CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ) Of Thickness, Weight, Burden and Efficacy Reproduction chain mail horse armor used in the experiments. Younger survivors from the 14th century, also very rare, served as the models for the researchers given the absence of the classical examples. Heavily used in 13th century Europe, specimens that can reliably be dated to that period are almost non-existent. Medieval European horse armor is mostly known through historical illustrations and documents although complete sets are on display at Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Wallace Collection in London, the Royal Armouries in Leeds, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. They didn’t really have many surviving examples of such armor to study. But, was a horse carrying such a heavy burden effective in long-drawn combat? A study by David Jones and Emma Herbert-Davies provides the answer, according to Horsetalk. Such armor was heavy and European horses were bred for increased size and strength just so that they could carry the burden of their own armor and of their armored knight into battle. Eventually, steel plates were added on top of the mail. Medieval armor consisted of thick quilted fabric, typically linen, covered with metal rings that were linked together to form a mesh called chain mail. More Than Metal: Amazing Historical Suits of Armor.Medieval Horses in England Were Shockingly Small, Research Reveals.The dismounted knights were then picked out and dispatched by armored infantrymen. They could be light cavalry used for reconnaissance, screening and harassing or heavy-armored-cavalry used for shock attacks.ĭuring the late Middle Ages as armor for knights became more effective, their horses were targeted by arrows shot from longbows. In a historical, pre-motorization context, mounted armies have had the advantage of speed, mobility and greater height over foot soldiers. ( Wirestock / Adobe Stock) What Was Horse Armor and Why Was It Used? But how effective was such mail horse armor in protecting the horses in battle? What was the thickness of such armor? In what circumstances did heavy cavalry regiments-as cavalry regiments mounted on armored horses were known-play important combat roles? A new study published in Exarc Journal has set out to answer some of these pragmatic questions away from the romantic tales of medieval chivalry. The armour suits of royalty and aristocrats were often elaborately gilded, etched, and embossed with fine decoration.Nothing recalls the medieval era in Europe better than the image of a gallant knight in shining armor mounted on a fully barded-or armored-steed. A complete suit of German armour from about 1510 shows a metal suit with flexible joints covering its wearer literally from head to toe, with only a slit for the eyes and small holes for breathing in a helmet of forged metal. Thus, plate armour of steel superseded mail during the 14th century, at first by local additions to knees, elbows, and shins, until eventually the complete covering of articulated plate was evolved. Mail, however, did not possess the rigid glancing surface of plate armour, and, as soon as the latter could be made responsive to the movements of the body by ingenious construction, it replaced mail. Mail hoods covered the head and neck, and mail leggings covered the legs. Mail was the main defense of the body and limbs during the 12th and 13th centuries.
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