During the period of the Hundred Years’ War (1337 – 1453) soldiers were well equipped and protected.
The knights wore steel plate armour (=armatura di acciaio)of great thickness (= spessissima) and with visored helmets (=elmi con visiera). Each knight wore his coat of arms (stemma) on his surcoat (= sopra vestito)and shield (=scudo).
The archers wore jackets and loose hose (=pantaloni larghi); sometimes they fought bare foot (=a piedi nudi). Archers’ headgear (= copricapo) was a skull cap either of boiled leather (= pelle cotta) or wickerwork (= vimini) ribbed with a steel frame (=struttura di acciaio).Of course they fought with bows (= archi) and arrows (=frecce). In particular they used the famous English longbow – a bow that is almost as tall as the person who uses it who led English to win the Battle of Agincourt
They used usual weapons – lances, shields, swords, various maces or clubs and daggers, hatchets and war hammers. A new weapon was two-handed swords (= spada che si tiene con due mani) .
The King (Henry V) wore a polished (=lucido) and plumed (=piumato) helmet (= elmo) for the battle, surmounted by a gold crown. His surcoat was emblazoned with the arms of England and France