Fabrication of a suit of armour at the end of Middle Ages: An extensive archaeometallurgical characterization of the armour of Laval

This study focuses on the extensive archaeometallurgical characterization of a suit of an exceptional armour belonging to the “Musée du Vieux-Château” in Laval (France). Except for the helmet, its morphological features correspond to a rare Italian-style equipment dated from the 15thcentury. However, its exact origin is unknown. Metallurgical investigations made on a set of samples revealed that the armour was made of various ferrous alloys, submitted to different heat treatments. Particular craftsmanship has been implemented on some elements of the armour such as the backplate involving both quenching to harden the metal and the use of a “banded steel”, combining several sheets of metal with different properties, which could have been achieved to provide better defensive properties. These results were combined with a thorough provenance analysis of the metal by considering the composition of Slag Inclusions (SI), revealing three different metal supply sources for the different pieces of the suit. Two defences were made of a metal whose chemical signature is compatible with the Italian Alps while three others have a common chemical signature, compatible with another group of Italian-style defences, already studied. The provenance study reinforces the hypothesis of a link between several parts of the armour. More broadly, the results give new insight in the fabrication of Italian-fashion suit of armour and provide crucial data for establishing the chemical signature of metal supplies employed by the armourers’ workshops.