Tournament Armor

During the first three centuries of the existence of tournaments , starting with their occurrence in the 11th century, it was customary to use the usual battle armor of knights, chain hauberks , lamellars , etc. The only difference was that they sometimes wore additional chain mail at tournaments, apart from elegant cloak.

The bastards that appeared during the Crusades and Surco , originally intended to protect from the sun, quickly gained popularity as a way to give the armor an elegant look, adorned with heraldry . The spread of the bastard and surprise made popular horse blankets , also decorated with heraldry.

With the appearance in the second half of the XII century of flat helmets of Pothelm (Pothelm), and then of potted topfhelm (Topfhelm), which had a comfortable flat, or slightly conical or convex top, heraldic emblematic figures of papier-mâché , parchment, fabric, began to be attached to the latter leather on a wooden frame, which had the most diverse and sometimes bizarre outlines in the form of crowns, horns, wings, figures of animals or birds, etc.

In the XIV century, surreptitiously , by attaching plates under it, it turned into brigantine armor , which was also decorated with heraldic images. With the spread of brigantine, the pot helmet , which by that time had developed into a massive Kübelhelm and began to rest on the shoulders, during spear collisions on horses began to be fixed with chains, pulling to the brigantine in the position of the chin pressed to the chest. This reduced the risk of neck folding if the spear failed to hit the head.

In the last third of the 13th century , shoulder pads appeared, worn more often in tournaments than in battle, designed not so much to protect the shoulders as to decorate them with heraldry. However, despite their apparent "flimsy", they still gave some protection to the shoulders.

In the XIV century , with the spread of it for the bascinets , the pot helmet was gradually stopped wearing in battle, continuing to be used in tournaments, and by the end of the XIV century it turned into a purely tournament helmet, having changed into the so-called. “Toad's head” , or Shtekhhelm (Stechhelm), heavy, up to 10 kg, protective head, tightly screwed to the cuirass ^[1] . The appearance of a reinforced “toad head” led to the fact that if earlier with an equestrian collision the rivals bowed their head, pressing their chin to their chests, then in the helmet described above they attacked by bending over, but straightened themselves during the collision, and the viewing gap, which is very high compared to with ordinary helmets, when straightening the body, it turned out to be inaccessible to a spear.

Approximately the same specific device was taken away from the beginning of the 16th century, acquired in Italy by the spherical helmet of armets , which had been distributed in Italy in the middle of the 15th century and is called “closed” or “tournament” armete of the 16th century in the sources. His visor consisted of two parts located on one axis, the lower part of which served simultaneously as a chin. These helmets, unlike their predecessors, similar in design, but with better visibility, as well as “toad heads,” were used exclusively in tournaments, including for foot combat.

Along with toad- type helmets and closed armets , in the second half of the 15th – beginning of the 16th centuries, tournaments for equestrian rennen fights - rennzoisugi — included salad- type helmets (see photo above right), which, as a rule, didn’t have, and only equipped with a viewing gap, but supplemented with frontal pads and shields to protect the neck ^[2] .

It should also be noted that in ordinary helmets that were not screwed onto the cuirass, spear hitting the head at full gallop was fraught with the risk of severe concussion or folding of the neck. Therefore, in order to protect the latter in the 14th century, special shields began to be used.

The cost of a set of tournament armor was very high, and in the second half of the XVI century it usually ranged from 100 to 200 thalers (from 20 to 40 pounds) for an equestrian, and from 60 to 80 thalers (from 12 to 16 pounds) for foot combat ^{[ 3]} .

Mounted Horse Armor

Armor for equestrian confusion was distinguished by an extremely narrow specialization, which made it unsuitable for anything else. With a weight that was often twice as high as combat armor, it provided much less complete protection combined with minimal mobility and minimal visibility. It consisted of a thick cuirass to which a tournament helmet of the “ toad head ” type was screwed, which possessed, in addition to reliable protection, a relatively poor visibility.

Since such armor weighed quite a lot, they usually don’t put on a gauntlet or a glove on a hand holding a spear and protected by a large guard. Since the end of the 15th century, spears for rennen were often supplied with an enlarged steel guard, or nodus to protect the right hand, the dimensions of which could reach 31 cm ^[4] . Since the strike of the spear according to the rules went at an angle up and forward, it was possible to hit the legs either intentionally or in an accident. Therefore, for the sake of weight reduction, the legs either did not protect at all, or their protection was limited by hip flaps , as in the rennzeug . Instead of such shields, sometimes used leggings fastened to a cuirass or to a plate skirt. However, if you wanted, for example, for a ceremonial exit, you could also put on full leg protection, borrowed from another armor.

The lance hook on the cuirass was very powerful and often, unlike the usual one, stuck out not only forward, but also backward. Since no active movements in the armor were supposed, the protection of the hand holding the halter was peculiar - instead of a plate gauntlet, a wrist arm with a U-shaped profile was used. The armpit shields were larger than usual due to the lack of the need to move actively.

The small tournament shield, the tarch, was initially simply held in the hand, then it began to be suspended from the neck, and after that it was attached with cords to the cuirass with support on a special support. Later, he was completely screwed to the breastplate with screws. A tarch was made from hardwood and was often enhanced by bone or horn plates. As a rule, it had an irregular quadrangular shape, a width of 40 cm, a length of 35 cm, and a thickness of up to 3 cm ^[5] .

Since the beginning of the 15th century, first in Germany and then in other countries, two main types of equestrian tournament armor have been spreading: Stechzeug for gestech and Rennzeug for rennen.

Pedestrian Armor

The armor for the pedestrian tournament was initially distinguished by a very long plate skirt - a tonlet, for reliable protection of the genitals ^[6] . Such a skirt, or combat apron, consisted, as a rule, of seven steel horizontal plates that could be displaced relative to each other ^[7] . Later, in the XVI century, with the development of armor art, options appeared that gave reliable protection without a long plate skirt.

Another characteristic feature was a large spherical helmet of the “tournament armet ” type, resting on the shoulders, in which the impulse of hitting the helmet was transmitted not to the head, but to the shoulders to avoid shaking. Such a helmet was screwed or tightly tied with straps to the bib and back ^[8] . At the same time, for fights with blunt weapons ^[9] like maces (that is, in the absence of danger that the tip of the weapon accidentally gets into the eye), instead of a visor, a large grid of thick rods was used, which gave a good overview.

To protect the fingers on the hands, as a rule, plate gloves were used that well hold a blow to the fingers. Curiously, the helmet sitting on the shoulders, mittens and a long plate skirt made this armor look like a general outline on casten-brost .

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• Armor
• Armor history
• Stehtsoig
• Rennzeug
• Armor set
• Renaissance
• Knight Tournament
• Parade
• Dress armor
• Suit armor
• Maximilianovsky armor
• Milan armor
• Gothic armor
• Greenwich Armor

• Nathan Robinson Anatomy of Armor: Specimens from the 16th Century (Neopr.) .
• Konrad Seusenhofer