The Enduring Symbolism of Chainmail in Medieval Warfare
Chainmail is rightly, as hardly any other armor component can claim, the symbol of knighthood of the Middle Ages. Accordingly, its status in LARP, show combat, and reenactment is high. For many enthusiasts, their chainmail is the first step in what is often a long journey back to the Middle Ages. Its striking appearance identifies its wearer as a fighter and can be combined both with simple textile garb or be part of an extensive equipment set, up to the plate armor.
Two Millennia of Experience
Chainmail shirts can be traced back to ancient times through archaeological findings. The basic technique has hardly changed in all these centuries. In hundreds of hours of manual labor, a weaponsmith formed iron into wire, which can then be bent into individual rings. Tens of thousands of these uniform rings finally formed chainmail.
How Chainmail Was Made Through the Ages
European weaponsmiths of the Middle Ages preferred the 4-in-1 chain mesh technique, a method that allowed them to create durable yet flexible chainmail. The process involved:
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Bending one ring and hooking it into four others
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Connecting segments by linking two rings from each section to a new ring
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Forming 11-ring segments, which were then linked together to create larger chain meshes
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Maintaining a uniform square shape, which was the standard structure
To allow adjustments in shape and fit, armorers developed additional techniques:
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Empty rings: Used to widen or narrow sections without altering the overall pattern
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Holes and knots: Allowed for more customized fits while maintaining chainmail integrity
Producing a chainmail shirt required extensive craftsmanship, patience, and experience. Due to the complexity of the process, mass production was impossible, making chainmail a costly, custom-made armor reserved for those who could afford it.
Unriveted Chainmail: Luxury for Beginners
The described construction method gives chainmail a great deal of resilience and stability while maintaining the high flexibility of the fabric. Chainmail reliably protects its wearer from sharp blades and lighter stabs. Of course, it is not indestructible. The rings, which give the chainmail its resistance, are at the same time its weak point. Individual rings succumb to high stress in battle or through wear. They can break, but above all, they can bend open at the production-related opening. A blade hitting a single ring can be just as responsible for this as strong traction, for example, by getting caught. Although the failure of individual rings, thanks to the elaborate basic design, inflicts only minor damage on the chainmail as a whole, in the long term, the stress is noticeable, damages its appearance, and impairs its protective effect.
Riveted Chainmail: Effective Detail Work for Maximum Protection
The danger of individual rings bending open is the greatest weakness of unriveted chainmail. Even during the Middle Ages, therefore, armorers took extra effort to eliminate this weakness by closing the seam of a ring. The appropriate method for this was riveting. The open ends of each ring were plated for this purpose, placed one on top of the other, perforated, and closed with a wedge or round rivets.
To reduce the enormous amount of manual labor involved in this technique, not every single ring was riveted. To join five rings together, the 4-in-1 method requires only one open ring. Thus, it is possible to make chainmail from alternating rows of riveted and stamped rings without an opening.
Since stamping may have been just as costly with the technical capabilities of the Middle Ages, the only choice for completely historically authentic chainmail is probably between chainmail made entirely of riveted rings or at least half made with unriveted rings.
Authenticity, Quality, and Price: Choosing the Right Chainmail
With Zeughaus you will find a wide selection of different chainmail in different fits and sizes. You have the choice between different materials and qualities. We carry both unriveted chainmail as well as fully riveted and those that combine riveted and unriveted stamped rings.
In the first place, the decision for a material and its processing is of course a question of budget. Whether the individual rings are made of stainless steel, aluminum, or even titanium not only affects their weight and resistance but also significantly affects the price. Although you no longer have to carry a noble title to be able to afford the luxury of riveted chainmail, it is still a luxury that you will greatly enjoy in the long run.
If you want to try your hand as a weaponsmith, you will also find all kinds of loose rings, round rings, flat rings, unriveted, solid, closed, or even with the associated rivets in our Collection Scale and Rings.
