Chausses were medieval leg protection that were originally used both as clothing or chain mail leg armor. The word comes from Old French chausse, meaning "hose," and lives on in the modern French chaussure (shoe) and chaussette (sock).
In the Middle Ages, chain mail chausses were made from chainmail. They came in the form of full chain mail chausses or as demi-chausses, which only covered the front of the leg.
Antiquity & Early History
The earliest forms of protective chausses appear in Scythian graves from the 5th century BCE, made of small metal scales and integrated into torso armour. Around the 1st century BCE, we see chainmail variants among the Sarmatians, and in the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE independent leg protection such as split cuisses and greaves emerged.
Middle Ages: 9th to 12th Century
Archaeological evidence of chain mail chausses from the early Middle Ages comes from the 9th century, such as a pedestal found in the Kyulevcha Catacombs in Bulgaria. In the 10th century, leg-length chain mail chausses were depicted in Byzantine art, such as in Tokali Kilise in Cappadocia.
In the 11th century, full chain mail chausses were first depicted in Western Europe. On the Bayeux Tapestry (1066–1083), worn by William the Conqueror and other Normans and Anglo-Saxons.
In the 12th century, chausses became increasingly common, and by around 1200, every knight and even foot soldiers wore them. From the 13th century onward, a padded leg piece was often worn over the chausses, the so-called gambeson cuisse, as depicted in the Majeciowski "crusaders" Bible from the 1240s.
Additional Plate Armour
From around 1230, metal knee protectors, the poleyns, were added to the chausses for extra protection. By the mid-13th century, schynbalds, shin plates also came into use: steel plates for the front of the lower leg that were worn over the chausses and fastened with leather straps.
Unlike full greaves, lower leg armour, schynbalds only protected the front of the shin.
Although chausses never completely disappeared, they became increasingly less used independently from the late 13th to the mid-14th century. With the development of plate armour, including greaves that enclosed the entire leg, combined with poleyns and early cuisses, the earlier leather prototypes became superseded by metal components.
By the 1310–1320s, the legs were fully protected by plate armour, with chain mail chausses often still used as an inner layer or padding.
Internal Links
- Chainmail Coif: Medieval Head and Neck Armour
- Gambeson: Medieval Padded Armour and Protection
- Greaves: Metal Protection for Knights' Shins
- Poleyn: Metal Knee Protection in Medieval Armour
- Cuisses: Medieval Leg Protection for Upper Legs
Sources:
- Sculptural Source: The effigies (grave monuments) in the Temple Church (London) and Salisbury Cathedral, which show the exact way of wearing and lacing of chausses (chain mail hose) in the 13th century.
