Hello,

I perused the articles on myArmoury but could not locate the term for a certain piece of armor I've seen. I'll try to describe it as best I can.

Basically, it is a shoulder piece with one high side to protect the neck and side of the head. I believe they were used in jousting to... well... protect the neck and head from pointy things.

Any ideas?

The piece you are refering to is a pauldron with a haute or pike guard attached.

Here is a reproduction that can be found at Albion in the Mercenary's Tailor line of armour.

[ Linked Image ]

Tim , this type of pauldron was in use from the 1490s-the 1530 or so on cavalry armour . Infanrty were increasingly equiped with polearms which gave them the reach to skewer or unhorse a rider and since jabs with polearms would be comming from below the haute peice prevented these blows from hitting the head/neck . These type of pauldron continued in use for some types of tournement till rather later than they were used on the battlefield .

Was it worn on the right side (the pic strongly suggests so)? (I'm asking because I had to think of the Roman "galerus" which was worn on the left shoulder)

I could have this wrong and Allan will probably jump in if I do but I believe jousting armour had it on the left side (since that was the side that was going to be hit typically) and armour designed for battlefield use had it on both since an attack could come from either direction.