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You've Got Mail
by Melissa Snell
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.
Dressed to Kill
The primary mail garment used by the knight was a simple shirt, called a hauberk or birnie. This was often rather long, falling well past the waist and sometimes as far as the knees. An average hauberk of medium length might weigh about 20 pounds
On longer hauberks, the portion of the garment hanging below the waist would usually be slit up the back and front to make it possible for the wearer to ride a horse. Sometimes it would only be slit up the back, which would make it look like a skirt or dress when viewed from the front. Hauberks almost always had short, loose sleeves for better mobility, and a knight's forearms might be protected by separate vambraces of mail or leather.
The knight also wore a mail coif or hood to protect his head and neck, and very often wore a helm on top of the coif as added protection for his skull. Early helms were usually simple conical affairs, sometimes sporting ear-and neck-flaps to protect the knight's vulnerable throat, and a nasal -- a narrow strip of metal extending down the middle of the face -- to serve as a nose guard. Helms would evolve considerably over the years, taking on a variety of shapes and accoutrements.
There were variations on coifs, as well, including an aventail that could be attached to a helm. It was not only important for the knight to wear something over his neck, but the mail should extend down past his collarbone to cover the neck opening of the hauberk.
Mail coverings were made for virtually every part of the body, and in addition to coifs and hauberks, knights often used leggings, foot-coverings, and even gloves of mail. So flexible and adaptable was mail that when plate began to see widespread use, mail was still utilized to cover all the parts that simple plate pieces did not.
The foremost advantage of mail as armor was its defense against bladed weapons; a sword, no matter how sharp, could not easily slash through the metal links. But mail did not make its wearer invulnerable; the force of the blow from a club, mace or sword could still crush the flesh and bones beneath the armor, and a wise warrior wore padding under his mail to increase his protection.
With proper padding, a hauberk, leggings, vambraces, a coif and a helm, the knight was dressed to kill -- and, more importantly, to survive.
A Fading Fashion
Mail was lightweight and versatile, but it could be pierced if struck by a sharp object with enough force.
Swords might be used as both slashing and piercing weapons, depending on their design, and knights looked for ways to deflect thrusting attacks with shields and metal breastplates. As the joust grew in popularity, the need for an armor less likely to be pierced by a driven lance grew, as well, especially for the jousts of peace that were supposed to be non-lethal affairs.
However, more than any other factor, it was the increased power of the bow that spelled the end of mail as the foremost armor of the medieval knight. Crossbows were notably deadly, and as the Byzantine princess Anna Comnena would note, "not only can a crossbow bolt penetrate a buckler [shield], but a man and his armor, clean through." Just as fearsome was the longbow, which was so successful in the Hundred Years' War that laws were passed in England requiring men to practice with it.
Bit by bit, piece by piece, mail was replaced by the plate armor that we've come to think of as "shining."
Knight Life #7: You've Got Mail is copyright © 2000 Melissa Snell and About.com. Permission is granted to reproduce this article for personal or classroom use only, provided that the URL below is included. For reprint permission, please contact Melissa Snell.
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