Transitional Armour

{{Unreferenced stub, auto=yes, date=April 2016 Transitional armour describes the armour used in Europe around the 14th century, as body armour moved from simple

mail The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letter (message), letters, and parcel (package), parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid ...

hauberk A hauberk or byrnie is a shirt of mail. The term is usually used to describe a shirt reaching at least to mid-thigh and including sleeves. Haubergeon ("little hauberk") generally refers to the quilted undergarment used with a hauberk, but the term ...

s to full

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, ...

. The

couter The couter (also spelled "cowter") is the defense for the elbow in a piece of plate armour. Initially just a curved piece of metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when fres ...

was added to the

to better protect the elbows, and splinted armour and the coat of plates provided increased protection for other areas. Armourers in general began experimenting with various forms of rigid defense. They worked in a variety of materials, including wrought iron, latten, leather, cloth and even bone to substitute rigid materials for mail as the knight's harness progressed. Toward the end of the century and into the following one, updates to armour took place at an accelerated rate. The use of multiple materials is the key stylistic element of the period. For instance, a set of transitional style arm defenses could employ steel

pauldrons A pauldron (sometimes spelled pouldron or powldron) is a component of plate armor that evolved from spaulders in the 15th century. As with spaulders, pauldrons cover the shoulder area. Pauldrons tend to be larger than spaulders, covering the a ...

, leather rerebraces, steel elbow cops and leather

vambraces Vambraces (French: ''avant-bras'', sometimes known as ''lower cannons'' in the Middle Ages) or forearm guards are ''tubular'' or ''gutter'' defences for the forearm worn as part of a suit of plate armour that were often connected to gauntlets. V ...

. These items would be strapped with leather and might have brass or bronze fittings and buckles. This use of varied materials gave the armour different coloring, textures and more elegant appearance. Swordfighting re-enactors such as the Society for Creative Anachronisms wear personalized transitional armour for safety reasons, composed of a combination of thick leather, mail and plate armour. Medieval armour Western plate armour