Faulds (armour)

Faulds are pieces of plate armour worn below a breastplate to protect the waist and hips, which began to appear in Western Europe from about 1370.

[1] They consist of overlapping horizontal lames of metal, articulated for flexibility, that form an apron-like skirt in front.

A pair of tassets to protect the upper thighs was often suspended from the bottom edge of the fauld by straps and buckles.

From the 16th century onward, some armors integrated the fauld and tassets almost seamlessly; the fauld lames were those which were continuous from side to side, and the tassets began where they separated at the groin.

A much larger skirt that was usually confined to foot tournaments was called a tonlet.