(b) Mail formed of rows of rings sewn on strips of linen or leather, the strips being then applied to the garment.
(c) Mail formed of rings interlocked with each other (chain mail).
(d) Mail called “banded mail,” in which double lines separated each row of links.
(e) Armour formed of rings or small discs of metal sewn flat all over the garment.
Another similar kind of armour was formed of scales or overlapping plates of leather or metal, fastened to a leather or linen foundation.
The chain mail or armour formed of interlacing rings was finally adopted throughout Western Europe, being copied from that of the Saracens in the Crusades.
We have not many contemporary illustrations of the armour and knightly apparel in the period between the Norman Conquest and the Edwardian era.
There are but few illuminated MSS.; sepulchral monuments are not numerous, and the valuable series of monumental brasses had not begun.
The plaited or mail shirt of the Early Norman was superseded by a stout, quilted tunic, also called the hauberk, reaching to the knees and with short sleeves, and a coif or hood of mail on the head.