What is chain mail?

Chain mail is one of the oldest metal armor. It was considered a universal means of protecting a warrior in battle.

The lexical meaning of the word "chain mail"

It should be said that there is no single approach to the issue of the origin of the term.

When studying the etymology of the word "chain mail ", researchers turn mainly to Polish and Russian sources. In the first there is the concept of kolczuga. Accordingly, the Russian word "chain mail " is a loan from Polish. According to another version, the term comes from the word "ring". The meaning of the word “chain mail ” in this case is “consisting of rings”.

General information

In all areas where blacksmithing was well developed, and iron was enough, chain mail was made . Armor was used by Roman legionnaires, barbarians, European knights. Actively used them in the North Caucasus, in North Africa.

Currently, chain gloves are used in the meat industry. Scuba divers often wear titanium chain mail. This item of equipment provides protection against sharks. During World War I, tankers wore masks with visors made of metal rings.

Features

Chain mail is a kind of metal net woven from rings. It provided protection for soldiers from blows with knives.

In ancient times, various types of chain mail were used. These were chain shirts that covered only the torso, and full hauberks that covered the warrior from head to toe. In any case, their advantages were relatively light weight and ease of manufacture.

To create chain mail, iron was required (several kilograms), a device for drawing wire. Of course, the person making the armor had to be patient. It took quite a while to create one such shirt. It was necessary to make rings, then fasten them. Iron chain mail could last for many years. Any damage could be patched with new rings pretty quickly.

History

It is believed that the armor "chain mail" appeared about 1 thousand years BC. e. in Assyria. From there, it spread throughout almost all of Eurasian territory. The earliest finds date back to the 4th century. BC e.

Meanwhile, many researchers believe that chain mail, a photo of which is presented in the article, began to be manufactured independently in Asia and Europe.

In Scythian cemeteries, the first finds of ammunition date back to the 5th century. BC e. Celtic and Etruscan specimens were created around the 3rd century. BC e. The Roman Empire first learned about the possibility of protecting chain mail during the conquest of the Gauls. Legionnaires quickly adopted the technology of manufacturing armor. Before the appearance of firearms , chain mail began to be used everywhere.

From the 10th century the prevalence of ammunition has reached its limit. Hauberki appeared during this period. In the 13th century, Europeans sometimes reinforced chain mail with chest and shoulder plates. In addition, other solid metal protection elements (greaves, bracers, legguards, etc.) began to be actively used. As a rule, they were supplemented with chain mail or leather inserts.

In the 14th century, solid steel armor began to displace chain mail. However, they could not completely replace it due to its high cost. When developing ammunition, chain inserts were often used together with armor. The first covered the gaps and joints in the armor. In Russia, “chain mail ” was used in everyday life until the end of the 17th century, in the East, Central Asia and the Caucasus - until the beginning of the 19th century.

Japanese production

In the 14th century in the Land of the Rising Sun a completely unique type of chain mail was created. He was distinguished by a special weaving of rings and a device.

The Japanese used metal washers, which were additionally braided with tapered wire, wrapping it twice. Rings made in this way were sewn onto fabric. As a rule, two types of elements were used. Larger ones were parallel to the base. They were held together by smaller, often oval rings. They were placed perpendicular to the surface. Large rings were connected to each other using six small rings. All elements were varnished to prevent rust.

The Japanese classic was unknown. In neighboring China, with which trade was established, the technology for manufacturing ammunition was kept in strict confidence. For the first time, the Japanese learned about chain mail from European sailors.

Varieties

In the Middle Ages, 3 main types of chain mail were used ( their differences are visible in the photo ):

1. Short The sleeves of such a shirt did not reach the elbows. This type of ammunition was used by those who were not able to acquire the classic version. However, in some cases, a short chain mail shirt acted as additional protection.
2. Long with short sleeves. The hem could cover the legs completely or only to the knees. At the same time, cuts were made at the bottom of the shirt so that the warrior could mount a horse. Such chain mail was more common in the East. As a rule, she was worn with greaves and bracers.
3. Long with long sleeves. Usually she went with stockings. An additional hood was present in the hauberk, which was one piece with the shirt. However, he went to some models separately.

Interesting fact

In Europe, chain mail was supplemented by mittens. They were quite unpopular in the East, since it was difficult to shoot at them from archers. In Russia, the presence of mittens determined the ability to use a bow. For example, if you look at the chain mail of the warriors in Vasnetsov’s painting, you can see that Alyosha Popovich has a bow, but no mittens, and Ilya Muromets has a mitten, but no bow.

In Eastern Europe, fully preserved specimens were found near Chernigov in the Black Grave. They date back to 970 years.

disadvantages

Despite the fact that chain mail was very common, it provided a rather weak protection for the warrior. For the manufacture, soft iron was used, since hard steel broke upon impact.

Armor could be easily pierced with a saber or spear, cut with a sword. When struck with a heavy weapon, even if the integrity of the defense was maintained, the warrior was mortally wounded.

Chain mail was not designed to protect against direct piercing or chopping weapons. She protected from sliding or cutting impacts. To depreciate, they put on a sub-armor under it - a padded jacket, aketon, tegilay. In Europe, knights used quilted. She was a jacket stuffed with bristles, tow and consisting of 8-10 layers of canvas.

She didn’t very well protect chain mail from arrows: ordinary ones easily penetrated the hole, and special ones with a faceted tip pierced armor.

Additional items

At a distance of 50 m the warrior in chain mail was not protected. To increase safety, in addition to it were worn:

• Scale.
• Lamellar.
• Baydan.
• Kuyak.
• Brigantine.
• Mirror armor.

Armrest

Europeans used quilted linen for its manufacture, and in the East it was made of felt. The pododezhnik well softened blows. Without chain mail, ordinary infantrymen used it. Another name for this element is gambeson. Sometimes pieces of chain mail were sewn onto it, as a rule, in the armpit area - on the most unprotected area.

Chain mail was never worn without an armor, especially on a naked body. During movement, the rings would rub on the skin, and upon impact they would be imprinted on the body. In addition, they usually had barbs and rust. A warrior could quickly get blood poisoning.

At the end of the 14th century full armor began to be made. Under them, the knights put on a underspring and chain mail. They provided crevice protection. However, all the ammunition weighed a lot. The mass of lat reached 20-30 kg, chain mail - about ten. In the 15th century the composition of the armor has changed. They began to refuse full chain mail. Instead, they sewed her pieces on the armor.

Important point

Today, in some stores you can find chain mail. It is worth saying that it is made of light and soft material subjected to special processing. However, it is not intended to be worn continuously.

Characteristics of some models

Often warriors used a canoe. It was a chain mail made of flat and wide rings. Baydana better protected from sabers, but worse - from piercing weapons.

Yushman and the Bakhterets are chain mail with metal plates on the back and chest. In the last insert, small and narrow, they are arranged in vertical rows. In this case, the upper elements are superimposed on the lower. In Yushman, stripes no longer overlap one another.

The footman is a chain mail similar to a yushman. It also has metal plates on the back and chest. Sleeves were not provided for in Yushman.

Fantasy myths

In many games and books you can find the concept of chainmail. It is used to refer to chain mail. Parsing a word by composition , however, clearly indicates a tautology. It is enough to use only the term mail. Translated from English, its meaning is chain mail . Accordingly, the concept of chain is already superfluous.

The authors of the games were probably misled by the other term splint mail. This concept can be roughly translated as "board chain". The composition of the words allows you to use the Russian term "bakhterets" for translation.

Head and neck protection

Chain mail was worn not only on the body. In Western Europe, special hoods were used to protect the neck and head. They often wore a pot helmet. The barmitsa was attached to the conical headdresses. She attached to the edges of the helmet. Often she protected not only the warrior's neck, but also his face.

On the territory of Eastern Europe they used tinsel. It was a lightweight helmet with a burgundy mounted on a convex metal disk. In its form, it resembled a Jewish bale and provided protection only to the upper part of the skull.

Protecting other parts of the body

As mentioned above, gloves were part of the warrior's ammunition. They were not completely chain mail. They were made of durable fabric or leather. Chain mail was sewn on top. Rings on the palm prevented holding weapons.

Western European knights in the 11th-13th centuries used chain mail stockings for legs. They were called "highs" and reached the middle of the thigh.

Manufacture

Only the very first versions of chain mail consisted of flattened rings. The ends of the wire from which the ring was made were not fastened.

Subsequently, they began to rivet or weld the elements. Moreover, in the latter case, they were connected to each other using riveted rings. However, there were also chain mail in which all the elements were welded.

The simplest weaving pattern was 4 in 1. In this case, the ring was connected to four neighboring ones. However, such a weaving pattern did not provide the necessary protection, so it was complicated. They began to use the options "6 or 8 in 1" or "8 in 2".

With an increase in protective properties, however, the weight of ammunition increased. In addition, more time was required to make a more complex plexus. As a result, the final cost of the armor increased. Sufficient strength with a simple plexus received Indian masters.

Before making chain mail , wire was made. Two methods were common. In the first case, the blacksmith needed to forge the rod to about the desired size. The second method was more time-consuming, but the wire turned out to be better. The blacksmith needed to stretch a thin part of the rod through a metal cone to reduce the diameter, lengthen and give it a round shape. This procedure was performed several times until the required thickness was reached.

In the manufacture of armor, seamless rings were also used. They were cut out of metal sheets. Welding was mainly used in non-European countries, particularly in India.

It is worth saying that in the Middle Ages until the Renaissance, Europeans made rings not of wire. Each element is forged individually. The fact is that in the Dark Ages the technology of drawing rods was lost.

main parameters

They are the inner diameter of the rings and the cross section of the wire. Of course, it was necessary that the first parameter be larger than the second. Otherwise, the warrior would be uncomfortable to move. However, if the inner diameter is very large, the armor did not provide any protection at all.

As a rule, the internal size was more than the cross section of the wire of 5 r. On average, the diameter was about a centimeter. In practice, checking the quality of chain mail was quite simple. If the thumb passed into the ring, then the product cannot be used in battle.

Materials

First of all, you need a wire. If you take steel rods, then they will need 7-8 kg per product. In addition, a rod of a certain diameter and wooden blocks are needed.

It is possible to make rings with an internal size of 6 mm from a bar with a cross section of 1.2 mm. For elements of a larger size, you need to take a thicker wire. It is worth saying that in Russia chain mail was also made from rings of various diameters.

Masters half of the elements were welded tightly, and the remaining ones were subjected to additional processing. The blacksmiths flattened the ends of the segments a little and punched a small hole in each. After that, very small rivets (about 2 mm) were made. Each open element was threaded in 4 continuous. The ends were then reduced, a rivet was inserted into the hole, which was riveted with a hammer. The result was one welding and one riveted row.

In chain mail, as a rule, there were at least 15 thousand elements. In some cases, their number exceeded 20 thousand. The quantity depended on the size, length of the protective shirt, as well as the parameters of the rings themselves. Of course, the mass was different. The first versions of chain mail weighed about 12-16 kg, and later - no more than 9 kg.

Advantages

You should not underestimate chain mail armor. They perfectly protected the warrior from arrows at the end and gliding blows. It was rather difficult to pierce it with a spear or cut it with a sword, especially if the warrior actively resists. Of course, chain mail will not protect against a bullet.

An important advantage of protection can be called the fact that it practically does not hamper the movement of a warrior. If the chain mail is made to fit, then a person can even somersault in it, jump, etc. It will not interfere with archery. You can even sleep in it. It is possible to remove and put on protection very quickly. No outside assistance is required for this. In addition, when folded, it fits in a pack bag and does not take up much space.

The cradle, in turn, can be used as casual clothing. It protects from the cold.

The weight of the chain mail is small compared to armor, but it is distributed rather unevenly. The main pressure falls on the shoulders of a warrior.

It is very simple to repair chain mail. It is enough to replace the lost or damaged elements. If there is no blacksmith, then you can tighten the hole with a leather belt. If you mash the armor, then the help of a blacksmith is necessary. It is impossible to repair armor without him.

If you remove or add several rows of rings, another person can wear chain mail.

additional information

It is worth saying that even the best chain mail, made of high-quality steel according to the latest technologies of the past centuries, did not save, and did not have to protect it from point-blank shots and strong blows. From the impact of blunt objects the warrior was protected not so much by chain mail as by a sub-armor. At the same time, it was possible to escape from chopping and cutting blows, but not from crushing and piercing.

The insufficiently protective properties of chain mail are evidenced by the fact that until it was the main type of armor until the 14th century, knights used mostly universal battle tools. They, in particular, were clubs, swords, axes. After the appearance and active spread of armor, weapons began to be used to destroy armor. These include, for example, Klevets and coinage, finishers, war hammers. Accordingly, against a lightly armed enemy such a weapon was less effective.

Chain mail has a number of specific disadvantages. First of all, metal is susceptible to corrosion. Rings are very difficult to clean from rust. This is especially problematic in the field. For cleaning, chain mail was usually placed in a barrel of sand and rolled in it for some time.

Another drawback is the rumble of the rings when walking. It was difficult for chain-mail warriors to get close to opponents unnoticed. To reduce noise, grease was used. However, she did not completely eliminate the sound.

Despite its relatively light weight, the chain mail was still heavy. To the total mass was added the weight of the armor, weapons. In summer, in hot weather, after several days of socks, the ammunition acquired a persistent unpleasant odor.

Conclusion

In ancient times, the problem of protecting soldiers from arrows and strikes was quite acute. The fact is that in former times there was an active struggle for territories. Particularly frequent were raids on Russia by nomadic tribes.

When creating the defense, the need to ensure the free movement of the warrior, including in the saddle, was taken into account. Chain mail was the best option at the time. She was flexible, soft, light. The blacksmiths constantly improved their armor, added new elements to them, and changed the manufacturing technology.

Even with the advent of heavy armor, chain mail continued to be widely used everywhere. She made the armor mobile, flexible without compromising their protective properties. Of course, with the advent of new weapons, chain mail gradually began to lose its significance. However, it was quite common for a long time in Europe and eastern countries. Moreover, it was constantly improved. Ammunition was actively used by nomadic peoples. They were constantly on the move and needed light and mobile protection. Chain mail was perfect for this.

A good example of the merits of chain mail is the Battle of the Ice. Heavy knights, shackled in heavy armor, could not quickly move on the ice. Russian soldiers turned out to be more mobile.