Remarkably little is known of Britain during the centuries immediately following the Roman occupation, and the question as to when real chain-mail was first used in Europe is both difficult and obscure. There is a representation of loricas on the column of Trajan that looks remarkably like chain-mail, and it is almost certain that the Romans used iron chain-mail in Britain. The bronze scales of a lorica, or Roman cuirass, found at Æsica, do not help us;2 but interlinked bronze rings of Roman origin have also been found, and if in bronze, why not in iron? This question is adequately answered by the masses of corroded iron rings of Roman times found at Chester-le-Street, and referred to in the report of a meeting held by the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Society of Antiquaries as far back as 1856.3 These rings could hardly be massed together as they are without having been interlinked. The extract from the report of this early meeting of the Society runs thus:—“The Rev. Walker Featherstonhaugh had presented two pieces of chain armour, corroded into lumps, from Chester-le-Street.” Similar masses of rings of Roman date have been found at South Shields, and may be seen in “The Blair Collection” at the Black Gate Museum. These are of a date certainly not later than the fourth century. We may then reasonably conclude that these masses of corroded iron rings were once loricas of iron chain-mail. But the Romans were not the first to use chain-mail, for they got it probably, like so much besides, from Asia. In the British Museum are some corroded masses of links brought from Nineveh, similar in character to those found at Chester-le-Street, so it may be taken that this kind of armour is of a remote antiquity.

The Dano-Anglo-Saxon epic poem of “Beowulf,” written doubtless during the second half of the eighth century, bears frequent reference to the hero’s arms and armour:—

This poem has been cited as proof that chain-mail was in use in early Saxon England, and by the Vikings also, and there is some supposed confirmation of this idea as regards the latter in the finds of chain armour in the peat mosses of Denmark, which have been freely ascribed to the fifth and sixth centuries; but this mail is of such excellent workmanship, and so similar to that made at a much later period, as to cast grave doubts on this deduction, and there is really nothing whatever to show that it was of so early a date. Every ring of the Danish mail is interlinked with four surrounding rings, and so on throughout the garment. This is the prevailing fashion of all periods, and there is a great variety of mesh. It would seem that the “war-nets” alluded to in “Beowulf” were not chain-mail at all, but leathern or quilted armour with pieces of iron, shaped like the drawn meshes of a net, or steel rings sewn on to it, and that this combination constituted the “bright byrnie”4 referred to in the poem, and that the chain-mail found at Vemose, Flensburg, and other places, was made much later. Quite independent of other evidence, the line in the poem, “The war-net sewn by the skill of the smith,” would point to the leathern or quilted tunic being fortified with rings or scales sewn on to the garment; and this was the general method up to and even beyond the time of William the Conqueror.

There are, however, other words in the poem referred to, such as “hand-locen” (hand-locked), and “handum gebroden.” The latter words might well read either twisted or embroidered with hands, while both might point to interlinked mail, so it clearly cannot be affirmed with certainty that there were no instances of real chain-mail in use in Britain at this very early period after the Romans; but if there were any hauberks of the kind it might indicate a much greater continuity from the Roman occupation than the historians of those shadowy times have hitherto imagined. Possibly chain-mail was introduced from Asia, through the Vikings, and that the byrnies mentioned in Beowulf were really made of interlinked rings; but it is probable that there was no real chain-mail in Northern Europe between Roman times and the ninth or tenth century. That it was in use in the East at an early period is shown by the discovery of a chain-mail tunic in a “barrow” in the Ukraine.5

The Arab hordes which were driven back by Charles Martel at the decisive battle of Poitiers in 732 were despoiled of their body-armour, which was of a rich Saracenic character, by the conquerors. This was probably of leather or quilted stuff fortified with small plates or scales; and such armour was henceforth adopted by the Franks, while Charlemagne grafted Roman fashions and traditions on to the armament.

Up to the later middle ages the sizes of the links of chain-mail, which are of hammered iron, vary considerably, extending from one-sixth of an inch to an inch in diameter, and they were soldered, welded, or butted in the earlier times, and often riveted in the later. Most of the earlier Oriental mail is riveted. It is said that the art of wire drawing was discovered by Rudolph of Nuremberg in 1306. At all events its application at this time rendered chain-mail much cheaper and more generally used than when each ring was separately wrought. This discovery was possibly only the revival of an ancient art. Very much was lost during the “dark ages” which followed the disruption of the Roman empire, when so many landmarks were swept away; and the same kind of thing has happened often before in the cycles of obscuration that preceded it. Much was preserved in “Chronicles,” as was also the case in the earlier periods of obliteration, when hieratic writings on stone, papyrus, or parchment restored so much to the newly-awakening times. Double-ringed mail is mentioned by some authorities, but the author has never seen any, and it seems probable that the indistinct drawings on manuscripts, brasses, or tapestry gave rise to the idea—very small ringed mail might easily be taken for double; still, many effigies show what looks very like double-ringed mail.6 The Danes of the eighth century generally adopted the Phrygian tunic, reinforced with steel rings, probably obtained through their intercourse with the Byzantine empire; and both Meyrick and Strutt agree that such a tunic was then in use. The paladins of Charlemagne wore jazerant and scale armour of strongly marked Roman characteristics, and, according to the monk of St. Gall, the emperor’s panoply consisted of an iron helmet and breastplate of classic form, with leg and arm armour. This period represents to a certain extent a classic revival, and such forms were clearly then reverted to. It was under this reign that heavy cavalry attained the pre-eminence which sustained its first check with the successes of the English yeoman with the longbow. Charlemagne adopted the service of the ban, and formed a standing militia of his own vassals.

The real mediæval coat of chain-mail was probably somewhat of a rarity in the tenth century, but that it was in general use by the greater knights late in the eleventh is clear from the testimony of the Princess Anna Comnena, daughter of the Emperor Alexius Comnenus, who says, in describing the body armour of the knights of the first crusade, “it was made entirely of steel rings riveted together.” She further remarks that this kind of armour was unknown at Byzantium up to the time of the first crusade. Mail armour is mentioned by a monk of Mairemoustier (temp. Louis VII., a contemporary of Stephen, 1137), in a description of the armament of Geoffrey of Normandy.7

The inception and principles of chivalry were the romantic outcome of the lessons of Christianity as taught in the earlier “middle ages,” though confined to a narrow and privileged class; which class assumed a concrete form under Charlemagne, who did his best to divide society into “the noble” and “the base”; thus promoting the feudal system, the symbol of which became the sword. The earlier stages of the movement were characterised by great fervour and self-abnegation, operating in various ways according to the modes of thought of the different nations brought under its domination. It gradually declined, and by the end of the thirteenth century had degenerated into a fantastic fashion rather than a principle; and culminated, like the church of the period, in licentiousness and frivolity. Froissart alludes to it in this sense. The influence exercised by the laws of chivalry was on the whole beneficent in subjugating the rude passion of combat to some of the limitations of Christian ethics; and the knightly watchword “God and his lady” raised the social status of women of the privileged class. The conquest of England by the Normans, the stirring incidents of the first crusade, when we have the shrewd account of the arms and armour of the crusaders by the Byzantine Princess Anna Comnena, and the general martial spirit of the age, lent an immense impetus in the eleventh and twelfth centuries to warlike equipment of all kinds; but this was more in the direction of improving old forms, rather than in the introduction of new ones.

The Bayeux tapestry—worked, there is little doubt, in the middle of the eleventh century, but whether embroidered in England by order of Matilda for an English cathedral, or in Normandy by noble ladies or hirelings—is of comparatively little moment so long as its authenticity as an approximately contemporaneous monument of the reign of the Conqueror is generally admitted, and this is happily the case. It shows that the Conqueror’s chivalry wore conical helms with the nose-guard and hood of mail for protecting the neck, shoulders, and part of the face. The hauberks reached down over the thighs, with a slit in the middle of the skirt for convenience on horseback; and the mail on the arms usually came nearly to the elbows, but sometimes to the wrists; and the continuous coif occurs frequently. The hauberk of this period had no division down the front, but was drawn on over the warrior’s head. The Norman knights bear pear-shaped, convex shields with a point at the bottom, secured to the arm by a leathern strap, and large enough to cover the body from the shoulders to the hips; some with a rough device. Some of the shields shown are polygonally formed, with a central spike. The Saxon shields on the tapestry are round or oval, with a central umbo. Maces are shown in the hands of some of the figures. With the exception of William himself, whose legs are encased in chausses, probably of leather, with reinforcing scales or rings, the limbs of his knights are simply swathed in thongs. Probably only the richer knights wore chain-mail, the majority having hauberks of cuir-bouilli (boiled leather) strengthened by continuous rings sewn on to it, side by side or overlapping. Some also had the pieces of lozenge-shaped metal already mentioned, called jazerine or jazerant; or scales, which were occasionally of horn, fixed on to the leather. It is impossible to determine these details absolutely, as all the armour looks very much alike on the tapestry in its present condition, this being especially the case where rings were used; and it is only by careful comparison with other contemporary evidence that any reasonable certainty can be assured. This has naturally given rise to a great diversity of interpretation; and the same difficulty arises with seals. The knights wore no surcoats over their mail. The great seal of William the Conqueror shows him in a hauberk coming down to the knees, with short sleeves and no leg armour. Under the hauberk was the gambeson and tunic. The helm is hemispherical, and fastened under the chin. The Germans were probably before us in the general use of real chain-mail, for the epic poem of Gudrun, written in the tenth century, states how Herwig’s clothes “were stained with the rust of his hauberk.”

The panoply of knights was very much the same during the century preceding the Conqueror’s time, as shown in the illuminations of a “Biblia Sacra” of the tenth century. Helms with rounded crowns were worn then, and this is all confirmed by the “Martyrologium,” a MS. of the same period in the library at Stuttgart.

Defensive armour continued much the same during the reign of Rufus, whose seal shows him in a long-armed hauberk without gloves of mail, and a low conical helm with the nasal; but in the reign of his successor, Henry I. (1100–1135), the reinforcing rings of the hauberk were sometimes oval and set on edgeways, “rustred” mail as it was termed; and this fashion became common in the next reign. The seal of Henry I. shows a conical cap without nasal, and that of Stephen a kite-shaped shield with a sharp spike in the centre. The king wears a hauberk of scales, sewn or riveted on the gambeson. The nasal first appeared in England about the end of the tenth century, and the Bayeux tapestry shows it to have been common among the Normans in the eleventh. Among the seals of the English kings, that of Henry II. is the first to show the hood of mail. The hauberk of the Norman kings was in one piece from the neck. Under Richard I. the hauberk is somewhat lengthened, and armorial bearings become general. The sleeves of the hauberk are lengthened, and terminate in gloves of mail. The first seal of Richard Cœur-de-Lion shows the king on horseback in a hauberk of mail. His spiked shield, shaped like half a pear cut lengthwise and pointed at the bottom, is ensigned with a lion rampant. The arm is mail-clad to the finger tips, and brandishes a simple cross-handled sword; the chausses are of mail, and terminate in a spurred solleret. Over the continuous hood, which is in one piece with the hauberk, he carries a high conical helm without flaps or nasal, bound round with iron bars. On Richard’s second seal he bears the great helm with a fan crest, ensigned with a lion; his hauberk is rather longer than in the first seal. The shield on this seal is ensigned with three lions passant gardant, and this is still retained on the royal escutcheon of England, which becomes quartered with the lilies of France in the royal arms of Edward III. Both seals show the plain goad spur. There is a good example of an undoubted suit of chain-mail on an effigy of Robert de Vere (died 1221) in Hatfield Broad Oak Church. This suit was probably made in the reign of King John. An effigy in Haseley Church, Oxfordshire, of the reign of Henry III., shows a hood somewhat flattened at the crown, hauberk reaching to the knees, and surcoat coming nearly to the ankles.

It is stated that Richard sent home from the crusade numerous suits or rather hauberks of chain-mail. There is a riveted sleeveless shirt of chain-mail, with a fringe of brass rings, dating from the thirteenth century, in the Rotunda, Woolwich; these brass rings are a common feature of the period.

The question as to when coats of arms were first introduced is very uncertain, but it is thought that the custom had its origin in the first crusade, when distinguishing marks among such a motley crowd of warriors were more especially needful. During this crusade the several nationalities taking part in it were distinguished by different coloured crosses sewn on to their garments, each leader displaying his own colour and device; but heraldic bearings first became generally hereditary in the reign of Henry III. His seal shows the king with the fingers of his chain-mail gloves articulated, and wearing the great helm. An early example of a helm with a heraldic device occurs on an effigy of Johan le Botiler about 1300. It is figured in Hewitt. The shield on the brass of Sir John Daubernoun bears a distinctly heraldic device. Heraldry seems to have been most studied, prized, and practised during the fourteenth century. An illumination in the Loutterell Psalter, dating from the middle of the same century, shows heraldic devices spread over the entire person of a knight; being emblazoned over the body, ailette, banner, pennon, saddle, shield, and on the housings of the steed, as well as on the dresses of the ladies of the knight’s family. The numerous tournaments of this period encouraged its use and development, mainly in the sense of ostentation and pride of birth. In the Tower collection is a figure on horseback clad entirely in chain-mail. To the hood is attached a fillet of iron round the head. The hauberk has long arms terminating in gloves of mail. A leathern belt with strong iron clasps encircles the waist. Excepting the legs the horse is fully barded with leathern armour, fortified with iron scales. The armour on the figure is labelled “Indian,” and the horse “Persian.” There are two hauberks at Carlsruhe of riveted chain-mail, hood and tunic in one piece, but the head bears no fillet. On the breast, over nipples and navel, are three small palettes inscribed with Oriental characters; and inscribed clasps at the waist fasten the tunic. These suits are chiefly remarkable for the presence of the hood, and the date of the mail is about fourteenth century. There are two shirts of mail at Brancepeth Castle, Durham, which are riveted, and probably of early fourteenth century date. It was not uncommon for hauberks to be provided with reinforcements of leathern thongs, which were intertwined through the rings; there is an example of this kind in the Rotunda at Woolwich. This description of reinforced chain-mail is referred to later under the paragraph dealing with “banded” mail. An effigy of a knight in the Temple Church, that of Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex (1144), in the reign of King Stephen, engraved by Stothard, shows the warrior armed completely in chain-mail, having a hood of mail over the head and shoulders, surmounted by a cylindrical helmet without nasal. The hauberk is in one piece with the arms and gloves, the last without any articulation; this form of gauntlet is the earliest. Chausses going above the knee, in one web with the demi-poulaine or slightly-pointed shoes; globular triangular shield extending from the shoulder to the hip; and the belt of knighthood above the hips. There is a singular point in connection with this and two other effigies in the church, viz., that the sword is worn on the right side. This peculiarity is noticeable in other figures of the period. The effigy of a knight in the same church, that of William Longespee, Earl of Salisbury (1200–1227), wears mail gloves, the fingers of which are articulated; the sword is on the left side. Both figures wear surcoats. Like most continuous hoods of early thirteenth century date, this example is somewhat flattened at the top. They were usually rounded in the second half of the century, as shown on the Daubernoun brass; and the gloves generally divided into fingers, as may be seen on two of the sleeping guards in Lincoln Cathedral; this form continued well into the fourteenth century; The “Coif de mailles,” or separate hood of chain-mail, followed the same lines as the continuous one, and examples of all may be seen in Stothard’s series, and one of the effigies in the Temple Church shows how they were lapped round the face and fastened. What the separate hood perhaps gained in convenience, it certainly lost in invulnerability, as it left the neck less adequately guarded against a thrust from below. The effigies in the Temple Church are perhaps the most artistic, as well as the most interesting, of any series existing. It is not known that any of them really represented a knight templar, although several of them did crusaders. The only effigy of a knight templar that is known to have existed is that of Jean de Dreux, who was living in 1275. The figure was unarmed, but bore the mantle of the order. The effigy was formerly in the church of St. Yved de Braine, near Soissons.

A knight in Walkerne Church, Hertfordshire, wears the great helm, rising slightly at the crest, pierced with eye-slits, and showing breathing holes over the mouth.

Coutes or coudières for the elbow are seen but rarely in the thirteenth century; but genouillières (knee pieces) began to appear over mail towards the middle of the century. Examples of both pieces, dating about 1250, may be seen in Stothard. Genouillières occur on the Daubernoun brass (1277), while both pieces appear on that of Sir John D’Argentine (1382). The adoption of these defences and the plastron-de-fer was the first step in the direction of plate armour. Something of the kind had become absolutely necessary by reason of the number of casualties caused by the general use of the deadly battle-axe and mace.

The cuisse and jamb (plate armour for the thigh and shin) are not seen in England before the close of the century. They were first strapped on over the chausses, and only covered the front of the leg. Chain-mail continued in use in the East up to a recent date.

A spirited drawing of a mediæval water ewer of bronze is given in the Archæologia Æliana, old series, vol. iv., p. 76, Plate XXII. This ewer, which was found about four miles west of Hexham, represents a knight of the thirteenth century on horseback, wearing chain-mail, and over it a sleeveless chequered surcoat. The figure wears a flat-topped cylindrical helm.

The epoch of chain-mail armour, pure and simple, may be said to close during the reign of Edward I., although in more remote and less advanced countries, such as Ireland and Scandinavia, it was to be met with very much later. There was a revival in the use of scale armour in the fourteenth century, and there are many instances. It was usually applied in pieces such as chaussons, chausses, gauntlets, or sollerets. It is often met with on German monuments. An English example occurs on the brass of Thomas Cheyne, Esquire (1368), at Drayton Beauchamp, Bucks. The mailed horseman continued the main force in every army in the field up to the reign of Edward III.

A good idea of the equipment prevailing towards the close of the century is shown in the will of Odo de Rossilion, dated 1298: he bequeaths “my visored helmet, my bascinet, my pourpoint of cendal silk, my godbert (hauberk), my gorget, my gaudichet (mail shirt), my steel greaves, my thigh-coverings and chausses, my great coutel, and my little sword.”

The surcoat was a device for protecting the armour against wet, and to mitigate the rays of the sun. It is rare towards the close of the twelfth century, when you have an instance in King Sverrer, who wore a rose-coloured surcote (“raudan hiup”). The garment becomes common in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, when the ground of the fabric was usually green. There are both sleeveless and sleeved varieties, but the latter did not come into vogue before the second half of the thirteenth century. There is a north-country example referred to in Surtees’s History of Durham (vol. iii., p. 155); one on the effigy of an unknown knight in Norton Church; and another in the Temple Church, London. Among the seals of the kings of England this garment first appears on that of John. Chaucer, writing in the reign of Edward III., says:—

The “cote-armoure of Sir Thopas” is the surcoat. There is an admirable example of a thirteenth century surcoat on the figure on the ewer found at Hexham, which has already been referred to. This surcoat is long and sleeveless, with a slit in front. It is embellished by a diamond pattern, interspersed with fleurs-de-lis and stars of six rays. The garment has an ornamental border. A representative example may be seen on the Daubernoun brass. It reaches below the knee, is slit half-way up the front, and is fastened by a cord at the waist. The border is fringed. The surcoat early in the fourteenth century was long, but became gradually shortened and tightened. There are, however, earlier examples of the shorter surcoat, as shown on the Whitworth effigy, which does not reach the knee. The D’Argentine brass (1382) furnishes a good example of the short fourteenth century surcoat, and another may be seen on the effigy of the Black Prince (1376) in Canterbury Cathedral. It is a sleeveless garment reaching a little below the hips, and was variously fastened, being buttoned, laced, or buckled. On an effigy engraved by Hollis in his Plate II., it is held together by a brooch. The fabrics were rich and costly, and usually ornamented with heraldic devices. The surcoat on the figure of the Black Prince is charged with England and France quarterly, with a label of three points. At this period but little of the trunk armour showed through the “cyclas.” The helm on the figure of the Black Prince was gilt or silvered, and had its scarlet mantling. The surcoat of the fifteenth century presents heraldic devices on the front and arms, both before and behind, indeed it was a “tabard of arms,” and so it continued in the sixteenth century as a herald’s tabard. The garment, of course, gave rise to the term “the coat of arms.” An effigy of Sir John Pechey, figured by Stothard, shows a tabard of arms over the armour; and so does the brass of Sir John Say (1473) at Broxbourne, in Hertfordshire. The short surcoat had almost ceased with the second quarter of the century, although there are still isolated examples, such as the short-sleeved tabard on the Ogle effigy at Bothal, Northumberland, which is early sixteenth century. During the first half of the fourteenth century, English knights wore a garment under the surcoat, called “upper pourpoint”; the true “pourpoint” was the surcoat itself.

A description of the “Ehrenpforte,” written in 1559, gives a representation of the meeting between Henry VIII. and the Emperor Maximilian, which occurred in 1519. The emperor wears a surcoat with slashed sleeves and plaited skirt, obviously suggested by the civil dress of the period, called “bases.” The knightly mantle is but rarely seen on monuments. It was one of the insignia of the Garter, and was usually blue in colour. There is an instance figured by Stothard, Plate LVIII. There were two grades of knights instituted—the banneret and the bachelor. The former had his square banner as well as pennon, and square shield for armorial bearings; his retinue consisted of fifty men-at-arms and their followers. The knight-banneret, so called from having the right to bear a banner, was always a man of large estate, with a great number of retainers. Knight-bannerets first appear during the reign of Philip Augustus, and disappear by ordinance in the reign of Charles VII. The Gloss du Droit, Fr. de Laurica defines the etymology of the term “bachelor” as here applied. It does not signify “bas chevalier,” as has often been supposed, but refers to the minimum extent of land that a candidate for the honour must be possessed of, viz., four “bachelle” of land. The “bachelle” contained ten “max” or “meix” (farms or domains); each of which contained a sufficiency of land for the work of two oxen, during a whole year. It would thus appear that the dignity of knighthood was only conferred on men possessing a suitable estate, and that the two grades were based on the extent of estate; which, of course, implied the number of vassals available for military service. Although the pennon was the ensign of a knight-bachelor, we have the authority of Du Fresne that an esquire could also bear one, always providing that he could ride with a sufficient number of vassals.

Orders of knighthood appear to have originated in France, and were introduced into England probably by the Normans. The most ancient order was the “Gennet,” instituted in 706. It was a military order, but always partook, more or less, of a religious character. The aspirant was usually trained to arms as a page, then he became an esquire, in attendance on a knight. It was unusual to confer the dignity of knighthood before the age of twenty-one had been reached. Knighthood was conferred by the “Accolade,” which appears to have been originally an embrace, but later consisted in the administering of a blow on the neck by the flat of a sword. There was an intermediate grade between a knight and an esquire in the pursuivant-at-arms, but the dignity of knighthood was very often conferred on a simple esquire.

Mamillières were circular plates over the paps, with rings affixed. Chains passed through the rings, one being usually attached to the sword and scabbard. These pieces were introduced in the reign of Edward I., and prevailed during the fourteenth century, more especially in the first half. Instances are comparatively rare. There is a beautiful example on an effigy of Otto von Piengenau (1371) in the church at Ebersberg. The chains are attached over the right breast, one fastened to the sword and the other to the dagger. Another on the tomb of Alb. v. Hohenlohe, died 1318. An instance of a mamillière over the left pap, with a thin chain attached to the helmet, occurs on an effigy of Berengar v. Berlichingen, 1377. On an effigy of Conrad von Seinsheim (1369), on his tomb at Schweinfurt, chains connect dagger, sword, and helm. The wood carving in Bamberg Cathedral (1370) affords two remarkable cases, where they directly appear on the almost heart-shaped “plastron-de-fer.”8 An English example may be seen on the figure of a knight in St. Peter’s Church, Sandwich. This interesting effigy is also remarkable for skirts of scale-work. The scales are ridged, and are probably of iron. They form the skirt of a garment which is worn between the hauberk of chain-mail and the surcoat. The effigy would appear to date from very early in the fourteenth century. Scale-work frequently occurs on monuments of this century, seldom covering the whole body, but more generally defending the hands and feet. Mamillières are present on an effigy in Tewkesbury Abbey Church, the date of which is doubtless about the middle of the century. A beautiful instance may be seen on an effigy at Alvechurch, Worcestershire (1346), showing clearly the one chain connected with the scabbard and another with the hilt. There is a brass in Minster Church, Isle of Sheppey, which represents an armed figure with only one “mamillière”; it is on the left pap, with the chain going up over the left shoulder—early fourteenth century. The derivation of the word is interesting, being from mamilla, the breast. Its origin was a leather band worn by the Roman ladies to support the breasts.

In effigies the knight’s head is usually pillowed on a helm, while a dog or lion crouches at his feet; this latter feature is supposed to be emblematic of fidelity.

There are frequent representations on monuments and in MSS. of a kind of armour that appeared towards the end of the thirteenth century, “banded mail” as it is called; but there has not been any general determination arrived at as to what it really was, and there are no actual specimens for reference. It presents somewhat the appearance of the “rustred” mail of the middle of the twelfth century—that is, of rings set on to the hauberk edgeways. On monuments and drawings these rings frequently appear to be set in continuous rows, whereon the rings turn in a right or left direction alternately; each line of rings being “banded,” or framed with what looks like a rim. Examples of this mail may be seen in Stothard’s series.9

We reach the highest point of mediæval culture during the fourteenth century, and broadly the “renaissance” towards its close. Like all periods of transition, it presents many points of interest, especially in armament. It was not before the middle of the century was reached that arms and armour approached to anything like uniformity. In the first moiety the greatest possible irregularity prevailed. Scale armour was still largely used throughout the century, and splint armour also, though to a less extent. An example of the latter may be seen on the effigy in Ash Church.