White armour

Around 1420 the surcoat, or "coat of arms" as it was known in England, began to disappear, in favour of uncovered plate.

The descriptive term white armour referred both to the absence of a surcoat and the absence of decorative trimmings: the rival German style was fluted, both for aesthetic reasons and for structural advantage in resisting crushing blows.

Unlike its predecessors, white armour had a very plain and simple finish, as opposed to intricate patterns or symbols emblazoned on its plates.

[1] Suits of white armour were composed of a helmet, a gorget (or bevor), pauldrons with gardbraces in Italian and French armour to cover the armpits, or besagews (also known as rondels) which were mostly used in Gothic Armour, couters, vambraces, gauntlets, a cuirass (back and breastplate) with a fauld, tassets and a culet, a mail skirt, cuisses, poleyns, greaves, and sabatons.

[citation needed] Unlike its predecessors, white armour provided almost complete invulnerability to all sword strikes except a strong thrust from the tip.