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

The late Middle Ages were a period of great wars throughout Europe: for instance, the Hundred Years' War between England and France spanned from 1337 to 1453, and Italian city-states were constantly in conflict with each other. Wars were also fought in the Low Countries: the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were marked by the Hook and Cod wars. This series of civil wars between two factions in the governance of Holland began in the mid-fourteenth century but would only end in 1490. The two major parties, the Hooks and the Cods, after whom the conflict is named, had allies outside the Low Countries who were often drawn into their wars. The Cods were allied with the Burgundian and Austrian Habsburg dynasty, while the Hooks were allied with the French Dauphin. As a result, the war materiel used was very diverse, and different characteristic armor styles were seen in this series of conflicts.

In the fifteenth century, distinct regional differences emerged in the forms of plate armor. In the Holy Roman Empire, the Gothic style was developed, a style of ribbed armor with many decorations and pointed shapes. This style was heavily inspired by Burgundian fashion, which was very popular in Central and Western Europe.

The armour in the late fifteenth century covered the entire body, with some points still needing protection with mail. Gothic armors were very closely fitted to the body, allowing the wearer a lot of freedom of movement. Armors in this style were significantly lighter than Milanese (Italian) armors, which often consisted of large round shapes and were worn over a full chainmail shirt, sometimes even with additional mail skirt.

The sallet was the characteristic helmet of the Gothic style. In the early fifteenth century, the helmet was developed in Italy to replace the bascinet and quickly became popular throughout Europe. The sallet was worn by both knights and common soldiers, in a form with or without a visor. This helmet covered the back, but not the chin and neck from the front. Therefore, the Sallet was worn in combination with a bevor to protect these. In the late fifteenth century, knights could choose to wear gauntlets with individual finger protection or ‘mittens’. This often came down to personal preference.

The year is 1483. Roderick is a Dutch knight fighting in the siege of Utrecht, which is part of the late period of the Hook and Cod wars. He is loyal to Archduke Maximilian of Austria, who would later become emperor. As a knight, Roderick himself has no strong opinion about the factions of the conflict, but sees fighting as a heroic distraction from the constant political power struggle in which he finds himself.

When not wearing armor, Roderick wears a black shirt, a mi-parti trousers and a cap with ankle boots underneath. In the event he needs to be ready to don his armour, he wears his arming doublet. 

In the late Middle Ages, short garments that fit closely to the body became increasingly popular. Roderick wears a light black jacket that in shape is between a shirt and a doublet.

In the late fifteenth century, men wore trousers and chausses (chausses) had fallen significantly out of fashion. Roderick wears a trousers with a flap. Underneath, he wears his braies, a medieval undergarment. Many garments from this period were also worn in a half-and-half color pattern, also known as Mi-parti. The trousers that Roderick wears features this style.

This type of hat was worn by nobility and wealthy bourgeoisie in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance.

In the fifteenth century, fashion transitioned from long, flowing robes to short, close-fitting garments. Men began to wear doublets, which ended around the hips and emphasized the chest and waist. Full trousers also started to become more fashionable as a result.

An 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, and they began to wear a thinner, lighter padded variant that also aligned with the fashion of the day, the so-called arming doublet. To this close-fitting variant of the gambeson, armour components 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 warrior-like appearance, comparable to wearing combat boots or clothing with camouflage print in our present day. 

In the fifteenth century, 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 that one would not trip over them during a battle.

Roderick wears a sallet with bevor, a chainmail shirt, a breastplate or cuirass, arm harness with shoulder plates, leg armor and gauntlets with individual finger protection.

The hauberk, the chainmail shirt with short sleeves, became increasingly popular in the fifteenth century due to developments in arm armor. Italian knights would continue to use full chainmail until the end of the fifteenth century, while in the Holy Roman Empire the chainmail shirt was split into voiders and mail skirts to save weight. Roderick wears a set of voiders on his arming doublet and a mail skirt under his cuirass and a full chainmail shirt when he only wears a breastplate. Whether you choose to wear a hauberk or attach pieces of mail to your arming doublet depends on the rest of your composition and the region where you base your armour. 

There are different ways to protect the chest. One can choose to protect only the front with a breastplate or wear a complete cuirass. 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 during fighting in formation. The cavalry preferred a cuirass with backplate, but it was not always necessary when they fought on foot.

Roderick can choose to wear a breastplate to protect his torso. It is made in the Gothic style and intended to connect to a bevor or gorget to cover the throat.

Roderick can also choose to wear a complete cuirass consisting of a breastplate and backplate. The cuirass in this period also had 'tassets', small pieces of armor that hung over the upper leg to provide additional protection.

In the Gothic style, almost exclusively the sallet was worn. This was often done in combination with the bevor to protect the chin and neck. There are many combinations possible for Roderick's equipment, so here are some options:

The bevor protects the neck and chin when it is not included with the helmet. This part of a armour was popular among both common soldiers and men-at-arms, as it was easy to combine with various open helmets, but also half-closed helmets like the sallet. 

The sallet was a helmet that was worn either with or without a visor. This helmet had integrated neck protection at the back but was open at the front. This allowed the helmet to be worn either alone or with a bevor / gorget. In the fifteenth-century Gothic style of the Holy Roman Empire, a sallet was almost exclusively worn by common soldiers, knights, and even the emperor.

In the late fifteenth century, there were two forms of armored gloves as part of a armour: gauntlets with individual finger protection or mittens. The first offered more freedom of movement while the second provided better hand protection. It is up to you to choose which of these forms of gauntlet you use in your composition.

The leg armor that Roderick wears consists of upper and lower leg protection in the Gothic style. It is attached to his arming doublet using laces with aglets.

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

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. Therefore, a armor belt was often worn to attach leg armor and mail shirts to the body.

As a weapons, Roderick uses a poleaxe and a longsword.

As a primary weapon, Roderick uses his poleaxe. The poleaxe was a form of pole weapon used by heavily armored knights and men-at-arms. It resembled the halberd, but was often shorter and had a war hammer on the head of the weapon, while the halberd often had a hook to pull people off their horses or legs. With this hammer, the poleaxe was better suited for use in combat against other heavily armored opponents.

Due to developments in armour, knights and men-at-arms began using two-handed swords in the fourteenth century instead of a sword and shield. These longswords could be used for cutting and thrusting, but also had more reach and could be used with more force than one-handed swords. In the fifteenth century, as plate armor further developed into full armour, the way longswords were made changed to make them effective against armored opponents.

The longsword that Roderick uses is an example of this development. It has a very thin blade designed to pierce the weak spots of plate armor. According to the widely used classification by British historian Michael Oakeshott, it can be classified as a type xviiib.

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 against 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, which meant war armors offered less protection but were lighter and allowed the wearer to move much more freely. 

Armors were historically worn by people who were fully trained and specialized in waging war in the period they lived. It can be seen that these people made many choices between protection and mobility, which often came down to function and personal preference. For example, many foot soldiers wore less protection on their lower legs because it was more comfortable to march in, 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 parts and composition to your own preference. 

On medieval battlefields, only the aristocracy wore fully custom-made armors. The rest of the armies wore armors that were collected or taken over from previous wearers. These soldiers adjusted 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, but they are adjustable. As the owner of a armour, you are regularly engaged in adjusting the armour to your measurements so that it fits as comfortably as possible. You can do this by extending straps, adding straps, stretching arm and leg pieces, and adding laces.