Protection Of The Hand: Tales Of The Middle Ages

Almost anyone familiar with the legends or tales of the Middle Ages, remembers seeing in some painting or illustration a piece of clothing covering the hands of a warrior or a knight. However, on further observation, one sees that the piece of glove-like accessory turns into an important part of offensive weaponry or a defensive device; moreover, in many instances, a matter of life or death.

Protection Of The Hand

Although the use of gloves go back to antiquity, usually as a means to offer protection from the elements or even the thorns of certain plant life, it was actually during the later Medieval times that gloves and gauntlets became almost synonymous with weaponry.

While a protective glove generally covered the entire area of the

Over time, the use of this wear came to be used by the common infantry solder in battle.

The Effectiveness In Battle

Sometimes used instead of full sets of gauntlets were demi-gauntlets which meant "short." Basically a plate armor gauntlet that protected only the back of the hand and the wrist, and left the rest of the arm unprotected, demi-gauntlets were made with a stronger material such as mail or mail reinforced and padded with several layers of leather. While allowing greater flexibility and range of motion, the fingers remained practically open to serious wounds or even amputation in battle.

All this being said, there did come a time during battles that swords could possibly be lost, and men had to resort to built-in knuckle busters to attack or defend themselves. If it came to blows and punches in a melee encounter, then a user could use the knuckle buster to offer damaging blows to their opponent's exposed body parts such as to the head, the underarms or to the groin