An Almain rivet is a type of flexible

plate armour 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. Full plate steel armour developed in Europe during the Late Middle Ages, es ...

created in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in about 1500. It was designed to be manufactured easily whilst still affording considerable protection to the wearer. It consisted of a

breastplate A breastplate or chestplate is a device worn over the torso to protect it from injury, as an item of religious significance, or as an item of status. A breastplate is sometimes worn by mythological beings as a distinctive item of clothing. It is ...

and backplate with laminated thigh-guards called

tassets Tassets are a piece of plate armour designed to protect the upper thighs. They take the form of separate plates hanging from the breastplate or faulds. They may be made from a single piece or segmented. The segmented style of tassets connected b ...

. Almain rivets were generally of fairly low quality, but they were cheap: a royal proclamation issued by

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

in 1542 designated them at 7s 6d, which equated to one sixth of the cost of a suit of

demi-lance A lance is a spear designed to be used by a mounted warrior or cavalry soldier ( lancer). In ancient and medieval warfare, it evolved into the leading weapon in cavalry charges, and was unsuited for throwing or for repeated thrusting, unlike s ...

armor. Almain rivets were frequently purchased ''en masse'' as munitions-grade armour to equip royal armies or personal retinues.

Nomenclature

The term ''rivet'' derives from the "overlapping plates sliding on

rivet A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed, a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite to the head is called the ''tail''. On installation, the rivet is placed in a punched ...

s" characteristic of this type of armour. ''Almain'' is an

Early Modern English Early Modern English or Early New English (sometimes abbreviated EModE, EMnE, or ENE) is the stage of the English language from the beginning of the Tudor period to the English Interregnum and Restoration, or from the transition from Middle E ...

term for "German" (still used in some poetic and/or archaic senses), from the French ''alemanique'', from the mediaeval Latin ''alemanicus'', from ''

Alemanni The Alemanni or Alamanni, were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Caracalla of 213, the Alemanni captured the in 260, and later expanded into pres ...

'', an early Germanic tribe. The term was introduced in about 1530 and remained in use until about 1600. Based on the term ''almain-rivet'', the word

itself acquired a meaning of "armour", attested (rarely) during the mid-16th century.

OED The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a co ...

. Ffoulkes (1912:52) suggests that the term was from French ''revêtir'', to clothe in, embellish with, from Latin ''vestire'' (Larousse, op.cit.)

References

* Cornish, Paul. ''Henry VIII's Army''. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 1987. * Ffoulkes, Charles. ''The Armourer and his Craft''. New York: Dover Publications, 1912. {{ISBN, 0-486-25851-3

External links

Jason Grimes, Landsknecht Pikeman Armour
Western plate armour

Nomenclature

See also

References

External links