Chain mail

"Chainmail" redirects here. For other uses, see chainmail (disambiguation).

"Maille" redirects here. For one of several French villages, see Maillé.

Mail hauberk from the Museum of Bayeux

Mail (also maille, often given as chain mail or chain maille or chainmaille) is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh.

The word chainmail is of relatively recent coinage, having been in use only since the 1700s; prior to this it was referred to simply as mail.

The word itself refers to the armour material, not the garment made from it. A shirt made from mail is a hauberk if knee-length, haubergeon if mid-thigh length, and byrnie if waist-length. Mail leggings are called chausses, mail hoods coif and mail mittens mitons. A mail collar hanging from a helmet is camail or aventail. A mail collar worn strapped around the neck was called a pixane or standard.

Mail is now often used for decorative use and in jewellery.

History

Statue of a Gallic warrior. This armour uses a highly unusual vertical orientation of the rings.

Mail was invented some time in the mid 1st millennium BC. It may have been invented independently in East Asia and in Europe. The earliest finds are from a 4th century BC (Rusu, M., “Das Keltische Fürstengrab von Ciumeşti in Rumänien”, Germania 50, 1969, pp.267-269) Celtic chieftain's burial located in Ciumeşti, Romania. It is believed that the Roman Republic first came into contact with mail fighting the Gauls in Cisalpine Gaul, now Northern Italy. The Roman army adopted the technology for their troops in the form of the lorica hamata which was used as a primary form of armour through the Imperial period.

"David rejects the unaccustomed armour" (detail of fol. 28r of the 13th century Morgan Bible). The image depicts realistically the method of removing a hauberk.

The use of mail was prominent throughout the Dark Ages, High Middle Ages and Renaissance, and reached its apex in Europe, in terms of coverage, during the 13th century, when mail covered the whole body.

In the 14th century, plate armour began to supplement mail. Eventually mail was supplemented by plate for the most part. However, mail was still widely used by many soldiers as well as brigandines and padded jacks. These three types of armour made up the bulk of the equipment used by soldiers with mail being the most expensive. It was quite often more expensive than plate armour. A mail shirt interwoven between two layers of fabric is called jazzeraint, and can be worn as protective clothing.

Extant mail is common, but it is not proportionately represented in museum collections.

The Japanese used mail (kusari) in a limited fashion in armour beginning during the Nambokucho period (1336-1392). Two primary weave methods were used: a square 4-in-1 pattern (so gusari) and a hexagonal 6-in-1 pattern (hana gusari). Kusari was typically made with rings that were much smaller than their European counterparts, and on a much smaller scale - rather than creating full garments of mail, small sections were used to link together plates and to drape over vulnerable areas such as the underarm. The rings were not welded nor riveted shut, though some pieces were constructed of rings that consisted of two or more turns, similar to the modern split ring commonly used on keychains. The rings were lacquered to prevent rusting, and was always stitched onto a backing of cloth or leather. The kusari was sometimes concealed entirely between layers of cloth or leather.

Effectiveness

Mail armour provided an effective defence against slashing blows by an edged weapon and penetration by thrusting and piercing weapons; in fact The Royal Armoury at Leeds concluded that, "...it is almost impossible to penetrate using any conventional medieval weapon..." A good sword blow, arriving in exactly perpendicular angle to surface, could cut through the links, and a poleaxe or halberd blow could break through the armour, but generally mail provided excellent protection to the soldier. According to a study of skeletons found in Visby, Sweden, a majority of the skeletons showed wounds on less well protected legs.

The flexibility of mail meant that a blow would often injure the wearer, potentially causing serious bruising or fractures, and it was a poor defence against head trauma. Mail-clad warriors typically wore separate rigid, helms over their mail coifs for head protection. Likewise, blunt weapons such as maces could harm the wearer by their impact without penetrating the armour; usually a soft armour, such as gambeson, was worn under the hauberk.

Etymology

The word chainmail is a pleonasm and a neologism: in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, "mail", "mayle" or chain was the English name for it, while maille was the common French name for it. This—and the alternative spellings "maile" and "maille"—derive through the Italian maglia, from the Latin macula, meaning "mesh of a net". Spanish corresponding word is malla and Portuguese malha. Cymric term lluric refers to Latin lorica.

Many modern armourers prefer the French spelling "Maille" in order to avoid confusion with the term chain letter for "chainmail" or postal delivery for "mail".

Manufacture

A style of modern riveted mail made of alternating rows of riveted and solid links.

Several patterns of linking the rings together have been known since ancient times, with the most common being the 4-to-1 pattern (where each ring is linked with four others). In Europe, the 4-to-1 pattern was completely dominant. Mail was also common in East Asia, primarily Japan, with several more patterns being utilised and an entire nomenclature developing around them.

Historically, in Europe, from the pre-Roman period on, the rings composing a piece of mail would be riveted closed to reduce the chance of the rings splitting open when subjected to a thrusting attack or a hit by an arrow.

Up until the 14th century European mail was made of alternating rows of both riveted rings and solid rings. After that it was almost all made from riveted rings only. Both would have been made using wrought iron. Some later pieces were made of wrought steel with an appreciable carbon content that allowed the piece to be heat treated. Wire for the riveted rings was formed by either of two methods. One was to hammer out wrought iron into plates and cut or slit the plates. These thin pieces were then pulled through a draw-plate repeatedly until the desired diameter was achieved. Waterwheel powered drawing mills are pictured in several period manuscripts. Another method was to simply forge down an iron billet into a rod and then proceed to draw it out into wire. The solid links would have been made by punching from a sheet. Forge welding was also used to create solid links, but the only known example from Europe is that of the 7th century Coppergate mail drape. Outside of Europe this practice was more common such as the well known "theta" links from India.

Modern uses

Practical uses

Splatter mask used by tank crews in World War One.

Mail is now used in protective clothing for butchers (against meat-packing equipment); workers may wear up to 8 lb of mail under their white coats. Scuba divers use mail (against shark teeth) as do animal control officers (against animal teeth). Shark expert and underwater filmmaker Valerie Taylor was among the first to develop and test the mail suit in 1979 while diving with sharks. The British police use mail gloves for dealing with knife-armed aggressors.

During World War I, mail was evaluated as a material for bullet proof vests, but results were unsatisfactory as the rings would fragment and further aggravate the damage. A mail fringe, designed by Captain Cruise of the British Infantry, was added to helmets to protect the face but this proved unpopular with soldiers, in spite of being proven to defend against a three-ounce shrapnel round fired at a distance of one hundred yards (92.3m).

Stab Proof Vests

After an intensive period of study and analysis of stab vests starting in the 1980s revealed that vests capable of providing ballistic protection were insufficient to protect against "ice-picks" or knife thrusts. The highest threat-level of modern stab-proof vests are now being made which incorporate mail armour.

There is anecdotal evidence to suggest that mail is a viable alternative to heavy leather for protecting motorcyclists from injury should they be thrown from their motorcycles.

Historical re-enactment

A woman models a haubergeon and coif of modern make.

Many historical reenactment groups, especially those whose focus is Antiquity or the Middle Ages, commonly use mail both as practical armour and for costuming. Mail is especially popular amongst those groups which use steel weapons. A fighter wearing hauberk and chausses can run, lie, stand up, jump, do somersaults (or even cartwheels), and even swim wearing full armour, depending on the fitness of the wearer. A modern hauberk made from 1.5 mm diameter wire with 10 mm inner diameter rings weighs roughly 10 kg and contains 15,000–45,000 rings. Mail can be used under everyday clothes and many reenactors wear a hauberk under their regular clothes to accustom themselves to it.

One of the two real drawbacks of mail is the uneven weight distribution; the stress falls mainly on shoulders. Weight can be better distributed by wearing a belt over the mail, which provides another point of support.

A reenactment of a long-distance march conforming to service conditions in the Imperial Western Roman army has recently revealed that mail which is worn daily is effectively rustproof and self-polishing; the motion of the rings against each other keeps them scoured.

Decorative uses

Major's shoulder chains

Mail remained in use as a decorative and possibly high-status symbol with military overtones long after its practical usefulness had passed. It was frequently used for the epaulettes of military uniforms. It is still used in this form by the British Territorial Army, and the Royal Canadian Armour Corps of the Canadian Army.

Mail also has applications in sculpture and jewelry, especially when made out of precious metals or colorful anodized metals. Recent trends in mail artwork include headdresses, Christmas ornaments, chess sets, and all manner of jewelry. For these non-traditional applications [1], hundreds of new weaves or patterns have been invented.[2]

In film

8-in-2 mail, commonly referred to as Kings Mail.

In some films, knitted string spray-painted with a metallic paint is used instead of actual mail in order to cut down on cost (a notable example being Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which was filmed on a very small budget). Films more dedicated to costume accuracy often use ABS plastic rings, for the lower cost and weight. Thousands of such ABS mail coats were made for the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, in addition to many metal coats. The metal coats are used rarely because of their weight, except in close-up filming where the appearance of ABS rings is clearly distinguishable.

See also

• Scale armour
• Ring mail
• Banded mail
• Plated mail
• Mirror armour (supplementary oriental plates worn with mail)
• Proofing of armour
• Dragon Skin (body armour)

External links

• Erik D. Schmid/The Mail Research Society
• The Treatment of Mail on an Arm Guard from the Armoury of the Shah Shuja: Ethical Repair and in situ Documentation in Miniature
• Excavated lorica hamata
• The Maille Artisans International League (MAIL) - Hundreds of weaves/tutorials/articles, and gallery pictures
• History Channel: Coat of Mail
• Construction tips
  • Butted mail: A Mailmaker's Guide
  • The Apprentice Armorer's Illustrated Handbook For Making Mail
  • The Ring Lord Chainmail Discussion Forum
  • Phong's Chainmaille Tutorials
  • Metal & Maille Forum - With Articles & Tutorials
  • How To Open Chainmaille Jump Rings
• Ancient Roman originals can be seen on the pages of the Roman Military Equipment Web museum (www.romancoins.info) [3]