Throughout the early Norman times, armor mainly consisted of chain-mail, quilted work, jazerant and scale. A proportion of plate would be used as extra protection to the chest. The scale is a type of amour consisting of small, overlapping metal scales fastened onto leather or cloth. The jazerant is defense made from small plates of metal sewn onto linen. For quilting defenses, the materials notoriously used were horn, with wool, tow or cotton. The materials for the rest of the amour would be primarily be iron and leather.

One of the most valuable sources in the establishment of what was considered to be the standard amour of the period was The Bayeux Tapestry. The garments worn by the knights were a tunic, a gambeson and the hauberk. The gambeson was a defense mechanism consisting of stuffed and quilted cloth within the garment. The surcoat was hardly seen throughout the 12th Century (Although found in rare instances), but during the 13th Century, it became a staple part of the knightly equipment.

The chief part of the amour was the hauberk, which reached the knees. Sometimes the skirt opened at the front, possibly at the side also. The sleeves would usually end at the elbows, but occasionally extended to reach the wrist. generally, the hauberk would continued above the neck in a coif like stature, so as only the face of the knight would be exposed, but occasionally it would finish at the neck. The sword could sometimes be carried partially underneath the hauberk. The defense would be continued over the head as a coif. The feature would be known as a ‘continuous coif’ and is surmounted by the iconic conical nasal helmet.

The hood of mail made separate to the hauberk did not appear in history till the 13th Century. At the beginning of this century, the hauberk made from chain mail would be amde with a continuous coif and gloves all as one. The coif would flatten to the top of the head and the gloves were more like mittens with no finger divides. It reached almost to the knees and the face opening left little more than the eyes and nose showing. During the second half of the Century, a rounder topped coif became more common. The sleeves of the hauberk would be secured at the wrist with laces or a strap. In order to free the hands a little from the fingerless gloves, a hole would be left in the centre of the palm.

The amour during the 14th Century would prove to be the most innovative and striking combinations ever seen throughout the middle Ages. There was a combination of chain-mail, glittering plates, embossed leather and rich, noble decorations. It offered a varied field in which to display color and variety of form and shape. The knights became dissatisfied with the old designs of chain-mail and eventually opted for the amour of plate.

The body-amour mainly consisted of a breast-plate which continued below the waist with chain-mail or metal strips covered by cloth or velvet.

The long surcoats from earlier fashion proved to cause a hinderance to the knights as they dismounted their horses to fight on foot. The garment was altered and clipped at the front, but the problem was then only halved. The full skirt now had no meaning, therefore was abandoned in favor of a short, tight surcoat. The legs would be protected by chain-mail chausses. The legs defense evolved slowly but gradually to the complete equipment of plate.

Throughout the 15th Century, The amour consisted entirely of plates. It had shoulder and elbow guards and gauntlets made from wide, overlapping plates. The breast plate, at first was one piece, but evolved to being constructed from two pieces; the lower piece overlapping the upper plate and was held by straps or sliding rivet, to aid flexibility.