Late Middle Ages

Early in the period we see the addition of metal (or leather) armour covering first the elbows and knees and soon after, the arms and lower legs. Developments in weapons and tactics began to expose the maille-armoured warrior and more and more plate armour additions give us the transitional period, combining maille and plate to good effect. Armouring techniques and design eventually gave us the fully plate armoured man-at-arms in the 15th Century. This was by no means the norm, with padded armour, maille and pieces of plate being the mainstay of the ordinary soldier. The cumbersome great helm was supplemented and eventually replaced by the bascinet - to be eclipsed in its turn by helmets such as the sallet and armet. At the end of the period, the great armourers of German and Italy and their contrasting styles of Gothic and Milanese dominated armour production.