Chain Mail In The Medieval Era
The first recorded use of metals being used for personal protection dates before the medieval period and is thought to have originated in Eastern Europe where natives in Asia used iron rings that had been sewn to fabrics for protection. The Asian natives called this type of armour ring mail, which would later be known across the world as chain mail however chain mail was not discovered by the rest of the world until the Romans started to use it and chain mail was not truly developed until the medieval era.
Before the Romans discovery of chain mail, the Romans used brass, iron and bronze to make armour, however their armour did not provide them with sufficient protection from the types of weapons that were currently available in that time period …show more content…
This allowed medieval blacksmiths to create chain mail shirts that was not sewn or connected to a fabric in any way. This new form of chain mail was what knights in the 11th century needed because of the numerous types of weapons that already existed which the knights previously had no real protection against. Knights in the 11th century adopted chain mail as their main form of defence because the chain mail was flexible enough to allow the knight to move about easily and protected the wearer from sharp edges of blades, therefore preventing the wearer from being cut by weapons such as swords and pierced by weapons such as spears. As blacksmiths knowledge of metal working continued to grow so did the different range of protective equipment. In the 12th century, blacksmiths were able to create various forms of clothing made out of chain mail such as a coif which was a chain mail hood protecting the head. These developments of the chain mail armour meant that knights were now able to fully cloth themselves in chain mail when preparing for battle thus providing them with the best possible protection from the weapons in that
Before the Romans discovery of chain mail, the Romans used brass, iron and bronze to make armour, however their armour did not provide them with sufficient protection from the types of weapons that were currently available in that time period …show more content…
This allowed medieval blacksmiths to create chain mail shirts that was not sewn or connected to a fabric in any way. This new form of chain mail was what knights in the 11th century needed because of the numerous types of weapons that already existed which the knights previously had no real protection against. Knights in the 11th century adopted chain mail as their main form of defence because the chain mail was flexible enough to allow the knight to move about easily and protected the wearer from sharp edges of blades, therefore preventing the wearer from being cut by weapons such as swords and pierced by weapons such as spears. As blacksmiths knowledge of metal working continued to grow so did the different range of protective equipment. In the 12th century, blacksmiths were able to create various forms of clothing made out of chain mail such as a coif which was a chain mail hood protecting the head. These developments of the chain mail armour meant that knights were now able to fully cloth themselves in chain mail when preparing for battle thus providing them with the best possible protection from the weapons in that