1st Period: 1410-1430. 2nd Period: 1430-1450. 3rd Period: 1450—1500.
1st Period: 1410-1450. This is also known as the surcoatless period, as the polished breast and back plates were worn without any textile covering.
Before the Hundred Years’ War had broken, out again in the reign of Henry V.—just before Agincourt—the types of armour had completely changed. Knights gave up the use of the camail and jupon, and were clothed in complete armour. Additional protections were placed in front of the armpits, as roundles or pallettes, resembling small shields, and fan-shaped plates were placed at the elbow joints. The basinet was made much more globular in form, and a piece of plate called the gorget or neck-piece took the place of the camail to connect the basinet with the body armour. The lower part of the basinet, protecting the chin, was called the beaver (“I saw young Harry with his beaver on.” H. IV., Pt. 1), and was fastened by rivets to the upper part near the temples. The basinet now rested on the gorget, and was so arranged that the head could be turned to right and left.
The breastplate was of globular form, and there was a corresponding plate over the back. From the waist to the middle of the thigh, a series of narrow, flexible, horizontal overlapping bands or plates of steel, called taces or tassets, fastened to a lining of leather, were worn.
They thus formed a kind of armoured kilt or short steel petticoat. The sword-belt was narrow, and was worn diagonally over the taces, and the general form of the sword remained unaltered. The misericorde continued to be worn on the right side. The hauberk was sometimes worn under the plate armour, for the lower edge is sometimes shown in effigies and brasses. All the details of the above description are shown in Fig. 1.
2nd Period: 1430-1450. This is sometimes called the Tabard Period, as a new variety of short surcoat called a tabard was worn with short sleeves over the armour, bearing the heraldic devices of the wearer, emblazoned down the front and also on each sleeve.
The chief characteristic of the period with regard to the actual armour was the system of adding strengthening or reinforcing pieces of plate to the armour.
Over the flanks on each side, depending from the taces, a small plate, varying in shape, called a tuille, was appended. It was fastened by strings and allowed free movement of the limbs.
The sollerets or feet coverings became longer, and plates like those on the shell of a lobster were added to the gauntlets to cover and protect the backs of the hands.
Additional plates varying in size and form, were fixed to the elbows and shoulders on the ordinary armour.