Chain Mail Haulberk Long Shirt Knight Armor SCA LARP

Chainmail is one of the oldest forms of Armor, dating back to the mid 1st millenium BC. It is uncertain who invented chain mail but, either way, it was used in both Europe and Japan.

The earliest forms of the armor found were worn by Celtic Chiefs in the 5th Century BC. The Romans first encountered the mail in Gaul (modern day France and Belgium) and soon adopted the mail as thier own. Despite popular belief mail was the primary armor of the Roman Army, not the Lorica Segmenta.

Chain mail stayed with Europe until it reached its zenieth in the 13th century. The use of mail finally declined in the 14th century with the creation of plate amror. It is intersting that mail has always been more expensive and more time consuming to make than the Lorica Segmenta, or Plate Armor.