page_title: Laminar armour
section_title: Middle East and Central Asian laminar armour
hierarchical_section_title: Laminar armour / Medieval laminar armour / Middle East and Central Asian laminar armour
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Портрет Тимура. Миниатюра XV в. Возможно, копия с более раннего оригинала English: Portrait of Timur. Thumbnail XV century. Perhaps a copy of an earlier original
context_page_description: Laminar armour is an armour made from horizontal overlapping rows or bands of solid armour plates called lames, as opposed to lamellar armour, which is made from individual armor scales laced together to form a solid-looking strip of armor.
  Prominent examples of such armour are lorica segmentata of Ancient Rome and certain versions of samurai armour.
  Less known examples were present in Asia from Iran to Mongolia, including Central Asia. Laminar armor from animal skins has also been traditionally made and worn in the Arctic areas of what are now Siberia, Alaska and Canada.
  In the 16th century laminar and lamellar armour was superseded by plated mail in the Middle East and Central Asia, remaining mainly in Mongolia. However, laminar armor did appear briefly in some form in Europe during the 16th to the 17th century with the main feature that distinguished it from other forms of laminar armor being the metal strips being fastened using sliding rivets. This was known as anima and was invented in Italy. Notable examples include the Earl of Pembroke's Armour and the armor worn by the Polish hussars.
context_section_description: According to Bobrov, until the end of the 15th century the most popular armour in certain regions including Central Asia and Iran was lamellar armour, brigandines, and laminar armour. However, in Iran since the 15th century lamellar and laminar armour were typical only in the south, while during the 15th century the typical armour in the north was plated mail.
  Initially for centuries laminar armour was just a less expensive version of lamellar armor. Laminar was just made from horizontal strips of armour laced like strips of lamellar plates, but without extra-lacing and notches imitating strips of lamellar armour. And like in lamellar armour these laces could be occasionally cut during battle; the laces also frayed when an armour was worn for long periods without being mended.
  Later at the beginning of the 15th century construction of laminar armour had significantly changed; instead of lacing being used, strips of new laminar armour were riveted to broad straps (like in lorica segmentata). As a result, laminar armour became more reliable than lamellar armour: hidden straps couldn't be cut without the armour being penetrated, the brad straps did not require continuous mending, and the straps were stiffer and more durable than the thinner lacing that was used previously.  Laminar armour eventually became more popular than lamellar armour, and almost fully replaced lamellar armour by the end of 15th century.
  Pure lamellar armour became very rare; however, different combinations of laminar and lamellar armour were very popular.  This happened because even though laminar armour was much more reliable than lamellar, laminar armour was not flexible enough, while lamellar armours were very flexible.  Laminar cuirasses could be worn with lamellar pauldrons and tassets (worn with separate bracers, greaves and helm). Less common was the opposite combination of lamellar cuirass worn with laminar pauldrons and tassets. Both could be optionally worn with lamellar or laminar cod-piece and loin-guard, or even with mirror plate reinforcement.
  At the end of 15th century, when laminar armour became much more popular than lamellar ones, both armour types began to be replaced by plated mails. Initially plated mail was made only as cuisses, but soon by the beginning of 16th century plated mail was utilized in both pauldrons and cuisses, as they could better envelop body and fully replaced laminar and lamellar pauldron and tassets. So a typical laminar armour of that period was just a laminar cuirass which could be worn over brigandine with sleeves supplemented by plated mail cuisses. (Helm, bracers and greaves are not mentioned here as they were conventional for that region). Sleeves of brigandine worked as pauldron, and if a brigandine was long enough its laps could work as tassets. Another option was wearing a laminar cuirass without any brigandine, but with plated mail pauldrons and cuisses. Both variations of laminar armour could be re-enforced by mirror plate (even though laminar armour would have been enough protection from steel weapons, a metal mirror was worn as protection from the "evil eye"). Finally by the end of the 16th century laminar and lamellar armour practically disappeared in the Middle East and Central Asia regions.
caption: Middle East and Central Asian laminar armour
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