European Mail Armour: Ringed Battle Shirts from the Iron Age, Roman Period and Early Middle Ages (Amsterdam Archaeological Studies)

Mail armour (commonly mislabelled 'chainmail') was used for more than two millennia on the battlefield. After its invention in the Iron Age, mail rapidly spread all over Europe and beyond. The Roman army, keen on new military technology, soon adopted mail armour and used it successfully for centuries. Its history did not stop there and mail played a vital role in warfare during the Middle Ages up to the Early Modern Period. Given its long history, one would think mail is a well-documented material, but that is not the case. For the first time, this books lays a solid foundation for the understanding of mail armour and its context through time. It applies a long-term multi-dimensional approach to extract a wealth of as yet untapped information from archaeological, iconographic and written sources. This is complemented with technical insights on the mail maker’s chaîne opératoire. Cover 1 Contents 6 Acknowledgements 10 1 Introduction 14 1.1 Previous research 14 1.2 Research question and aims 18 1.3 Chaine opératoire 20 1.4 A multi-dimensional approach to material studies 20 1.5 Scope 22 1.6 Mail or chain-mail? 23 2 The origins of mail armour 26 2.1 Suggested precursors 26 2.2 Contested Origins 32 2.3 Earliest evidence 36 2.4 Tracing the earliest contexts 39 2.5 Further disperal 45 2.6 When, where and by whom 46 3 Distribution and archaeological context 48 3.1 Battlefiels and accidental loss 48 3.2 Iron age mail 53 3.3 The roman Republic 59 3.4 The Roman Principate 63 3.5 Hybrid feathered armour 71 3.6 Hybrid armour beyond the roman empire 74 3.7 Late Antiquity 76 3.8 Late Barbaricum and beyond 79 3.9 Mail for men, woman and children 83 3.10 Social access to mail outside the Roman Empire 91 3.11 Centuries of archeological evidence 96 4 The iconography of early mail armour 98 4.1 the iconographic evidence 98 4.2 the 3rd century bc to the end of the roman republic 100 4.3 early empire until the end of the 1st century ad 110 4.4 the 2nd century ad 126 4.5 the 3rd to 5th century ad 137 4.6 development of mail armour design in iconography 144 5 The naming of mail armour 146 5.1 Classical literature on armour 146 5.2 Lorica hamata 147 5.3 Other designations 152 5.4 Simply lorica 154 6 Decoration in mail garments 156 6.1 Gold on silver 156 6.2 Copper alloy elements 158 6.3 Decorative origin 159 6.4 Development and distribution 160 6.5 Decorative trimmings 163 6.6 Inserted patterns 166 6.7 Contrasting rivets 168 6.8 Decoration of hybrid armour 171 Decoration of 'miniature mail' 173 6.10 Decorative hems 174 6.11 Colourful Roman army 176 7 Padded garments 178 7.1 the advantage and disadvantage of flexible armour 178 7.2 himation, thoracomachus, subarmalis and cimmerian tunic 181 7.3 textile and leather remains 185 7.4 medieval analogy, gladiators and pteruges 189 7.5 concealed by metal armour 194 8 The craft of making mail rings 196 8.1 The mail maker's process 196 8.2 The manufacture of metal wire 205 8.3 The manufacture of solid rings 210 8.4 Unravelling the use of butted rings 214 8.5 Loose rings 220 8.6 The mail making workshop 222 9 Weaving patterns 224 9.1 Four-in-one pattern 224 9.2 Six-in-one pattern from tiefenau 228 9.3 Pinched loop-in-loop pattern from Bertholdsheim 230 9.4 Four-in-one pattern in hybrid armour 232 9.5 Favourable characteristics 234 10 The construction of mail garments 236 10.1 Current knowledge based on late mail from Europe 237 10.2 Presence of constructional techniques in early mail 241 10.3 Construction of early mail by working in the flat 243 10.4 Construction of textile clothing and mail 252 10.5 Construction of the coat with shoulder guards 255 10.6 Mail with shoulder guards and textile clothing 260 10.7 The development of mail armour trough the ages 262 10.8 Construction in cultural context 270 11 Ring characteristics 272 11.1 The relevance of the seemingly irrelevant 272 11.2 Ring size 274 11.3 Direction of the overlap and ring types 278 11.4 Cross-section of riveted rings 289 11.5 rivet characteristics 298 11.6 Shape of the overlap in riveted rings 304 11.7 Cross-sections of solid rings 315 11.8 Ring characteristics typology 320 12 Final considerations 326 12.1 Insights 326 12.2 Prospects 330 12.3 Methodological potential 330 Bibliography 334 Database 376 Appendix 1. Catalogue of mail armour 378 Appendix 2. Catalogue of hybrid armour 496 Appendix3. Catalogue of isolated finds of fasteners and fixtures 502 Appendix 4. Finds excluded from the database 518 Mail armour (commonly mislabelled 'chainmail') was used for more than two millennia on the battlefield. After its invention in the Iron Age, mail rapidly spread all over Europe and beyond. The Roman army, keen on new military technology, soon adopted mail armour and used it successfully for centuries. Its history did not stop there and mail played a vital role in warfare during the Middle Ages up to the Early Modern Period. Given its long history, one would think mail is a well-documented material, but that is not the case. For the first time, this books lays a solid foundation for the understanding of mail armour and its context through time. It applies a long-term multi-dimensional approach to extract a wealth of as yet untapped information from archaeological, iconographic and written sources. This is complemented with technical insights on the mail maker?s chaîne opératoire. Martijn A. Wijnhoven holds a PhD in archaeology from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He specializes in ancient military studies and has published extensively on the analysis and reconstruction of ancient armour spanning from the Iron Age to the Middle Ages. His research combines methods from history, anthropology, and archaeology, rendering a holistic approach to material studies Mail armour (commonly mislabelled "chainmail") was used for more than two millennia on the battlefield. After its invention in the Iron Age, mail rapidly spread all over Europe and beyond. The Roman army, keen on new military technology, soon adopted mail armour and used it successfully for centuries. Its history did not stop there - mail played a vital role in warfare during the Middle Ages up to the Early Modern Period. Given its long history, one would think mail is a well-documented material, but that is not the case. This book aims to correct this by laying a solid foundation for the understanding of mail armour and its context through time. It applies a long-term multi-dimensional approach to extract a wealth of as yet untapped information from archaeological, iconographic, and written sources. This is complemented with technical insights on the mail maker's chaîne opératoire