African knights - African armour collection thread

[estcrh]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

Some very interesting material being shared and discussed here, and has prompted me to look back into this topic as it has been some time since last involved with it. The notes are from material which prompted my comments earlier, and after reviewing much of it supports most of the observations here in the thread so just wanted to add.

From H.Russell Robinson , "Oriental Armour" (1967):
Re: Sudanese armour during the Mahdiya,

P. 84: "...the better armed emirs wore rounded helmets, with an aventail of riveted mail and a heavy fixed nasal. "
"...over the body they wore a long quilted jibbah either with or without a mail shirt over it".
"...the mail shirts were all made on the same pattern; short sleeves, round neck opening, and long skirt split to the level of the fork at front and back,
all examples of these shirts show very considerable wear and much patching with crude links of wire or split rings of modern European manufacture.
I would suggest these are generally of old Arab make. All of the rings are riveted except in the case of later repairs, and many are so worn with use that they could be broken with the fingers without effort".

P.85:
Re: various materials brought back from the Mahdist campaigns by British forces.
Among the items was one of the helmets for the Khedives bodyguards which was made in Birmingham. This equipment apparently was completed with a mail shirt made of split rings, which when struck by 'Sudanese' bullets the brittle rings shattered and caused appalling wounds. It appears when the Sudanese captured these items they would only keep and use the helmets- preferring their old mail shirts to these 'new' ones so fraught with risk.

Jim, do to the limitations of this forum I will break up my reply.

On the use of mail armor, Robinsons book is good but he obviously did not know much about riveted mail. Almost all known examples of mail from the Middle East and Indian are made from alternating row of solid links and riveted links, with a few exceptions European riveted mail was the only mail with all riveted links.

The Sudanese did not manufacture riveted mail from what I have read, or they made it in very small amounts, what they made was butted mail. While riveted mail was stronger, the butted Sudanese mail absolutely was used during the fighting in that period and was quite capable of stopping a sword. I am surprised Robinson does not mention this as there are known examples that were captured during the fighting in Sudan during the late 1800s. Of course having the internet and computers makes researching so much easier and accurate than in Robinsons day.

The khedive mail was made from split link key chains, these were first made in England by machines around 1824 so they could not be older than that. Because these were actually key chains supposedly they had a high temper so they would not lose their shape, this explains reports of the links shattering when hit by a bullet. They were used at least until 1883 as there are accounts from the doomed William Hicks expedition of 100 cuirasssiers (horseman in chain mail). Up until the time that the Sudanese captured large amounts of high powered firearms the Egyptians did not have to really worry about being shot by the Sudanese, things changed after that.

Khedive Ismail's Army, John P. Dunn, 2005.

zirkhagi(iron men):Armed with sabres and pistols, these men wore chain-mail armour and metal helmets with nose-guards. While neither was proof against firearms, both offered considerable protection from cut and thrust weapons, like those used by the vast majority of Egypts African enemies. They were an elite formation, and often used both to bolster morale amoung regulars, and impress locals such as when a section was sent for duty in Harar during th early 1880s

From George stone referring to the use of armor by the Sudanese.

In the Sudan armor was used until the battle of Omdurman (1889) proved it to be useless when opposed to modern firearms.

I am posting some images, one is of Sudanese butted mail hauberk from the British Museum and its description. Also a cloth shirt with butted mail sleeves used by the Sudanese and an example of a Khedive hauberk made with split link key chain mail.

This is a horseman's long-sleeved chainmail tunic. It has a long skirt with a slit front and back to allow the wearer to sit on a horse. The scoop neck joins to a vertical slit on the front so it can be pulled over the head. The chainmail consists of butt-joined rings and there is no sign of any organic lining. The mail is in good condition with no dents visible. Chainmail and other armour was maintained so it could be in continuous use for long periods, particularly during the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries.

This chainmail tunic was first worn in around the time the Turkish rulers of Egypt conquered Sudan. It was later reused by the Mahdists, followers of Muhammad Ahmad, who overthrew the Turco-Egyptian administration in 1885 and remained in power until 1898.

[blue lander]

Did "African Knights" wear chain mail gloves? I saw a pair of what looked like chain mail mittens go up for auction awhile ago. The seller said they were from Africa but didn't offer much more information. They looked pretty old. I know I saved a few picture of them, I'll try to dig them up.

[estcrh]

Originally Posted by blue lander

Did "African Knights" wear chain mail gloves? I saw a pair of what looked like chain mail mittens go up for auction awhile ago. The seller said they were from Africa but didn't offer much more information. They looked pretty old. I know I saved a few picture of them, I'll try to dig them up.

The Khedival forces wore mail gloves or gauntlets, I have seen a picture of British soldiers in India wearing them as well. These were purchased from the same source as the split link, key chain hauberks in England. England supplied mail for countries that continued to have a need for mail in this latter time period. The gloves were supposed to have had more mail on one hand than the other. I think that was due to one hand being the sword hand and the other for a horses reins.

I have a sketch of a Khedive soldier wearing these gloves and a quote which mentions their use by Khedival forces as well, another quote mentions their use in India.

[Jim McDougall]

Estcrh, thank you so much for this wonderfully detailed and well explained response to my entries regarding excerpts from some of the well known published material concerning the Sudanese mail armour.

You clearly have remarkable knowledge and experience in these topics on the armour, and it is great to have this kind of insight into this rather esoteric topic. As can be seen by some of the material I entered, much of the generally held conceptions concerning these North African armours are quite misperceived and insufficiently represented.

I very much like that while you have noted these deficiencies with the Robinson material you avoided diminishing the author by your respectful reference to the advantages todays researchers have. Also, in rebuttal to my entries you have avoided making things 'personal' and have focused on soundly supporting your perspective and corrected the material noted.

What is of key importance here is that with the corpus of material and discussion here on this topic (again I thank Linus for opening this thread) that you guys have assembled, you have created a very informative archived block of material . This is an excellent status quo for those who will be studying these armours in the future here, and I know I have certainly learned a great deal on them.

Thank you both again, very nicely done!

All very best regards,
Jim