Vambrace

Origin

The vambrace is seen as having taken shape in 14th-century Europe as the plate armor system developed. Past the age when mail covered the whole arm, through the transitional armor that wrapped parts of the arm in hard plates, the tubular plate for the forearm took its place. As full plate armor was completed in the 15th century, the pauldron, rerebrace, couter, vambrace, and gauntlet were joined by hinges and straps into a set system that wrapped the whole arm smoothly. Within this system the vambrace took the forearm, guarding the part most exposed in swinging and parrying with a sword.

Features

• Tubular plate structure wrapping the whole forearm
• Easy to put on and off, opening and closing by hinge and catch
• An integrated arm defense joining with the rerebrace and couter
• Made of plate steel or hardened leather (cuir bouilli)
• Asymmetric practice of omitting or lightening the shield-side piece
• Standard structure of two plates joined by hinge and catch

Stories

The vambrace was the arm-guarding gear of the knight, used to defend the forearm in battle. Over a padded garment (the arming doublet) worn beneath, the hinge was opened to slip in the forearm and the catch closed to fasten it firmly. Joined by straps to the rerebrace of the upper arm and the couter of the elbow, it was worn as a set from shoulder to wrist, the hand taken by the gauntlet. Wrapping in a smooth curved surface the forearm, which comes foremost in parrying and swinging a sword, it glanced cuts and many thrusts aside.

Weakness

The weaknesses of the vambrace are the gaps at the joints and that it cannot guard the whole arm alone. Wrapping only the forearm, the upper arm and elbow are protected only with the rerebrace and couter present, and at the inner joints where those pieces meet a gap remained for movement. The inner elbow in particular, a bending part, was hard for plate to reach, so the gap was often filled with a piece of mail (a voider). A slender point aimed precisely at this gap could work in, and being a structure that fits the wrist and elbow into a tube, it could chafe or hamper movement if ill-fitted.

Cultural Significance

The vambrace is a piece that shows well the elaborate division of labor that late-medieval plate armor reached. The idea of dividing the body into parts, wrapping each in a fitted plate, and joining those plates by hinges and straps to keep movement alive while reducing gaps is fully held even in a single arm. As a forearm guard, the Western vambrace, building a tube of solid plate, and the Japanese kote, weaving cloth, mail, and small plates, make a good contrast showing different design philosophies. Today the word 'vambrace' is also widely used in fantasy and games as a general name for a stylish guard wrapping the forearm.

In Popular Culture

The vambrace appears in nearly every film, drama, and game about the medieval knight and fantasy. It is drawn as a part of the whole armor, however, and rarely draws notice on its own, and in games it is commonly used as the standard name for arm-piece armor. In fantasy, a forearm guard of leather or metal is often called a 'vambrace' as a whole, used more broadly than the narrow sense of a single piece of the plate arm system. In fiction the real system, joining with the rerebrace and couter, is often left out, and only the forearm part is depicted on its own.

Trivia

• The name 'vambrace' comes from the Old French 'avant-bras', meaning fore-arm, and properly refers to the piece covering only the forearm.
• The vambrace was not used alone but formed a set with the rerebrace of the upper arm and the couter of the elbow, a part of the integrated system joining shoulder to wrist.
• On the shield-bearing arm, where the shield took the place of defense, there was also an asymmetric practice of omitting that vambrace or replacing it with a lighter material.