Mirror armor, which will be discussed below, was used by many peoples from the 10th to the 17th century. In Persian culture, this type of warrior's protection was called chahar-aina, which literally translates as 'four mirrors'. The Chinese called it pinyin - 'mirror that protects the heart'. This indicates some of the external properties and structural features of this armor.
Mirrors can be called two different types of armor: full mirror armor and personal mirrors. The latter were fastened over the ringed armor. The technique of fastening the plates was different: rings and straps. There is a borrowing from the East of the style of making armor. According to surviving sources, researchers are convinced that full mirror armor originated in the Ottoman Empire. But the borrowing of personal mirrors leads to Central Asia and Iran.
Full mirror protection
Thisindependent type of armor. It consists of a large round chest plate and the same dorsal plate, in addition, from many different flat parts. Each mirror has its own name. So a large chest plate was called a “circle” (regardless of shape), the rest - “plates”, “necklaces”, “hoop”. The number of flat parts could vary from ten to twenty. Often mirror armor, the photo of which is presented, had a chain mail hem. This type of ammunition is stored in Stockholm, in the Royal Treasury.
Among the Russian knights, the mirrors also had a mystical component, acting as a talisman against enemy arrows or the claws of the beast. Before the battle, they were even deliberately polished to a shine. The point was to influence the psyche of opponents.
Personal mirrors
This is not an independent armor. They served as reinforcement for the hull armor. They were worn over chain mail protection or armor. They appeared in Russia via trade routes from Iran, where they were called "four eyes". This speaks of their four components: chest, two side and dorsal plates. The side and dorsal flat parts were rectangular in shape, and the breast parts were more often made round.
The ancient Mongols used this type of protection in the 13th-14th centuries. Round mirrors were fastened with straps on top of chain mail. They gained their distribution in the 15th-17th centuries. They were worn not only as an enhancement of the reflective ability of chain mail. They were also worn on lamellar armor, as well as over a kuyak, bekhterets.
Persian improvement
Small round mirrorssomewhat limited in their ability to protect their wearer, therefore, in the 16th century, rectangular components began to be made on the territory of Persia - this is the main feature of the Persian mirror armor of the 17th century. They covered a larger area on the body of a warrior than round ones, which means that the likelihood of injury from a tangential hit with a blade or arrow was significantly reduced. The countries of Central Asia and the northern part of India adopted such armor. Based on the enlarged main parts of the protection, Persian mirror armor appeared in the 17th century, which consisted of four rectangles encircling the body like a cuirass.
In Central Asia
Small disk-shaped mirrors were very popular in Central Asia until the 17th century. They were attached to the chest, and behind - on the shoulder blades. Leather straps were pulled through the plates, tied to the shell, tightening the plate itself and the armor. They were often found during excavations of mounds of Mongolian warriors of the 13th-14th centuries.
Even with the spread of laminar armor, mirrors were worn over them.
Moscow version
Personal mirrors with octagonal plates, chest and dorsal mirrors are widely spread in Russia. In the capital of the Russian Federation, the collection of the Armory keeps fifty-six exhibits of personal mirrors, a third of which have octagonal plates connected by straps. Twenty of them are connected by rings. Collector Sheremetiev saved twenty-four copies of mirrors of personalwith rectangular plates.
In the period after the Time of Troubles, protection from metal plates became more of an element of uniform decoration. Indeed, already in the second half of the 17th century, the development of firearms nullified the ability of armor to protect a warrior from injury. A bullet pierced him with the same ease with which an arrow pierced a caftan. One of the prides of the Armory is the full version, which includes a helmet, mirrors, as well as bracers and greaves. Worn in the 17th century.
Armor of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich
Mirror armor of the 17th century of Moscow princes was often covered with gold, decorated with engraving and chasing. His plates rarely exceeded two kilograms in weight. For example, the armor of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, who received the title of "The Quietest", had a round plate on the chest, with gilded rectangular parts of a smaller size, gilded components on the belt, gilded bracers and greaves. All this is worn over a chain mail shirt. He crowned the protection with a helmet. What is very interesting is that this military headdress of the Russian autocrat had Arabic inscriptions - quotes from the Koran. On the nose arrow there is a gaping inscription, which speaks of the only true god - Allah. And the bottom of the helmet is decorated with verse 256 of the second sura. What this is connected with is not completely clear.
The ruler is known as the second representative of the Romanov family on the Russian throne. He became king at the age of sixteen. It is known that he was a very religious person, kept fasts, performed church rites of the Orthodox direction.
He was fond of various cryptographic systems, Egyptian hieroglyphs,knowledge of ancient peoples. Perhaps here lies the secret of the Arabic text. Although things could be much simpler, and the inscriptions are an accident.
