This list identifies various pieces of body armour worn both by men and horses from the medieval to early modern period in the Western world, mostly plate but some mail armour, arranged by the part of body that is protected and roughly by date. It does not identify fastening components or various appendages such as lance rests or plumeholders, or clothing such as tabards or surcoats, which were often worn over a joey.
There are a variety of alternative names and spellings (such as cowter or couter; bassinet, bascinet or basinet; and besagew or besague) which often reflect a word introduced from French. Generally, the English spelling has been preferred (including mail instead of the lately used maille or the inauthentic term chainmail). The part of armour on the hand is called the gauntlet, which is based on a French word.
List
Japanese analogues The following components of Japanese armour roughly match the position and function of certain components of occidental armour.
See also Armored combat (sport) SCA armoured combat
References
Bibliography Ashdown, Charles Henry (1988). An illustrated History of Arms & Armour. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions. ISBN 1-85326-914-X. Blair, Claude (1958). European Armor circa 1066 to circa 1700. London: B.T. Batsford. Wise, Terence (1976). Medieval Warfare. New York: Hastings House. Morrison, Sean (1963). Armor. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company. ISBN 0-690-09970-3. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) Hewitt, John (1855). The Fourteenth Century. Ancient Armour and Weapons in Europe: from the Iron Period of the Northern Nations to the End of the Thirteenth Century. Vol. II. Oxford: John Henry & James Parker. Edge, David (1996). Arms and Armour of the Medieval Knight: an illustrated History of Weaponry in the Middle Ages. London: Saturn Books. ISBN 1-86222-001-8. Boeheim, Wendelin (1890). Handbuch der Waffenkunde: das Waffenwesen in seiner historischen Entwickelung vom Beginn des Mittelalters bis zum Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts. Leipzig: E.A. Seemann. Gravett, Christopher (2002). English Medieval Knight 1200-1300. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 1-84176-144-3. Laking, Francis Guy (1920a). A Record of European Armour and Arms through Seven Centuries. Vol. I. London: Bell and Sons. Laking, Francis Guy (1920b). A Record of European Armour and Arms through Seven Centuries. Vol. II. London: Bell and Sons. Laking, Francis Guy (1921). A Record of European Armour and Arms through Seven Centuries. Vol. IV. London: Bell and Sons. DeVries, Kelly (1992). Medieval Military Technology. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview Press. Oakeshott, R. Ewart (1962). A knight and his Armour. Philadelphia: Dufour Editions. OCLC 1035937741. Pyhrr, Stuart W.; LaRocca, Donald J.; Breiding, Dirk H. (2005). Metropolitan Museum of Art (ed.). The Armored Horse in Europe, 1480-1620. New Heaven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10764-1. Stone, George Cameron (13 March 2013). A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor: in All Countries and in All Times. Courier Corporation. ISBN 978-0-486-13129-0. Retrieved 13 June 2025. Lowe, Eric (30 November 2020). The Use of Medieval Weaponry. Aeon Books. ISBN 978-1-913504-25-0. Retrieved 13 June 2025. Absolon, Trevor (30 November 2017). Samurai Armour: Volume I: The Japanese Cuirass. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4728-2224-6. Retrieved 13 June 2025. Wilkinson, Frederic (1970). Battle Dress: a Gallery of Military Style and Ornament. Garden City: Doubleday & Company.