I would like to know what kind of maille would be worn by a knight of the approximate time period of the Third Crusade. So far, I know of riveted, flat-ring riveted, and alternating flat-ring riveted and solid rings. Which one(s) would be historically accurate for this period?

Thanks very much for your help.
Max

Hmm,

I think I've heard that a riveted/solid mix was most common at that time. I am not certain if flattened or round cross-section is "more period," though.

As long as it's riveted it would be fine, as far as I know. What's more important is the actual style of the armour. For a knight I think a Haulberk with full length sleeves with mittens and an attached coif.

Alternating riveted/solid rows seems to have been an older method of mail construction. By the time of the third crusade I believe all-riveted construction started to replace it. I think either would probably be acceptable. For a well-off knight with state-of-the -art equipment a fully developed hauberk with integral coif and mittens would be the thing, along with mail chausses for the legs.

Great. Thanks a lot, everyone.

Max

In regards to the mail type used during the first crusade: I've been informed by Erik Schmid that my initial statement was incorrect.

Quote:

Alternating row mail would have still been widely used at the time of the third crusade and would not have been supplanted by all riveted for almost another two centuries. The links would most likely have had a round/slightly flattened section to them.

I suspected I was wrong. I guess it's nice to be right about being wrong. :confused:

What source did you quote that from? I din't think they had enough mail remaining from the period to know for sure which technique was more widely used. Either way I think is fine.

Erik Schmid is likely the very best source of info on this subject in the greater on-line community. Unfortunately, he is not part of our community here on myArmoury.com.

He was banned from this site a couple years ago for many rules of conduct violations in addition to several personal attacks on me. Today he registered a second account and tried to bypass the ban and start participating here again. Since this is my house and he didn't have the courtesy to even attempt to contact me before trying to work past the ban, I'm not compelled to want to deal with him or the troubles he causes me.

I strongly encourage anyone interested in learning more about him to contact him directly. He is a valuable source of info on this subject. You can read This Topic for recent contact info.

Any questions or comments regarding Erik Schmid or his status on this site need can be directed to me via email or private message. I expect no further public discussion of it here.

Thank you.

From Erik, as a response to this topic:

Quote:

Actually Phill there is more than you think, but unfortunately most of it is heavily corroded and as such it is never displayed. From the research I have gathered, it seems that the switch to all riveted happened sometime in the mid to late fourteenth century. The switch from links with a round/slightly flattened section to a completely flattened one seemed to come about around the same time period.