You're an Italian linguist with an English accent, perfectly pronouncing words in all languages, playing video games and talking about history on TH-cam. You're my new idol!
+Metatron For the white Italian armor I can totally understand the leather straps on the outside. I cannot see any effective way to cut them because they are on the from of the cuirass and a very accurate draw cut with a sword other cutting/chopping weapon would be needed to cut it. This along with the fact that the person in the armor would have have at least one arm or weapon between their opponent and their chest would make it exceedingly unlikely for their opponent to be able to make a clean chop or slash to these straps. Also, if I was faced with someone wearing white Italian armor I probably would not be paying attention to non vital areas on their body.
The Italian armor looks like it's worn by the nice, kind, well spoken, chivalrous guy, who gets brutally killed by some bandits at the beginning of the episode. Then Guts comes in his Gothic armor, and just destroys the bandits.
Im going to say I honestly prefer the German Gothic Armor becuase it looks much darker and menacing from an aesthetic perspective, but also becuase I have worn both suit styles and honestly felt better in the Gothic armor.
I'm no expert but i thought that German steel (as a material) was supposed to be a little higher quality even if the designs were pretty similar? That could just be a revisionist view since Germany industrialized quickly and became one of the best sources of steel during the modern period though.
3 years later, but my impression is exactly the opposite. Yes, the sallet is badass, but the Italian armour with its big shoulder protection and solid surfaces looks more badass than the finely fluted and shaped Gothic armour.
Metal helmets in WW1 and after were callbacks to medieval helmets. Functional helmets had so long been unused in battle that all participants designed new models after medieval helmets. Why not stick with what works?
Both the Adrian and the Brodie helmet were based off the Kettle hat a verry common helmet existing during the medieval period and were especially popular with the peasant soldiers as it gave very good protection from attacks coming in from the top such as arrows and downwards sword blows, which meant the ww1 helmets were very effective at protecting from ovehead shrapnel
I am an American with a German and Irish bloodline, but I still find the Italian White Armor to be the most aesthetically pleasing. All Time Favorite Armor hands down!
I am an Italian American, with family from Castellammare del golfo,Sicily and Avellino, Campania,.by way of Bensonhurst and Canarsie Brooklyn,..Cosa Nostra Soldato,..Italian armor is the Best,like all things Italian,..Morte Prima Di Disonore
Aesthetically I prefer gothic armour to Italian armour, but I prefer Italian armour to Maximilian armour. The most beautiful in my opinion though, is 16th century Greenwich armour. Unfortunately I don't have enough hands-on experience to form an opinion from a practical perspective.
Lancer... I agree with you entirely in relation to your thoughts on Greenwich armour. The foot armour made for Henry VIII to use in tournament at the Field of the Cloth of Gold (then unused, as the French decided to change the arming rules shortly before the event) was, in my opinion, the finest harness ever made.
The 16th century Greenwich armour is a copy of Bavarian armour, like the famous examples in the Metropolitan Museum : www.metmuseum.org/-/media/images/about-the-met/curatorial-departments/arms-and-armor/arms-and-armor_teaser.jpg?la=en
Well since I'm south German I have to side with the gothic armor. But the Italian is amazing as well it's a hard choice especially if I'm not only going by esthetics. So like I said I have to go with the gothic armor it gets a slight bonus because of its place of origin :D
no but really, I love both of the armours, if I could I´d combine parts of them (definitely that sweet german helmet with the great looking italian breastplate) Grüße aus Deutschland!
While I certainly appreciate the workmanship, beautiful detail and lines of German Gothic Armor (and a sallet just looks plain mean), the aesthetic of a beautiful Milanese harness with it's big swooping compound curves, asymmetrical pauldrons and a gorgeous armet just does it for me (maybe it's my Italian heritage)! Oh, and I couldn't help but notice your use of a very familiar harness to me for your example of a 14th century knight! Thanks! ;)
Knyght Errant My pleasure, I have just seen three in a row xD We have a similar subscriber count, how about a shout? We could mention eachother's channel in our next video, our channels need to grow to spread the beauty of armour and history to the world, and interchanging the comunity would be a good way to do so, what do you think? ^_^
Knyght Errant Fantastic, it will be an honour to be mentioned in your channel, I had seen that video of yours, how a man shall be armed a long time ago, and I think I must have watched it 10 times xD And I remember that I had showed the one about mobility to a person who wouldn't believe you could run in armour xD Ok I will do that too in my next video pal, keep it up ^^
I love the Gothic style, but I love the Italian simplicity and efficiency. Almost like the modern Japanese philosophy of technology. Great video again 😊
You know i rarely subscribe to people online unless I really like their videos, and I gotta say I subscribed after the second video I saw. Love the explanation armour design purposes I enjoy minor blacksmithing and making concept art for armours so this really helps make my designs more practical.
Hence the mass use of weapons such as Halberds and Polehammers in the 15th century, though it wasn't long after this that firearms started to make plate armour utterly redundant.
Although armor could withstand bullets as well. That's where the word "bulletproof" came from. They shot a bullet into the armor and the dent was the "proof" that it could withstand a bullet. It just got to be too expensive to arm and armor the knights and the feudal system was changing.
plate armour was still a thing until way after firearms where implemented, however full plate largelly disapeared, what we got instead where extremely heavy breast plates that where angled forward to deflect musket balls, which where worn by cavalerymen, as they where simply too heavy for foot soldiers. armour against firearms completely disapeared when rifles where invented, which gave shooters enough accuracy to simply aim for the less well armoured body parts, especially when cavalerymen are just charging in a straight line. and the later invention of smokeless gunpowder made rifles so powerfull that they could have punched through any form of plate armour easily.
@@windhelmguard5295 not quite because if that were as true as you imply kevlar and the metal plates they put inside would be useless. The truth of the fall of the knights is that a untrained man could easily learn how to use a gun while knights spent many years training and shit tons of money on armor. In summary its just cheaper, faster, and easier to just give some peasants guns than to employ knights.
@@Stoic_Zoomer i do t know but i trust more the other guy coment seems more realistic, your lacks some things armor can stop early weapons 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 even early 18th armor was present maybe in small parts of the body like the chest or helmets even leg parts and we you combine armor with guns man that is EPIC im not saying that i am a expert but i know that the Armor was present in those centuries
wearing complete armour looks verry verry hot, as in, warm. Must have been verry hard to fight in wars during Italian summer in full armor due to the heat. Maybe some knights even fainted.
Interestingly enough: The knight would arrive onto the battlefield in just a triple layered arming Gambeson. His squire would carry his armor onto the field and fit the kit onto him as troops were lining up for battle. This way, the knight didn't have to fight for too long in full plate. I personally own two kits. A custom forged suit of Churburg armor. And a Suit of Milanese armor. I too wear the multi layers. Starting with a base layer of Underarmour Heatgear. Then with the tailored Arming Gambeson/Doublet. Then with the Arming cap. Then with the Riveted Chain skirt. Then with the Riveted Chainmail. Then with the Riveted Chain Aventail. Then with the suit of 14ga cold rolled steel plate. Then with the leather belt, pouches, bota bag etc. Then with the Arming Sword and Heater Shield. All together it weighs just at 150lbs. And you have no idea how miserable it gets. If the outside temp is more than 60 degrees. You will bake alive inside it. Your sweat cannot evaporate, so it soaks into your gambeson, making it heavier, causing chaffing. You eventually start to get light headed and can collapse from heatstroke if careless. If the humidity outside is more than 50%. You're fucked. You might aswell just leave the armor on it's stand. I recently figured out a way to combat the cooking alive inside the closed up quadruple layered armor. A Liquid Nitrogen cooling vest. It's a vest with veins of nitrogen attached to a lithium battery pack you can strap to your belt. The battery lasts about 6 hours fully charged and keeps you surface temp at around a comfortable 70 degrees.
Worth noting though is that as armour got more and more advanced, the less padding you needed. In the late middle ages you had almost no padding under the armour simply because you didn't need it. As I'm sure you know, plate is quite an effective shock absorber on its own, and even if it was more protecting to wear a thick gambeson underneath it, a man-at-arms would chose to not wear one simply because you cannot fight properly, as you describe. Of course, all this differs depending on the year. In the 14th century gambesons under plate were more common than they were in the late 15th century when plate got better.
Well, I consider the two to be different things. But yes, an arming doublet was worn, though it had less to do with padding and more to make the armour more comfortable to wear, and providing a means to fasten your armour.
noobkaka567 Breathing through the full helmet looks particularly challenging, I'd ditch the helmet and just guard my face proactively if I were a soldier in those tines
I like elements of both armour and I find both look good. I like for example the fluting of Gothic armour and I like the asymmetric element of Italian armour. It is really hard to pick one over the other. And even combining the two in to one (Like you sort of see with the Maximilian armour) does not necessarily make it more Aesthetically pleasing. It often is down to the indivdual armour it self for me then a specific style.
I'm with you on this. I think both types are great, but sword to my head... I'll go with the Gothic. No! The Italian armor. No! The Gothic armor, hands down...but the Italian armor is great.
Amazing video and overall content, you have officially become my fourth horseman in terms of medieval knowledge, along scholagladiatoria, skallagrim and lindybeige. Bravissimo il video! congratulazioni e aspeto che ci fai di piu, grazie (probably butchered it but it was worth a shot XD)
+melchaios thank you so much for watching and commenting and thank you for the kind "Italian" words, which need a bit of work but I could understand them and appreciate the effort :D
GREAT VIDEO! I think Maximilian Plate is my favorite from an aesthetic point of view. I really liked your explanation of the practical reasons for the construction of each set of armor. Thanks for posting the video.
I like the Italian armor better. It really looks like the maximized the coverage of all of the weak points to make an overall more defensive armor. Then again, I'm Italian-American so perhaps I am biased too.
My favorite have to be the white Italian armor, fluting is nice, and the gothic armor is very ornate but the white Italian armor simply looks like the main character of the movie XD and the gothic looks like the villain to me, idk why haha but the white Italian is definitely my taste
gothic still looks heroic tbh. maybe not nice-guy white-cape stereotype hero, but more badass darkened brooding hero. if you want a villain look, id think more black with spikes and a barbute
This was very informative and interesting. I personaly find bot types of armour to be stunning to look at. But in the end i must say that despite the amazing handycraft of the gothic type i still find the italian style to be my favorite. It just looks amazing and splendid with those sleak curved lines.
Wow just wow. I honestly thought everything I knew was right but seeing this I was so damn wrong. Thank you so much for showing true and actually giving me reinforcement on works and study of medieval arms.
Nice comparison! You could do analyses like this with more emphasis on the pros and cons of the armors. Like compare the helmets and other elements and describe which helmet does what better. Also factor in costs, material, working hours and required skill of the armorer. And in the end you could do a summary of the points and a final verdict.
You don’t need the word “mail” in what you’re saying here. Mail is used for the colloquially-named “chain mail”, the mesh of inter-connected rings. The armor which is being spoken of here is simply called plate, or plate armor if you want. “Chain mail” is simply called “mail” or “maille”. The addition of the word “mail” to the end of medieval armors (examples being “plate mail”, “chain mail”, and “scale mail”), is mainly a thing which comes from DnD and other such games, where the aforementioned armors are actually called Plate, Mail, and Lamellar Armor.
Thanks for concretely matching up phrases from different eras, with other descriptive details. My armor choice is tossed between these styles; this comparison confirms why, and less anachronistic than i figured.
Agree. Italian Armor looks like a knight errant while Gothic German Armor looks like a royal knight/knight in shining armor. Just my opinion since both are awesome.
Non me lo sarei mai immaginato tu fossi italiano prima di sentirtelo dire in questo video! In sti giorni ho guardato diversi dei video che tu hai fatto e diobono pensavo tu fossi di Londra a giudicare dall'accento! Comunque devo dire che apprezzo molto come ti poni nei video e l'accuratezza storica, Io ne so di più riguardo la storia militare romana e bizantina che europea medievale, tuttavia mi sembra comunque che tu parli con cognizione di causa e dica cose molto ragionevoli . Continua così!
Im Canadian and I like the White Italian armor over the others. I have heard and from engineering understanding how the fluting adds strength but I had thought the smooth Italian would be better at deflection. A blow landing between two flutes for instance is now buttressed on each side to not deflect. That is an opinion and wondering if you have references on fluting deflection.
B1 Laxson I agree but I think bladed weapons would be pretty ineffective against plate armour anyways and the fluting would add much needed protection against blunt weapons, which were intended for armoured individuals.
I think I will go for the Italian armour, because I just love the looks of it - so fancy! Even though I'd prefer a different helmet. Great video - and subscribed!
I'm with you italian armor is just sexy. Also I've preferred the armet style helm since I was a kid and that was before I knew about the practical benefits.
Overall enjoy the skepticism on the videos (skepticism as a good thing, as a philosophical term) and the fact that you seem to have a good understanding about actual combat skills. However... so much referencing as many of these centuries as medieval is kind of irksome. One of the important things about most of these armors is that they were developed in the early-mid Rennaissance... ironically where it originated: Italy. I think people are too stuck to the idea that Knights only existed from the medieval period and while I understand that there is a transitional period for nations all over Europe, the Rennaissance was perhaps the most interesting time to be a Knight because it perfectly symbolizes the ever present need to evolve warfare to overcome your enemy.
Dear Metatron i must say your videos are very informative and systematic and i truly enjoy them, i hope that this fantastic channel grows and i wish you all the best! Greetings from Serbia! Keep up the great work and thank you for these wonderful videos!
This must be the fifth or seventh video of yours I watch. Il suo inglese é perfetto. Sono italiani anche, e non ho potuto notare vostra cadenza. Now, back to English again, dear sir, the way you explain things and prepare your material is only comparable to that of a very good University professor. Extremely well done, will keep watching them as time allows me. Cheers and may you have a great day!
Was medieval Spanish armor similar to the Italians or did they employ both? Especially during their age of empire and even prior to that? Would be interesting to see something about the Spanish tercios too and their knights, armor, crossbowmen, and etc..I love your videos btw .....
Ho sempre pensato che fossi italiano dal momento in cui ti sei presentato nel primo video che ho visto e qui ne trovo conferma. Davvero molto interessanti i tuoi video. Hai un nuovo iscritto.
Even though I'm a German, I have to say I prefer the Italian armour over the German one. Biggest reason is probably because I don't like the look of sallets that much, and there's pretty much no way around sallets for German armour of that time. Also, Italian medieval fashion is the best, I've centered my own reenactment clothing around Northern Italy. :)
+TheDragonoftheWest contrariwise i'm italian and I prefer the aesthetics of Gothic armor ....I believe that the German is better for an horseman while the italian it's better for a footman (more mobility)
It varies from suit to suit but overall the White Italian has more of a modern, minimalist aesthetic, while the German Gothic looks a lot scarier. Ironically I associate the minimalist aesthetic with 'northern' design, and the elaborate fluting/detail with 'southern' design (though my palette is admittedly quite limited).
I gotta say, I certainly do like the design of the Italian armor. Besides the armor, I also very much enjoy your channel. I've shared quite a few your videos and many seem to like them. Also, your voice is very pleasant and the enthusiasm puts a smile on my face. I raise a cup to you and hope for the best for your channel, and for yourself. Long may the sun shine.
I just found your channel. You look exactly like my late friend. Being German by blood I like the Gothic armor but I like the Italian armor as well. You do realize that our people mixed from ancient times. The Romans controlled parts of Germania and later the German tribes controlled most of Italy from Rome North. That's why the best armorers were found in Sothern Germany and Northern Italy. I'm mostly into Viking weapons and reenacting being Saxon and Dane but I love the Medieval weapons and armor as well. Thanks again for sharing.
You have no idea what you're talking about. Several Germanic Tribes sacked Rome and controlled Italy from Rome Northwards. Go read some more before you post nonsense you found on the internet. Thank you
referring to "etruscans" in the 6th century A.D. is the same as calling the greek colonists of the 8th century B.C. in Byzantium "Byzantines". The Etruscan League had long since disappeared, and all Latin peoples were romanized by the time of the Lombard invasion. Also, guess who conquered Italy after the Langobards? The Franks (Germanic) and the Normans (who were also kinda Frankish), excluding the southern parts which were conquered by muslims. Also, how are the italians the only people in europe? You really need to study a bit more my friend :)
Rafael Maier actually the South was "conquered"by the Normans,and in greater extent compared to the arabs,and their influence and aristocratic dominance was pretty strong till 1860.
My family used to make that style of armour near Brescia where they were from. They went to Torino for a while and I was surprised to see that a large portion of the exhibits in the armoury there were either their personal sets, or sets produced by them. They even had a mini one for a kid from our family. The collection was one of the most ornate things I have ever seen. I got the impression that it was as much about showing off as it was about functionality.
+Agustin Aiello Italian armor protects better (atleast as a footman) Gothic armor protects you better when you are on horseback. It has better/more armor there where you are supposed to be hit when you fight mounted.
+Eurobean that is the opposite of the truth. the Italian armor developed the way it did because after the dark ages, Italy was doing fairly well, and could afford to participate in more leisurely armed sports like jousting. in jousting you want a smooth glancing surface to deflect lance blows. its also why Italian armors have asymmetrical pauldrons, couters, and sometimes even gauntlets; because they needed the large guards on the left, and mobility/space on the right to hold a lance. The Germans vastly preferred armored foot combat, like longsword fencing. for this, they weren't worried about a lance catching on the fluting, they were much more concerned about things like the beak of a war hammer punching through the plates. not that jousting can't be done in Gothic plate, but imagine trying to hold a lance with the large besagews right in the armpit. sorry about the rant, but I feel like you missed half the point of the video.
Finally someone who is using REAL history and facts about armour and related topics. Like you, it drives me nuts when 'Historical programs' show an arrow piercing armour etc. Well done and keep up the good work.
metatron, i'm a fan from italy and i've got a question, can you explain me how a man with a full plate armour like gothic armour can kill another man with another gothic armour with only a sword?
+Aiden Stanner Si certo, si usa una tecnica chiamata "half swording", la trovi nei manoscritti e trattati "gladiatoria" del 1435 - 1440. Ho fatto un paio di video dedicati a half swording. ps: sono italiano anch'io ^^
+Aiden Stanner also using the hilt of the sword as a hammer. normaly the blades would have different grades of sharpness along it for this kind of techniques so you can weild the blade safely.
Great Video Metatron! This helped visually understand Gothic Armour a lot more! I just finished reading a chapter on a book about medieval military technology by Kelly DeVries, about plate armor.
I had a dream years ago of wearing gorgeous armor with some flutes & etching everywhere. It was very Gothic, with a few 'twists'. It also had a cobalt tinge to it. Like the sky was reflecting it, despite being in a deep green forest. Wasn't my armour in the dream but belonged to a friend who lent it to me. Just seeing this Gothic armour is like a nostalgic trip. Close enough to make me dreamy-eyed again. Thank you for sharing this vid!
To say that fluting strenghten the armor is, unfortunately, an oversemplification. 1) For the same area covered and the same thickness, a fluted plate is heavier. 2) For the same area covered and the same weight (that's the real limitation of what a man can carry) a fluted plate is thinner. 3) For the same area covered and the same weight, a flat, or almost flat, fluted plate, is stiffer, less prone to be bent, so is a better protection against blunt weapons. 4) For the same area covered and the same weight, a flat, or almost flat, fluted plate is more prone to be pierced, cause is thinner, and cause the flutes are less likely to deflect the blows, and more likely to offer them an orthogonal surface where they can have the maximum effect, so is a worst protection against piercing weapons. 5) the stiffening effect of fluting decreases as long as the curvature of the plate increase (infact the section of a sphere is naturally resistant to be bent, think of the helmet, or the pauldron), until, for a certain curvature, the effect is reversed, and flutes actually makes the plate less stiff.
+Neutron Alchemist On #3, it's worth noting that once you cross a certain threshold, all slashing/hacking attacks act as blunt attacks. That threshold will vary by weapon. I'm pretty sure #4 is only true in certain situations. Like, it's certainly true for jousting, because there is so much power behind a thrust that you'd need half inch plate to prevent a pierce. But for foot soldiers? When aligned in the proper direction, thinner fluted plate will actually put significantly more material in the way of a piercing weapon. The whole key to fluting is aligning the flutes in the most advantageous direction. Piercing for a foot soldier is probably one of their least concerns, as weapons specifically designed to pierce put so much power into the pierce that no practical armor will be able to stop them. So the armor is going to focus first on preventing slashing and blunt attacks, and fluting lets you use significantly thinner, and therefore lighter and potentially cheaper armor (I honestly don't know the breakdown between materials and labor, so it may well not be cheaper - it wouldn't be today). So, to summarize. Fluted armor is bad for jousting. Well made fluted armor is great for hand to hand combat. Poorly made fluted armor is bad at everything. Flat armor is slightly harder to screw up than fluted armor.
+Jeffery Wells The armors shown are not intended for foot soldiers. They were incredibly costly items that only a few could afford. The level of craftsmanship involved in their making was so high that fluting or not the plates was only a question of preferred style, not of cost. A well equipped foot soldier of the same period would have worn a brigandine over a mail shirt, or a simple breastplate, with a single piece, or a simple two piece, helmet as a complement. The fact that a flat surface is more apt to deflect blows, while the flutes are less likely to deflect the blows, and more likely to offer them an orthogonal surface where the blows can have the maximum effect, means exactly that the flat surface does not need to be thick enough to stop the weapon, but only enough to deflect it. Once the blow (of the quarrel, spear, pollaxe, halberd...) is deflected, it's power had not been absorbed by the armor, but is simply directed elsewhere. The percentage of the force that the armor has to absorb is higher the more the incoming angle of the blow is closer to 90 degrees.
+Jeffery Wells Please. First, is sufficient to look at the sabatons of the gotic armors to see that they were not made for someone that had to walk. Those armors were not only only intended only for cavalry, but specifically for heavy cavalry. Second. The man who could pay for a complete armor like the ones shown could easily equip himself not only with one, but with several war horses, so why on he earth should he have to fight on foot? To die more easily? Third. Hardly any of those armors were designed for real fights at all. The armors survived until now were primarly parade armors (and that's why they survived), and secondarily joust armors. On the battlefield, even the knights tended to wear far lighter armors (IE the Italian corsaletto. Not by chance Giovanni de Medici was buried in one). Even more, since, at the same time those armors were developed, the heavy cavalry was at it's end. Following the example of the Venetian Stratioti, the european armies were relying more and more on light cavalry, and this led to a lightening of the armors (that soon would have consisted only of a curiass and an helmet).
Thanks for the presentation of the differences. Love your attention to detail. Besides the Italian and Gothic armors, were the armors of England, France Spain, Poland, Russia, Ottoman Empire very different as well? Also, maybe in another video, you can talk more about how the differences translated to battle effectiveness. Was the added mobility of the Italian armor more useful? Was the Gothic fluting useful, and not just pretty?? etc etc..
Great stuff, until very recently I was 100% behind German Gothic armour despite knowing that Northern Italians were good at making armour too but seeing this video made me aware of certain facts, thanks.
@Metatron I am hungarian and some time ago I looked at some artwork from the battle at Mohács in 1526 and saw on the hungarian knights and warriors kinda gothic armor. So I wondered if the hungarians had they own armor style or did they just copy others like the gothic style. If it is a big enough topic I would be glad to see a video of this topic.
Late? Yes I am, but, I must defend the beautifulness of Italian engineering, no one will buy a Mercedes or an Audi than a Maserati or a Pagani, I am not even talking about Ferrari because it would be an Overkill, in architecture, we have the Cathedral of Milan, Pavia Monastery, Palazzo Vecchio and others, in dressing I don't need to say a thing, overall, Italy Engineering is unbeatable
I have to say if it were up to me I would get all 3 of them, the Gothic Armor ones just look so artistic, it's fluting gives it so much character, it's very designed spring to mind of famous paintings, you could literally decore the whole thing via fluting, but the Italian White Millanes Armor, look at all that sleek polish design but the design of the overall plate, the angle of the shoulders & the armet, it literally ties the whole thing together, then we have the Maximillian Armor, la creme la creme of armors, fluting all around yet new and more improved angle designation of the plates, sleek & strong, for I would get a riveted chainmail shirt & cover pieces for the exposed parts, boiled leather padded armor with wool, for the underside, zweihander and tabard with the Teutonic Knights, my favorite knightly order. and I would be very happy! :D Just put all that thing on, walk around in or outside, to show off, oh
You're an Italian linguist with an English accent, perfectly pronouncing words in all languages, playing video games and talking about history on TH-cam. You're my new idol!
+Ioachim-Savian Popovici ahahah thank you very much Ioachim ^^
Yeah, what he said!
+Metatron For the white Italian armor I can totally understand the leather straps on the outside. I cannot see any effective way to cut them because they are on the from of the cuirass and a very accurate draw cut with a sword other cutting/chopping weapon would be needed to cut it. This along with the fact that the person in the armor would have have at least one arm or weapon between their opponent and their chest would make it exceedingly unlikely for their opponent to be able to make a clean chop or slash to these straps. Also, if I was faced with someone wearing white Italian armor I probably would not be paying attention to non vital areas on their body.
+John Remulus I thought he was British by his accent.
+John Remulus ITALIAN?
The gothic armor always looks like fantasy "evil empire" armor, while the Italian armor looks like the romantic, protagonist's armor.
Hell yeah, could not be better described! Why in my mind allways comes to mp game Chivalry I and II :D
I always think of them as German Gothic is like batman and Italian white is like superman.
The Italian armor looks like it's worn by the nice, kind, well spoken, chivalrous guy, who gets brutally killed by some bandits at the beginning of the episode. Then Guts comes in his Gothic armor, and just destroys the bandits.
YES EXACTLY WHAT I WAS THINKING
Germany, every time when it comes to uniforms:
Evil empire/Badass/intimidating
I am bavarian... Of course the gothic armor is fucking beautiful
Especially armors from the master armorers in Augsburg.
@@Ramidemi710 oder Nürnberg, und dass sag ich als, Augsburger 😄
gothic armor is just AWESOME !!!
Vorallem die Helme sind wunderschön
Especially the helmets are very beautyful
Morte Prima Di Disonore, Italians armor is the best, .like all things Italian...
Still the Sallet helmet is my favorite of all time. German Gothic wins for me. I love fluting.
Same brother
The sallet was invented in Northern Italy.
@Cuddlerooster 3 Months and I still have to say that that's the reason why it's so awesome. It's not a hairstyle, it's a helmet.
@@shrektheswampless6102 noboda sayed original sallett. German sallett
I prefer italian helmet ... ( Everyone ...)
Me: i...
Everyone : HERESY DETECTED
Im going to say I honestly prefer the German Gothic Armor becuase it looks much darker and menacing from an aesthetic perspective, but also becuase I have worn both suit styles and honestly felt better in the Gothic armor.
Alex flake muh fashion souls
The german sallet just looks soooo badass.
it dosent look badass, it looks German ^^
Silberzunge Same thing
I fixed it -> It doesn't just look badass, it looks German!
Germans and their Helmet mastery!
But how the hell were those guys able to see a damn thing through that helmet?
In terms of functionality and effectiveness, there's no difference between Gothic and Italian styles. In looks, I prefer Italian style.
Exactly. Both countries got the best armors back then. I prefer the German style... looks just more "badass" in my opinion.
I'm no expert but i thought that German steel (as a material) was supposed to be a little higher quality even if the designs were pretty similar? That could just be a revisionist view since Germany industrialized quickly and became one of the best sources of steel during the modern period though.
@@arthas640 Milanese workshops imported their steel, most likely from Germany.
I love the asymmetrical pauldrons but other than that I prefer the gothic style, especially the helmets.
@@arthas640 the negroli brothers of Milanese descent were the best armor makers of their day, making armors for the HRE emperors
gothic armor is more badass, but Italian armor is more beutifull
+nachoolo if u think about it, it reinforced the stereotype around them... XD
nachoolo kind of like hetalia axis powers. germany is more badass and italy has a flowery personality
SPELL CHECK, YOU MUPPET
I think you just put it perfectly
3 years later, but my impression is exactly the opposite.
Yes, the sallet is badass, but the Italian armour with its big shoulder protection and solid surfaces looks more badass than the finely fluted and shaped Gothic armour.
I guess its needless to say where the ww2 german helmets got their inspiration from...
I don't think he means helmet as a concept but The shape that has a little cap and stuff. many helmets now days are of similar shape.
Metal helmets in WW1 and after were callbacks to medieval helmets. Functional helmets had so long been unused in battle that all participants designed new models after medieval helmets. Why not stick with what works?
Both the Adrian and the Brodie helmet were based off the Kettle hat a verry common helmet existing during the medieval period and were especially popular with the peasant soldiers as it gave very good protection from attacks coming in from the top such as arrows and downwards sword blows, which meant the ww1 helmets were very effective at protecting from ovehead shrapnel
The Mad Ninja the inspiration for the german helmets were from motorcycle helmets that were used in the time
Isra Gammer they were based of sallets motorcycle helmets look like German helmets out of spite of a law in the 60s
I am an American with a German and Irish bloodline, but I still find the Italian White Armor to be the most aesthetically pleasing. All Time Favorite Armor hands down!
I am an Italian American, with family from Castellammare del golfo,Sicily and Avellino, Campania,.by way of Bensonhurst and Canarsie Brooklyn,..Cosa Nostra Soldato,..Italian armor is the Best,like all things Italian,..Morte Prima Di Disonore
Aesthetically I prefer gothic armour to Italian armour, but I prefer Italian armour to Maximilian armour. The most beautiful in my opinion though, is 16th century Greenwich armour. Unfortunately I don't have enough hands-on experience to form an opinion from a practical perspective.
+lancer D It's a shame we have no use for such wonderful pieces of art any more. It looks timeless.
Lancer... I agree with you entirely in relation to your thoughts on Greenwich armour. The foot armour made for Henry VIII to use in tournament at the Field of the Cloth of Gold (then unused, as the French decided to change the arming rules shortly before the event) was, in my opinion, the finest harness ever made.
It was produced by bringing in German, Italian and Flemish blacksmiths, funny, isn't it?
The 16th century Greenwich armour is a copy of Bavarian armour, like the famous examples in the Metropolitan Museum : www.metmuseum.org/-/media/images/about-the-met/curatorial-departments/arms-and-armor/arms-and-armor_teaser.jpg?la=en
"Seeing these indian sheet metal armor pierced by katanas and longswords". - Oh my god, I see what you did there xD.
The return of bob the coconut terror
Well since I'm south German I have to side with the gothic armor.
But the Italian is amazing as well it's a hard choice especially if I'm not only going by esthetics.
So like I said I have to go with the gothic armor it gets a slight bonus because of its place of origin :D
five layers
five
layers
no but really, I love both of the armours, if I could I´d combine parts of them (definitely that sweet german helmet with the great looking italian breastplate)
Grüße aus Deutschland!
+Lion Reichelt it's quite impressive really, they were literally walking tanks
I used to be an adventurer like you.......until I took an arrow to the knee
Lion Reichelt weird, I've always though if I could have one of those beautiful fluted Gothic armor without the kinda dorky helmet
***** exactly
While I certainly appreciate the workmanship, beautiful detail and lines of German Gothic Armor (and a sallet just looks plain mean), the aesthetic of a beautiful Milanese harness with it's big swooping compound curves, asymmetrical pauldrons and a gorgeous armet just does it for me (maybe it's my Italian heritage)!
Oh, and I couldn't help but notice your use of a very familiar harness to me for your example of a 14th century knight! Thanks! ;)
+Knyght Errant Hey there :D I have just subbed to your channel pal ^__^ ahaha that' was you wasn't it? :D I'm going to watch some of your videos today
Thank you! I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy yours!
Knyght Errant My pleasure, I have just seen three in a row xD We have a similar subscriber count, how about a shout? We could mention eachother's channel in our next video, our channels need to grow to spread the beauty of armour and history to the world, and interchanging the comunity would be a good way to do so, what do you think? ^_^
Sure! No problem, I will mention your channel and put a link in the description to it in my next video.
Knyght Errant Fantastic, it will be an honour to be mentioned in your channel, I had seen that video of yours, how a man shall be armed a long time ago, and I think I must have watched it 10 times xD And I remember that I had showed the one about mobility to a person who wouldn't believe you could run in armour xD
Ok I will do that too in my next video pal, keep it up ^^
I prefer Italian armor look! most likely i just like italy and everything related to it. Its hard to compete with artists in terms of esthethics.
I love the Gothic style, but I love the Italian simplicity and efficiency. Almost like the modern Japanese philosophy of technology. Great video again 😊
You know i rarely subscribe to people online unless I really like their videos, and I gotta say I subscribed after the second video I saw. Love the explanation armour design purposes I enjoy minor blacksmithing and making concept art for armours so this really helps make my designs more practical.
+1Forge 2RuleThemAll (1Forge2RuleThemAll) Thank you very much for subscribing, I really appreciate :D
damn with all that plate and mail they seem almost invincible
Hence the mass use of weapons such as Halberds and Polehammers in the 15th century, though it wasn't long after this that firearms started to make plate armour utterly redundant.
Although armor could withstand bullets as well. That's where the word "bulletproof" came from. They shot a bullet into the armor and the dent was the "proof" that it could withstand a bullet. It just got to be too expensive to arm and armor the knights and the feudal system was changing.
plate armour was still a thing until way after firearms where implemented, however full plate largelly disapeared, what we got instead where extremely heavy breast plates that where angled forward to deflect musket balls, which where worn by cavalerymen, as they where simply too heavy for foot soldiers.
armour against firearms completely disapeared when rifles where invented, which gave shooters enough accuracy to simply aim for the less well armoured body parts, especially when cavalerymen are just charging in a straight line.
and the later invention of smokeless gunpowder made rifles so powerfull that they could have punched through any form of plate armour easily.
@@windhelmguard5295 not quite because if that were as true as you imply kevlar and the metal plates they put inside would be useless. The truth of the fall of the knights is that a untrained man could easily learn how to use a gun while knights spent many years training and shit tons of money on armor. In summary its just cheaper, faster, and easier to just give some peasants guns than to employ knights.
@@Stoic_Zoomer i do t know but i trust more the other guy coment seems more realistic, your lacks some things armor can stop early weapons 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 even early 18th armor was present maybe in small parts of the body like the chest or helmets even leg parts and we you combine armor with guns man that is EPIC im not saying that i am a expert but i know that the Armor was present in those centuries
wearing complete armour looks verry verry hot, as in, warm. Must have been verry hard to fight in wars during Italian summer in full armor due to the heat. Maybe some knights even fainted.
Interestingly enough: The knight would arrive onto the battlefield in just a triple layered arming Gambeson. His squire would carry his armor onto the field and fit the kit onto him as troops were lining up for battle. This way, the knight didn't have to fight for too long in full plate. I personally own two kits. A custom forged suit of Churburg armor. And a Suit of Milanese armor. I too wear the multi layers.
Starting with a base layer of Underarmour Heatgear.
Then with the tailored Arming Gambeson/Doublet.
Then with the Arming cap.
Then with the Riveted Chain skirt.
Then with the Riveted Chainmail.
Then with the Riveted Chain Aventail.
Then with the suit of 14ga cold rolled steel plate.
Then with the leather belt, pouches, bota bag etc.
Then with the Arming Sword and Heater Shield.
All together it weighs just at 150lbs. And you have no idea how miserable it gets. If the outside temp is more than 60 degrees. You will bake alive inside it. Your sweat cannot evaporate, so it soaks into your gambeson, making it heavier, causing chaffing. You eventually start to get light headed and can collapse from heatstroke if careless.
If the humidity outside is more than 50%. You're fucked. You might aswell just leave the armor on it's stand.
I recently figured out a way to combat the cooking alive inside the closed up quadruple layered armor. A Liquid Nitrogen cooling vest. It's a vest with veins of nitrogen attached to a lithium battery pack you can strap to your belt. The battery lasts about 6 hours fully charged and keeps you surface temp at around a comfortable 70 degrees.
William Merzlak hahahaha really?
Worth noting though is that as armour got more and more advanced, the less padding you needed. In the late middle ages you had almost no padding under the armour simply because you didn't need it. As I'm sure you know, plate is quite an effective shock absorber on its own, and even if it was more protecting to wear a thick gambeson underneath it, a man-at-arms would chose to not wear one simply because you cannot fight properly, as you describe. Of course, all this differs depending on the year. In the 14th century gambesons under plate were more common than they were in the late 15th century when plate got better.
Well, I consider the two to be different things. But yes, an arming doublet was worn, though it had less to do with padding and more to make the armour more comfortable to wear, and providing a means to fasten your armour.
noobkaka567 Breathing through the full helmet looks particularly challenging, I'd ditch the helmet and just guard my face proactively if I were a soldier in those tines
I like elements of both armour and I find both look good. I like for example the fluting of Gothic armour and I like the asymmetric element of Italian armour. It is really hard to pick one over the other. And even combining the two in to one (Like you sort of see with the Maximilian armour) does not necessarily make it more Aesthetically pleasing. It often is down to the indivdual armour it self for me then a specific style.
Italian white armour looks amazing! Although I like the sallet, the armet is still my favourite 15th century helmet.
i prefer the "flat" faced bascinet
The Sallet originated in Italy
i prefer gothic just because of the Looks and because I'm German ^^
I'm Saxon and viking
I'm half German half Italian.... I'm literally torn between them both :(
Ow your Saxon to lol and love the cultures you come from I'm Irish to a little bit but I love my Norse heritage
I'm Asian........
Well, I need the samurai one with a Tanegashima gun XD
I don't know what a tagashma gun is
is different it wrong to say I love both? XD
+ImmersiveGamer83 I probably would say the same if I weren't Italian ;)
+Metatron I like the Gothic armor the most. There is some thing very graceful and beautiful about it.
Nah dude, they're both pretty great
I'm with you on this. I think both types are great, but sword to my head... I'll go with the Gothic. No! The Italian armor. No! The Gothic armor, hands down...but the Italian armor is great.
Amazing video and overall content, you have officially become my fourth horseman in terms of medieval knowledge, along scholagladiatoria, skallagrim and lindybeige. Bravissimo il video! congratulazioni e aspeto che ci fai di piu, grazie (probably butchered it but it was worth a shot XD)
+melchaios thank you so much for watching and commenting and thank you for the kind "Italian" words, which need a bit of work but I could understand them and appreciate the effort :D
GREAT VIDEO! I think Maximilian Plate is my favorite from an aesthetic point of view. I really liked your explanation of the practical reasons for the construction of each set of armor. Thanks for posting the video.
The Italian Lion Armour in the Leeds Armoury is insane, more fantastic than anything from fantasy, it's worth going just to see it.
The Italian, every day in every way.
I like the Italian armor better. It really looks like the maximized the coverage of all of the weak points to make an overall more defensive armor. Then again, I'm Italian-American so perhaps I am biased too.
My favorite have to be the white Italian armor, fluting is nice, and the gothic armor is very ornate but the white Italian armor simply looks like the main character of the movie XD and the gothic looks like the villain to me, idk why haha but the white Italian is definitely my taste
gothic still looks heroic tbh. maybe not nice-guy white-cape stereotype hero, but more badass darkened brooding hero. if you want a villain look, id think more black with spikes and a barbute
Heart Fire true lol like an anti hero, would do anything for the greater good
"Is it bulletproof?"
This was very informative and interesting. I personaly find bot types of armour to be stunning to look at. But in the end i must say that despite the amazing handycraft of the gothic type i still find the italian style to be my favorite. It just looks amazing and splendid with those sleak curved lines.
Wow just wow. I honestly thought everything I knew was right but seeing this I was so damn wrong. Thank you so much for showing true and actually giving me reinforcement on works and study of medieval arms.
5 strati... durante le battaglie estive la maggior parte dei caduti era per il caldo
Nice comparison! You could do analyses like this with more emphasis on the pros and cons of the armors. Like compare the helmets and other elements and describe which helmet does what better. Also factor in costs, material, working hours and required skill of the armorer.
And in the end you could do a summary of the points and a final verdict.
I much prefer gothic plate mail over white Italian.
You don’t need the word “mail” in what you’re saying here. Mail is used for the colloquially-named “chain mail”, the mesh of inter-connected rings. The armor which is being spoken of here is simply called plate, or plate armor if you want. “Chain mail” is simply called “mail” or “maille”. The addition of the word “mail” to the end of medieval armors (examples being “plate mail”, “chain mail”, and “scale mail”), is mainly a thing which comes from DnD and other such games, where the aforementioned armors are actually called Plate, Mail, and Lamellar Armor.
PVEntertainment I believe he means, plate with an underlay of mail.
I prefer Gothic
Plate mail is *inferior* compared to this. Full plate my man
Thanks for concretely matching up phrases from different eras, with other descriptive details. My armor choice is tossed between these styles; this comparison confirms why, and less anachronistic than i figured.
I like the Italian more but I've always been more partial to the earlier medieval look, I love the tunics and chainmail :)
Excellent information, thank you for not just putting out an opinion, but facts, well thought out and delivered!
Italian armour is definitely the winner here--extremely beautiful and artistic! Thank you very much for taking the time to share it with us!
Agree. Italian Armor looks like a knight errant while Gothic German Armor looks like a royal knight/knight in shining armor. Just my opinion since both are awesome.
always jee
Non me lo sarei mai immaginato tu fossi italiano prima di sentirtelo dire in questo video! In sti giorni ho guardato diversi dei video che tu hai fatto e diobono pensavo tu fossi di Londra a giudicare dall'accento!
Comunque devo dire che apprezzo molto come ti poni nei video e l'accuratezza storica, Io ne so di più riguardo la storia militare romana e bizantina che europea medievale, tuttavia mi sembra comunque che tu parli con cognizione di causa e dica cose molto ragionevoli .
Continua così!
Im Canadian and I like the White Italian armor over the others.
I have heard and from engineering understanding how the fluting adds strength but I had thought the smooth Italian would be better at deflection. A blow landing between two flutes for instance is now buttressed on each side to not deflect. That is an opinion and wondering if you have references on fluting deflection.
B1 Laxson was thinking the same
B1 Laxson I agree but I think bladed weapons would be pretty ineffective against plate armour anyways and the fluting would add much needed protection against blunt weapons, which were intended for armoured individuals.
I think I will go for the Italian armour, because I just love the looks of it - so fancy! Even though I'd prefer a different helmet. Great video - and subscribed!
I'm with you italian armor is just sexy. Also I've preferred the armet style helm since I was a kid and that was before I knew about the practical benefits.
Illuminating. More of these with the practical reasoning for the armor types please.
I prefer the Italian armor. It's very slick. Seems more elegant.
DreadfulMatt I would rather be alive than dead and dapper
honestly I always preferred the Gothic style, very intimidating and beautiful display of the armorer's craft.
Overall enjoy the skepticism on the videos (skepticism as a good thing, as a philosophical term) and the fact that you seem to have a good understanding about actual combat skills. However... so much referencing as many of these centuries as medieval is kind of irksome. One of the important things about most of these armors is that they were developed in the early-mid Rennaissance... ironically where it originated: Italy.
I think people are too stuck to the idea that Knights only existed from the medieval period and while I understand that there is a transitional period for nations all over Europe, the Rennaissance was perhaps the most interesting time to be a Knight because it perfectly symbolizes the ever present need to evolve warfare to overcome your enemy.
You know some books classify the end of the middle ages (mid to late 15th century) as renaissance tho, at least here in Italy
Dear Metatron i must say your videos are very informative and systematic and i truly enjoy them, i hope that this fantastic channel grows and i wish you all the best! Greetings from Serbia! Keep up the great work and thank you for these wonderful videos!
I'll go Italian! Superb looks.
@bruceownsu your opinion
This must be the fifth or seventh video of yours I watch. Il suo inglese é perfetto. Sono italiani anche, e non ho potuto notare vostra cadenza. Now, back to English again, dear sir, the way you explain things and prepare your material is only comparable to that of a very good University professor. Extremely well done, will keep watching them as time allows me.
Cheers and may you have a great day!
Well, i have to go with the maximillian armor.Is just very pleasing to the eye.
BTW i subscribed.Can i be a noble one now?
+Vlad JMK Ofcourse you are :D welcome among the nobleones ^^
Very informative, good use of historic comparisons.
Was medieval Spanish armor similar to the Italians or did they employ both? Especially during their age of empire and even prior to that? Would be interesting to see something about the Spanish tercios too and their knights, armor, crossbowmen, and etc..I love your videos btw .....
Ho sempre pensato che fossi italiano dal momento in cui ti sei presentato nel primo video che ho visto e qui ne trovo conferma. Davvero molto interessanti i tuoi video. Hai un nuovo iscritto.
Even though I'm a German, I have to say I prefer the Italian armour over the German one. Biggest reason is probably because I don't like the look of sallets that much, and there's pretty much no way around sallets for German armour of that time.
Also, Italian medieval fashion is the best, I've centered my own reenactment clothing around Northern Italy. :)
+TheDragonoftheWest contrariwise i'm italian and I prefer the aesthetics of Gothic armor ....I believe that the German is better for an horseman while the italian it's better for a footman (more mobility)
@@manuel77598 actually its the opposite. The Germans foucsed more on fighting on foot rather than horseback and with the Italians Visa versa.
I laughed my ass off when you brought up that armor debunking video towards the end there, thanks for that! XD
Gothic armour just looks epic! It's by far the most esthetic looking armour :-)
Love you man. Your videos are beyond fascinating.
"Dark Souls" screenshot is actually Demon's Souls
same model was used for the knight class in all 4 souls games, so you can't really blame him
@James Hunter Not really.
Thrawnmulus not for bloodborne tho
Now you have done it. I'm hooked. I can't get enough. I NEED A SUIT OF ARMOR. Am i yelling. Your great.
I personally like them both.
+cliff heaphy Same here :D
Excellent video, it´s awesome to see a channel like yours. Greetings from Uruguay.
It varies from suit to suit but overall the White Italian has more of a modern, minimalist aesthetic, while the German Gothic looks a lot scarier. Ironically I associate the minimalist aesthetic with 'northern' design, and the elaborate fluting/detail with 'southern' design (though my palette is admittedly quite limited).
You're one of my new fav youtubers. I love all your vids so far lol. Thanks for doing what you do
The picture you showed is Demon's Souls, not Dark Souls.
k
Demon's Souls is still a Dark souls game...
The_Shinigami They are similar but they are not the same as they don't have the same universe. Dark souls is the spiritual successor to Demon souls
New wolfe Yeah, and patches is essentially the Deadpool of the souls universe.
no its not
I gotta say, I certainly do like the design of the Italian armor. Besides the armor, I also very much enjoy your channel. I've shared quite a few your videos and many seem to like them. Also, your voice is very pleasant and the enthusiasm puts a smile on my face. I raise a cup to you and hope for the best for your channel, and for yourself. Long may the sun shine.
Hi Metatron, could you do a video on how knights in full plate would distinguish themselves from the opposing knights? Thanks!
Heraldry
That being cloths and banners that displayed the symbols and colors of different knights or their lords.
Thank you for this. Very informative and entertaining.
+Gabriel Magister Thank you very much for watching and for you time ^^
I just found your channel. You look exactly like my late friend. Being German by blood I like the Gothic armor but I like the Italian armor as well. You do realize that our people mixed from ancient times. The Romans controlled parts of Germania and later the German tribes controlled most of Italy from Rome North. That's why the best armorers were found in Sothern Germany and Northern Italy. I'm mostly into Viking weapons and reenacting being Saxon and Dane but I love the Medieval weapons and armor as well. Thanks again for sharing.
You have no idea what you're talking about. Several Germanic Tribes sacked Rome and controlled Italy from Rome Northwards. Go read some more before you post nonsense you found on the internet. Thank you
referring to "etruscans" in the 6th century A.D. is the same as calling the greek colonists of the 8th century B.C. in Byzantium "Byzantines". The Etruscan League had long since disappeared, and all Latin peoples were romanized by the time of the Lombard invasion. Also, guess who conquered Italy after the Langobards? The Franks (Germanic) and the Normans (who were also kinda Frankish), excluding the southern parts which were conquered by muslims. Also, how are the italians the only people in europe? You really need to study a bit more my friend :)
Rafael Maier actually the South was "conquered"by the Normans,and in greater extent compared to the arabs,and their influence and aristocratic dominance was pretty strong till 1860.
well played my friend well played! D watched this while queuing for league of legends and reading up on history.
7:07 armor is from "Demon's Souls" not "Dark Souls" actually. great videos btw!
My family used to make that style of armour near Brescia where they were from. They went to Torino for a while and I was surprised to see that a large portion of the exhibits in the armoury there were either their personal sets, or sets produced by them. They even had a mini one for a kid from our family. The collection was one of the most ornate things I have ever seen. I got the impression that it was as much about showing off as it was about functionality.
If i was a footman i would prefer Italian, if i was a horseman i would prefer gothic
Same.
Reasons?
+Agustin Aiello Italian armor protects better (atleast as a footman) Gothic armor protects you better when you are on horseback. It has better/more armor there where you are supposed to be hit when you fight mounted.
+Eurobean that is the opposite of the truth. the Italian armor developed the way it did because after the dark ages, Italy was doing fairly well, and could afford to participate in more leisurely armed sports like jousting. in jousting you want a smooth glancing surface to deflect lance blows. its also why Italian armors have asymmetrical pauldrons, couters, and sometimes even gauntlets; because they needed the large guards on the left, and mobility/space on the right to hold a lance. The Germans vastly preferred armored foot combat, like longsword fencing. for this, they weren't worried about a lance catching on the fluting, they were much more concerned about things like the beak of a war hammer punching through the plates. not that jousting can't be done in Gothic plate, but imagine trying to hold a lance with the large besagews right in the armpit.
sorry about the rant, but I feel like you missed half the point of the video.
Sean Krake
Sorry but you should stop getting misinformation from the "History" channel.
Mate, you're italian?! Me too! I enjoy your videos and I think the white Italian one is my favourite too
I prefer the Gothic armor myself.
"Would that protect you from AK-47 assault rifle bullets?"
Finally someone who is using REAL history and facts about armour and related topics. Like you, it drives me nuts when 'Historical programs' show an arrow piercing armour etc. Well done and keep up the good work.
metatron, i'm a fan from italy and i've got a question, can you explain me how a man with a full plate armour like gothic armour can kill another man with another gothic armour with only a sword?
+Aiden Stanner Si certo, si usa una tecnica chiamata "half swording", la trovi nei manoscritti e trattati "gladiatoria" del 1435 - 1440. Ho fatto un paio di video dedicati a half swording.
ps: sono italiano anch'io ^^
+Aiden Stanner Anche puoi cercare il "murder stroke" ;)
+Metatron grazie mille per la velocità con la quale hai risposto al mio commento, mi documenterò; grazie ancora :D
Aiden Stanner Di nulla, thanks for watching ^^
+Aiden Stanner
also using the hilt of the sword as a hammer. normaly the blades would have different grades of sharpness along it for this kind of techniques so you can weild the blade safely.
Great Video Metatron! This helped visually understand Gothic Armour a lot more! I just finished reading a chapter on a book about medieval military technology by Kelly DeVries, about plate armor.
Italian armour is really beautifull, like most things made in Italy. But if i had to go into battle i would choose German armour.
I had a dream years ago of wearing gorgeous armor with some flutes & etching everywhere. It was very Gothic, with a few 'twists'. It also had a cobalt tinge to it. Like the sky was reflecting it, despite being in a deep green forest. Wasn't my armour in the dream but belonged to a friend who lent it to me.
Just seeing this Gothic armour is like a nostalgic trip. Close enough to make me dreamy-eyed again.
Thank you for sharing this vid!
+Orangeblossom My pleasure, and thank you for sharing such a personal experience :D
Gothic armour hands down :D , so beautiful ... the roundness of the italian armour is not to my liking >_
best metatron video i have seen so far
italian armour for the win!
+ShaNagmaImmuru :D
@Joe Blow u not italian u cant understeed
Your videos are always insta-like for me. Awesome content again!
I like the gothic armor looks, but i like italian functionality better seems versatile, tho what's with the pointy greaves on the gothic style?
Given the developed pauldrons as well, if guess it's armor for a mounted knight. Draw your own conclusions for those, then. 😱
as usual Metatron, thank you for a wonderful and informative video. subscribed.
To say that fluting strenghten the armor is, unfortunately, an oversemplification.
1) For the same area covered and the same thickness, a fluted plate is heavier.
2) For the same area covered and the same weight (that's the real limitation of what a man can carry) a fluted plate is thinner.
3) For the same area covered and the same weight, a flat, or almost flat, fluted plate, is stiffer, less prone to be bent, so is a better protection against blunt weapons.
4) For the same area covered and the same weight, a flat, or almost flat, fluted plate is more prone to be pierced, cause is thinner, and cause the flutes are less likely to deflect the blows, and more likely to offer them an orthogonal surface where they can have the maximum effect, so is a worst protection against piercing weapons.
5) the stiffening effect of fluting decreases as long as the curvature of the plate increase (infact the section of a sphere is naturally resistant to be bent, think of the helmet, or the pauldron), until, for a certain curvature, the effect is reversed, and flutes actually makes the plate less stiff.
+Neutron Alchemist
On #3, it's worth noting that once you cross a certain threshold, all slashing/hacking attacks act as blunt attacks. That threshold will vary by weapon.
I'm pretty sure #4 is only true in certain situations. Like, it's certainly true for jousting, because there is so much power behind a thrust that you'd need half inch plate to prevent a pierce. But for foot soldiers? When aligned in the proper direction, thinner fluted plate will actually put significantly more material in the way of a piercing weapon.
The whole key to fluting is aligning the flutes in the most advantageous direction. Piercing for a foot soldier is probably one of their least concerns, as weapons specifically designed to pierce put so much power into the pierce that no practical armor will be able to stop them. So the armor is going to focus first on preventing slashing and blunt attacks, and fluting lets you use significantly thinner, and therefore lighter and potentially cheaper armor (I honestly don't know the breakdown between materials and labor, so it may well not be cheaper - it wouldn't be today).
So, to summarize. Fluted armor is bad for jousting. Well made fluted armor is great for hand to hand combat. Poorly made fluted armor is bad at everything. Flat armor is slightly harder to screw up than fluted armor.
+Jeffery Wells
The armors shown are not intended for foot soldiers. They were incredibly costly items that only a few could afford. The level of craftsmanship involved in their making was so high that fluting or not the plates was only a question of preferred style, not of cost. A well equipped foot soldier of the same period would have worn a brigandine over a mail shirt, or a simple breastplate, with a single piece, or a simple two piece, helmet as a complement.
The fact that a flat surface is more apt to deflect blows, while the flutes are less likely to deflect the blows, and more likely to offer them an orthogonal surface where the blows can have the maximum effect, means exactly that the flat surface does not need to be thick enough to stop the weapon, but only enough to deflect it. Once the blow (of the quarrel, spear, pollaxe, halberd...) is deflected, it's power had not been absorbed by the armor, but is simply directed elsewhere. The percentage of the force that the armor has to absorb is higher the more the incoming angle of the blow is closer to 90 degrees.
Neutron Alchemist The german armors were specifically designed for knights on foot. The Italian armors were designed for horsed knights.
+Jeffery Wells Please. First, is sufficient to look at the sabatons of the gotic armors to see that they were not made for someone that had to walk. Those armors were not only only intended only for cavalry, but specifically for heavy cavalry.
Second. The man who could pay for a complete armor like the ones shown could easily equip himself not only with one, but with several war horses, so why on he earth should he have to fight on foot? To die more easily?
Third. Hardly any of those armors were designed for real fights at all. The armors survived until now were primarly parade armors (and that's why they survived), and secondarily joust armors. On the battlefield, even the knights tended to wear far lighter armors (IE the Italian corsaletto. Not by chance Giovanni de Medici was buried in one). Even more, since, at the same time those armors were developed, the heavy cavalry was at it's end. Following the example of the Venetian Stratioti, the european armies were relying more and more on light cavalry, and this led to a lightening of the armors (that soon would have consisted only of a curiass and an helmet).
Neutron Alchemist I dunno, not my money.
White Italian armor... with a great helm.... And maybe a cape .
I'm sold.
Technicly its 4 layers, you cant count scirt as one layer and top part as another. They should be counted as one.
Thanks for the presentation of the differences. Love your attention to detail.
Besides the Italian and Gothic armors, were the armors of England, France Spain, Poland, Russia, Ottoman Empire very different as well?
Also, maybe in another video, you can talk more about how the differences translated to battle effectiveness.
Was the added mobility of the Italian armor more useful? Was the Gothic fluting useful, and not just pretty?? etc etc..
Im german but i like the italian armour way more than the german gothic
Great stuff, until very recently I was 100% behind German Gothic armour despite knowing that Northern Italians were good at making armour too but seeing this video made me aware of certain facts, thanks.
i have both german and Italian ancestry and i lwould prefer gothic armor since it looks cool.
@Metatron I am hungarian and some time ago I looked at some artwork from the battle at Mohács in 1526 and saw on the hungarian knights and warriors kinda gothic armor. So I wondered if the hungarians had they own armor style or did they just copy others like the gothic style.
If it is a big enough topic I would be glad to see a video of this topic.
Supreme german engineering! :D
;)
brrrrakamonoga!
Late? Yes I am, but, I must defend the beautifulness of Italian engineering, no one will buy a Mercedes or an Audi than a Maserati or a Pagani, I am not even talking about Ferrari because it would be an Overkill, in architecture, we have the Cathedral of Milan, Pavia Monastery, Palazzo Vecchio and others, in dressing I don't need to say a thing, overall, Italy Engineering is unbeatable
@@KaoruSF I'm sorry but a couple swings of my sword would cut away those leather straps
@@mcwaff8661 any Corseque would easily go through the disks in your armpit, or the chest piece of Gothic armour.
Just amazing. Thanks for sharing. Roman armor, my favorite!. It makes safety sense.
I have to pick Gothic.
I have to say if it were up to me I would get all 3 of them, the Gothic Armor ones just look so artistic, it's fluting gives it so much character, it's very designed spring to mind of famous paintings, you could literally decore the whole thing via fluting, but the Italian White Millanes Armor, look at all that sleek polish design but the design of the overall plate, the angle of the shoulders & the armet, it literally ties the whole thing together, then we have the Maximillian Armor, la creme la creme of armors, fluting all around yet new and more improved angle designation of the plates, sleek & strong, for I would get a riveted chainmail shirt & cover pieces for the exposed parts, boiled leather padded armor with wool, for the underside, zweihander and tabard with the Teutonic Knights, my favorite knightly order. and I would be very happy! :D
Just put all that thing on, walk around in or outside, to show off, oh
Gothic all the way
Italian asymmetry and layering, Gothic bevor and salet for me. Five years later and it's still a topic of interest. Well done.