Prince Caspian

Brigandine Study

History

Caspian wears this brigandine for most of the film, over his white shirt at first, and over his mail hauberk at the battle. Historically, a brigandine was a coat-of-plates where iron or steel pieces (plates) were riveted in overlapping rows to the back of a cloth or leather garment—in this case, leather. What we see, then, are the outlines of the plates and the rivet heads.

This one seems to be based on a 16th century brigandine: the plates are small and the rivets are arranged in rows. The timeline also fits well with the pirate ancestry that the Telmarine design draws on.

Isis Mussenden mentions brigandines in one interview, but we haven't quite parsed her meaning—were plastic plates used instead of metal to get the look of a brigandine? Or are we mistaking a brigandine for a coat of scale plates made of plastic? "There's a very classical way of making leathered armor, but instead of the leather, we've used plastic plates. So we did use plates so you could get that amazing look. And part of it is so they would be articulated. So it's based in a real use. They're called brigandines. And brigandines came in many different styles."

Breakdown

Neck band rivet design

The leather on this one looks to be a very dark grayish green with a blue tint to it, but looking black in some lights.

It's front closing, with straps buckling in three places from the neck to waist. The plates of most of the body look to be about one inch wide, with the rivets in rows, two on each plate: one at the top on each end. The center edges of the brigandine, where it buckles, have one long row of much smaller overlapping plates, with one rivet a plate.

The neck is round, with a separate band of two-inch overlapping plates laying on the brigandine neck all the way around, riveted with two triangular groups of three, with three in a row between them (see design at right). There's a piece with an extra row or two of plates just under the top of the armhole, forming a sort of sleeve cap.

It has a six-panel skirt: two front panels, a side panel each, and two back panels. The two front panels are angled, forming an inverted V.

From this image, it looks like the plates are backed with a white cloth, probably something heavy like canvas.

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