I’ve been a maille maker for 26 years.
As makers, we’re always learning.
Learning from history, learning from friends.
As we work and refine our craft.
There’s an incredible sense of community amongst maille makers.
It’s a community that’s built from shared passion.
Passion about history.
Passion about cultures.
Using traditional methods, today it might take a lone maille maker a year to make a full coat of armour.
Historically many people would have been involved, each with their own specific specialism and skillset.
Maille was a treasured and expensive possession passed down through generations, and not all warriors could afford to wear maille into battle.
Due to the prestige associated, a peasant would never be allowed to wear maille.
We do know from the Bayeux tapestry that the Norman Cavalry wore maille, as did the Saxon Huscarls who were the King’s bodyguards.
Fallen soldiers would have been promptly stripped of their maille and the new owner would make their armour their own.
The process of making maille is long, arduous, and requires patience and skill.
Firstly we draw the wire, this is a strenuous task that requires a sturdy vice, tongs and a draw plate.
Next we wind the wire with a mandrel to form a spring.
Different size mandrels are used to create different size springs.
Once wound into a spring we cut the rings from the coil leaving an overlap.
The rings are then annealed.
Then the overlap is made flat.
This allows the holes to be drifted.
The rings are then annealed again.
Next we drift the holes into the rings for the rivets, round for early maille, wedge-shaped for later.
This is a slow process requiring real precision, dedication and thought.
At this stage we are ready to start joining the rings to shape the maille.
A full coat of maille from start to finish might have 2.8 kilometres of wire within.
So there is a huge amount of work invested in it.
A true craftsman would create maille with varying size rings to allow for the armour to flex and fit precisely.
Properly fitted maille shouldn’t restrict movement.
The word maille comes from the Latin macula, and the French word for mesh or net.
The word chainmail which is often used, albeit incorrectly,
is a term which originates from Victorian times.
In the same way that each item of maille was always being modified and improved, so too is our craft.
History informs, teases and influences us.
Each maker, past and present, leaves their own fingerprints on the garments they make.
The quirks, the techniques and the imperfections make up the DNA of the maille.
It’s an honour to be able to continue to study the history of maille and share our knowledge.