Can I just say hello? I've lurked here for a while and finally come out of the closet to post.
I've been curious about these, as to whether they were actual 'socks' or full mail hosen coming to mid-thigh - only covered by the cuisses.
Many years ago I made a pair of full mail chausses and found that they restricted the mobility of my knee, not allowing it to bend more than 90 degrees. Not a problem unless you try to mount a horse:
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It just kind of made sense to me that shortening them to 'socks' would reduce weight, and let you get on a horse more easily. I didn't think that protection would be significantly reduced either with the extra gambeson layer and mail from the hauberk on the thighs and a poleyn on the knee.
Also pics in the Mac Bible show padded cuisses being worn/put on but you never see them worn with mail chausses. Why is that? Are the chausses worn over the cuisses? That would make more sense from a protection point of view. So why then would later artwork show the chausses stop at the knee, displaying the cuisses? Did they just start wearing the cuisses over the chausses, or were the chausses actually shortened to 'socks'?
Anyhoo, here's a pic of me (about 12 years ago) with my 'socks' on, worn over chausses that extended just short of mid-calf (nicely padded for tying off the chausses just under the knee) not sure how well you can see them:
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Brian