The baju lamina is a chain armor that is worked in the form of a vest. The back portion consists of small rectangular
brass plates, and the front part consists of brass rings. Several rectangular brass plates are attached to the brass rings, which extend from about the height of the
collarbone to about the lower edge of the last rib cage. The brass plates serve to reinforce the chain armor at the level of the more vulnerable
chest and
pelvis. The baju lamina has neither sleeves nor a collar.[1] One of the earliest references to this armor is after the
conquest of Malacca by the Portuguese (1511). The son of
Afonso de Albuquerque mentioned the armament of
Malacca:[3][4]
There are large matchlocks (
Java arquebus), poisoned blowing tubes, bows, arrows, armor-plated dresses (laudeis de laminas), Javanese lances, and other sorts of weapons.
It is unknown whether Malaccan armor-plated dresses were used in battle, only used by the elites and nobilities, or if they were purely ceremonial dresses.[5] Rui de Araújo reported that very few soldiers of the Malaccan army wore armor.[6]: 376 Around the 17th century, the Bugis people started using mail and plate armor and they were still used until the 19th century.[7]
Gallery
Traditional Bugis or Makassarese lamena armor.
Armor at Telaga, Kuningan,
West Java. Javanese
maille from the 13th to the 16th century AD.
^Charney, Michael (2012). Iberians and Southeast Asians at War: the Violent First Encounter at Melaka in 1511 and After. In Waffen Wissen Wandel: Anpassung und Lernen in transkulturellen Erstkonflikten. Hamburger Edition. Page 2.