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When
we think of the medieval knight, it's not uncommon to picture him
encased from head to toe in plate armor, like a human version of the
modern artillery tank or a "walking tin can."
This image was not unknown in the later Middle Ages. However, with the possible exception of the breastplate, armor for the knight rarely incorporated any plate metal pieces until the thirteenth century, and a complete outfit of plate was not at all common until the mid-1400s.
Instead, the knight of the Early and High Middle Ages usually wore mail.
Linking Up
Sometimes
referred to as "chain mail" or "ring mail" but more commonly called
simply "mail," this flexible form of armor was most likely invented
by the Celts several centuries before Christ. It was used by Roman
warriors, Vikings,
and Carolingian Paladins as well as by knights in the High Middle
Ages. There were several different forms of mail, and construction
techniques are a little difficult to determine, for although some of
the armor still exists, none of the tools used to make it
survived.
The construction
of mail was begun by hammering a sheet of metal very thin and flat.
The sheet would then be cut into narrow strips, and 
each
strip would be wound around an iron mandrel or rod. (Later, when the
technique of drawing wire was developed, soft iron wire would be used
instead.) The wound wire or strips would be sliced along the rod,
possibly through the simple use of a cold chisel or saw. The result
of each cutting would be a handful of open rings.
To
make mail, the armorer would join one ring to four or six others, and
join each of these to a total of four or six links, and so on, until
he had "woven" his metal fabric to the desired size. The number of
rings used in each linking would vary depending on how the armorer
wished to shape his garment. As you might guess, mail that linked
each ring to six others was much denser than mail that used only
four. For particularly effective armor, two links were used for every
link in ordinary mail; the result was called "double mail" and, of
course, weighed twice as much.
Even single mail required thousands of links in order to create a basic coat of armor.
To
keep the joined rings together, the armorer would rivet each link
closed. This was done by first flattening the open ends of the ring,
punching a hole in each flattened end, and inserting a rivet through
both holes. Although some mail had welded rings, the majority of the
mail armor that survives from medieval Europe is riveted. Mail could
be strengthened by including in the design a series of rings that had
been punched from a sheet of metal instead of having been wound, cut
and closed. Punched links had no "weak spot," and the use of them in
the mail made the armor less likely to be breached.
As you can well imagine, creating mail was a long, laborious process, and the results were too expensive for common foot soldiers. But for the knights who could afford it, mail was extremely versatile. It could be shaped into virtually any form and was worn just like a cloth garment.
Next Page > Dressed to Kill > Page 1, 2, 3
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