History of Chain Mail and Ring Mail 247 



lived about this time (712-770), alludes in a verse to a "metal-chain 

 cuirass" (kin so kia). 1 Chain armor (so-tse kia) 2 is distinctly mentioned 

 in the Wan hua ku, a work written at the end of the twelfth century, 3 

 in which are enumerated the designations for thirteen kinds of armor 

 known at that period. Chain armor is there listed as the twelfth in 

 the series ; and it is expressly stated that it ranges in the class of iron armor 

 (fie kia). In all probability, however, this passage is taken from the 

 Vang leu tien (the "Six Statutes of the T'ang Dynasty") drawn up by 

 the Emperor Yiian-tsung in the first part of the eighth century (p. 189) ; 

 and as the thirteen kinds of armor on record are said to have been made 

 at that time in the Imperial Armory, we may presume that chain mail 

 was turned out by the Chinese as early as the T'ang period, after models 

 first introduced from Samarkand. 



In the Biography of Han Shi-chung, who died in 1151, 4 a "chain 

 connected armor" (lien so kia) capable of resisting bows is credited to 

 this general ; 5 but it would seem that this newly-coined term does not 

 refer to a real chain mail, but rather to ring mail, in which rows of iron 

 rings are fastened to a foundation of leather (see p. 252). 



According to the testimony of William of Rubruck, chain mail, 

 which he styles haubergeon, was known to the Mongols. 6 In the year 

 1345, during the reign of the Emperor Shun, Djanibeg (1342-1356), 

 son of Uzbeg, 7 sent to China, among other products, swords, bows, and 

 chain mail coming from Egypt (Mi-si-rh). 8 



Chain armor had no official recognition in China, and was never 

 introduced into the army. It is conspicuously absent in the military 

 regulations of the Ming dynasty, nor is it mentioned in the well-informed 

 military work Wu pei chi. We have to go as far down as in the K'ien- 

 lung period to renew its acquaintance. We meet it there again as a 

 foreign import. In the Imperial State Handbook of the Manchu 



1 P'ei wen yiinfu, Ch. 50, p. 70 (under so), or Ch. 106, p. 74 (under kia). There is 

 also a quotation given there to the effect that "the finest of armors are designated 

 chain mail," derived from a poetical work Erh lao t'ang shi hua, the date of which is 

 unknown to me. 



a Entered in Giles's Dictionary, p. 1264 c, with the same translation. 



3 Bretschnetder, Botanicon Sinicum, pt. 1, p. 160, No. 330. 



* Giles, Biographical Dictionary, p. 251. His biography is in Sung shi (Ch. 364, 

 p. 1). 



6 Sung shi, Ch. 364, p. 6 b. 



• W. W. Rockhill, The Journey of William of Rubruck, p. 261 (London, 1900). 

 Rubruck reports that he once met two Mongol soldiers out of twenty, who wore 

 haubergeons. He asked them how they had got hold of them; and they replied that 

 they had received them from the Alans, who are good makers of such things, and ex- 

 cellent artisans. 



7 Bretschneider, Mediaeval Researches, Vol. II, p. 15. 



8 Yuan shi, Ch. 43, p. 5 b (K'ien-lung edition). 



