Sabaton

A sabaton or solleret is part of a knight's body armor that covers the foot.

History Sabatons from the 14th and 15th centuries typically end in a tapered point well past the actual toes of the wearer's foot, following fashionable shoe shapes of the era. Sabatons of the late 15th and early 16th century followed the duckbill shoes of the time, ending at the tip of the toe but often extending greatly wider. The sabatons were the first piece of armour to be put on, and were made of riveted iron plates called lames. These plates generally covered only the top of the foot. The OED gives the definition of sabaton specifically as the broad-toed variant of foot armour, yet says that the word is attested from 1330, over a century before this form became fashionable, so the accuracy of this specificity of form within the definition is questionable. The Middle English Dictionary has an earlier form, sabatoun, meaning both armour for the foot (with neither broad-toed nor pointy-toed form specified) and a type of slipper or shoe. The MED also has the term solier (from the Old French soler meaning "shoe") as a form of foot armour, but does not have its diminutive solleret, which seems to be...