Brigandine

Protective clothing and armour have been used by armies from earliest recorded history; the King James Version of the Bible (Jeremiah 46:4) translates the Hebrew סריון, siryon[1] or שריון, śiryon "coat of mail"[2] as "brigandine".

The contrast between a richly dyed velvet cloth and gilded rivet heads must have been impressive and, unsurprisingly, such armour was popular with high-status individuals.

Even with the gambeson and the mail shirt, a wearer was not as well-protected as when wearing a complete harness of plate armour, but the brigandine was less expensive and also gave the soldier a greater degree of mobility and flexibility.

In fact, brigandines were highly fashionable and were ostentatiously displayed by wealthy aristocrats both in European and in Asian courts.

Jacks were often made from recycled pieces of older plate armour, including damaged brigandines and cuirasses cut into small squares.

[8] The medieval Indian equivalent of the brigandine was the chihal'ta hazar masha, or "coat of ten thousand nails", which was a padded leather jacket covered in velvet and containing steel plates which was used until the early 19th century.

[citation needed] Tipu Sultan wore armour of this type during his wars against the East India Company.

[9] A type of armour very similar in design to brigandine, known as cloth surface armor bumianjia (Chinese:布面甲; Pinyin: Bù miàn jiǎ), or nail (fastener, not finger or toe nail) armor dingjia (Chinese: 釘甲; Pinyin: Dīng jiǎ), was used in medieval China.

Russian orientalist and weapon expert Mikhail Gorelik states that it was invented in the 8th century as parade armour for the Emperor's guards by reinforcing a thick cloth robe with overlapping iron plates, but did not come into wide use until the 13th century, when it became widespread in the Mongol Empire under the name of hatangu degel ("robe which is as strong as iron").

[11] In Muscovy, there was a type of armour known as the kuyak, believed to have Mongolian origins[10][13] and analogous to Central Asian,[14] Indian and Chinese brigandines.

This was often worn with faulds, pauldrons and arm protection (rerebraces and vambraces), sometimes covered in expensive textiles like sateen, velvet or damask and decorated with fur.

[19] Clothes with sewn in pieces of metal, used by the Serbian revolutionaries in the uprising against the Ottoman rule (1804–1813, 1814, 1815–1817) Toke were also worn decoratively, in which case were made of silver and gold.

[21] Kikko comes in many forms including coats, vests, gloves, arm and thigh protectors, and helmet neck guards.

In the late Joseon dynasty, the Dujeong-gap became the primary form of Korean metallic armor and often reached below the knees when worn.