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 book 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.
1 Introduction, 1.1 Previous research, 1.2 Research question and aims,
1.3 Chaîne opératoire, 1.4 A multi-dimensional approach to material studies,
1.5 Scope, 1.6 Mail or chain-mail?, 2 The Origins of Mail Armour, 2.1
Suggested precursors, 2.2 Contested origins, 2.3 Earliest evidence, 2.4
Tracing the earliest contexts, 2.5 Further dispersal, 2.6 When, where and by
whom, 3 Distribution and Archaeological Contexts, 3.1 Battlefields and
accidental loss, 3.2 Iron Age mail, 3.3 The Roman Republic, 3.4 The Roman
Principate, 3.5 Hybrid feathered armour, 3.6 Hybrid armour beyond the roman
empire, 3.7 Late Antiquity, 3.8 The Barbaricum and beyond, 3.9 Mail for men,
women and children, 3.10 Social access to mail outside the Roman Empire, 3.11
Centuries of archaeological evidence, 4 The Iconography of Early Mail Armour,
4.1 the iconographic evidence, 4.2 the 3rd century bc to the end of the roman
republic, 4.3 early empire until the end of the 1st century ad, 4.4 the 2nd
century ad, 4.5 the 3rd to 5th century ad, 4.6 development of mail armour
design in iconography, 5 The Naming of Mail Armour, 5.1 Classical literature
on armour, 5.2 Lorica hamata, 5.3 Other designations, 5.4 Simply lorica, 6
Decoration in Mail Garments, 6.1 Gold on silver, 6.2 Copper alloy elements,
6.3 Decorative origin, 6.4 Development and distribution, 6.5 Decorative
trimmings, 6.6 Inserted patterns, 6.7 Contrasting rivets, 6.8 Decoration of
hybrid armour, 6.9 Decoration of 'miniature mail', 6.10 Decorative hems, 6.11
Colourful Roman army, 7 Padded Garments, 7.1 the advantages and disadvantages
of flexible armour, 7.2 himation, thoracomachus, subarmalis and cimmerian
tunic, 7.3 textile and leather remains, 7.4 medieval analogy, gladiators and
pteruges, 7.5 concealed by metal armour, 8 The Craft of Making Mail Rings,
8.1 The mail maker's process, 8.2 The manufacture of metal wire, 8.3 The
manufacture of solid rings, 8.4 Unravelling the use of butted rings, 8.5
Loose rings, 8.6 The mail making workshop, 9 Weaving Patterns, 9.1
Four-in-one pattern, 9.2 Six-in-one pattern from tiefenau, 9.3 Pinched
loop-in-loop pattern from Bertoldsheim, 9.4 Four-in-one pattern in hybrid
armour, 9.5 Favourable characteristics, 10 The Construction of Mail Garments,
10.1 Current knowledge based on late mail from Europe, 10.2 Presence of
constructional techniques in early mail, 10.3 Construction of early mail by
working in the flat, 10.4 Construction of textile clothing and mail, 10.5
Construction of the coat with shoulder guards, 10.6 Mail with shoulder guards
and textile clothing, 10.7 The development of mail armour through the ages,
10.8 Construction in cultural context, 11 Ring Characteristics, 11.1 The
relevance of the seemingly irrelevant, 11.2 Ring size, 11.3 Direction of the
overlap and ring types, 11.4 Cross-section of riveted rings, 11.5 Rivet
characteristics, 11.6 Shape of the overlap in riveted rings, 11.7
Cross-section of solid rings, 11.8 Ring characteristics typology, 12 Final
Considerations, 12.1 Insights, 12.2 Prospects, 12.3 Methodological potential,
Bibliography, Database, Appendix
1. Catalogue of mail armour, Appendix
2.
Catalogue of hybrid armour, Appendix
3. Catalogue of isolated finds of
fasteners and fixtures, Appendix
4. Finds excluded from the database.
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.
