Greaves, Cuisses & Leg Armor

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Greaves, Cuisses & Leg Armor Greaves, cuisses, and leg armor are the pieces that ground a kit, literally and figuratively. The upper body may draw the eye first, but a complete plate harness runs from shoulder to foot, and bare legs beneath a well-armored torso undermine the whole impression immediately. Leg armor is what separates a costume from a harness, and a fighter from a fully equipped warrior. This page covers the full length of the leg in plate armor: cuisses protecting the thigh, poleyns at the knee, and greaves enclosing the lower leg. Each piece addresses a distinct part of the leg, and together they form one of the most complete and visually convincing additions you can make to a plate armor kit. Cuisses: Thigh Armor Cuisses are plate armor thigh guards, taking their name from the French word for thigh. Their purpose is straightforward: the upper leg is one of the largest and most exposed targets on the body, and while a cuirass with tassets offers some protection from above, a strike from below passes underneath that coverage entirely. Cuisses close that gap, wrapping around the thigh to protect against exactly the kind of low attack that upper body armor cannot reach. Padded cuisses were worn by knights as early as the 12th century, typically over mail chausses. By the mid 14th century steel plate had become the standard material, and from around 1370 onward cuisses were typically formed from a single shaped plate of iron or steel. English cuisses of the period tended to fully encircle the thigh, protecting the back of the leg as well as the front, reflecting the English preference for foot combat over the mounted cavalry charges more common on the continent. In a modern LARP or reenactment context, cuisses are most commonly associated with knightly and military builds, though they appear across a wide range of fantasy aesthetics. A pair of cuisses over a padded base layer adds immediate visual weight to the lower body and signals a level of kit c