lobster so frequently mischaracterized by military writers. While an armored man was not as agile as an unarmored one, plate armor overall was well balanced and ingeniously designed to permit considerable maneuverability and nimbleness. This fact is clearly expressed in the fighting literature on armored combat and born out by modern experiments in both antique armor specimens and historically accurate reproductions. Unlike what has been notoriously misrepresented in popular culture, a well-trained and physically conditioned man fighting in full harness was typically a formidable opponent (and there were many different kinds of armor for foot or mounted combat). But this is not to say that fighting in full plate armor was not tiresome or stifling. Armor restricted breathing and ability to ventilate body heat, as well as limitedvision and hearing. If armor did not work well it would not have been around for so long in so many different forms. (For more on this see: "Medieval Armor: Plated Perfection" in Military History , July 2005). 5. A science of thrust fencing replaced cruder cutting swordplay by the 16th century. Questions and Answers About the Rapier The Myth of Cutting vs. Thrusting Swords False. Thrusting was an important and integral part of Western fencing since the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Thrusting was long recognized as a dangerous and deadly technique in Medieval fencing as far back as the 13th century. Narrow tapering swords with very sharp points, both single and double-handed, were widely used for both military and civilian fighting beginning in the