Arming points are reinforced sections of a gambeson or arming doublet where pieces of

body armor Body armour, personal armour (also spelled ''armor''), armoured suit (''armored'') or coat of armour, among others, is armour for human body, a person's body: protective clothing or close-fitting hands-free shields designed to absorb or deflect ...

were laced on. Doublet Arming Points

During the

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

periods of

European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD 500), the Middle Ages (AD 500–1500), and the modern era (since AD 1500). The first early Eu ...

, arming points allowed heavy armor to be fastened securely to a cloth undergarment via cloth or leather laces. These fastenings evolved from civilian clothing, which used similar tresses to attach

sleeves A sleeve (, a word allied to '' slip'', cf. Dutch ) is the part of a garment that covers the arm, or through which the arm passes or slips. The sleeve is a characteristic of fashion seen in almost every country and time period, across a myri ...

and

hose A hose is a flexible hollow tube or pipe designed to carry fluids from one location to another, often from a faucet or hydrant. Early hoses were made of leather, although modern hoses are typically made of rubber, canvas, and helically wound w ...

to a doublet, and to hold heavy

coat A coat is typically an outer garment for the upper body, worn by any gender for warmth or fashion. Coats typically have long sleeves and are open down the front, and closing by means of buttons, zippers, hook-and-loop fasteners (AKA velcro), ...

s together. The concept itself predated the Middle Ages, as both Greeks and Romans "used larger pieces of bronze and, later, iron fastened together with internal leathers..." The popularization of full plate armour, however, required specially-made gambesons or arming doublets that could support heavy pieces of armour. Arming points make custom armor fit appropriately, leading to a great deal of variation in the construction of arming points. While the hose supporting an arming point on the leg could be made from

worsted Worsted ( or ) is a high-quality type of wool yarn, the fabric made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from Worstead (from Old English ''Wurðestede'', "enclosure place"), a village in the English county of Norfolk. T ...

cloth, for example, additional padding or "blanketing" was usually added to the knee to prevent painful chafing. Specific arming points needed to be secured first if a warrior was dressing in full plate armour, beginning with the feet and moving upward. This process allowed plates to overlap, creating a glancing surface that would direct the potentially lethal force of a blow away from the body. Even if the armor was successful in redirecting such a blow, soft points on the body such as the elbow, neck, and knees required arming points with "rivets in which there is a certain amount of play" to ensure that the body could move with the force of a blow.

References

Armour points
Medieval armour {{medieval-armour-stub