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Italian Legs
Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2003 3:28 am
by Alcyoneus
On a number of Italian suits, they have a plate below the knee which has a short strip of mail attached. Since these also have greaves, is it merely decorative, or did they put them on there for some symbolic purpose?
Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2003 9:16 am
by chef de chambre
Hi Alcy,
Most 15th century suits have a lame below the polyen (German or Italian) The practical purpose is to provide a surface for the turning pin on the greave to interact with.
The mail trim is merely fashion, with no real practical purpose. Fashion dominates what armour looks like from the end of the first quarter of the 15th century until the early 17th. "Gothic" suits curasses imitate the civilian gown, it's neckline, and it's pleats are recorded in steel. In protective value (assuming the same metalurgy), it is no more effective than a complete 'international' harness of the early 15th sentury, a kastenbrust of pre 1450, or a Maximilian of decades after it was made - each style is principly a fashion statement, rather than any grand advance in technology.
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Bob R.