• CosmoNova@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    That is definitely not true for the late medieval period. As you suggested it would be too heavy without much of a benefit anyway. An added layer of chain mal won‘t block what a well crafted plate armor can‘t.

    • napoleonsdumbcousin@feddit.org
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      3 days ago

      It is supposed to block the blows that go between the plates, not reinforce the plate itself. A lighter alternative that developed later is patches of chainmail only between the plates.

      Mail armour is a layer of protective clothing worn most commonly from the 9th to the 13th century, though it would continue to be worn under plate armour until the 15th century.

      In the chapter “Late Middle Ages”:

      In armoured techniques taught in the German school of swordsmanship, the attacker concentrates on these “weak spots”, resulting in a fighting style very different from unarmoured sword-fighting. Because of this weakness, most warriors wore a mail shirt (haubergeon or hauberk) beneath their plate armour (or coat-of-plates). Later, full mail shirts were replaced with mail patches, called gussets, which were sewn onto a gambeson or arming jacket.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plate_armour

      • CosmoNova@lemmy.world
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        20 hours ago

        The German school of swordsmanship is more of a guide to fencing in south Germany than warfare across Europe. Reading up on it, there‘s also no mention of chain mail on that Wiki page. I would like to read up on an actual source of that because by the looks of it the author could’ve just come to their own conclusions here.