the.com/spaulder
the bodyguard for your shoulder, back when getting stabbed there was a real career risk
means A spaulder is a piece of medieval plate armor that protects the shoulder and the top of the upper arm.
from From Old French 'espaule,' meaning shoulder — itself from Latin 'spatula,' a broad flat blade or shoulder-blade. That same root branches off into modern 'epaulette' and even the cooking 'spatula,' all sharing the idea of something broad and flat. So the spaulder is, etymologically, just the 'shoulder-thing' — armor named bluntly for the body part it guards.
- job
- plate armor protecting the shoulder joint
- name origin
- from Old French espaule, meaning shoulder
- vs pauldron
- smaller and lighter than its flashier cousin
- era
- peaked in the late medieval battlefield
- design tradeoff
- more coverage meant less arm mobility
henry viii's armor — greenwich armor made c.1544, ornate gilded spaulders with etched decoration
maximilian armor spaulders — 16th century holy roman empire armor featuring fluted, ridged shoulder plates