Building your own Armour
Part 5: A 14th Century Leg Harness

The patterns to follow are for a leg armour of the early fourteenth century, but they are also ideal for hidden armour, that is, armour designed to be worn under fabric. Hidden leg armour is useful for making combat-safe armours for those periods when leg armour was not worn, for instance a viking or late period landskeneckt.

The only metal part is the knee cop, which is of a very basic and easily made form. The bulk of the armour is in the form of a sort of padded hose set which fastens down the back.

The padded hose should be made of several layers of heavy canvas or calico, and stuffed with cotton. The cuisse (thigh covering) should be quilted vertically, and either padded quite thickly, or backed with a rigid material such as leather or plastic. In period times, the padded hose were worn over full mail chausses, but you may want more solid protection for rattan combat. If you are going to use it for hidden armour, the plastic or metal can be tied directly to the front, using arming points like those that fasten the knee cop in place.

The area over the knee should be quilted into 3-5 sections, and stuffed quite full of cotton - the knees must be well padded in SCA combat for safety. It is also a good idea to pad the area just below the knee quite well too, to protect from stray shots.

You can either extend the padding all the way down the shin, ending in a foot stirrup as shown, or you can end it about 6 inches below the knee pad area. The long version is good if you plan to wear greaves, the short version is better if you want to wear full mail chausses. The short cut version often had a decorative border of leather or fabric along the bottom edge (figure 1).

The knee cop is made from a variation of the pattern shown (figure 3). It should be well dished, and the edges rounded and smoothed, particularly if you are going to use it as hidden armour - this will keep it from snagging the overlying fabric. The knee cop should be fairly large, so it covers the entire knee, even when bent.

The knee cop is fastened onto the padding by three sets of arming points, which go through three sets of holes in the knee cop; two at each side, and two at the top.

We will be making knee cops like this at the Armourers' workshop at Paul DeGory's (see upcoming event section); try to be there and have a go at hammerwork. Happy armouring!