European Mail Armour
Ringed Battle Shirts from the Iron Age, Roman Period and Early Middle Ages
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Amsterdam University Press
Published:23rd Dec '21
Should be back in stock very soon
Mail armour (commonly mislabelled 'chainmail') was used for more than two millennia on the battlefield. After its invention in the Iron Age, mail rapidly spread all over Europe and beyond. The Roman army, keen on new military technology, soon adopted mail armour and used it successfully for centuries. Its history did not stop there and mail played a vital role in warfare during the Middle Ages up to the Early Modern Period.
Given its long history, one would think mail is a well-documented material, but that is not the case. For the first time, this books lays a solid foundation for the understanding of mail armour and its context through time. It applies a long-term multi-dimensional approach to extract a wealth of as yet untapped information from archaeological, iconographic and written sources. This is complemented with technical insights on the mail maker’s chaîne opératoire.
"Mail has been something of a Cinderella in the field of early martial equipment. Now, in this meticulous study, Wijnhoven has demonstrated and explored the extensive potential of the archaeological, iconographic and textual evidence. It makes a fundamental contribution to the study of ancient martial material culture, and has broader implications for the development and structuring of early European ironworking traditions."
- Prof. Simon James, University of Leicester
"Mail armour has been largely neglected by specialist literature, despite the important role that it played in Antiquity. This book fills in that research gap in an impressive manner. Not only does Wijnhoven pose the hardest questions about mail armour, but he also provides very satisfactory answers."
- Prof. Thomas Fischer, Universität zu Köln
"This excellent monograph provides a thorough and multifaceted exploration of mail in Europe from its development in the Late Iron Age into the Early Middle Ages, roughly 300 BCE to 1000 CE.[...]The production values are superb, replete with numerous high-resolution photographs and illustrations in colour, offering a close-up look at mail scattered across international collections and not always on active display. This definitive book will prove a cornerstone for pre-modern armour studies for decades to come."
- Michael J. Taylor, The Classical Review (2022)
"This volume is probably destined to be the ‘go-to’ standard work for European ring-mail armour. It is intelligently assembled and supported by much gathered evidence.[...]This is a superb piece of research, presented in an easily understood format, containing much useful information. I recommend it unhesitatingly to anyone who has an interest in ancient ring mail armour."
- Dr. Michael Thomas, Ancient Warfare Magazine, Vol. XV, Iss. 4
“Martijn Wijnhoven’s book is a thoughtful and comprehensive investigation, long required, into early European mail armour. […] The book is well illustrated, supporting the overview of the technical details. This study traces a success story of an Iron Age technology that remained an important piece of defensive armour until the nineteenth century AD, with only minor modifications. If you want to know anything, or rather everything, about early mail armour, you need look no further!”
- Marion Uckelmann, “New Book Chronicle,” Antiquity, 2023, Vol. 97
ISBN: 9789463721264
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
520 pages