Armour in England, 1325–99

A dramatic change in the personal armour of the knightly classes occurred across the whole of Europe in the middle of the fourteenth century: the addition of plate armour on top of the mail defences that had been worn since the time of the Roman empire. This change is documented in England by the series of monumental effigies and brasses, as well as a very few surviving examples. The story is supplemented by documentary records, especially those of the armoury at the Tower of London, which shed new light on the equipment of the English armies of the first half of the Hundred Years War.

► New information about arms and armour in England in the fourteenth century.
► Re-dating of a type of mail armour from the fifteenth to the mid fourteenth century.
► Evidence for the manufacture of fine decorated armour in London in the 1370s.
► Details of the personal armour of Edward III.
► Details of the manufacture of shields