Gallery - Ironskin

When did knights appear in history? During the bi

When did knights appear in history?

During the birth of the Frankish Empire the role of cavalry grew in prestige. With that the horsemen lead by Charlemagne gained status and gave way to the knight of the early 10th century. Here we see Carolingian armoured cavallery with lance, round shield, chainmail and Spangenhelm. This was displayed in the Coronation Hall of Aachen City Hall for the 1200th anniversary of Charlemagnes death. The manuscript depiction is dated 801 to 850.

Pictures by ACBahn on commons_wikimedia_org respectively fol. 23 from Stuttgart Psalter as shown on Manuscriptminiatures_com.

Armored Sassanid Horse Archer Both the Sassanid E

Armored Sassanid Horse Archer

Both the Sassanid Empire and the Byzantine Empire were using highly trained armored horse archers the Iberian war from 526 to 532 CE. These mobile troops would shoot their arrows into an enemy to break up their formation from a distance. Such units were riding over the battlefields of Callinicum when the Byzantine forces could push back their enemy to modern Syria.

Does it also make you think of the old game mount-and-blade warband?

Picture from byzantinemilitary_blogspot_com.

Japanese foot armor, likely 18th century Sabatons

Japanese foot armor, likely 18th century

Sabatons are a part of armor that covers the foot. Similar to European knights, Japanese fighters also clad their feet in metal. The remarkable point is how they follow the civilian fashion with two toe boxes. This allows to wear traditional Japanese sandals (waraji) under them. You can see how the armor mainly consists of plate, only using mail for the connections and the heel. The sole is left uncovered by the armor.

This is a perfect opportunity to say hi to @japan_at_war . 👋 He shows more Japanese armor.

Burial Find from Crimea island, ikely 12th-century

Burial Find from Crimea island, ikely 12th-century

Hard to say where the helmet ends and where the mail starts. It could be an aventail - that means part of the helmet - or a seperate mail garment. Part of it looks like a sleeve even.

This was shared by Tóth Zoltán Henrik on FB, Alrik on kitabhona_org and tmutarakan_club on VK. However I couldn't backtrace the museum or publication where it is from. Who knows the source?

Update: Thanks to @comora.lh we know that it's from Ukraine National History Museum (2017 Exhibition). I love when you guys help to keep the info correct! Good job mail enthusiasts! 👍

Mail Hauberk explained Getting back to your quest

Mail Hauberk explained

Getting back to your questions about some details: 13th-century mail armour becomes a lot more functional when it is tightly fitted to prevent dangling and save weight. To achieve that, there are a few cuts. One such cut is at the ankle. Only that way the foot can get through the mail chausses and the tight fit is kept. The same is happening at the hand wrists. In addition there is a slit in the palm for getting the hands out without untying the wrist.

The lower legs are perhaps the trickiest part. From the toes up the mail is sewn onto the integrated shoes. Above that the mail it has to fit very tight in order not to slip down. From just below the knee a lace is securing it. All the mail of the upper leg is held by a belt around the hips. Yet the two leg tubes are not connected like trousers but are separate garments called chausses.

This is the armour of Vivi Pluslizas made by Isak Krogh. Thank you both for allowing me to show and comment on your pictures!

The image competition #chainmail2020 is over. It w

The image competition #chainmail2020 is over. It was exiting to see so many enthusiasts of chainmail. 20 people had taken part with a picture and many of you helped to vote! Thank you for that and my deep respect to the people with underrated accounts who show awesome chainmail stuff.

Should we do it again next year?

Thank you for participating: @qondrej.lampart @theholy_knight @sully.knoth_the_crusader @edouard_2_de_beauje @yannick.koch @nuclear_funeral_official @brandon_knight2 vs. simon_slovakia_ @knight_tazito @knights_or @tarvels_trinkets @nicola_von_ostarastein @yuenglarlotb @felixramon_p @alteri.leandro @antichipopoli @haffner.christian @ash243m70 @_finn0811 and of course the winner: @nathanael.dosreis Your surprise parcel is on the way! :)

Indian Mail Vest with 4.5mm rings This is a vest

Indian Mail Vest with 4.5mm rings

This is a vest of very small butted rings. The diamond shape pattern in the mail is made of gold plated rings. In Indian culture this pattern is said to resemble the dark waters of the Jamna river and the muddy water of the Ganges river. The fabric collar is probably a later addition.

This was sold at an auction by Mandarin Mansion Antiques. Pictures an info from their website mandarinmanison_com.

16th Century Mail Harness This Maximilian era arm

16th Century Mail Harness

This Maximilian era armor has particulary uncommon rings. The rings are about 10 to 12mm big and they show a spike facing inwards. At first it reminded me of some Indian rings that have an entire bar of wire through the middle. They look like the Greek letter theta θ. Yet here the spike is short and there are no traces on the opposite site. We can assume that the rings have experienced a lot of friction through the ages. Thus the original shape wouldn't have looked as smooth and perhaps not as spiky. It seems to me that the spike is formed by the rings material, not the rivets material - but it's hard to tell that.
Now the question is how and why did the craftsmen create this ring shape?

Thank you at @kunert who kindly provided the pictures. The armor is exhibited in the Castle Museum in Würzburg, southern Germany @museum_franken.

Silver-coated mail shirt - 10th to 11th century T

Silver-coated mail shirt - 10th to 11th century

These are brass rings that are covered in silver. How was that possible? Silver can be solved in a paste/solution of mercury amalgam. This mixture is then applied to the surface of the rings and later heated to form a permanent solid layer.

How do we know that? Researchers of NAIM in Sofia did an EDX chemical composition analysis. They found Copper and Zinc from the brass wire and silver from the coating. Furthermore there were traces of Mercury from the coating process.

The garment weighs 4,2 kg in total. The rings are of varying strength ranging from 4mm to 5mm inner diameter with wire crosssections from 0.5mm to 1mm. The rings on the torso front are stronger than the back and the sleeves.

The mail was presumably of Byzantine origin worn by Byzantine or Bulgarian fighter. It was found in the early 20th century in an area with traces from a 10th – 12th century settlement. There were also Rus military groups in the Balkans from 968 to 971 that could have been connected with the shirt.

Picture and info from the paper "Tsar Samuil in battle for Bulgaria" by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the National Institute of Archeology. Thank you @epochentrotter for making me aware of this.

Scales/Lames in times of plate? A cuirass is usua

Scales/Lames in times of plate?

A cuirass is usually an armor part that covers the torso with a solid front and backplate. This piece however is made by a lamellar construction. That is perhaps to make it look more archaic or impressive.

Even though it does look like scales, I think these are better referred to as lames, because they are directly riveted together and don't rely on a cloth or leather backing to connect everything.

Picture and info by Peashooter85 on Tumblr. The origin and provenience of this armor is unclear. I read that it would be 15th-century, yet commenters also pointed towards 17th and 19th century. Thank you guys for the valuable discussion! 👍

Mail bevor with kettle helmet, mail making tools a

Mail bevor with kettle helmet, mail making tools and other works of @matth_iaszimmermann

You can't imagine how deep my jaw was dropping when I recently saw some works of Matthias Zimmerman. Over the last 25 years, he has tackled a lot of mail projects - mainly for the 15th-century which he is reenacting.

He had the chance to restore a few original pieces from private collectors and with that fellow countryman, Matthias gained an admirable skill-level in making rings. Especially outstanding are the iconic watershed-shapes of late medieval mail. That is where the overlapping area of the ring is forming a little roof around the rivet.

Noteworthy is also his version of a mail bevor. It is attached to the leather lining of the kettle helmet. Independently of Matthias, I and others were doing versions that are worn separately with a textile suspension on top of the head.

If you didn't feel the enthusiasm between the lines yet, I can warmly recommend you to follow @matth_iaszimmermann.

An unexpected shot while I put on a hauberk. Thes

An unexpected shot while I put on a hauberk.

These days it's important to have all laces acessible for yourself. Modern squires rather take a picture than helping you. 😉

I made this hauberk from 8mm rings for somebody slightly stronger than me. It's knee long and weighs about 17kg / 35 pounds. It took about 100 hours for the tailoring.

Fully Laced Mail Chausses It's a thing that we do

Fully Laced Mail Chausses

It's a thing that we don't get to see that often amongst reenactors. Yes it does take time to put them on, but in case of doubt they fit better and weigh less than fully enclosed tube-like mail chausses.

I have the impression that these laced chausses were popular earlier than the tube-like mail chausses. There are also artworks showing knights with only their left foot clad in mail. That is the side were you - while fighting from horseback - would expect most danger.

Picture by One lucky guy on Flicker. That's his actual nick name.

Mail hidden inside the plates... Imagine you go t

Mail hidden inside the plates...

Imagine you go to an auction and buy what is said to be a 19th-Century Gothic Armor Set. Then you buy it and discover the treasure hanging hidden inside the plates: a mail vest that appears to be much older. This is exactly what has happened to @monster_fish_taxidermy from the Netherlands.

The mail consits of riveted ring mixed with solid rings. It's strange how the vest is shaped - with rows running down the torso. I imagine it was cut out of an earlier mail-shirt and reconnected as shown in the drawing. The mail material could be much older. What do you think?

It even turned out that the gauntlets could be older as well. Are they 15/16th century? What are your general guess on age and provenance?

Thank you @monster_fish_taxidermy for sending me pictures and discussing this. Cool acccount by the way!

Update: Thanks to @nicholaschecksfield we are now convinced that this was a pair of mail chausses - not sleeves. In Indian culture there were chausses like that.

Foot covered in mail: find and reconstruction Fro

Foot covered in mail: find and reconstruction

From the bones still inside, we can tell that this is a left foot covered in mail. The rings are 5 to 7mm in diameter. The lower end of the mail was sewn to a sole and there were also traces of textile showing inside. Perhaps this is a fragment of long mail chausses.

To be honest: I can't fully reconstruct the pattern from the picture, yet I expect it too look like the example below. Later sculptures and finds of mail chausses point that direction.

This is from the Kyulevcha village find in Shumen district, Bulgaria. The suggested dating is 9th-century. Top picture and info are from the paper "Pagan Bulgaria - Power and Society". Lower picture by me. Thank you @rule.303 for showing me this.

Rudolf II - painted with fancy mail sleeves This

Rudolf II - painted with fancy mail sleeves

This fashionably Habsburgian nobleman became Holy Roman Emperor in the year 1576. You see him in jousting cuirass. Note the brass lance rest near the left armpit.

Underneath he is wearing very fine mail sleeves with brass hems. The tiny rings look like 5mm to me. In this size, the mail behaves a lot like fabric. The artist found a very good way to represent that.

I imagine that one would even be able to see the mail tailoring seams on the original oil painting. Only the resolution here is too limited.

Which element of his style would you adopt?

Painting by Martino Rota (1520-1583). Found on commons_wikimedia_org - uploaded from dorotheum_com.

Mail mittens #handtailored 😉 The typical thing a

Mail mittens #handtailored 😉

The typical thing about mail garments in the 13th-century is that everything can be attached - including hoods and mittens. Instead of mittens there can also be gloves or bifurcated mittens. The latter are mittens with a pocket for index and middle finger, one pocket for ring finger and pinky and one for the thumb.

When you sew mail onto leather there you can either do it directly or as I prefer have a leather laces run through rings at the edge and then sew this laces. You can you a pointy tool called awl to poke holes before you sew.

Just sharing with you a work in progress and the j

Just sharing with you a work in progress and the joy of first snow in Germany! ❄️

These are finger-free gloves as interpreted from 12th-century depictions. Why is the inside of the wrist uncovered by mail? There will be laces that pull the mail together.

Did you get snow yet?

Full hauberk with side ventail ... wait a minute..

Full hauberk with side ventail ... wait a minute...

This is one of the models for a new mod of the popular medieval/fantasy- game Mount and Blade Bannerlord. That mod is called "In the Name of Jerusalem II" and it's created by a bunch of game designers by the name "Team Century". They undertake the noble effort to bring more historical accuracy into the game, supported by the reenactment community.

Now I'm pretty hyped about this and I love the textures and models. There are a few things I would do differently, but I don't want to spoil the great job lamenting about the details. This is the time to check what you have learned about mail: Do you see what I might want to improve?

Picture by Ellis Chou, originally shared in the Facebook Group "XI & XII Century European Armor". Link to the mod:
www_moddb_com/mods/in-the-name-of-jerusalem-ii

French knight 1230-1240 The early 13th-century is

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