AnAlmain rivet is a type of flexibleplate armour created inGermany in about 1500. It was designed to be manufactured easily whilst still affording considerable protection to the wearer. It consisted of abreastplate and backplate with laminated thigh-guards calledtassets.[1]Almain rivets were generally of fairly low quality, but they were cheap: a royal proclamation issued byHenry VIII in 1542 designated them at 7s 6d, which equated to one sixth of the cost of a suit ofdemi-lance armor.[2] Almain rivets were frequently purchaseden masse asmunitions-grade armour to equip royal armies or personal retinues.
The termrivet derives from the "overlapping plates sliding onrivets" characteristic of this type of armour.[3]Almain is anEarly Modern English term for "German" (still used in some poetic and/or archaic senses), from the Frenchalemanique, from the mediaeval Latinalemanicus, fromAlemanni, an early Germanic tribe.[4]The term was introduced in about 1530 and remained in use until about 1600. Based on the termalmain-rivet, the wordrivet itself acquired a meaning of "armour", attested (rarely) during the mid-16th century.[5]