This was pretty common to have an exaggerated cod piece in your armor during this era
https://www.messynessychic.com/2021/11/26/fashion-historys-most-flustering-flex-the-codpiece/
That’s how insecure people coped back then. Lifted pickup trucks didn’t exist yet.
Sad to think we never got armor nuts
Makes a fair maiden wonder 🫦
I am sure when the lovely princess strips her victorious knight of his armor she is going to be severely disappointed.
I’ve heard that it is not uncommon for men to get erections during or after battle due to adrenaline and increase in blood pressure. I can imagine that this might be very uncomfortable in a full suit of armor. Maybe these enlarged cad pieces were an attempt to address that.
I am a little suspicious of that fact, but I don’t know
If that was the case we would see exaggerating cod pieces in many more types of armor. Oh and a hole in the gambeson.
Really this was just the rolled sock of the day. It was all over mens fashion at the time.
Doesn’t pass the smell test for me. Erections are the result of nitric oxide release relaxing vasculature to allow more blood to flow in no?
Like, isn’t cocaine dick a thing?
Imagine hitting a dent in that bulge. Metal doesn’t dent back out, I’ll be a struggle to walk or strip your armor while it is crushed the entire time.
It is today’s equivalent to catching it between your zipper.
Easy. Just get an erection to force the metal back out.
I can’t wait to find this comment in my history after having forgotten the context.
Or to see it as Google’s “AI Overview” recommendation for knights and armorers.
Choadpiece
Medieval version of driving a big car :)
Now I kinda want to know what constitutes medieval truck nuts…
there you go :)
There’s a set of Henry’s armor hanging out at the Met as well. I was pleasantly surprised to bump into it en route to see the gaudy-as-hell frame they put on Washington Crossing the Delaware.
Since we can’t meet Henry himself, meeting one of his suits of armor is the next best thing. It wasn’t nearly as fat as the paintings would suggest.
He might have been fat later, maybe!
I’ve heard before that the generous bulges of this era have something to do with knights having rampant syphilis and needing more room to breathe.
Isn’t history neat?
Or they just had them made large so that their descendants think they were more endowed than they really were. Like paying an artist to make your portrait prettier
History confirms Henry VIII had huge scathing fragile ego problems. So this all tracks.
The theory I’ve heard is that he loved jousting and took a lot of head injuries. Post Concussion Syndrome explains a lot of his personality.
