This article is devoted to the type of armour known as a cuirass. For details of cavalry wearing cuirasses go to cuirassier. Cuirassiers were mounted cavalry soldiers equipped with armor and firearms, first appearing in late 15th-century Europe. ...

Lamellar Armour Cuirass

Cuirass (French cuirasse, Latin coriaceus, made of leather, from corium, the original breastplate being of leather), the plate armour, is formed of a single piece of metal or other rigid material or composed of two or more pieces, which covers the front of the wearer's person. In a suit of armour, however, since this important piece was generally worn in connection with a corresponding defence for the back, the term cuirass commonly is understood to imply the complete body-armour, including both the breast and the back plates. Thus this complete body armour appears in the Middle Ages frequently to have been described as a pair of plates. The corslet (Fr. corselet, diminutive of the Fr. corps, body), a comparatively light cuirass, is more strictly a breastplate only. Was oftenly worn by Queen Elizabeth the first. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1152x872, 167 KB) Lamellar Armour by Rhonda Barber http://www. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1152x872, 167 KB) Lamellar Armour by Rhonda Barber http://www. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Modern leather-working tools Leather is a material created through the tanning of hides, pelts and skins of animals, primarily cows. ... Armour or armor (see spelling differences) is protective clothing intended to defend its wearer from intentional harm in combat and military engagements, typically associated with soldiers. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ...

As parts of the military equipment of classic antiquity, cuirasses and corslets of bronze, and at later periods also of iron or some other rigid substance, were habitually in use; but while some special kind of secondary protection for the breast had been worn in earlier times by the men-at-arms in addition to their mail hauberks and their cotes armed with splints and studs, it was not till the 14th century that a regular body-defence of plate can be said to have become an established component of medieval armour. Assorted ancient bronze castings found as part of a cache, probably intended for recycling. ... General Name, Symbol, Number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 8, 4, d Appearance lustrous metallic with a grayish tinge Atomic mass 55. ... hauberk, Museum of Bayeux. ... This 14th-century statue from south India depicts the gods Shiva (on the left) and Uma (on the right). ...

As this century continued to advance, the cuirass is found gradually to have come into general use, in connection with plate defences for the limbs, until, at the close of the century, the long familiar inter-linked mail is no longer visible in knightly figures, except in the camail of the bascinet and at the edge of the hauberk. The prevailing, and indeed almost the universal, usage throughout this century was that the cuirass was worn covered. Thus, the globose form of the breast-armour of the Black Prince, in his effigy in Canterbury Cathedral, 1376, intimates that a cuirass as well as a hauberk is to be considered to have been covered by the royalty-emblazoned jupon of the prince. A British pillar box. ... The bascinet was a Medieval European open-faced military helmet, typically fitted with an aventail and hinged visor. ... Edward the Black Prince - illustration from Cassells History of England circa 1902 Effigy on the Black Princes tomb in Canterbury Cathedral Edward, Prince of Wales, known as the Black Prince (June 15, 1330 - June 8, 1376) was the eldest son of King Edward III of England. ... Canterbury Cathedral from the southwest. ... // Events March – The treaty between England and France is extended until April of 1377. ...

The cuirass, thus worn in the 14th century, was always made of sufficient length to rest on the hips; otherwise, if not thus supported, it must have been suspended from the shoulders, in which case it would have effectually interfered with the free and vigorous action of the wearer.

Cuirass and helmet of the French Horse Carabinier, 1810-1824.

Early in the 15th century, the entire panoply of plate, including the cuirass, began to be worn without any surcoat; but in the concluding quarter of the century the short surcoat, with full short sleeves, known as the tabard, was in general use over the armour. At the same time that the disuse of the surcoat became general, small plates of various forms and sizes (and not always made in pairs, the plate for the right or sword-arm often being smaller and lighter than its companion) were attached to the armour in front of the shoulders, to defend the otherwise vulnerable points where the plate defences of the upper-arms and the cuirass left a gap on each side. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1920x2560, 737 KB) Work by Rama File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Cuirass Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1920x2560, 737 KB) Work by Rama File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Cuirass Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner... (14th century - 15th century - 16th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. ... A surcoat was an outer garment commonly worn in the Middle Ages. ... A tabard worn over armour A tabard is a short coat, either sleeveless, or with short sleeves or shoulder pieces, emblazoned on the front and back with the arms of the sovereign, and worn, as their distinctive garment, by heralds and pursuivants. ...

About the middle of the century, instead of being formed of a single plate, the breast-plate of the cuirass was made in two parts, the lower adjusted to overlap the upper, and contrived by means of a strap or sliding rivet to give flexibility to this defence. In the second half of the 15th century the cuirass occasionally was superseded by the brigandine jacket, a defence formed of some textile fabric, generally of rich material, lined throughout with overlapping scales (resembling the earlier imbricated form) of metal, which were attached to the jacket by rivets, having their heads, like studs, visible on the outside.

In the 16th century, when occasionally, and by personages of exalted rank, splendid surcoats were worn over the armour, the cuirassits breastpiece during the first half of the century, globular in form was constantly reinforced by strong additional plates attached to it by rivets or screws. (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ...

About 1550 the breast-piece of the cuirass was characterized by a vertical central ridge, called the tapul, having near its centre a projecting point; this projection, somewhat later, was brought lower down, and eventually the profile of the plate, the projection having been carried to its base, assumed the singular form which led to this fashion of the cuirass being distinguished as the peascod cuirass. Events February 7 - Julius III becomes Pope. ...

Corslets provided with both breast and back pieces were worn by foot-soldiers in the 17th century, while their mounted comrades were equipped in heavier and stronger cuirasses; and these defences continued in use after the other pieces of armour, one by one, had gradually been laid aside. Their use, however, never altogether ceased, and in modern armies mounted cuirassiers, armed as in earlier days with breast and back plates, have insome degree emulated the martial splendour of the body-armour of the era of medieval chivalry. Both the French and German heavy cavalry were still issued cuirasses leading up to World War 1. In the early part of that conflict they painted their cuirasses black and wore canvas protection covers over the neo-roman style helmets. (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ... Cuirassiers were mounted cavalry soldiers equipped with armor and firearms, first appearing in late 15th-century Europe. ... Soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback in combat are commonly known as cavalry (from French cavalerie). ...

Some years after Waterloo certain historical cuirasses were taken from their repose in the Tower of London, and adapted for service by the Life Guards and the Horse Guards. For parade purposes, the Prussian Gardes du Corps and other corps wear cuirasses of richly decorated leather. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Tower of London, seen from the River Thames, with a view of the water gate called Traitors Gate. ...

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.