Research on a fine medieval German mail shirt.

[cornelistromp]

I respect your opinion of course and perhaps the example of the butcher's glove is not well chosen.

I have a side-note, in the middle east in the 15thC were the opponents mainly lightly armored. Most probably because it was unbearably to wear heavy protection in the (literal) heat of battle. The frequent occurrence of cutting swords coming from the alexandria arsenal point in this direction.

Probably the light maile, on its own, offers not enough protection however it can be that a light maile worn in combination with an aketons/gambesons or the middle-eastern kazaghand would have given adequate protection against heavy blows of a cutting sword.

The maile is worn below or above these multilayered clothing.

(Picures are from Nathan Robinson)

[fernando]

Originally Posted by cornelistromp

... Probably the light maile, on its own, offers not enough protection however it can be that a light maile worn in combination with an aketons/gambesons or the middle-eastern kazaghand would have given adequate protection against heavy blows of a cutting sword.
The maile is worn below or above these multilayered clothing. ...

Ah, the gambeson. A bit off topic, but allow me to post here the gambeson worn by King Dom João I in the battle of Aljubarrota (14th August 1385).
This is one of the rarest medieval military vests existing today in the world. Made of flax, wool (cushion), silk and gold thread.
One of the pictures shows the actual example presently exhibited in a local museum and the other shows how the experts figured it should have been when brand new.

.

[cornelistromp]

Hi Fernando,

magnificent specimen. thanks for posting.

best,
Jasper

[Swordfish]

It was sold some days ago at an auction in Germany for more than Euro 10.000 including premium. I am very familiar with it, because it was once in my possession. I have examined it carefully and have removed a single ring for close examination. The shirt is manufactured of a close mesh of small riveted rings with an equal outside diam. of c. 8.5-9.0 mm, a sligtly flattened wire with a thickness of 0.9 mm and a width of 1.2 mm. A single ring weighs 0.2122g. It is a long (85cm) and heavy shirt with half length sleeves. The rings are made of hardened steel. The weight of the whole shirt is 10.1 kg, it is therefore constructed of more than 47.000 rings. As mentioned in the preceding posts, I believe that shirts with a considerable higher number of rings as this are not made for fighting, but only for celebration purposes.

Best