Cuisses

Cuisses (thigh armour), King Louis XIII armour as a child, Musee de l'armee Paris.

Cuisses are a form of medieval armour worn to protect the thigh.^[1] The word is the plural of the French word cuisse meaning 'thigh'. While the skirt of a maille shirt or tassets of a cuirass could protect the upper legs from above, a thrust from below could avoid these defenses. Thus, cuisses were worn on the thighs to protect from such blows. Padded cuisses made in a similar way to a gambeson were commonly worn by knights in the 12th and 13th Centuries, usually over chausses and may have had poleyns directly attached to them.

Cuisses could also be made of brigandine or splinted leather, but by the Late Middle Ages they were typically made from plate armour.

References

External links

• Leg Harness (1400 - 1620)
• Armor for Beginners armour glossary

Components of medieval armour Head Armet Barbute Bascinet Burgonet Cervelliere Enclosed helmet Close helmet Great helm Frog mouth Hounskull Lobster tail pot Mail coif Morion Nasal helmet Sallet Spangenhelm Kettle hat Face Visor Falling buffe Neck Aventail Bevor Gorget Pixane Torso Breastplate Brigandine Cuirass Culet Pauncer Plackart Fauld Hauberk Codpiece Lance rest Coat of plates Jack of plate Arms Ailette Besagew Couter Gauntlet Pauldron Rerebrace Spaulder Vambrace Legs Bases Chausses Cuisses Greave Poleyn Sabaton Schynbald Tasset Pieces Gousset Lame Rondel