Scaled armor is one of the most recognizable and characteristic pieces of equipment for Russian soldiers of the 13th century. This type of protective equipment, which appeared before our era, went a long way until it ended up in Russia, where it underwent some of the most interesting and significant changes. The design turned out to be so successful that echoes of technological solutions invented in Russia are found (apparently) even in Northern Europe.
One of the most important rules of war boils down to the fact that everything effective and the best should be borrowed from their more successful (in some matters) neighbors. While the domestic "liberals" are trying to hurt the "patriots" that the Russian people have not invented anything of their own, but have "stolen" everything from their neighbors, it is worth recalling that everyone has been doing this throughout history. It is enough to look at the complex of Roman equipment, even such fundamental things as chain mail and a sword were borrowed by the Romans from their northern neighbors - the Celts. And as we know in the end, it was not the Celtic tribes who built the greatest empire in the history of mankind.
At the same time, borrowed things always acquire a "local flavor", since borrowers have to adapt them to their reality, primarily economic. Sometimes, this leads to simplification. And sometimes, on the contrary, to refine and improve the existing technology. In all fairness, it is worth emphasizing that simplification is not always a bad thing. In Russia, the brightest example of borrowing with subsequent improvement is scale armor, which was in use until the end of the 15th century.
As such, scale armor is one of the most ancient defenses invented by man. It appeared as an attempt to repeat the scales of animals. In scaly armor, the Persian wars of King Xerxes, the same ones who had a chance to collide with the Spartans at Thermopylae, were still sported. Subsequently, the warriors of the late Roman Empire were equipped with scale armor, and then Byzantium. Most likely it was from the latter that they got to Russia.
In Russia, this type of protective equipment took root very well and was very popular. The widest distribution of scale armor fell on the XIII-XIV centuries. Moreover, in their native spaces, a rather specific type of this armor was used, which is characteristic primarily for Russian soldiers, namely riveted-sewn scales.
Riveted-sewn scales are armor on a cloth or leather base, to which metal plates are sewn through 5-6 holes located in the upper part. Moreover, each plate is also attached to the base with a rivet driven in the middle. The dimensions of the plates are about 6x4 cm. Thus, to cover the full armor, it was required to create and fix several hundred such elements.
This type of booking was very effective and very popular as it provided a very high level of protection. Especially in comparison with the protective equipment of the Western European knights of the XIII century. It is noteworthy that even then scaly armor in Russia was used together with steel bracers, which was almost nonexistent in the West, where knights mostly wore only chain mail and steel helmets.
In the course of the scaly armor in Russia remained in the 15th century, however, it gradually began to give way to other types of protective equipment, including non-metallic ones. The reason for this was primarily economic: the military estate became more and more, and the land "good and pleasing", giving a large profit, was not actually added. All this will ultimately lead to a change in the entire set of equipment for Russian soldiers, but that's another story.
If you want to know even more interesting things, then you should read about two-handed sword: why this weapon raises many questions for history buffs.