening the armor or adding separate reinforcing pieces on top of the normal field armor. Finally, it should be noted that armor as such has never become entirely obsolete. Moreover, even body defenses have lived on in the shape of the experimental breastplates of the American Civil War, the breastplates of airplane gunners during World War II, and the bulletproof vests worn today.

Medical and anthropological research demonstrates that the average height of men and women has gradually increased over the centuries, a process that, for reasons of progressively better diet and public health, has accelerated during the past years or so.

The majority of surviving armors from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries appear to confirm these findings. However, when trying to affirm such generalizations from armor, a number of factors need to be carefully considered. First, is the armor complete and homogeneous i. Moreover, then as now, other general factors have to be taken into account, such as differences in average body height between northern and southern Europeans for example, or the simple fact that there have always been people who were exceptionally tall or short when compared to their average contemporary.

Among the famous exceptions are royal examples such as Francis I, king of France r. Neither armor is complete, and the sizes of the former owners are necessarily broad estimates, yet the differences in size and stature are remarkable: while the owner of the first armor was probably around 6 feet 4 inches ca.

As most people were expected to be right-handed, most strikes or thrusts were anticipated to come from the left, thus hopefully glancing off the armor, across the overlap, toward the right.

Although this theory is persuasive, not enough continuous evidence exists to support the notion that modern-day male clothing was directly influenced by such armor. In fact, although the defensive theory may in general be true for medieval and Renaissance armor, a number of genuine helmets and body armor overlap the other way round right over left. Sapphires are made of alumina, and sapphire is a very strong material see this site. You can also find rigid plates made out of the plastic polyethylene.

Also, check out this article that explains how body armor could be a technological hero of war in Iraq. Sign up for our Newsletter! Mobile Newsletter banner close. Mobile Newsletter chat close. Mobile Newsletter chat dots. Mobile Newsletter chat avatar.

Mobile Newsletter chat subscribe. A bulletproof vest, designed to protect the chest area from bullets and other dangerous flying objects. Blacksmiths used a special hummer which was moved with the help of a water-powered mechanism.

It was rare to see a hand hammer in use. According to historical sources, in approximately in Germany craftsmen employed a special metal roller; a method of making steel sheets which became popular all over Europe. Steel sheets had to be cut according to patterns of armor parts: steel legs, steel arms, spaulders, greaves, sabatons, cuirass, helmets. Then blacksmiths began to make the shape of the specific piece of equipment with the help of special steel form templates.

They looked like many different anvils fixed vertically. Cold forging was used to get a basic shape for the armor. After all steel elements of the future armor were shaped, forged and hardened, the next — and most difficult — step arrived: gathering all the parts together and adjusting them to fit.

This was a very important process, since completed armor should have no gaps, should be comfortable to wear, unrestrictive, and articulated. And the most essential for the knight of the Middle Ages — his armor should protect him as much as possible during the numerous medieval wars.

Once the adjustment of the armor is completed, what next?