Caesarean Legionnaires without armor?

[Severus]

Ave! From Caesar's Civil Wars, there is a passage from the siege of Dyrrhachium in which his troops make themselves coats out of hides and such to protect themselves from Pompey's archers. To me, that implies that they did not have mail, which would have stopped the arrows.

I have found something in my readings of history that might shed some light on the subject.

After reading an article about Hernando de Soto (Spanish conquistador) I found an interesting passage that refers to his soldiers' mail coats being useless against the native arrows and they relied instead on thick quilted tunics to resist them. . . here is the passage I found. . .


"...the Indian released the arrow [at a distance of fifty feet] and it penetrated both hauberk and basket...So they commanded another very valuable hauberk be placed over that which was already on the basket..[the arrow] after passing through four thickness' of mail, remained crossed therein with an equal portion of the arrow protruding on each side...The Spaniards, ...thenceforward...were quite undeceived as to how much protection... these very esteemed coats of mail could afford them. Thus those who owned them jested about them calling them Flemish linens: and to use instead, they devised quilted cloaks three or four fingers thick, with long folds that covered the chests and haunches of the horse. These cloaks, which were made of blankets resisted arrows more effectively than any other of their defensive arms;"4


From this website: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/calderon/ ... ensivearms


Having no access to bows or chainmail I always assumed that chainmail offered good protection from penetrating weapons but this passage seems to cast some doubt on the subject. It might explain why Caesar's men were knitting quilted coats (Maybe they too thought chainmail wasn't so great against arrows) to be additional protection, not their only protection. . .

Anyhow, thought I would offer this piece of information up to you and see if people had experience with firing arrows through chainmail. . .


Matt Webster