Medieval armor Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Medieval armor - Research Paper Example However, armor was associated with rank within the military and served the purposes of the cultural event of war as much as it served the functionality of battle. As well, it often designated the role of the individual within society, the type of armor worn having relevance to class and social status. Armor served a great number of purposes within the medieval social environment and was not strictly a resource for functionality. Armor began to appear in the fourth century in Europe, often made from what was left behind by the Roman soldiers who had tried to conquer the lands. Barbarians began to construct protection from what was left behind and setting up the culture to eventually improves upon those designs. As metallurgy began to grow technologically, armor began to reflect a higher sophistication in its manufacture (DeVries and Smith 38). The many types of armor during the Middle ages are numerous and vary from one country to the next. However, the basic European styles of armor were divided by head armor and body armor, with differences in each section. Head armor was a vital form of armor in that it protected the most vulnerable and essential part of the fighter. The head was vulnerable to cutting, thrusting, and bludgeoning moves that would immediately take down or kill an offender. A common configuration of armor was a chain mail hood, called the camail or the coif de mailles, with a metal helmet placed over the chain mail (Cosman and Jones 2