Legwear
The leg harness, also leg armor , is part of the plate armor . It protects the legs from the hips to the toes. The leg harness consists of several parts:
- The snare
- Knee hump
- Leg tubes
- Iron shoes
description
The real or entire leg harness actually began with the first knee humps, which protected the leg, including the feet, at the beginning of the 12th century when the first leg armor made of chain armor appeared. The first type of plate armor on the knees consisted of a wide strip of leather that was placed around the chain armor on the knee and on which a plate to protect the knee was sewn. The first knee humps that developed from it ( French: "genouillères") appeared as early as the 13th century . The thighs, which at that time were protected by Haubert , who reached up to the knees, were already in use from 1270replaced by a simple drawer. The first thigh splints developed from this (Dielinge, Dichlinge, (French) "cuissots"). In the middle of the 14th century , the dichlings covered the entire thigh . But they only protected the outer side of the thighs, as the wearer sat with the inside on the horse. Around 1360, attempts were made to develop the first leg tubes, but they were not accepted due to their unsustainability. They stayed with the Dichlingen and attached a so-called "strip rail" to the outside first with a binding, later by riveting . The first knee hump, which was already equipped with a shell or tile , emerged from around 1390 .
Leg tubes
As early as the middle of the 13th century, attempts were made to protect the lower legs by covering them with plates. At the beginning one began to buckle splints on the front of the lower legs, which widened over time and encompassed the shin more and more. The first real leg tubes (French: "grève") were created in the 14th century , and their shape remained almost the same until around the 16th century and changed little. The Lentner , used in the 14th century, covered the thighs almost up to the middle. At the end of the 14th century, people began to wear the Lentner shorter, whereupon a change was necessary to protect the now free thighs. The seals that had been created by then were lengthened upwards towards the hips. The armor that was newly created by the lengthening was called "Oberdichlinge", the lower leg protection parts that already existed were now called "Unterdichlinge". This division of the Dichlinge was temporarily retained because u. a the fashion of the time made this necessary. At the z. B. Spanish baggy trousers could only be worn with the lower seal, while the full seal was needed when the combat or tournament armor was put on. The seal was fastened with two leather straps attached to the thigh. At the beginning of the 15th century , a belt was also worn around the stomach, to which further leather straps were attached to guarantee a firm hold of the seal on the leg. In order to attach these cords to the seals, a wide leather border was riveted to the upper end and holes were made through which the cords ran. This type of fortification lasted until the 16th century.
Knee hump
In the middle of the 15th century the knee humps on Italian and Burgundian armor were cut to a point up and down and pushed. The drawer , which points downwards, is attached to the knee hump and the upper seal by means of a pivot bolt (French: "goujon-tourniquet"). This arrangement made the leg harness adjustable in length. The Dichlinge were worked pushed around at about the same time and consisted of eight to ten rails lying one below the other, which led to the development of the first “lap” around 1520 . All leg witnesses of this time (tournament and combat armor) have back open squats with the exception of armor for fighting on foot, in which the joints were protected by articulations. The Landsknechte later preferred light armor, as the heavy leg pieces were impractical for the long marches. They often only wore the tubes of the lower legs and more and more often used laps on armor for the mounted soldiers.
Iron shoes
The iron shoe is made around the end of the 13th century . It is first a metal plate that was placed and fastened on the chain fabric that covered the foot. It was fastened by means of a leather strap that was attached to the heel around the foot . Around 1290 this plate was replaced by a pedestal. The shoes of the common mercenary , in contrast, were made of leather, which at best was sewn with small, mosaic-shaped metal plates. At the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th century, the tips of the iron shoes were blunt or ran in long, thin beaks (French: "à la poulaines", Italian "Scarpe a Punta", German " Schnabelschuh "), that were bent slightly downwards. At the beginning of their appearance, these beaks had a function, later they were only seen as a fashionable misstep. The initial purpose was to secure the legs from slipping out of the stirrup , as the feet became more immobile as the armouring of the legs improved. If the foot slipped out of the stirrups, the long beak of the shoe could easily be picked up and pulled back on. The first attachable and detachable beaks are constructed around 1420 . So it was possible to walk normally and after the upgrade to infect their beaks on the horse. The iron shoe was attached by means of a pivot bolt that was attached to the instep of the iron shoe. In Italy around 1430 beaks were made of wood and covered with leather. The leather was also covered with iron scales. These were also only infected on the foot after sitting up . The beak shoes were in use until around 1490 . The iron shoe (French "Soleret") appears on armor around the second half of the 14th century, but always together with the leg tubes. On the lower part of the leg tubes, these are pushed up ("ankle lifts") so that the shoes are as close as possible to the tubes. The upper side of the iron shoes is constructed to be pushed from the instep. The load extends from the beginning of the instep to the front end of the shoe. In the second half of the 14th century, the iron shoes are firmly attached to the leg harness. At the end of the 15th century there was a major change in the way iron shoes were constructed. From this point onwards, greater consideration is given to the comfort of the shoes and the well-being of the wearer. It is believed that Emperor Maximilian I and Elector Albrecht Achilles of Brandenburg had an influence on this development. It began with an extreme change, from the narrow sneaked shoes to the clumsy, very wide “bear feet” or so-called “cow mouths” (French: “pieds d'ours”). It was only around 1530 that the shapes became more moderate again, and the iron shoes gradually took on the shape of a foot again. At first they get a little narrower and have sharp corners in the front area. Around 1550 , the forefoot rounded off and the shape of the “duck foot” was created. It was only around 1560 that the iron shoes took on the natural shape of a foot again, although the forefoot still appears a little narrower and more pointed. From the middle of the 16th century , the armourers tried to adapt the shoes even better to the mobility and mobility by first developing the "instep push" and later the "ball push". An attachment (“ankle attachment”) is also attached to the leg tube at the level of the ankle. Later devices for fastening the spurs were attached, which were attached by a riveted bracket or by leather straps.
Web links
literature
- 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.
- Charles John ffoulkes : The Armourer and His Craft. Methuen, London 1912 [1] .
- Leonid Tarassuk, Claude Blair (Eds.): The complete encyclopedia of arms & weapons. The most comprehensive reference work ever published on arms and armor. Bonanza Books, New York NY 1986, ISBN 978-0-517-48776-1 .
- Frederic Wilkinson: Arms and Armor. F. Watts, London et al. 1984, ISBN 0-531-03772-X .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wendelin Boeheim : Handbook of Armament. 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. 111-119, (reprint. Fourier Verlag, Wiesbaden 1985, ISBN 3-201-00257-7 ).