Armpit (armor)
| Armpit (armor) | |
|---|---|
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| Information | |
| Weapon type: | Protective weapon |
| Designations: | Armpit, Épauliéres, Spallaci |
| Use: | weapon |
| Creation time: | around 14th century |
| Working time: | until about the second half of the 18th century |
| Region of origin / author: |
Europe , Plattner |
| Distribution: | Europe |
| Lists on the subject | |
The armpit is a construction and part of plate armor .
development
13th Century
The development of armor axles began around 1275 when attempts were made to better protect the armpit area of the knights. The first panels made for this purpose were the ailettes . They were used to protect the armpits and neck, but had the disadvantage that they were not particularly stable and often slipped in battle because they were attached to the breastplate with leather straps .
At the end of the 13th century people began to improve the ailets by covering the armpits with shed rails or with rails that were attached across , which came close to a kind of thrust . This version is called around 1270 "Spaldenier" (from the Latin "espalderium"). However, the further development to this form was insufficient, since the arm, when it was raised to strike, was still unprotected on the underside.
15th century
From the 15th century onwards, the armor axles were enlarged towards the front of the chest and towards the back, thus forming the so-called rear and front flights, a widening that should lead to better protection of the armpit areas of the wearer. The first armor axles were made from one piece, but this did not last long, and people began to build them pushed up (movably overlapping) instead, which improved mobility. The front flights, which ran to the front, i.e. the chest, were mostly different in width and length. The flights on the right arm were usually made narrower and shorter and cut out concave , as the lance was held in the armpit area with this arm and an armpit that was too wide would have negatively affected the mobility of the arm. On the left arm they were a lot longer and wider, as this side was covered with the shield and was not intended for the use of weapons. In addition, the so-called floating discs were developed, which were attached to the transition between the armpit and the breastplate. They received each other in different forms. At the beginning they were square and lobed and then worked round in a disc shape. The hover discs stuck to armor until the end of the 16th century. When lances were no longer used around 1580, the front flights began to be enlarged again in the places that were otherwise shortened because the lances were held. The rear flights reached extreme sizes after the helmet well was no longer put on. On Italian armor they became so large that they overlapped at the back to additionally reinforce the relatively weak back section of the tank. Also appeared on the Italian armor axles whose front flight was very small. In the literature it is mentioned that this was due to the fact that the Italians did not like a restriction of mobility, which is due, among other things, to the fencing style of the Italian knights. The Italian mercenaries in particular took off their armor axles and instead fixed a pod on the ring collar that covered the armpit and shoulder up to half of the upper arm. These batches are called "Spangröls". At this point in time the armor was separated into that of the nobles and that of the mercenaries. While the mercenaries preferred the aforementioned form, the nobility continued to develop the armor axles. When the time of the tournaments began, the knights faced the threat of the rider's spear and the lance again. Also other weapons such as the sword and the war hammer that were able to destroy or severely damage the armpits with one hit. To avoid this, upright rails began to be attached to the lower edge of the front flights. These rails are called in the lower form "upsetting" or "armpit upsetting" and if they are high and reaching over the shoulder "breaking edges" or also "collars" (French) passe-gards, (Italian) guarda-goletta and (span. ) Bufa. They were used to intercept blows and lance thrusts and let them slide.
16th Century
In the second half of the 16th century, the crushed edges are lost again. The armpits are now mostly pushed up from the shoulder, as are the front flights. A distinction is therefore made between two types of flights:
- Armpits with stiff flights
- Armpits with pushed flights.
In the case of pushed flights, a distinction is made between those that hang on the upper armpit thrusts and those that are also connected to the lower thrusts. The armpits were generally attached to the ring collar or, more rarely, to the iron shoulder straps or the straps of the shoulder armor. Also in the 16th century began to greatly enlarge and strengthen components of the armament for tournament armor , for which so-called double pieces (French: Pièces de renfort) were used. The armpits were immensely strengthened by screwing on a second armpit, so that in addition to the shoulder they also covered the left half of the face or the left side of the helmet and part of the left chest. The elbow tiles, mostly on the left arm, were greatly enlarged and a second tile was also screwed on, which was called a double or prickly mouse. The left side has been strengthened, as this is where the opposing lance hits. Existing tiles, which were made very small, were enlarged by adding a widening to the upper edge. Some of these mice reached over the upper half of the upper arm. Usually these extreme reinforcements were only made on harnesses that were intended for the so-called “Welsche Gestech”.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Boeheim: Handbook of Arms. P. 67.
- ↑ a b c Boeheim: Handbook of armament. P. 68.
- ↑ a b Boeheim: Handbook of Arms. Pp. 69-72.
- ↑ Boeheim: Handbook of Arms. P. 73.
- ↑ Boeheim: Handbook of Arms. Pp. 76-77.
literature
- Wendelin Boeheim : Handbook of the armory. The weapon system in its historical development from the beginning of the Middle Ages to the end of the 18th century (= Seemanns Kunstgewerbliche Handbücher. Vol. 7, ZDB -ID 53757-3 ). Seemann, Leipzig 1890, pp. 67-77 (reprint. Fourier Verlag, Wiesbaden 1985, ISBN 3-201-00257-7 ).
- George Cameron Stone : A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and in All Times. Introduction by Donald J. LaRocca. Courier Dover Publications, Mineola NY 1999, ISBN 0-486-40726-8 , p. 563.
- Auguste Demmin : The historical development of war weapons from the Stone Age to the invention of the needle gun. A handbook of armory. Seemann, Leipzig 1869, pp. 600–602.