rerebrace

{{Short description|Armour piece protecting the upper arm}}

File:Pauldron and Rerebrace MET LC-04 3 111-003.jpg (which would cover the shoulder)]]

File:Upper Arm Defense (Rerebrace) MET 29.150.59 001august2014.jpg

A rerebrace (sometimes known as an upper cannon

{{cite book |author=David Edge |author2=John Miles Paddock |title=Arms & Armor of the Medieval Knight |year=1993 |orig-date=1988 |edition=Crescent Books reprint |publisher=Crescent Books |location=New York City |isbn=0-517-10319-2 |pages=79–80}}

) is a piece of armour designed to protect the upper arms (above the elbow). Splint rerebraces were a feature of Byzantine armour in the early medieval period. The rerebrace seems to have re-emerged in England, in the early 14th century.{{cite book |author=George Cameron Stone |title=A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and in All Times |year=1999 |orig-date=1934 |edition=Dover |publisher=Dover Publications |location=Mineola NY |isbn=0-486-40726-8|page=526}} As part of the full plate armour of the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance the rerebrace was a tubular piece of armour between the shoulder defences (spaulder or pauldron) and the elbow protection (couter).