Italian plate arms XVth century

Description

These Italian plate arms (XV century) represent a high point of armour‑craft in Northern Italy, notably Milan, during the Renaissance. Comprising steel vambraces, elbow cops, and rerebraces, they form an articulated sleeve protecting the arm with both mobility and strength.

The

steel would have been carefully tempered and shaped, often from locally refined bloomery or early blast‑furnace iron, fashioned to curve around the contours of a knight’s limb. Leather straps with buckles held the components together, allowing the wearer to flex the elbow and maintain better control without compromising protection.

Such arms reflected not only warfare utility but an aesthetic: smooth polished surfaces, clean lines, sometimes decorative fluting or edging that both strengthened the plate and added visual elegance. These arms were part of full harness (full‑plate armour) that became increasingly common in the mid‑to‑late 15th century in Italy, when metallurgical advances permitted better, larger shaped steel plates.