Lorica Hamata being pierced by arrows

[Dan Howard]

There are too many varieties of mail for those questions to be answered. You'd have to do an analysis for every type of mail separately. Some types of mail were significantly heavier than others and some were more resistant to arrows than others. Roman mail tends towards the heavier part of the spectrum but some types of European mail were proof against everything - even axes and mounted lances. The French called it de toute botte. I'm guessing that it may have been too heavy or not as flexible as other mail types or it would have been more common. The most popular method of increasing the protection of a mail hauberk (for those who could afford it) was to simply wear a second one over the top but it doesn't seem to have been needed for arrows - it was usually done when expecting to be hit with mounted lances. Instead of two layers of mail, Richard the Lionheart wore an iron plate under his mail during his joust with William de Barres. There was also mail specifically designed to resist a mounted lance called a "jousting hauberk" (haubert de joute). This was at a time when jousts were conducted with fully sharpened war lances.

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