Following is a table that concisely identifies various pieces of medieval armour, mostly plate but some mail, arranged by the part of body that is protected and roughly by date. No attempt has been made to identify fastening components or various appendages such as lancerests or plumeholders or clothing such as tabard

Tabard

A tabard is a short coat, either sleeveless, or with short sleeves or shoulder pieces, which was a common item of men's clothing in the Middle Ages, usually for outdoors. It might be belted, or not...

s or surcoat

Surcoat

A surcoat was an outer garment commonly worn in the Middle Ages by both men and women. It can either refer to a coat worn over other garments or the outer garment of a person...

s which were often worn over a harness.

There are a variety of alternative names and spellings (such as cowter/couter or bassinet/bascinet/basinet or besagew/besague) which often reflect a word introduced from the French. Generally, the English spelling has been preferred (including mail instead of the lately used maille or the inauthentic term chainmail).

Summary Comparison of Components of Medieval European Harness

Name	Date of introduction (or of use)	Description
Head
Mail coif	? to 14th C.	Mail hood worn with a hauberk.
Great helm Great helm The great helm or heaume, also called pot helm, bucket helm and barrel helm, of the High Middle Ages arose in the late twelfth century in the context of the crusades and remained in use until the fourteenth century...	Late 12th. C to 14th C.	Started as a simple cylinder with a flat top but later developed a curved "sugar loaf" pointed top to deflect crushing blows. Has small slits for eyes and breathing/ventilation which may be decorative as well as functional. Often removed after the initial "clash of lances" as it impedes sight and breathing and is very hot. Often worn with another helm underneath. A stereotypical knight's helm from the crusader period.
Cervelliere Cervelliere The cervelliere is a round, close-fitting steel skull cap. It was worn as a helmet during the medieval period.- History :It was first introduced during the late 12th and was the primary head protection for Crusaders at that time and was worn either alone or over chainmail...	Late 13th C.	Steel skullcap worn underneath a great helm.
Bassinet Bascinet The bascinet was a Medieval European open-faced military helmet, typically fitted with an aventail and hinged visor. The term is also written as bassinet or basinet.-Early versions:...	Early 14th C.	Originally worn underneath a great helm and had no visor but did develop "nasals" to protect the nose. By the mid 14th C. it replaced the great helm and was fully visored, often "dog faced" (the conical hounskull visor), often worn without a visor for visibility and 'breathability'. Worn with an aventail then later with a gorget. Visors on English bassinets have a hinge at each side whereas German bassinets have a single hinge attached at the middle.
Armet Armet Armet is the name of a type of helmet developed in the 15th century, most likely in Italy, France, Spain and Hungary. It was distinguished by being the first helmet of its era to completely enclose the head while being compact and light enough to move with the wearer...	15th C.	A bowl helmet that encloses the entire head with the use of hinged cheek plates that fold backwards. A gorget was attached and a comb may be present. May also have a rondel at the rear. Later armets have a visor. A stereotypical knight's helm. Favoured in Italy.
Sallet Sallet The sallet was a war helmet that replaced the bascinet in northern Europe and Hungary during the mid-15th century. Some sallets were close fitting except at the back of the head where they extended and formed a pointed tail. Some Italian ones followed the shape of the neck, and had an additional...	Mid 15th C.	When worn with a bevor as is usual, a sallet covers the entire head. It is distinguished by a long, sometimes pointed (if Italian) tail that extends to cover the back of the neck and by a single, long eye-slit. It has no ventilation holes as there is a gap where the helm and bevor meet. A favoured helm in England and Western Europe, including Germanic areas (the tail may have influenced design of German helmets in World War 2).
Close helm Close helm In Medieval armor, the close helm was a military helmet worn by knights and other combatants in the late medieval and early renaissance era. It carried a visor that pivoted up and fully enclosed the head and neck area, unlike earlier helms such as the sallet and barbute, which sometimes may have...		A bowl helmet with a visor, very similar visually to an armet and often the two are confused. However, it lacks the hinged cheekplates of an armet and instead has a bevor.
Barbute Barbute A barbute is a visorless war helmet of 14th to 15th century Italian design, often with distinctive "T" shaped or "Y" shaped opening for the eyes and mouth...	15th C.	Close fitting helmet with a characteristic Y- or T-shaped slit for vision and breathing, reminiscent of ancient Greek helmets
Burgonet Burgonet The burgonet helmet was a Renaissance-era and Early modern combat helmet. It was the successor of the sallet....	Early 16th C.	Open face bowl shaped helmet with a neck collar, a peak, a very characteristic comb, sometimes with cheek pieces. Sometimes has a buffe (a visor that is raised, rather than lowered).
Neck
Aventail Aventail An aventail or camail is a flexible curtain of mail on a helmet that extends to cover the neck and shoulders. The mail could be attached to the helm by threading a leather cord through brass rings at the edge of the helm. Aventails were most commonly seen on bascinets in the 14th century and...  or Camail		Detachable mail hung from a helmet to protect the neck and shoulders, often worn with bassinets.
Gorget Gorget A gorget originally was a steel or leather collar designed to protect the throat. It was a feature of older types of armour and intended to protect against swords and other non-projectile weapons...		Steel collar to protect the neck and cover the neck opening in a complete cuirass. Quite unlike a modern shirt collar in that as well as covering the front and back of the neck it also covers part of the clavicles and sternum and a like area on the back.
Bevor Bevor A bevor is a piece of plate armour designed to protect the neck, much like a gorget. A bevor can be made of a single solid piece or multiple articulated lamés around the neck and chin. The bevor was typically worn in conjunction with a sallet, and later with a burgonet, in a form known as a...		Worn with a sallet to cover the jaw and throat (extending somewhat down the sternum). May also cover the back of the neck if worn with a bassinet rather than a sallet. May be solid or made of lamés Lamé (armor) A lamé is a solid piece of sheet metal used as a component of a larger section of plate armor. Multiple lamés are riveted together or connected by leather straps or cloth lacing to form an articulated piece of armor that provides flexible protection... . Sometimes worn with a gorget.
Torso
Brigandine Brigandine A brigandine is a form of body armour from the Middle Ages. It is a cloth garment, generally canvas or leather, lined with small oblong steel plates riveted to the fabric....	12th to 16th C.	Cloth garment, generally canvas or leather, lined with small oblong steel plates riveted to the fabric.
Hauberk Hauberk A hauberk is a shirt of chainmail. The term is usually used to describe a shirt reaching at least to mid-thigh and including sleeves. Haubergeon generally refers to a shorter variant with partial sleeves, but the terms are often used interchangeably.- History :The word hauberk is derived from the...  or Haubergeon	? to 14th C.	Mail shirt with sleeves reaching to the mid-thigh.
Cuirass Cuirass A cuirass is a piece of armour, formed of a single or multiple pieces of metal or other rigid material, which covers the front of the torso...	14th C.	Covers the breast, not the back, however the name is sometimes used to describe the breast- and backplates together. Developed in antiquity but became common in the 14th C. with the reintroduction of plate armour, later sometimes two pieces overlapping for top and bottom. Whether of one piece or two, breastplate is sometimes used to literally describe the section that covers the breast.
Pixane		A mail collar. In common with a gorget, it is not like a modern shirt collar. Rather, it is a circle with a hole for the neck to fit through. It covers the shoulders, breast and upper back, perhaps like an extremely small poncho.
Plackard		Extra layer of armour to cover the belly.
Fauld		Bands to protect the front waist and hips, attached to cuirass.
Culet Culet (armour) A culet is a piece of plate armour consisting of small, horizontal lamés that protect the small of the back or the buttocks....		Small, horizontal lamés that protect the small of the back or the buttocks, attached to a backplate or cuirass.
Arm
Cowter Couter The couter is the defense for the elbow in a piece of plate armour. Initially just a curved piece of metal, as plate armor progressed the couter became an articulated joint.-External links:*...		Plate that guards the elbow, eventually became articulated, may be covered by guard of vambrace (see below).
Spaulder		Bands of plate that cover the shoulder and part of upper arm but not the armpit.
Pauldron Pauldron A pauldron is a component of plate armour, which evolved from spaulders in the 15th century. As with spaulders, pauldrons cover the shoulder area. Pauldrons tend to be larger than spaulders, covering the armpit, and sometimes parts of the back and chest...	15th C.	Cover the shoulder (with a dome shaped piece called a shoulder cop), armpit and sometimes the back and chest.
Gardbrace		Extra plate that covers the front of the shoulder, worn over top of a pauldron.
Rerebrace Rerebrace A rerebrace is a piece of armour designed to protect the upper arms . Splint rerebraces were a feature of Byzantine armour in the Early Medieval period...  or Brassart or Upper Cannon (of Vambrace)		Plate that covers the section of upper arm from elbow to area covered by shoulder armour.
Besagew Besagews Besagues are circular defences designed to protect the armpits, as part of a harness of plate armour. Armour without besagues might employ larger shoulder defenses, such as winged pauldrons or simply leave the mail beneath exposed.-References:...		Circular plate that covers the armpit, typically worn with spaulders.
Vambrace Vambrace Vambraces or forearm guards are "tubular" or "gutter" defences for the forearm worn as part of a suit of plate armour. Vambraces may be worn with or without separate couters in a full suit of medieval armor. The term originates in the early 14th century...  or Lower Cannon (of Vambrace)	14th C.	Forearm guard. May be solid metal or splints of metal attached to a leather backing. Developed in antiquity but named in the 14th C. Vambrace may also sometimes refer to parts of armour that together cover the lower and upper arms.
Gauntlet Gauntlet (gloves) Gauntlet is a name for several different styles of glove, particularly those with an extended cuff covering part of the forearm. Gauntlets exist in many forms, ranging from flexible fabric and leather gloves, to mail and fully articulated plate armour....		Gloves that cover from the fingers to the forearms, made from many materials.
Guard of vambrace		An additional layer of armour that goes over cowter, in which case it is proper to speak of the lower cannon of the vambrace which is the forearm guard, and the upper cannon of vambrace which is the rerebrace.
Leg
Chausses Chausses Chausses are armour for the legs, usually made from mail. They could extend to the knee or cover the entire leg. Chausses were the standard type of metal leg armour during most of the European Middle Ages. Chausses offered flexible protection that was effective against slashing weapons...		Mail hosen, either knee-high or cover the whole leg.
Poleyn Poleyn The poleyn was a component of Medieval and Renaissance armor that protected the knee. During the transition from mail armor to plate armor, this was among the earliest plate components to develop. They first appeared in the mid-thirteenth century and remained in use until the early seventeenth...	13th C.	Plate that covers the knee, appeared early in the transition from mail to plate, later articulated to connect with the cuisses and schynbald or greave. Often with fins or rondel to cover gaps.
Schynbald Schynbalds Schynbalds were an early experiment in plate armour for the lower leg. Schynbalds were metal plates strapped over chausses. Each schynbald was a single piece of steel that covered the front and outside of the shin. Schynbalds did not enclose the lower leg: hence, they were not true greaves...	Antiquity, lost but later reintroduced in 13th C. used till 15th C.	Plate that covered only the shins, not the whole lower leg.
Greave Greave A greave is a piece of armour that protects the leg.-Description:...		Covers the lower leg, front and back, made from a variety of materials, but later most often plate.
Cuisse		Plate that cover the thighs, made of various materials depending upon period.
Sabaton Sabaton A sabaton or solleret is part of a knight's armour that covers the foot. Fifteenth century sabatons typically end in a tapered point well past the actual toes of the wearer's foot...  or Solleret		Covers the foot, often mail or plate.
Tasset or Tuille		Bands hanging from faulds or breastplate to protect the upper legs.
Various
Gousset Gousset Gousset was a component of late Medieval armor. During the transition from mail to plate armor, sections of mail covered parts of the body that were not protected by steel plate. These sections of mail were known as gousset. Gousset came into use in the fourteenth century as plate became a...	14th C.	Mail that protects areas not covered by plate.
Lamé Lamé (armor) A lamé is a solid piece of sheet metal used as a component of a larger section of plate armor. Multiple lamés are riveted together or connected by leather straps or cloth lacing to form an articulated piece of armor that provides flexible protection...		Band of steel plate, put together severally so that several bands can articulate on various areas like around the thighs, shoulders or waist. Such pieces are named for the number of bands, for instance, a fauld of four lamé.
Doublet Doublet (clothing) A doublet is a man's snug-fitting buttoned jacket that is fitted and shaped to the man's body which was worn in Western Europe from the Middle Ages through to the mid-17th century. The doublet was hip length or waist length and worn over the shirt or drawers. Until the end of the 15th century the...  or Arming Doublet		Padded cloth worn under a harness.
Rondel Rondel (armour) A rondel is a circular piece of metal used for protection, as part of a harness of plate armour, or attached to a helmet, breastplate, couter or on a gauntlet....		Any circular plate. Rondels protecting various areas may have particular names, such as a besagew protecting the shoulder joint.

The following components of Yoroi roughly match the position and function of certain components of occidental armour:

• Mempo (mask)
• Kabuto (helmet)
• Domaru (cuirass)
• Kote (vambrace & lower pauldron)
• Yukake (semi-gauntlet)
• Osode (pauldron, sort of)
• Suneate (greave)
• Waidate (fould)
• Kyubi no Ita, Sendan no Ita (bezagews)
• Yodare (gorget)