1400s
Riveted steel rings
Diameter: 1.1 cm (7/16 in.); Overall: 128.3 x 91.4 cm (50 1/2 x 36 in.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance 1916.1817
A hauberk might include as many as a quarter million steel rings.
A hauberk is a mail shirt that generally reached to the knee and was the predominant form of metal body defense throughout Europe until about 1350. Knights wore mail over a padded undergarment known as an aketon and would have been supplemented by a metal helmet and a shield. After the development of full plate armor, mail continued to be a linking element or accessory well into the 1500s.
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