French soldiers weighed down by armour at Agincourt
Wearing a full suit of armour doubled the amount of energy used in battle, according to a new study in which volunteers dressed as 15th century knights were made to run on a treadmill.
The exertion of carrying the steel plate armour, which weighed between 30 and 50kg, (66-110lb), would have placed additional weight on each limb and hampered the wearer’s breathing, making them weaker in a fight.
This meant that heavily-armoured French soldiers stood little chance when advancing across boggy ground towards more lightly attired British archers at Agincourt in 1415, experts said.
The exhaustion caused by several days of marching while clad from head to toe in metal may also have contributed to the French defeat by the English in the Battle of Crécy in 1346....