European horse harness
A horse armor , even Gelieger was a defense that has been developed in different countries and made of different materials. Common to all developments was the attempt to protect the warhorse as completely as possible.
History of the European horse harness
The European horse armor was plate armor for a warhorse. It appeared in the 14th century and was in use until the early modern period .
In the battles of the Middle Ages, the heavy cavalry was the most important part of an army. A horse bred for use in tournaments and in battle was very valuable throughout the Middle Ages , so that usually only nobles or particularly wealthy citizens could afford such a mount. In a duel according to knightly rules it was therefore a serious offense to deliberately attack the opponent's horse. For a long time, light protection of the horse with saddle pads and possibly a horse forehead was sufficient. During the Crusades and in the late Middle Ages, the knight armies were increasingly confronted with opponents who did not fight according to their professional rules. Light cavalry and infantry in particular often deliberately killed the horse of an opposing knight in order to be able to overpower a heavily armored fighter more easily. With the spread of the longbow , the threat to the horse increased. Therefore, the valuable warhorses needed special protection and they began to protect warhorses with increasingly extensive armor.
In the High Middle Ages , special chain armor was occasionally used for horses (horse armor made of chain mesh, leather or fabric is called Parsche), until the late 13th century, with the spread of plate armor, the warhorse was protected with steel plates. This development was completed in the 15th century . The horse's neck was initially protected by chain mesh, but neck protection made of movable plates stacked one on top of the other soon prevailed. The horse's legs were mostly left unprotected. But there are also supposed to have existed horse harnesses with fully movable greaves. However, effectively protecting a horse's legs without impairing movements or even risking injuries from the armor parts was always very difficult. The legs and especially their sensitive tendons were the preferred target of the foot folk in the late Middle Ages and early modern times. It was equipped with special weapons such as halberds or horse flayers . Horse armor was used in battle and tournaments . They consisted of fewer and significantly larger plates than a field armor for a person.
A horse armor weighed almost as much as a field armor, ie 20–30 kilograms. Some particularly massive specimens could weigh over 40 kilograms. The horse's armor was often stylistically harmonized with that of the rider, so that there were, for example, grooved armor for battle horses . Horse armor apparently went out of use a little earlier than field armor, as speed and mobility under fire on the battlefield became more and more important. They have not been used since the second half of the 16th century . Only a few horse harnesses have survived to this day. Only a few of these are complete. The oldest, completely preserved horse harness was made around 1450 in Milan .
Components of the European horse armor
A complete horse armor from the 15th / 16th centuries Century consisted of the following parts:
- Fürbug - large plate to protect the chest, usually the most massive part of a horse harness
- Crinet or Kanz - armor made of numerous movable plates to protect the neck
- Ross forehead - plate to protect the head, often used in tournaments as a variant with covered eyes
- Ear cups - tubes attached to the horse's forehead to protect the ears
- Krupper - large plate that protects the rear part of the horse's body
A horse harness was also known as a belayer . There are two different versions, a lighter and a heavy version. A light halyard has larger gaps between the armor, while a heavy halyard covers practically the entire upper body of the horse.
Horse harness outside of Europe
Horse harnesses were used in many countries (e.g. Japan, China, Orient, India). They were made from leather, cloth and other materials.
literature
- Norbert Koppensteiner (ed.), Christa Angermann: Maximilian I. The rise of an emperor. From his birth to sole rule 1459–1493. Cultural Office of the City of Wiener Neustadt, Wiener Neustadt 2000, ISBN 3-85098-248-3 .
- Stuart W. Pyhrr, Donald J. LaRocca, Dirk H. Breiding: The Armored Horse in Europe, 1480-1620. (Exhibition catalog, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2005–2007) Yale University Press, New Haven 2005, ISBN 1-58839-150-7 .
