Gauntlet

is any heavy, generally made of or reinforced leather.

Armour
Beginning in the 11th century, European soldiers and knights relied on for protection of their bodies, and chain armor “shirts” with wide sleeves that hung to the elbow were common. However, it wasn’t until the 12th century that chain mail shirts with longer, narrower sleeves began to be worn, and these on occasion had chain mail mittens or “muffs” resembling fingerless gloves and with a pocket for the thumb (though some of these did have complete fingers as well). These attached at the lower edge of the sleeve, and protected the wearer’s hands from cuts and lacerations during combat but offered no protection against crushing blows. It wasn’t until the early 14th century that armorers began to design fully articulated : along with this development of the use of plates as a means of protecting the body from blows was the development of hand protection in the form of gauntlets made of overlapping plates of steel. These were created both in the fingerless “mitten” style (which offered plate armor protection and allowed the fingers to share heat but limited the wearer’s ability to move those fingers) as well as the fully fingered “glove” style (which though still ungainly and less comfortable in cold weather, permitted full use of all of the fingers).

A variety of gauntlet called a “demi-gauntlet” or “demi-gaunt” also came into use around this time. A demi-gaunt is a type of plate armour gauntlet that only protects the back of the hand and the wrist: demi-gaunts are worn with gloves made from chain mail or padded leather. The advantages of the demi-gaunt are that it allows better dexterity and is lighter than a full gauntlet, but the disadvantage is that the fingers are not as well protected.

As clothing
In Western women’s fashion, a gauntlet can refer to an extended cuff with little or no hand covering. Such gauntlets are sometimes worn by brides at weddings.

Religious
In the Roman Catholic Church, the full-fingered gloves traditionally worn by the pope or other s are also known as gauntlets or, though their use has largely been relaxed since.

Idioms
The term “gauntlet” has common usage in two English expressions: to “throw down one's gauntlet” and to “run the gauntlet”.

“Throw down the gauntlet”


To “throw down the gauntlet” is to issue a challenge. A gauntlet-wearing knight would challenge a fellow knight or enemy to a duel by throwing one of his gauntlets on the ground. The opponent would pick up the gauntlet to accept the challenge. The phrase is associated particularly with the action of the, which officer’s role was from medieval times to act as champion for the King at his , in the unlikely event that someone challenged the new King’s title to the throne.

“Run the gauntlet”
“” was a military punishment in which a soldier or sailor had to pass between a double row of comrades armed with cudgels. The expression is now generally used. Gauntlet in this context is unrelated to the “protective glove” meaning, but is instead derived from the Swedish gatlopp ("street run"). Because of this difference in the derivation of the word, the expression is sometimes written “running the gantlet”.

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