Cuisses (; ; ) are a form of

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

armour Armour (Commonwealth English) or armor (American English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, e ...

worn to protect the thigh. The word is the plural of the French word ''cuisse'' meaning 'thigh'. While the skirt of a maille shirt or

tassets Tassets are a piece of plate armour designed to protect the upper thighs. They take the form of separate plates hanging from the breastplate or faulds. They may be made from a single piece or segmented. The segmented style of tassets connected b ...

of a

cuirass A cuirass ( ; ; ) is a piece of armour that covers the torso, formed of one or more pieces of metal or other rigid material. The term probably originates from the original material, leather, from the Old French word and the Latin word . The us ...

could protect the upper legs from above, a thrust from below could avoid these defenses. Thus, cuisses were worn on the thighs to protect from such blows. Padded cuisses made in a similar way to a

gambeson A gambeson (also known as, or similar to where historic or modern distinctions are made, the acton, aketon, padded jack, pourpoint, paltock, haustement, or arming doublet) is a padded defensive jacket, worn as armour separately, or combined wit ...

were commonly worn by knights in the 12th and 13th centuries, usually over

chausses Chausses (; ) were a medieval term for leggings, which was also used for leg armour; routinely made of mail and referred to as mail ''chausses'', or ''demi-chausses'' if they only cover the front half of the leg. They generally extended well abo ...

, and may have had

poleyns The poleyn or genouillere was a component of Medieval and Renaissance armor that protected the knee. During the transition from mail armor to plate armor, this was among the earliest plate components to develop. They first appeared around 1230 ...

directly attached to them. Whilst continental armours tended to have cuisses that did not protect the back of the thigh, English cuisses were typically entirely encapsulating, due to the English preference for foot combat over the mounted cavalry charges favoured by continental armies. Cuisses could also be made of

brigandine A brigandine (sometimes spelled "brigantine"), also called a brigander, is a form of body armour, in use from the late Middle Ages and up to the early modern era. It is a garment typically made of heavy cloth, canvas, or leather, featuring s ...

or splinted leather, but beginning around 1340 they were typically made from

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

plate armour Plate armour is a historical type of personal body armour made from bronze, iron, or steel plates, culminating in the iconic suit of armour entirely encasing the wearer. Full plate steel armour developed in Europe during the Late Middle Ages, es ...

. From 1370 onward they were made from a single plate of

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

or steel.

Ancient Greece

Perimeridia () and Parameridia (παραμηρίδια) were metal armour for covering the thighs. Though not in common use in the ordinary Greek

panoply A panoply is a complete suit of armor. The word represents the Ancient Greek ('), where the word (') means "all", and (') means "arms". Thus, ''panoply'' refers to the full armor of a hoplite or heavily-armed soldier, i.e. the shield, breast ...

, are shown sufficiently often on the monuments and vase-paintings as occasionally employed by Greek warriors at least as far back as the fifth century B.C. They are frequently mentioned by Greek writers, of the third century B.C. and downwards, but here almost exclusively as employed by cavalry, both for the rider and his horse (in addition, some writers call the protective armour of the horse parapleuridia (παραπλευρίδια), while others makes a further distinction of παραπλευρίδια for horses driven in chariots and παραμηρίδια for those ridden by the cavalry).Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Perimeridia
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Citations

References

* Western plate armour Ancient Greek military equipment {{medieval-armour-stub