01-12-2013, 02:55 AM
Regarding the Middle East, the text that gets people worked up is the one written by Saladin's biographer, Bahā'al-Dīn, who wrote that the crusaders were:
"...drawn up in front of the cavalry, stood firm as a wall, and every foot-soldier wore a vest of thick felt and a coat of mail so dense and strong that our arrows made no impression on them... I saw some with from one to ten arrows sticking in them, and still advancing at their ordinary pace without leaving the ranks."
Cite: Bahā'al-Dīn, "The Life of Saladin" (Ch. CXVII), in What Befell Sultan Yusuf, by Abu el-Mehasan Yusef ibn-Rafi ibn-Temun el-Asadi
What is unknown is whether the writer is talking about the regular padding worn under the mail or an additional layer worn over the top - being used just like a padded jack was used a couple of centuries later. Personally I think it was the latter.
We know that a specific arming garment was worn under mail in the Middle East. It is described in some texts and called a qarqal. I would equate it with the European aketon or pourpoint.
"A padded garment can be worn beneath the jawshan, as the Europeans wear beneath their iron cuirasses. This is the qarqal. It will protect the wearer from both heat and cold, and from the blows of maces and kafir kubat which soften the flesh and weaken the bones. If a mail hauberk is worn beneath it, then both protection and safety are found."
Cite: Muhammad ibn 'Isa al-Hanafi al-Aqsara'i, Nihayat al-Su'l wa'l Umniyaya fi Ta'lim A'mal al-Furusiyya
And climate has never been a determiner of what type of armour was chosen to wear. We know that the heaviest types of armours have been worn in the Middle East for at least three thousand years. I've worn all kinds of metal armour all day in the middle of an Australian summer with no more difficulty than if I was wearing heavy clothing. It is only a big deal to Europeans and Americans who have no experience of arid hot climates. Acclimatisation works wonders.
"...drawn up in front of the cavalry, stood firm as a wall, and every foot-soldier wore a vest of thick felt and a coat of mail so dense and strong that our arrows made no impression on them... I saw some with from one to ten arrows sticking in them, and still advancing at their ordinary pace without leaving the ranks."
Cite: Bahā'al-Dīn, "The Life of Saladin" (Ch. CXVII), in What Befell Sultan Yusuf, by Abu el-Mehasan Yusef ibn-Rafi ibn-Temun el-Asadi
What is unknown is whether the writer is talking about the regular padding worn under the mail or an additional layer worn over the top - being used just like a padded jack was used a couple of centuries later. Personally I think it was the latter.
We know that a specific arming garment was worn under mail in the Middle East. It is described in some texts and called a qarqal. I would equate it with the European aketon or pourpoint.
"A padded garment can be worn beneath the jawshan, as the Europeans wear beneath their iron cuirasses. This is the qarqal. It will protect the wearer from both heat and cold, and from the blows of maces and kafir kubat which soften the flesh and weaken the bones. If a mail hauberk is worn beneath it, then both protection and safety are found."
Cite: Muhammad ibn 'Isa al-Hanafi al-Aqsara'i, Nihayat al-Su'l wa'l Umniyaya fi Ta'lim A'mal al-Furusiyya
And climate has never been a determiner of what type of armour was chosen to wear. We know that the heaviest types of armours have been worn in the Middle East for at least three thousand years. I've worn all kinds of metal armour all day in the middle of an Australian summer with no more difficulty than if I was wearing heavy clothing. It is only a big deal to Europeans and Americans who have no experience of arid hot climates. Acclimatisation works wonders.
Author: Bronze Age Military Equipment, Pen & Sword Books
