History of Chain Mail and Ring Mail 245 



ity. 1 Among the ancient Arabs of the pre-Islamic epoch we meet with 

 leather and iron armor, 2 without any clear description of their appear- 

 an.ce. The latter seem previously not to have consisted of mail, though 

 th s cannot be stated positively ; but according to the descriptions of the 

 poets, chain mail comes into question in the majority of cases. 3 Tradi- 

 tion ascribed its invention to King David, and the Koran (Sure XXI, 80; 

 XXXIV, 10) sets forth that God himself taught David how to smelt iron, 

 with which to make the rings, and to join them into a solid armor. 

 This story certainly is devoid of historical value. The place Saluk in 

 Yemen was of old renowned for its armor consisting of a double row 

 of rings. Also " Persian armor " is mentioned in Arabic records, where- 

 by garments lined with silk and cotton were understood. "Armor 

 from Sogd" (Sogdiana) became known after the foreign conquests of 

 the Arabs. 4 Possibly also scale armor was worn. 5 



Chao Ju-kua narrates that the ruler of Basra, when he shows himself 

 in public, is accompanied by more than a thousand mounted retainers 

 in full iron armor, the officers wearing chain mail. 6 



During the early middle ages of Europe, the horses of armies 

 were not caparisoned. Only from the beginning of the thirteenth 

 century, probably under the influence of the Crusades, were they pro- 

 tected by chain-mail covers. 7 



According to Max Jahns, 8 the chain mail {Par sen, Barschen), as it 

 first appears during that time in the armature of the horse, is probably 

 of oriental, and more specifically of Persian origin. Dr. Bashford 

 Dean, 9 the great authority on armor in this country, offers the following 

 suggestive summary of this subject: "Chain mail marked a distinct 

 epoch in the development of arms and armor: for it was light, flexible, 

 and extremely strong. And it soon, therefore, came to supplant the 



1 Compare the notes of C. H. Becker (Der Islam, Vol. IV, 1913, pp. 310-31 1). 



2 F. W. Schwarzlose, Die Waffen der alten AraberausihrenDichtern dargestellt, 

 pp. 325, 328 (Leipzig, 1886). 



3 Ibid., p. 331. 



4 Ibid., p. 334. 



6 G. Jacob, Altarabisches Beduinenleben, p. 136 (Berlin, 1897). Becker (/. c.) 

 mentions also Arabic cotton armor (lubbada); what he calls ring mail (Ringpanzer) , 

 I believe, strictly speaking, is chain mail. In the age of the T'ang (618-906) the 

 soldiers of the Arabs were equipped with bow, arrows, long spears, and metal armor 

 {T'ang shu, Ch. 221 b, p. 8 b). 



6 Lien huan so-tse kia, literally, "armor of chains, the links of which are mutually 

 connected" (see Hirth and Rockhill, Chau Ju-kua, p. 137). 



7 G. Steinhausen, Geschichte der deutschen Kultur, p. 247; L. Beck, Geschichte 

 des Eisens, Vol. I, p. 863. 



8 Ross und Reiter, Vol. II, p. 137. 



9 Catalogue of European Arms and Armor (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 

 Hand-Book No. 15, p. 21, New York, 1905). 



