I'm not sure "chausses" is good term for it but the only alternative description I can think of would be "jumpsuit." Anyway, what's the consensus on historical artwork that appears to show hauberks that end in short leggings such as those seen in the Bayeux Tapestry? Was that an artistic convention or is that really how they made them? Some scenes in the Tapestry that show the dead being stripped of their armor would seem to be impossible if they were really made with "chausses" but OTOH those same images depict the slain warriors as being naked under their armor which I'm pretty sure is a metaphor for being "stripped bare."

Those are not chausses, those are just long hauberks with split in the middle for riding.

That seems the most likely answer to me too but there are many other similar images that seem to show mail "trunks" attached the hauberk, like the one below. I might finally try taking on my hauberk project soon so I wanted to be sure I'll be okay with a simple split.

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This image looks funky. It doesn't look like split, but I don't believe it's with attached chausses either. Artist probably just wanted to represent mail as well fitting to the person. Slit is probably only in the front.

Alternately, the flaps might be tied or otherwise fixed around the thighs like you can do on some modern dusters, to stop them from flopping about, especially when moving on foot.

That thought occurred to me as well. It is a possible explanation for the apparently contradictory images in the Bayeux Tapestry and it seems like a conceptual continuation of the old saying about "gird your loins."

William the Breton's description of the battle Bouvines contains a description of an armor where it proved to be impossible to stab someone in the groin. I read it a long time ago so I might be off but it's worth checking out if you want to find a textual reference to that sort of armor.

Philippide, line 1754, Battle of Bouvines in 1214

Quote:

Ipsum paecedens Cornutus nomine fortis Corpore, mortifero horribat qui dextra cutello. Hic ocreis ubi si jungit lorica, volebat Immisso comiti vitalia rumpere ferro. Sed thorax ocreis consuta patere cutello Indissuta negans Cornuti vota fefellit. Circuit, atque alias se garcio vertit ad artes. Cornibus amotis balenae et casside tota Ingenti faciem nudatam vulnere signal

Quote:

And as he was slow in getting up from the ground, waiting in vain for help and still hoping to escape, a boy [a commoner] named Cornut, one of the servants of the Elect of Senlis, and walking ahead of the latter, a man strong in body, arrives holding a deadly knife in his right hand. He wanted to cut the count's noble parts by plunging the knife in at the place where the body armor is joined to the leggings, but the armor sowed [sic] into the leggings will not separate and open up to the knife, and thus Cornut's hopes are thwarted. However, he circles the count and looks for other ways to reach his goal. Pushing the two whalebones out of the way and soon pulling off the whole of his helmet, he inflicts a large wound upon his unprotected face.

Wow, thanks guys!