Viking Leather lamellar Armour; lamellar Cuirass; Leather Armor; Viking Armor

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Chain mail’s high price, cumbersome size, and challenging maintenance history made it a well-known but uncommon kind of armor for the Mongols. The elite of the Mongol army were mounted archers who needed armor that would not restrict their movement while riding. There is an alternative theory that mountain pattern armour is simply a result of very stylistic depictions of mail armour, [63] but known depictions of mail armour in Chinese art do not match with mountain pattern armour either. While Mongol arrows could pierce every sort of armor available at the time, the Roman Catholic chronicler Thomas the Archdeacon (1200–1268) claimed that the Mongol warriors wearing leather armor were pretty much safe against the enemy arrows. But he did mention that the Mongols feared the crossbow. Several weapons (including the kesja and the höggspjót) appearing in the sagas are Viking halberds. No weapon matching their descriptions have been found in graves. These weapons may have been rare, or may not have been part of the funerary customs of the Vikings. A more likely explanation however is that these polearms are descriptions of early medieval weapons that have been added into the sagas; likely because they were written down during the same period. Chinese armour was predominantly lamellar from the Warring States period (481 BC–221 BC) onward, prior to which animal parts such as rhinoceros hide, rawhide, and turtle shells were used for protection. Lamellar armour was supplemented by scale armour since the Warring States period or earlier. Partial plate armour was popular from the Eastern and Southern dynasties (420–589), and mail and mountain pattern armour from the Tang dynasty (618–907). Chain mail had been known since the Han dynasty, but did not see widespread production or battlefield use, and may have seen as "exotic foreign armor" used as a display of wealth for wealthier officers and soldiers. During the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), brigandine began to supplant lamellar armour and was used to a great degree into the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). By the 19th century most Qing armour, which was of the brigandine type, were purely ceremonial, having kept the outer studs for aesthetic purposes, and omitted the protective metal plates.

Lamellar and scale armours were used across Europe and Asia through the Classical and Late Antique periods (1st-7th centuries). They were used by Hunnic and Avar cavalry elites, and in turn influenced Byzantine, Sassanid Persian and Arab military equipment. Examples are found in sixth-century Frankia and the seventh-century Vendel and Valsgarde burials in Sweden. Coyet, Frederic (1975), Neglected Formosa: a translation from the Dutch of Frederic Coyett's Verwaerloosde Formosa William Alexander (1805). The costume of China, illustrated in forty-eight coloured engravings. Wikisource: W. Bulmer and Co . Retrieved 7 May 2014. This dress of the troops is clumsy, inconvenient, and inimical to the performance of military exercises, yet a battalion thus equipped has, at some distance, a splendid and even warlike appearance; but on closer inspection these coats of mail are found to be nothing more than quilted nankeen, enriched with thin plates of metal, surrounded with studs, which gives the tout-ensemble very much the appearance of armour. This fur-lined robe-like clothing had a button closure a few inches below the right armpit and was closed by crossing the left flap over the right. Anti-Arrow Silk Clothing A Mongolian warrior with a traditional coat. One of the figures of mounted Mongol Yuan soldiers from the excavation of Hesheng Tomb in Qindu District, China. (Image: 三猎)

Dawson, Tim (1998). "Kremasmata, Kabadion, Klibanion: Some aspects of middle Byzantine military equipment reconsidered" (PDF). Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies. 22 (1): 45. doi: 10.1179/byz.1998.22.1.38. S2CID 162126718 . Retrieved 9 March 2020. In the 17th century the Qing army was equipped with both lamellar and brigandine armour. [89] The quality of metal could differ greatly from a common soldier, whose armour could have only a thin soft sheet of metal, to an officer's brigandine, made of thin but tough and elastic steel. [40] After the conquest of China and peace was established in the majority of the empire, many soldiers became lazy and refused to wear armour. In the 18th century, the Qianlong Emperor said, "Our old Manchu customs respect righteousness and revere justice. Young and old, none are ashamed to fight for them. But after enjoying such a long period of peace, inevitably, people want to avoid putting on armor and joining the ranks of war." [90] As early as the 18th century, some brigandine armour had parts that were studded but did not actually include plates. [40] By the 19th century most Qing armour were purely for show. Some uniforms and show pieces imitated brigandine armour by keeping the outer studs for aesthetic purposes but omitted the protective iron plates on the inside. [91] According to one English source in the late 19th century, only the emperor's immediate body guard wore armour of any kind, and these guards were all nobles of the imperial family. [66]

The spear was used both as a throwing weapon and as a thrusting weapon, although there was some specialization in design. Lighter, narrower spearheads were made for throwing; heavier broader ones, for stabbing. [2] Significantly, western Europe had plenty of opportunity to get to know the technology behind lamellar armour (over several centuries, including through the crusades) and never adopted it. The majority of depictions of warriors from western Europe show them either unarmoured or wearing mail shirts – though artists’ attempts to represent ring-mail can be rather stylised and open to other interpretation. A number of depictions, mainly from Ottonian Germany, show forms of armour matching that used by the Byzantine empire. This appears to be more than simply the artistic style consciously imitating Byzantine art; scale armour seems to have been used in the Carolingian world. Whether this reflects parallel survival of an armour common in the Roman empire or deliberate reintroduction modelled on Byzantine practice is a matter for debate. This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sourcesin this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( December 2010) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Towards the end of the 13th century, Mongolian armor became immensely popular in Eastern Europe, particularly in Hungary, and was adopted in western Europe some decades later.By the late Warring States period in the 3rd century BC, iron weapons and armour had come into widespread use. [5] Lamellar armour [ edit ] Qin bronze gourd shield In the west, mail shirts were valuable and desirable, and therefore constantly recycled. At the end of any battle, the winning side took possession of their defeated enemies’ arms and armour; mail was too important to be thrown away in a burial. The only complete Anglo-Saxon mail shirt comes from Sutton Hoo, underlining the exceptional nature of the quantity of wealth in the ship-burial. Chainmail was hard to damage, easy to repair and likely to last for a very long time – examples found in Renaissance armours are frequently several centuries old. Usually at least one part of an armour (a pauldron) was laminar, but sometimes a pauldron was comparatively "short" and instead of being laminar constructed from a few wooden planks it instead used only one big plank, and the rest of the hand was protected by splinted or lamellar vambrace. Besides optional vambraces an armour could optionally have a lamellar helm, and splinted or lamellar greaves. The earliest archaeological evidence of armour in China dates to the Shang dynasty. These were either breastplates made of shell tied together or a one-piece rawhide or leather breastplate. [1] Helmets were made of bronze and often sported elaborate designs consisting of animal motifs. Armour was almost exclusively for nobles; regular folks had little to no protection and more commonly used a hide covered shield made of wood or bamboo. [2] Zhou dynasty (c. 1046 BC–256 BC) [ edit ] Burch E. S., Jr. 1974. Eskimo Warfare in Northwest Alaska // Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska. Vol. 16. Fairbanks. ¹ 2.

Bright brilliant armour continued to be prominent. In 518 AD, the Northern Wei court gave a visiting Avar chieftain a set of fine bright brilliant cavalry armour and six sets of iron cavalry armour. Deployment of armoured cavalry was common for the Northern Wei, especially among the "iron-clad" Erzhu tribe who specialized in armoured cavalry. [37] References to heavy cavalry as "iron horses" occur in the poetry of Lu Chui. In 543 AD, the Western Wei general Cai Yu came to be known as "iron tiger" for his distinctive bright brilliant armour. [36] Initially for centuries laminar armour was just a less expensive version of lamellar armor. Laminar was just made from horizontal strips of armour laced like strips of lamellar plates, but without extra-lacing and notches imitating strips of lamellar armour. And like in lamellar armour these laces could be occasionally cut during battle; the laces also frayed when an armour was worn for long periods without being mended. Contrary to popular belief, lamellar armor does not hinder mobility as much as commonly portrayed. While it may not offer the same level of flexibility as lighter armors like chainmail, skilled wearers can still move relatively freely. The individual lamellae are typically attached using flexible materials such as leather or fabric, allowing for some degree of movement and articulation. Misconception: Lamellar Armor is Heavy and Cumbersome

Scale spaulders, part of steel scale armor

Over time, the Mongolian coat armor evolved into a brigandine armor by being lined with metal for further protection, like European gambesons. According to Meng Hong, the reason for the Mongols' success was that they possessed more iron than previous steppe peoples. [78] Lamellar armour is a type of body armour, made from small rectangular plates (scales or lamellae) of iron or steel, leather ( rawhide), or bronze laced into horizontal rows. Lamellar armour was used over a wide range of time periods in Central Asia, Eastern Asia (especially in China, Japan, Mongolia, and Tibet), Western Asia, and Eastern Europe. The earliest evidence for lamellar armour comes from sculpted artwork of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–609 BCE) in the Near East. Of the four helmet fragments found in Scandinavia, only the remains from Gjermundbu were of use in significant reconstruction. [35]

There are depictions of Sicilo-Normans wearing lamellar in the late eleventh and twelfth century, under heavy Islamic cultural and military influence. This should be seen as an extension of the Byzantine and middle Eastern world and does not provide useful evidence for western Europe. During the wars between the Later Zhou and Southern Tang, civilians on the Tang side formed "White Armor Armies", named after the white paper armour they wore. These Tang civilian armies experienced some success in driving off small contingents of Zhou forces but avoided confrontation with the larger army. [64] The White Armour militia army was later revived to fight against the Song dynasty, but they were ineffective and disbanded. [65]Close up view of Japanese (samurai) hon kozane, lamellar armour constructed with small individual scales/lamellae known as kozane.