Quote:
Originally Posted by Cheomesh
There's a vast difference between cast bronze plates and hammered iron ones. Plate defenses did exist in the period - greaves are listed alongside chausses in documents from his Empire.
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Just keep in mind that having a Latin word for "leg defense" and a Romance word in use at the same time does not mean that there were two types of armour with two different names. Understanding Carolingian arms and armour is hard because they did not give them to the gods, bury them with the dead, or produce so many that some scraps were buried rather than being recycled, and the art and literature which survive are closely modeled on Roman models. The Osprey
Carolingian Cavalry by David Niccole is pretty good and leans towards "several types of kit were in use" rather than "it was all a handful of types of plate helmet, mail shirt, and mail legging."