Editing Knight (section)

=== Equipment ===
[[File:Gothic armour parts.png|thumb|Elements of a harness of the late style of [[Gothic plate armour]] that was a popular style in the mid 15th to early 16th century (depiction made in the 18th century)]]
{{see|List of medieval armour components}}
Knights used a variety of weapons, including [[Mace (bludgeon)|maces]], [[Battle axe|axes]] and [[sword]]s. Elements of the knightly armour included [[helmet]], [[cuirass]], [[Gauntlet (glove)|gauntlet]] and [[shield]].

The sword was a weapon designed to be used solely in combat; it was useless in [[hunting]] and impractical as a [[tool]]. Thus, the sword was a status symbol among the knightly class. Swords were effective against lightly armoured enemies, while [[Mace (bludgeon)|maces]] and [[War hammer|warhammers]] were more effective against heavily armoured ones.<ref name="metmuseum" />{{Rp|85–86}}

One of the primary elements of a knight's armour was the [[shield]], which could be used to block strikes and projectiles. Oval shields were used during the [[Dark Ages (historiography)|Dark Ages]] and were made of wooden boards that were roughly half an inch thick. Towards the end of the 10th century, oval shields were lengthened to cover the left knee of the mounted warrior, called the [[kite shield]]. The [[heater shield]] was used during the 13th and the first half of the 14th century. Around 1350, square shields called bouched shields appeared, which had a notch in which to place the [[Lance|couched lance]].<ref name="metmuseum">{{cite web|title=The Art of Chivalry: European Arms and Armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/The_Art_of_Chivalry_European_Arms_and_Armor_from_The_Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art?Tag&title&author&pt&tc&dept&fmt|access-date=2021-03-04|website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art }}</ref>{{Rp|15}}

Until the mid-14th century, knights wore [[Chain mail|mail armour]] as their main form of defence. Mail was extremely flexible and provided good protection against sword cuts, but weak against blunt weapons such as the [[Mace (bludgeon)|mace]] and piercing weapons such as the [[lance]]. Padded undergarment known as [[Gambeson|aketon]] was worn to absorb shock damage and prevent [[Chafing (skin)|chafing]] caused by mail. In hotter climates metal rings became too hot, so sleeveless [[surcoat]]s were worn as a protection against the sun, and also to show their [[Coat of arms|heraldic arms]].<ref name="metmuseum" />{{Rp|15–17}} This sort of coat also evolved to be [[tabard]]s, [[waffenrock]]s and other garments with the arms of the wearer sewn into it.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Black Prince: achievements of The Black Prince at Canterbury|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004124356_emdt_com_157|access-date=2021-07-05|journal=Encyclopedia of Medieval Dress and Textiles|date=23 April 2012|doi=10.1163/9789004124356_emdt_com_157|last=Watts|first=Karen}}</ref>

Helmets of the knight of the early periods usually were more open helms such as the [[nasal helmet]], and later forms of the [[spangenhelm]]. The lack of more facial protection lead to the evolution of more [[Enclosed helmet|enclosing helmets]] to be made in the late 12th to early 13th centuries, this eventually would evolve to make the [[great helm]]. Later forms of the [[bascinet]], which was originally a small helm worn under the larger great helm, evolved to be worn solely, and would eventually have pivoted or hinged visors, the most popular was the [[Bascinet#Hounskull|hounskull]], also known as the "pig-face visor".<ref>{{cite book|last=David.|first=Lindholm|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/137244800|title=The Scandinavian Baltic crusades, 1100-1500|date=2007|publisher=Osprey Pub|isbn=978-1-84176-988-2|oclc=137244800}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Mann|first=James G.|date=October 1936|title=The Visor of a Fourteenth-century Bascinet found at Pevensey Castle|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0003581500084249|journal=The Antiquaries Journal|volume=16|issue=4|pages=412–419|doi=10.1017/s0003581500084249|s2cid=161352227|issn=0003-5815}}</ref>

[[Plate armour]] first appeared in the 13th century, when plates were added onto the torso and mounted to a base of leather. This form of armour is known as a [[coat of plates]], and was initially used over chain mail in the 13th and 14th centuries, at the time of [[Transitional armour]]. The torso was not the only part of the knight to receive this plate protection evolution, as the elbows and shoulders were covered with circular pieces of metal, commonly referred to as [[Rondel (armour)|rondels]], eventually evolving into the plate arm harness consisting of the [[rerebrace]], [[vambrace]], and [[spaulder]] or [[pauldron]]. The legs too were covered in plates, mainly on the shin, called [[schynbalds]] which later evolved to fully enclose the leg in the form of enclosed [[greave]]s. As for the upper legs, [[cuisses]] came about in the mid 14th century.<ref>{{cite journal|date=2010-01-01|title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology|publisher=Oxford University Press|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780195334036.001.0001|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195334036.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-533403-6}}</ref> Overall, plate armour offered better protection against piercing weapons such as [[arrow]]s and especially [[Crossbow bolt|bolts]] than mail armour did.<ref name="metmuseum" />{{Rp|15–17}}Plate armor reached his peak in the 15th and 16th centuries, but was still used at the beginning of the 17th century by the first [[Cuirassiers]] like the [[London lobsters]].

Knights' horses were also armoured in later periods; [[caparison]]s were the first form of medieval horse coverage and was used much like the surcoat. Other [[Barding|armours]], such as the facial armouring chanfron, were made for horses.<ref>{{cite web|date=2015-03-24|title=Online Etymology Dictionary|url=http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=caparison%09&allowed_in_frame=0|access-date=2021-07-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150324211817/http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=caparison%09&allowed_in_frame=0|archive-date=2015-03-24}}</ref>