Tassets are a piece of plate armour designed to protect the upper thighs. They take the form of separate plates hanging from the

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 ...

or faulds. They may be made from a single piece or segmented. The segmented style of tassets connected by sliding rivets produced during the 16th century is also known as ''

almain rivets An Almain rivet is a type of flexible plate armour created in Germany in about 1500. It was designed to be manufactured easily whilst still affording considerable protection to the wearer. It consisted of a breastplate and backplate with laminate ...

''. From the 16th century onward, the tassets were sometimes integrated with the

cuisses Cuisses (; ; ) are a form of medieval armour worn to protect the thigh. The word is the plural of the French word ''cuisse'' meaning 'thigh'. While the skirt of a maille shirt or tassets of a cuirass could protect the upper legs from above, a t ...

to create fully articulated leg defenses that continued from the lower edge of the breastplate down to the

poleyn The poleyn or genouillere was a component of Medieval and Renaissance armor that protected the knee. During the transition from mail armor to plate armor, this was among the earliest plate components to develop. They first appeared around 1230 ...

External links

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Cleveland Museum of Art
glossary of arms and armor Western plate armour {{medieval-armour-stub