Roman imperial armour

[martin goddard]

I am still in the  middle of making the Imperial Romans.
Apparently the segmented plate armour was much cheaper to make than the ring mail  equivalent. It is also true that ring mail was often passed on by auxiliary troops recruited in the Empire's regions. Thus. a German auxiliary unit would look quite different from a Spanish auxiliary unit.
I will make most of the Romans as standard book types but there will be some variations too.
See what comes out.

martin

[Colonel Kilgore]

Good stuff, Martin.

This is a really nice emerging range.

Simon

[Leman (Andy)]

That sounds like a very interesting approach.

[sukhe_bator (Neil)]

The average riveted mail shirt had between 40 to 50k links and took anywhere between 750 to 1000 hours. The wire had first to be drawn and then heated/flattened before assembly and and riveted together. Republican mail shirts were often double layered over the shoulders and quite heavy (I know I have worn some that Peter Connolly made and demo'd at a conference on Roman Military equipment). The weight was distributed across the hips by the cingulum or sword belt.
Repairs were possible but fiddly and it would be possible to recycle older shirts and incorporate them into upgraded sets.
The lorica segmentata had a variety of standardised plates that were fabricated en masse and riveted to leather straps. Not only were they quicker to make they were consequently cheaper in production cost as well as being easier to repair and maintain.
I imagine the armourers in camp were always kept busy with day to day maintenance.

Neil

[Colonel Kilgore]

That's really interesting insight, Neil.

So if a single armourer spent his whole time making chain mail shirts (in practice, I imagine there was a degree of division of labour, and of the skills needed to complete each step), he might produce around 3 per year? No wonder they were so highly prized throughout history.

Simon

[martin goddard]

That is the benefit of not being distracted by TV and the internet.

martin

[sukhe_bator (Neil)]

Medieval armourers usually had an apprentice and or journeyman doing some of the more repetitive work. The wire links still had to be made by coiling wire from rod usually around a mandrel (I used a wooden spoon handle of the correct diameter held in a vice when I had a go at cold coiling butted mail links). Given the Celtic propensity for wire torcs they must have been well-versed in the twisting/coiling process. Numerous annealing stages were required which also involved a forge for heating. The Celtic and Roman armourers were likely not that much different.
I can thoroughly recommend the British Museum publication by Matthias Pfaffenbichler - Medieval Craftsmen; Armourers, which has illustrations of the processes by Medieval practitioners. Also a fascinating insight on plate armour making. It was the advent of the trip hammer that allowed for far greater metal moving.

Neil