Three-quarter armor
Pistolier's gauntlet, Nuremberg, 1610-1630, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
But Macbeth, Bellona's fiancé, arrived in time,
In his impenetrable armor,
Clashed with them in a heated hand-to-hand fight,
And the enemy is tamed. Simply put -
We won.
Macbeth by William Shakespeare, translated by Boris Pasternak
In his impenetrable armor,
Clashed with them in a heated hand-to-hand fight,
And the enemy is tamed. Simply put -
We won.
Macbeth by William Shakespeare, translated by Boris Pasternak
History weapons and armor. Our story about the armor from the Royal Armouries in Leeds generated a great deal of interest from readers, as well as requests for more details on the so-called "three-quarter armor" that became common during this period. Well, we're fulfilling their request.
As a child, I was fascinated by this illustration from Mayne Reid's novel "The White Glove" and even copied it in ink. The armor of the men-at-arms depicted seemed very strange to me. But, as it turns out, such armor actually existed in 1649...
Let's begin with the fact that the late 15th century saw the rapid development of tools and improved manufacturing, making it possible not only to forge armor by hand but also to stamp it out in large batches. True, such armor was of inferior quality, both in terms of protective properties and decoration. Nevertheless, it still provided protection and was used in the army of Henry VIII. At the same time, armor itself differentiated itself by purpose and manufacturing technology. Thus, purely knightly armor for the nobility continued to be made to order. As a rule, these now came in sets—that is, suits for a man and a horse, with the same armor being used for both combat and tournaments, and even for several types of tournaments at once. Ceremonial armor with rich decoration occupied a separate line in the list of armaments.
A three-quarter suit of armour belonging to William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1501-1570) or his son Henry Herbert (1534-1601), made in Greenwich in 1550. Judging by the gauntlets, it was made for a spearman. This is also supported by the holes in the cuirass for a spear hook. This armour is currently on display in the Leeds Military Gallery.
Meanwhile, the development of combat tactics meant that only the nobility remained on the battlefield as actual knights, and they hardly fought anymore, merely serving as commanders. At the same time, cavalry was divided into several types. The first were mounted spearmen, who wore armor similar to knights but lacked leg armor and helmets with a narrow visor. Their primary weapon, as before, was the spear, but they also acquired the pistol, which, however, was not their primary weapon. They began to be used as light cavalry, against disordered infantry and mounted pistoliers when their pistols were unloaded.
The same armor, viewed from the left
Rear view
The next type of mounted knights were the cuirassiers. They also wore full knightly plate, but theirs was also "three-quarter," meaning the metal only covered the knees and thighs. Their helmets were also similar to those of knights and often resembled a hybrid of an armet and a burgonet, but had a larger visor. Their main weapons were two long-barreled wheel-lock pistols, stored in holsters near the saddle, and their primary mode of combat was the mounted caracole, which involved charging infantry squares with pistols, then reloading and returning to their original attack position. Their armor, although seemingly containing less metal than that of classical knights, was actually heavier than that of the latter, as it was designed to provide substantial bullet resistance. Therefore, the breastplate of their cuirass was typically double-layered and therefore very heavy.
Helmet with open visor
Helmet with closed visor
Another feature of this armor was the abandonment of plate gauntlets in favor of more complex plate gloves with separate fingers, which became indispensable since the owners of three-quarter armor had to fire a pistol, that is, press the trigger with their finger.
Reiters wore the lightest armor. Their typical equipment was a visorless burgonet helmet, a cuirass, and a bracer on the right arm. In combat, they fought, depending on the circumstances, either with melee weapons or fired pistols at the enemy. Finally, dragoons had no protective armor at all or were content with only a morion helmet. However, they did carry a short musket (the "dragon"), which they fired directly from the saddle.
This is precisely why three-quarter armor became so widespread, remaining in use for over 100 years, from the mid-16th to the mid-17th centuries. Naturally, the nobility, now forced to fight in the ranks of the new cavalry, immediately began wearing such custom-made armor, while ordinary cuirassiers could only rely on mass-produced stamped armor. Incidentally, this is why they were painted black at that time: the paint concealed their lack of polish. More expensive armor was blued, while the most expensive, custom-made ones were polished to a high shine and decorated with embossing, carving, etching, and gilding. In other words, their decoration was little different from that of full knightly armor.
Front view of the armour of Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke
It includes a helmet with a gorget, a plate breastplate, pauldrons, vambraces, and knee-length cuirasses. The right gauntlet has been restored. The height of the armour is 1292,0 mm. The armour is unusual for Greenwich of the period, as it has a single-piece breastplate, rather than the plate "anime" found on other contemporary field armour, including two other suits of armour belonging to the Earl of Pembroke, one of which, complete with horse armour, is in the Glasgow Museum and Art Gallery, and the other, preserved only as a cuirass, is in the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.
The same armor. Back view
Right view
The greaves are made separately from the cuirass's "skirt," which is unusual for three-quarter armor. Two spear-hook holes are visible on the cuirass, but the hook itself is missing. It's quite possible that this armor is a "modernization" of an older suit of plate.
A close-up of the cuirass and helmet. This armor would be more suited to a spearman than a cuirassier!
A three-quarter suit of armour, circa 1595-1601. Belonged to Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton. Also on display at the Leeds Museum, in the Military Gallery.
Rear view
The back of the helmet and the neck guard. There's no way you could hit him on the back of his bare neck...
Let's take a closer look. The armor consists of a closed helmet in two halves, connected by a high ridge with a "rope" top. Along the inner edge, remnants of a lining, attached with rivets and washers, remain. The upper and lower forehead guards and visor are attached with large rivets on both sides, decorated with eight-pointed stars. The visor has a pair of viewing slits and is pointed at the front. The upper edge of each slit is flanged. On each side of the visor are two rows of rosette-shaped holes (nine on each side). The gorget is attached to the helmet and consists of two plates, front and back. The lower plates are large and taper to a rounded end at the front; the lower front plate is slightly convex in cross-section. The plates are connected with six internal leather straps.
Helmet
Each shoulder has a strap for attaching pauldrons. The breastplate is a single, heavy, convex plate, reminiscent of a pea pod, with a sharp medial keel and a wide flange at the waist, with a central protrusion. The back plate, smoothly following the shape of the spine, has a wide flange at the waist. The back and breastplate are secured by straps on each shoulder to simple gilded iron buckles on the shoulders of the breastplate, as well as by waist straps on both sides of the waist of the back plate, fastened with a cast brass buckle similar to the buckle on the bevor. The breastplate has four straps for the gaiters, and the back plate has three for the culet—protection of the lower back and buttocks.
Shoulder pads
The pauldrons are large and symmetrical, consisting of four plates with a sharp central keel. They are connected by rivets at the back and leather straps at the front. The upper parts of the vambraces are tubular and connected to the pauldrons by three internal leather straps. The upper plate of the left arm vambrace is a restoration. The lower parts of the tulip-shaped vambraces are formed by two plates connected by two simple hinges on the outside and secured on the inside by a strap and buckle at the wrist. The edges of the cuffs are folded inward.
The gloves feature flared, pointed cuffs with longitudinal keels. They feature five overlapping plates, riveted to inner leather inserts on both sides, with a knuckle plate featuring raised ridges outlined in gilding and a transverse ridge also gilded. Each finger consists of seven overlapping scales riveted to inner leather inserts.
Attachment of the thigh guards - tassets and a view of the "shells" of the elbow guards
The cuisses consist of fourteen plates, the lower ones of which are removable and secured with pivot pins on the outer side of the tenth plate and rivets in keyhole slots on the inner side. The large upper plates are positioned at an angle above the breastplate flange, to which each is secured by two buckles similar to those on the culet, with rectangular notches at the edges above them for the placement of the breastplate straps. The cuisses are attached to the leg of the tenth plate by buckles, both unusually on the right, and by straps, which are now missing, on the left.
The poulences feature sharp median keels located above the knee and heart-shaped wings with a central fold. Each of these elements is connected by a narrow plate to the long lower plate of the cuirass and continues above the knee with a curved lower plate. These plates retain fragments of the original lining, decorated with gilded brass rivets. Traces of the original lining can be seen on the tenth plates of the cuirass, and fragments of the original inner leather remain on the lower plates of the left cuirass. Each cuirass is connected by three internal leather straps. Many pieces retain picadile—the leather lining of armor used to reduce clanking and friction between armor components, such as between the pauldrons and the breastplate. In some armors, the lining was scalloped and also served as a decorative element. It is believed that the name of London's famous street, Piccadilly, derives from this word.
Each plate of armour is decorated with etched and gilded details, depicting a common design of intertwining long-eared serpents in vertical stripes, connected by diagonally intertwined fine foliate leaves with occasional flowers, among which sit birds of prey, flying parrots, various insects including grasshoppers and dragonflies, snails (some winged), long-eared squirrels and frolicking hares.
A decorative design that covers almost the entire surface of this armor!
The surface, although blackened by rust, appears like shiny steel where it was protected. The edges that accompany each curved edge are decorated with a simple frieze of ornate foliate patterns on a hatched background. The crest of the closed helmet is decorated with a more complex frieze of ornate foliate patterns on a hatched background. Both types of edges are fully gilded and bordered on both sides by simple gilded bands. Overall height 1480,0 mm. Overall weight 27,7 kg.
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