Scale armour
Scale armour (sometimes erroneously called
scale mail) consists of many small scales.
The material used to make the plates include
bronze,
iron,
rawhide,
leather,
boiled leather,
horn and even the scales of animals.
ImageThere are many different methods of construction:
*
Lamellar armour consists of scales laced together.
*A
brigandine consists of scales riveted onto a backing of
leather or
cloth.
*A
jack of plate consists of scales sewn onto a backing of
leather or
cloth.
During Roman times scale armour (
lorica squamata) was a very popular alternative to
mail (
lorica hamata) as it offered better protection, especially against blunt damage. It was also very popular in
Middle Eastern empires such as
Persia and
Byzantium where scales were commonly dished (armouring term used to describe hammering a depression into a flat piece of metal in order to create a 'bowl' effect, as seen in the elbow and knee cops of the European Middle Ages) in order to benefit from the extra protection offered by a rounded scale.
Historically, scales for such armour have been made of
leather,
bronze,
iron, or
steel; the use of a given material influenced primarily by the time period, geography, and purpose of the armour.
The Byzantine-style lamellar corset is called
klibanion. It was often worn over mail, or with limb protectors made from metal splints. Sometimes a quilted surcoat (
epilorikion) was worn over
klibanion.
