The Armour Archive

Well, to start off with I am trying to get right. A semi-frequent Archiver named GeneP has been a HUGE help to me in making sure that my developing suit of armor appears to be accurate and is cohesive to the time period it's emulating (Battle of Agincourt suit). But one part I need to know is the terminology for the different pieces of armor. Here's what I know so far, fill in the blanks or correct me if I'm wrong.

Helm - Bascinet
Chainmail skirting for helm - Aventail
Neck Armor - Gorget (gor-JHAY?)
Shoulder armor - Pauldron?
Upper arm armor - Rerebrace (is that the correct spelling?)
Elbow cop - Couter? (how on earth do you pronounce that?)
Forearm Armor - Vanbrace
Hand Armor - Uh, Gauntlet?
Chestplate - Er, Le Chestplate?
Thigh protection - Cuisse
Knee Cop - No Clue At All.
Shin protection - Greaves can't be the right word.
Foot protection - Sabaton

Y'all he'p eddicate this here ignernt Southerner. And have a good day.

Alejandro

baronalejandro wrote:Well, to start off with I am trying to get right. A semi-frequent Archiver named GeneP has been a HUGE help to me in making sure that my developing suit of armor appears to be accurate and is cohesive to the time period it's emulating (Battle of Agincourt suit). But one part I need to know is the terminology for the different pieces of armor. Here's what I know so far, fill in the blanks or correct me if I'm wrong.

Helm - Bascinet
Chainmail skirting for helm - Aventail
Neck Armor - Gorget (gor-JHAY?)
Shoulder armor - Pauldron?
Upper arm armor - Rerebrace (is that the correct spelling?)
Elbow cop - Couter? (how on earth do you pronounce that?)
Forearm Armor - Vanbrace
Hand Armor - Uh, Gauntlet?
Chestplate - Er, Le Chestplate?
Thigh protection - Cuisse
Knee Cop - No Clue At All.
Shin protection - Greaves can't be the right word.
Foot protection - Sabaton

Y'all he'p eddicate this here ignernt Southerner. And have a good day.

Alejandro

14th cent, shoulder armour is more of a spaulder, forearm is a vambrace, chestplate is a breastplate, knee cop is a polyen. shin is a greave

Just to make things a little more complicated the English pronunciations and names are slightly different.

Gorget is pronounced (gor-jit)
Upper arm armour is the "upper cannon"
Lower arm armour is the "lower cannon"
And the whole arm is the "vambrace"

Couter is pronounced (cow-ter)

With Wolf's corrections and the rest of your's, you are good to go.

now i thought the upper/lower cannon phrase was used more in teh 15th and 16th cents rather than the 14th.

That's a good question, I guess it all depends on how far you would like to take it. Many of the the terms we use are modern and were not used historically. Even by the end of the 16th century, accourding to the writings of Sir John Smith, the common soldier called armour "pieces of iron". Now if we really want to have some fun, we could start using the German terms.

Ah, but what I'm looking for are the French terms for individual pieces of armor worn by the warriors at the Battle of Agincourt. It's my understanding that even the English used the French terms (like 'bascinet'), although I might be wrong about that bit.

So while breastplate and chestplate might be correct words, I'm nearly positive that's not what Boucicault called it. Thanks for your input!

baronalejandro wrote:Ah, but what I'm looking for are the French terms for individual pieces of armor worn by the warriors at the Battle of Agincourt. It's my understanding that even the English used the French terms (like 'bascinet'), although I might be wrong about that bit.

So while breastplate and chestplate might be correct words, I'm nearly positive that's not what Boucicault called it. Thanks for your input!

OK Cool, I understand now. If you want the French terms used at the time of Agincourt then you will need to do some research in period texts that have armour references in them. I have no idea what the terms would be. In my experience I have noticed that historical terms have interesting problems. They are usually more general then modern terminology and have many regional differences. If your goal is to portray a living history or re-enactment persona then this is the way to go. Sorry I can't be more helpful.

Wolf wrote:14th cent, shoulder armour is more of a spaulder, forearm is a vambrace, chestplate is a breastplate, knee cop is a polyen. shin is a greave

The correct spelling is 'poleyn'.

The shin armour is a 'schynbald', becoming a 'greave' when it covers more, or all, of the lower leg.

Erik

baronalejandro wrote:Ah, but what I'm looking for are the French terms for individual pieces of armor worn by the warriors at the Battle of Agincourt.

Some of the older arms and armour books, viz. Boutell, use French terms such as ( off the top of my head ) greviere for 'greave'. Not sure if they're modern, Old or Middle French, but it might be a start...

Jason Grimes - I'd be fascinated to know what the German terms are, wanna share?

OK Akmatov, here are the same terms in German:

Helm - Helm
Aventail - I don't know the term for this in German.
Gorget - Kragen
Pauldron - Achseln
Upper Cannon - oberarmzeug
Couter - Ellbogenkachel
Lower Cannon - unterarmzeug
Gauntlet - handschuhe
Breastplate - brust
Cuisse - unterdiechlinge
Polyen - Kniekachel
Greaves - Beinröhren
Sabaton - Schuhe

These are from Ffoulkes so may or may not be good modern German, and I have no idea how good they are for period German YMMV. Hope this helps,

Jason,

just a few tiny additions from a native speaker;o)

"Helm"

Depends on what type of helmet we are talking about. "Helm" stands for "head armour" in general. A barrel helmet worn as such over padding and maille coif would be a "Topfhelm" ("pot helmet"), as opposed to the "Kübelhelm" ("bucket helmet"- bigger than a pot) which is designed to go over a bascinet. A bascinet in German is a "Beckenhaube", derived from the french "bascin/bassin" which is a basin- you´ve guessed it.
If a skull cap or cerveilliere is to go under the helmet- that in German is a "Hirnhaube" ("brain cap").

"Aventail"
...tricky. The most common term is "Helmbrünne" ("helmet- maille")

"Gorget"
"Kragen" (collar") is the correct word for it, but were armoured collars common during the 14th century? I wonder.

"Upper cannon"
...tricky. If we are talking about a closed defence, it´s called "Oberarmröhre" ("upper arm tube"), "Oberarmzeug" can be translated with something like "upper arm stuff" which is a general term for any plate or splinted defence for the upper arm.

Same for "Lower cannon".
"Unteramröhre" ("lower arm tube") for a closed defence or "Unterarmzeug" if generalized. Sometimes shortened to "Armröhre".

"Gauntlet"
"Handschuhe" are simply gloves in a general sense. If referring to armoured gloves one would rather say "Panzerhandschuhe" ("armour gloves").

"Breastplate"
"Brust" stands for "breast/chest" in general, one would rather say "Brustplatte" ("breastplate", you´ve guessed it)

"Cuisses"
"Diechling(s)" or "Diechlinge(pl)". "Unterdiechlinge" translated is "under- cuisses"...no idea what that stands for except for padded cuisses worn underneath maille or plate cuisses.

"Sabatons"
"Schuhe" stands for "shoes", but I actaully don´t know any term designed for this type of defence. I found "Eisenschuh" ("iron shoe") or "Harnisch-Schuh" ("armour shoe") in a book.

"Couter"
"Ellenbogenkachel" ("elbow tile") is used mostly for floating (i.e. without lames) elbow cops. The preferred term would be "Mäusel" (can´t be translated to my knowledge). The fan/wing piece then is called "Muschel" (shell), if this term is used.

Hope this helps. For any further translations just ask me;o)

Regards from ol´Europe

Ivo

Thanks Ivo, that helps a lot. I guess we could add schaller to the helmet list as well for a sallet, eh? The terms for cuisse from Ffoulkes used Unterdiechlinge for the main cuisse plate and Oberdiechlinge for the small articulated plate at the top. I wasn't too sure which to use and didn't want to mangle the language by tring to figure it out my self.

Jason,

I think I should re- read my copy of Ffoulkes;o)
So far I haven´t heard of ober-, and unterdiechling. To my knowledge "Diechling" stands for any solid thigh defense, be it articulated, splinted or one-piece.
The same if padded and quilted.

What I am not sure of is this very term in questions of maille. Some say "Kettenbeinlinge" ("chain hosen"...we´ve got the same problem in terms of maille/mail/chainmail...), some say "Kettendiechlinge" ("chain cuisses"), but I´ll have to look for the common term.

"Schaller" or "Schallern" for sallet is correct...but not for 14th century, if you ask me;o)

It´s very nice of you not to fiddle with the German language, but things are pretty disturbing in our language as well. Most people use the german terms, indiscrimately mixed with the english terms. Most probably because most of the essential books are written in English. At our monthly local meeting he first terms that come to my mind are the English ones and I have to think for a moment to find the German equivalent...simply because the most informative internet sources and forums are English speaking.

Funny old thing, life;o)

Regards

Ivo

Most of the armour terms used today were not those being used in period. Not in the 14th century anyway.

I was reading through an article about armour orders for the border towns in Bohemia. The armour was being supplied by German towns. They use terms that seem to have a basis in latin, with German (eg 'Handschuhe') and Italian (eg. 'Barbuta') terms also, and a bit of Czech spelling to boot.

Yes, the term used for the bascinet was 'barbuta'.

Erik

This is very true. I think a really helpful essay would be one that is written from the various national perspectives and runs through a time-line of armour terms and their morphology. Just from a re-enactment point of view this would be a great help.

Gentlemen,

what I was filling in are the modern, scientific categories, which are are and always will be non- sufficient in many aspects.
But at least they divide the categories of, say, patterns, by far more clearly than any ancient names that tended to be used pretty indiscriminately.

Regards

Ivo