How was armour decorated?

Plate armor offered numerous possibilities for decoration in a variety of techniques: with applied borders (29.154. 3), paint, heat-patination, embossing, etching, engraving and pointillé, gilding, and inlay. In addition, helmets and breastplates were covered in textile while wooden shields (25.26.

When did plate armor start?

The earliest knightly plate armour appeared shortly after 1200 in the form of thin plates worn beneath the gambeson. External plate armour began to appear around the middle of the century, at first for elbows, kneecaps, and shins. The true plate cuirass appeared about 1250, though it was…

What does plate armor look like?

A full suit of plate armour would have consisted of a helmet, a gorget (or bevor), spaulders, pauldrons with gardbraces to cover the armpits as was seen in French armour, or besagews (also known as rondels) which were mostly used in Gothic Armour, rerebraces, couters, vambraces, gauntlets, a cuirass (breastplate and …

What kind of clothes did the arquebusier wear?

Late 16th or early 17th Century arquebusier wearing morion, hanging sleeves and knee-length baggy trousers. Note tasseled pouches and match on belt, c. Crossbowman, late 15th or early 16th Century. He wears tight hose, studded brigantine with mail sleeves, sallet helmet, plate protection at knees and Moorish boots.

What was the role of the Spanish army in the 16th century?

Spanish armies of the 16th Century acted as models and training schools for many others. Spanish commitments were as great as Spanish wealth, and her troops fought in Spain itself, Oran and Tripoli, Italy, Ireland, France, Central and South America, and above all, in the Low Countries, which were under Spanish control from 1519.

Why didn’t the natives kill armored Spanish knights in battle?

In Europe, the armored knight had dominated the battlefield for centuries and weapons such as the harquebus and crossbow were specifically designed to pierce armor and defeat them. The natives had no such weapons and therefore killed very few armored Spanish in battle.

What kind of armor does an officer wear?

Officer, late 16th or early 17th Century, wearing half armour, ornate morion with plumes probably red-white-red, and red sash and holding a rapier, b. Late 16th or early 17th Century arquebusier wearing morion, hanging sleeves and knee-length baggy trousers.