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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mythusmage" data-source="post: 461959" data-attributes="member: 571">The one non-European armor I could find in the PDF was the laminar. From the two illustrations given it would appear to be a Persian armor, possibly used by Near East Arabs as well. Further east by the Indian kingdoms of what is now Pakistan.As the good Col. noted above, a number of things went into the type and style of armor worn. Technology, cost, style of combat, environment, etc. The popular knight in shining armor (most often chain with a few bits of plate added at strategic areas.) was only possible before the reinvention of the phalanx. Once good infantry was available again the knight was doomed as a fighting force.The rise of the middle class, and the development of the nation state made things pretty much irreversible. Long before gunpowder was invented in the west the knight had lost his place as the primary fighting force, though this fact wouldn't penetrate until fairly late.The "shining armor" we all know from stories and movies was a late development, and never really intended for actual combat. Late Medieval/Renaissance plate was meant to be used in formal tourneys, where minimizing harm to the participants was the primary aim. Outside of tourneys plate was worn by commanders as identification and to impress folks. With rare exceptions leaders weren't supposed to get involved in the fighting.Outside of late Medieval Western Europe folks prefered more flexible armors. Early and Middle Medieval Western Europe used chain by and large. Poland used scale up into the 17th century.Another thing to note about armor is that it is expensive. Even a padded coat could take a potential buyer a year or so to save up for. Something like a suit of chain would take a fair amount of wealth to purchase. Then you add in the cost of horses, weapons, and assistants, and the price of being a knight gets, well, pricey.Once a monetary economy began to replace the agrarian economy the knight relied on it became very hard to afford even the basics, much less all the stuff needed to keep up appearances. The nobility's reluctance to adapt to changing times didn't help matters any.So in Western Europe armor became the Renaissance version of football padding, and war became the domain of kings and nations.And that is a brief look at armor and why it went out of fashion.</blockquote>

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