Every armour is different. But the way armor is worn is largely the same. In this blog, you will find some tips and information on how to easily put on your armour.
Which armour parts fit together?
When selecting a armour, you naturally want the different parts to match as much as possible. Many armour parts can be easily combined because the basic of how you wear them remains the same. Only the degree to which armour parts 'work well together' varies. A tip is to choose as many armour parts as possible from the same time period (for example, early 15th century) or the same style when it concerns high fantasy. You can also choose to buy different armour parts from the same brand.
The question is also historical. Historically, 95% of the soldiers in armies had armor where the different parts were not made as a matching set.
Armor parts can be adjusted so that they 'work together' better. This can be done by bending parts, adding laces or straps, etc. You can easily do this yourself. Even with fully custom armor, it is often necessary to adjust parts slightly to make them work even better together.
Pre-assembled armor from CelticWebMerchant
In our blogs, we have compiled different armors from various historical periods and high fantasy armors for you.
How do I put on my armour
The armour composition being worn in this photo s is a common example of a Historical armour.
Clothing & Gambeson
Wear breathable clothing, such as historical undergarments, beneath the armour. Over this, wear a gambeson Possibly in combination with a lendenier around your waist, to which you attach the leg pieces. From the 15th century, arming jackets (doublet) were worn.
Mail Supplements
Various supplements can be worn over the arming jacket or gambeson. For example, you can wear a full chainmail shirt (haubergeon) that covers all the gaps between the arms and upper legs. Often, instead of a haubergeon, voiders were worn.
If you are going to fight, then a bishop's mantle or mail standard is highly recommended. This provides extra protection for your neck.
For more information on what is best to wear under your armour, see this blog.
Putting on Armor
Once the right undergarments have been chosen. Now we will look at the armour itself.
1. Leg Armor
First, we put on the leg armor. Most leg armor consists of thigh armor and greaves. Full leg armor can be detached from each other. This way, you can choose whether you want to wear greaves or just thigh armor (half armour). Often, wearing only thigh armor provides a bit more comfort on the reenactment field.
2. Arm Pieces
If you are putting on a armour, first put on the cuirass and then the arm harness. We do it the other way around here to form a better photographic image of how arm harness are fastened.
Just like leg pieces, arm harness usually consist of different parts. The arm armor (arm armour) and the pauldrons (pauldrons). First, attach the arm armour to the arm. Later, attach the pauldrons. Sometimes you connect the arm harness and pauldrons together.
3. Cuirass
Now we will fasten the cuirass. Both full cuirasses and breastplates were worn. A full cuirass consists of two parts that are connected to each other. A breastplate is placed on the chest and fastened with leather straps over the back. Like this example. Breast and back pieces of cuirasses never fit 100%. It's a bit of adjusting with straps and the outer armor to get it as snug as possible. Of course, this also depends on how much you want to wear under your cuirass.
4. Pauldrons (pauldrons)
The pauldrons can be attached to the gorget, the chainmail shirt, or the gambeson. This depends on the type of pauldron and gorget. When the pauldrons are attached to the gorget, leather attachment straps are present on the gorget or bevor. If the pauldrons are not attached to the gorget, they contain attachment points to which leather laces can be tied.
Tip: Once you have your own armour. Create attachment points on your haubergeon or gambeson with leather laces to which you can attach the pauldrons. You can also do this with the arm harness. Both the arm harness and pauldrons can be worn separately in some variants. In case you want to be armored but do not want to wear a full armour. Such as during night patrols.
5. Helmet & bevor
Now you have almost put on the entire armour. This setup offers you optimal safety combined with optimal freedom of movement. In this way, most armored people are depicted in paintings. But we are not done yet!
When you wear a 15th-century armour and combine it with a sallet (officially a half visor sallet), you can choose to wear a bevor for additional protection to the neck. In later periods, gorgets were also often worn. These were even worn under the cuirass in some armour configurations. (But we will leave that for another time).
It is now time to put on the helmet.
Tip: if you wear a helmet with a flip-up visor, it is best to bring it to your head in the opened position. It is always advisable to wear an additional arming cap under your helmet for extra protection against blows to the head. This also makes the helmet fit much more comfortably.
6. Gloves
Finally, we put on the gloves. No matter how flexible the gloves are, when you wear them it is difficult to fasten or unfasten other armour components. Armor gloves consist of a steel outer glove equipped with a leather inner glove. Put on the inner glove and the outer glove usually falls into place automatically. Many gauntlets overlap the lower part of the arm harness.
