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

During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, there was a rise of mercenary armies in medieval Europe. Mercenaries were better trained and equipped, could fight year-round, and could afford better equipment than traditional armies composed of temporary, serf soldiers. However, they were much more expensive and often plundered the lands they occupied. Prolonged conflicts such as the Hundred Years' War between England and France were largely fought by costly mercenary armies, which often made up a significant portion of the heavy infantry and men-at-arms on the battlefield.

This new form of warfare led to high costs that only a few could afford. In Italy, this resulted in the rise of new city-states and republics wealthy enough to hire mercenary armies. The rise of major rivals like Venice and Genoa in the late fourteenth century led to a kind of cold war between two major alliances in Northern Italy. 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 blocs, emerging from the patchwork of individual city-states that had surfaced before. The arms race between the fighting alliances would lead to the development of the characteristic 'Milanese' plate armor.

In the transition to the fifteenth century, plate armor began to develop further. It could now gradually be worn on its own, without the need for full chainmail shirt. A good example of the development of the armour in this period is the Churburg S18 armour from the castle of Churburg in Northern Italy.

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 armour' gradually became fashionable, 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 breastplate had evolved into a cuirass with a breastplate and backplate. Movable plates (faulds) protected the abdomen and hips. The bascinet had evolved into a helmet with integrated neck protection but also began to be replaced by early ‘armets’, helmets with an intricate folding construction that fit closer to the head. Gauntlets developed into a form that still offered individual finger protection but was covered with a large steel plate that hung over the knuckles.

The year is 1423, and Fiore is a wealthy Northern Italian mercenary. He serves as a man-at-arms under the Doge of Venice in the war between his city and Milan. His armor and clothing are paid for with his wages, and he also likes to display his martial character on the streets. In his career as a man-at-arms, Fiore is primarily after money but feels some sympathy for his city. However, this is not enough to give up his lucrative salary as a mercenary.

When Fiore is not wearing his armor, he follows the fashion of the early fifteenth century. He wears a surcoat or his arming doublet, braies with chausses, pointed shoes, and a bycocket as headgear. At his belt, he carries a bag and a dagger. He also wears a simple peasant ring he found on the battlefield as a good luck charm.

The Bycocket (also known as the type of hat worn by Robin Hood) was a popular headgear in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It was worn both with or without a hood by the serfdom, bourgeoisie, and nobility.

For special occasions, Fiore wears a surcoat in the heraldic colors of his family. This garment originated from the tabard that knights used to wear over their armor in previous centuries to recognize each other on the battlefield, but in the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, it was also worn on its own.

Much clothing in this period was also worn in a half-and-half color pattern, also known as Mi-parti. This model surcoat is available in different halves, allowing you to mix and match colors yourself.

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 frequently, which also prevented it from discoloring quickly.

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

A gambeson provides a layer of padded protection under mail and plate armor but was worn by poor soldiers on its own. Due to developments in armour, thick gambesons became unnecessary for knights, and they began to wear 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 fitted 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 camouflage print in our present day. Fiore likes to project this image and wears his arming doublet in everyday life as well.

In the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, chausses (chausses) were generally worn. These long stockings were attached to the underwear (braies) and 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, only trousers would be worn.

People from all social classes 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 longer and more pointed. On the battlefield, form followed function, and the pointedness of the shoes was much more modest, so one could not trip over them during a fight.

The Churburg S18 armour of Fiore consists of a cuirass, a houndskull bascinet, arm harness, pauldrons with integrated armpit protection, hourglass gauntlets, and full leg protection. He wears a bishop's mantle under his armour, but no chainmail shirt as he prefers this. Due to the development of plate armor in his time, he can afford to make this choice. He attaches his armour components to his arming jacket or arming doublet. This 15th-century invention replaced the gambeson. Arming doublets can be padded, but it is not necessary. This doublet is padded.

Although Fiore himself does not wear a chainmail shirt, this was still done by many knights at the time. The haubergeon, the chainmail shirt with short sleeves, became increasingly used due to developments in arm armour . Italian knights would continue to use full mail shirts until the end of the fifteenth century, while in the Holy Roman Empire the chainmail shirt was divided into voiders and mail skirts to save weight. 

Fiore 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. 

The cuirass that Fiore wears protects his torso from both the front and back. Unlike earlier breastplates such as that of the Churburg armour, the abdomen and hips are protected with articulating steel plates. These can also be detached from the cuirass.

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.   

He wears pauldrons that connect to the arm harness and breastplate and also protect the collarbone. They have recognizable integrated ‘besagews’   (armpit guards) that protect his armpits, because the highly mobile areas of the body are often weak points of the armour.

The pauldrons that Fiore wears are based on those of the S18-armour, but these are not the originals from when the rest of the armour was made between 1380 and 1410. The pauldrons were made later, probably 1420-1430. If you want a composition around the year 1400, we recommend wearing simple late-fourteenth to early fifteenth-century pauldrons, which are part of the Churburg armour from 1360. It is a personal consideration which of the two pauldrons best fits your armour.

Fiore considers it important to fully protect his legs. Therefore, he wears shin protection in addition to thigh armor that covers 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/useful. We delve deeper into this under the heading 'the perfect armour'.

These pieces of leg protection are made to fit together, and the full greaves have a special belt loop to attach to the thigh armour.

In the fifteenth century, armor for the feet, known as sabatons, was also worn. This made walking long distances in armour much heavier, so it was often used only by cavalry. Whether or not you choose to wear sabatons is a matter of personal preference.

In the transition to the fifteenth century, there were already experiments with making the armet, a helmet with a complex construction to fit closely to the head. Outside these experiments, the bascinet was still largely used. During the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the poorest knights would still have worn a Churburg-type bascinet, the slightly wealthier a flat, houndskull or great-bascinet. The wealthiest nobility would have had an early type armet. We therefore propose various options to wear with this type armour.

This characteristic helmet is a development of the houndskull bascinet which is part of the Churburg armour from 1360. Both the helmet and the snout are made more pointed, all intended to deflect blows. There are many breathing holes that also provide a better field of vision. The eye slits are equipped with grills, so you can't stick a daggers in it. Also, this early fifteenth-century bascinet is provided with included neck protection, unlike its predecessors, making a mail aventail not necessarily required.

The other bascinet we used in this shoot has a somewhat flatter visor. It resembles a klapp visor bascinet (worn from around 1360) but unlike those, it has its hinge points on the sides of the helmet. This helmet is specially designed for full-contact fighting. It is made of 2.5 mm thick steel and is extra large, so a thick layer of padding can be added. 

A final alternative might be one of the most characteristic types of large bascinets. This bascinet is the predecessor of the armet and was used throughout Europe around 1430. It was primarily intended for fighting on foot but was also used during tournaments.

This type of hourglass gauntlets was very popular in the second half of the fourteenth century and remained in use in the first quarter of the fifteenth century. The advantage of these gauntlets was mobility. However, individual finger protection naturally offers less protection than a construction where the fingers are protected by a type of armored mitten, which is why later gauntlets often cannot move individual fingers.

The early fifteenth century was a transitional period from traditional hourglass gauntlets to gauntlets featuring a large plate on the knuckles that protected the fingers. Later in the 15th century, this would develop into armored mittens. In this composition, both types of gauntlets can be worn. 

On horseback, Fiore would have used a lance, but knights always carried an extra weapon to use if it broke or to fight on foot. Due to armor developments, the shield was no longer used by knights and men-at-arms in the fifteenth century. Knights chose to use two-handed swords, maces, war hammers, or pole weapons. It is entirely your choice which of these weapons will be part of your early fifteenth-century knight's equipment. Here are some examples:

On his belt, Fiore wears a rondel dagger designed to thrust into the gaps of 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 well seen in the difference between war armor and tournament armor (all our armors are war armors). 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, making war armor offer less protection but be lighter and allowing the wearer to move much more freely.

Armor was historically worn by people who were fully trained and specialized in waging war in 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 this was more comfortable for marching, but the 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 parts and composition according to your own preference.

On Medieval battlefields, only the aristocracy wore fully custom-made size armor. The rest of the armies wore armor that was assembled or taken over from previous wearers. These soldiers adapted these collected pieces of armor to their size and decorated it by painting religious symbols and the heraldry of their ruler on it. The armour parts we sell are not custom-made size, but they are adjustable. As the owner of a armour, you are regularly engaged in adjusting the armour to your measurements to make it as comfortable as possible. You can do this by lengthening straps, adding straps, stretching arm and leg pieces, and adding laces.