For infantry, the breastplate gained renewed importance with the development of shrapnel in the late Napoleonic wars. This was due to the development of the flintlock musket, which could penetrate armour at a considerable distance. After 1650, plate armour was mostly reduced to the simple breastplate ( cuirass) worn by cuirassiers. The use of plate armour declined in the 17th century, but it remained common both among the nobility and for the cuirassiers throughout the European wars of religion. The most heavily armoured troops of the period were heavy cavalry, such as the gendarmes and early cuirassiers, but the infantry troops of the Swiss mercenaries and the Landsknechts also took to wearing lighter suits of "three quarters" munition armour, leaving the lower legs unprotected. Its popular association with the " medieval knight” is due to the specialised jousting armour which developed in the 16th century.įull suits of Gothic plate armour were worn on the battlefields of the Burgundian and Italian Wars.
The full suit of armour, also referred to as a panoply, is thus a feature of the very end of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance period. In Europe, plate armour reached its peak in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Full plate steel armour developed in Europe during the Late Middle Ages, especially in the context of the Hundred Years' War, from the coat of plates worn over mail suits during the 14th century. Plate armour is a historical type of personal body armour made from bronze, iron, or steel plates, culminating in the iconic suit of armour entirely encasing the wearer. Armour for Gustav I of Sweden by Kunz Lochner, c.