Arrows vs. Armour 3: Can 15th Century Brigandine Withstand Warbow Arrows?

Investigating 15th Century Archery

• 🎯 The video explores mid-15th century military archery, focusing on new armour and arrow types, and the impact of multiple archers.
• 💡 Previous tests (Arrows vs. Armour 1 & 2) examined early 15th-century plate armour against iron short bodkin arrows.
• 🚀 This installment advances to 1450 equipment, including brigandine armour and hardened steel barbed arrows, with seven warbow archers.

The 1450 Infantryman's Kit

• 🛡️ The target represents a typical 1450 infantryman, featuring a brigandine, sallet, and bevor, rather than high-end knight's plate.
• 👕 Layers of defense include woolen hosen, linen shirt, arming doublet, full mail coat, and a dense mail collar for critical areas.
• ⚙️ The brigandine consists of 1.2mm mild steel plates, hardened on one side and riveted to fabric, providing flexibility, comfort, and significant protection.
• 🦵 Leg armour was often omitted for infantry mobility, creating a notable vulnerability.

Evolved Arrowhead Design

• 🏹 The test utilizes lighter, faster, hardened steel barbed heads (Type 16 and Type 21B) instead of the heavier iron bodkins (Type 9).
• 🔪 These new arrowheads, weighing about 50 grams, feature a very sharp, hardenable steel cutting edge designed to bite into steel rather than glance off.
• ✅ The design improvements also eliminated the weak neck of previous arrow types, allowing for more imparted energy on the target.

Ranged Combat Results

• 📊 At 60 meters, arrows deeply cut into the 3mm thick visor and penetrated mail, but the brigandine stopped a shot with only minor denting.
• 🎯 At 40 meters, multiple hits occurred, including a knee penetration and a throat shot that caused a concussive injury but was likely survivable due to mail.
• 💥 The brigandine successfully stopped several shots at 40m, deforming plates but preventing injury due to its layered defense.

Close-Range & Massed Fire

• ⚠️ At 20 meters, a direct headshot through the eye slit was fatal, highlighting the helmet's inherent vulnerability for vision.
• 🛡️ Despite numerous hits, the brigandine continued to effectively protect vital organs, with plates buckling and dissipating energy without fatal penetration.
• 🏹 Massed archer fire demonstrated continuous shooting, not volleys, with many arrows bouncing off primary armour, but unarmored areas like legs and hands remained vulnerable.

Overall Conclusions

• ✅ The brigandine proved highly effective, denying archers access to primary organs and performing comparably to thicker breastplates in a different way.
• 💡 The hardened steel barbed arrows were significantly more effective than older bodkins, capable of biting into and cutting through steel.
• 🔑 The study underscores the importance of layered defense and highlights that while armour is good, gaps and unarmored areas remain critical vulnerabilities.