The armour of a knight (or man-at-arms) looked different throughout the Middle Ages. In this blog, we provide an insight into the equipment of an Italian man-at-arms in the early fifteenth century to help you choose your own composition.

The Hundred Years' War between England and France would continue until 1453. Periods of war were interrupted by short peace, which both countries needed to rebuild themselves after intensive warfare. In Italy, a series of long-lasting conflicts was also brewing. The rise of major rivals like Venice and Genoa had created a kind of cold war between two major alliances in Northern Italy in the late fourteenth century. This would erupt into a hot war in 1423, in the form of the Lombard Wars between the Republic of Venice and the Duchy of Milan. These wars would divide Northern Italy into several major power blocks, emerging from the patchwork of individual city-states of previous centuries. The arms race between the fighting alliances led to the development of the characteristic ‘Milanese’ plate armor.

Throughout the fifteenth century, distinct regional differences in the forms of plate armor emerged. The Northern Italian (Milanese) style, which emphasized large, rounded shapes, is evident in much art and archaeology from this period.

The weak spots in armor were increasingly protected with articulated plate armor. Shoulder plates now also featured, for example, ‘besagews’, round plates to protect the armpits. In Northern Italy, 'white armor' gradually came into fashion, a style where the armour was no longer covered with fabric. This method of armor construction would later catch on in France, England, and the Holy Roman Empire.

The bascinet was gradually replaced by the armet in France, Italy, and England during the fifteenth century. This helmet had a complex folding construction to fit better on the head. The early armet had a bevor attached over the helmet to provide extra protection to the neck. The armet remained exclusively available to the aristocracy, but the sallet, another helmet that had replaced the bascinet, was worn by both common soldiers and knights. In the Holy Roman Empire, the sallet was almost exclusively used as part of the Gothic style. Nevertheless, the bascinet remained in use as an open helmet.

The year is 1433. The young Florentine man-at-arms Lorenzo is embroiled in a political power struggle within the republic of his city. Although Florence is nominally a democracy, large and wealthy families hold sway. As a great admirer of ancient Rome, art, and culture, he supports Cosimo de Medici, the 'first Among equals in the Republic of Florence. This powerful ruler is not only a popular politician but also a patron of artists like Donatello, yet in the same year, he was exiled by his rivals due to his popularity. Lorenzo hopes to help free this Pater Patriae to rebuild Florence as a revival of the Roman Republic, which he often fantasizes about in his daily role as a city watchman.

When Lorenzo is not wearing his armor, he wears a cotehardie or arming doublet, chausses, a red cap, a belt with his sword and pointed shoes.

People preferred to wear bright colors, contrary to how this period is often depicted. If they could afford it, their clothing was richly decorated, but even without decoration, clothing in the Middle Ages was very expensive. By wearing an undershirt, it became less dirty from the body, and the outer layer needed to be washed less often, which also prevented it from discoloring quickly.

In the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, chausses (chausses) were generally worn. These long stockings were attached to the underpants (braies) and were usually worn under long robes. 

During this period, there was also a gradual transition to the full trousers. It is a personal choice to wear chausses or a trousers, but later in the fifteenth century, people would only wear trousers.

The cap was a popular headgear for men in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, especially in Southern Europe. It was mainly worn by men of higher status, such as citizens and the nobility.

The cotehardie was a long, flowing garment that was fashionable throughout the entire Middle Ages. People preferred to wear bright colors, contrary to how this period is often depicted. If they could afford it, their clothing was richly decorated, but even without decoration, clothing in the Middle Ages was very expensive. The clothing makers and weavers guilds in Florence, with their wealth, were an important part of the formation of the republic. When he wears his cotehardie, Lorenzo sometimes imagines it is a toga like in ancient Rome.

Lorenzo also wears a shirt under his cotehardie. By wearing an undershirt, medieval clothing became less dirty from the body, and the outer layer needed to be washed less often, which also made it less likely to discolor. 

In the fifteenth century, fashion shifted from long, flowing robes to short, tight-fitting clothing. Men began wearing doublets, which ended around the hips and emphasized the chest and waist. As a result, full trousers also became increasingly fashionable.

A gambeson provides a layer of padded protection under mail and plate armor, but was worn on its own by poor soldiers. Due to developments in armour, thick gambesons became unnecessary for knights, who began wearing a thinner, lighter padded variant that also matched the fashion of the day, the so-called arming doublet. To this tight-fitting variant of the gambeson, armor parts could be attached that fit well to the body.

In Italy, the arming doublet was even worn as a regular garment by civilians and non-military nobility to give a martial appearance, comparable to wearing combat boots or clothing with a camouflage print in our present. Lorenzo likes to exude this and wears his arming doublet in everyday life as well.

People from all walks of life attached pouches and other utilitarian items to their belt. When putting together your outfit, consider what you would find important to carry in your daily life as a knight, such as your cutlery but also your sword.

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, men wore pointed shoes. Over time, the fashion trend was to make these increasingly longer and more pointed. On the battlefield, form followed function, and the pointedness of the shoes was much more modest, so that one could not trip over them during a fight.

As armour, Lorenzo wears an open helmet, chainmail shirt, breastplate, shoulder and arm harness, gauntlets, and leg armor.

Often, an arming doublet or other gambeson was equipped with points to attach armor for the lower body, but this was not always the case. To secure leg armor and chainmail skirts to the body, a armor belt was often worn. 

The haubergeon, the chainmail shirt with short sleeves, became increasingly popular in the fifteenth century due to developments in arm armor. Italian knights would continue to wear full chainmail until the end of the fifteenth century.

Lorenzo wears a bishop's mantle around his neck and shoulders to protect under the armor. This relatively inexpensive form of mail neck protection was used throughout Europe until the sixteenth century. 

To protect his head, Lorenzo uses an open helmet. For this, he wears a bascinet, a design that was already becoming outdated in his time. He hopes to have a Barbute or sallet made for himself by a Florentine armorer soon to incorporate his fascination with antiquity into his armor.

In the early fifteenth century, open helmets were often worn alongside closed helmets to give the wearer a better field of vision and to assist in giving commands. This was mainly done when the threat from the enemy was not very urgent. It was often also a matter of personal preference whether a knight wore an open helmet or one with a visor. Lorenzo wears an open bascinet because he finds it important to have a good field of vision during a fight.

In Italy, alongside the bascinet, the sallet and barbute were popular forms of open helmet. The Barbute was based on helmets from ancient Greece, a period that received renewed interest due to the rise of the Renaissance in the early fifteenth century. You can choose what type of helmet you use in your setup.

Here are examples of other open helmets from this time period:

Lorenzo wears a chainmail shirt over his breastplate with faulds, articulating plates that protect his hips. Not every man-at-arms could afford a full cuirass or found it necessary in use. Often, infantrymen only had a breastplate because it saved weight and back protection was less important when fighting in formation.

The arms and shoulders of Fiore are protected by pieces of plate armor that move with the body. Because his arms are a large target, they are fully protected with plate armor.   

The shoulder plates are simple and robust and are intended to be worn with a mail collar to protect the collarbone. Lorenzo wears separate besagews, plates to protect his armpits

The early fifteenth century was a transitional period from the traditional hourglass gauntlets to gauntlets that featured a large plate on the knuckles to protect the fingers. Later in the 15th century, this construction would develop into mittens. Lorenzo wears hybrid gauntlets to protect his hands.

Lorenzo finds it important to fully protect his legs. Therefore, in addition to thigh armor, he also wears shin guards that cover the entire lower leg. A armour is always a compromise between protection and mobility that comes down to personal preference. Consider what is important to you and adjust your armour components and composition to what you find most comfortable/practical. We will delve deeper into this under the heading 'the perfect armour'.

These pieces of leg armor are designed to interlock with each other, and the  complete greaves have a special belt loop to attach to the upper leg armour.

In the fifteenth century, armor for the feet was also worn, known as sabatons. This made walking long distances in armour much heavier, so it was often used only by cavalry. Whether you choose to use sabatons in your equipment is a matter of personal preference. Lorenzo himself fights a lot on foot, so he does not use them.

Due to armor developments, the shield was no longer used by knights and men-at-arms in the fifteenth century. Knights often chose to use two-handed swords, maces, war hammers as secondary weapon. However, one-handed swords were still used by both common soldiers and men-at-arms. These were easy to carry and would develop better hand protection over the course of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, as seen in ‘sideswords’ (early rapiers), making them more popular as civilian weapons. Pole weapons remained the primary weapons on the battlefield for those fighting both on horseback and on foot.

The choice is entirely yours as to which of these weapons becomes part of your early fifteenth-century knight's equipment. Here are some examples:

On his belt, Lorenzo wears a rondel dagger that is designed to penetrate the gaps in plate armor, should he find himself in combat with another heavily armored opponent. In everyday life, this dagger was also used as a self-defense weapon.

Contrary to what many people think, armor was not intended to make the wearer completely invulnerable. Armor was always a compromise between mobility and protection. This compromise can be clearly seen in the difference between war armor and tournament armor (all our armor is war armor). During tournaments, much stronger but less mobile armor was worn to protect the wearer as fully as possible from the impact of a lance. This was possible because tournaments were intended as a spectacle and not as a life-or-death struggle. On the battlefield, mobility was much more important, so war armor offered less protection but was lighter and allowed the wearer to move much more freely.

Armor was historically worn by people who were fully trained and specialized in waging war during the period in which they lived. It can be seen that these people made many choices between protection and mobility, often based on function and personal preference. For example, many foot soldiers wore less protection on their lower legs because it was more comfortable for marching, but cavalry was often more fully armored. Knights sometimes chose to protect their hands with mittens in which the fingers could not move, but sometimes with gauntlets with individual fingers. Consider what is important to you and adjust your armour components and composition to your own preference.

On medieval battlefields, only the aristocracy wore fully custom-made armor. The rest of the armies wore armor that was either collected or taken over from previous wearers. These soldiers adapted these collected pieces of armor to their own fit and decorated it by painting religious symbols and the heraldry of their ruler on it. The components we sell are not custom-made, but they are adjustable. As the owner of armor, you are regularly engaged in adjusting the armor to your measurements to ensure it fits as comfortably as possible. You can do this by extending straps, adding straps, stretching arm and leg pieces, and adding laces.