Lorica hamata / segmentata

[Matthew Amt]

What I don't understand is why Segmentata completely disappeared in the middle ages.
Wouldn't a quick-to-make cheap armor be very useful to arm the militia and levies?

Cheap as it may have been, its cost would still have been far beyond the means of any medieval peasant. Roman soldiers could only afford it because they were decently paid, and the cost came out of their paychecks over the course of their 20-year enlistment. Even back in the Roman Republic, when soldiers had to equip themselves, legionaries were all landowners, and the most common armor was a little bronze pectoral plate. Most of the population was landless, and couldn't afford even that--that's why they were not elligible for military service.

Similarly, in the middle ages, only nobles and their immediate retainers had armor. Societies that had militias generally required those men to equip themselves, and had specific laws concerning minimal equipment, often relating to wealth. So if a man was too poor to afford even a shield and spear, he didn't fight. But remember that from very ancient times, shield and spear was very typical equipment for a warrior--armor was NOT seen as some sort of necessity.

One could dispute the above statement on the grounds that it was difficult to hammer out a thin plate without using a multiple-tonne hammer, since iron would hardly compress beyond a certain point. That difficulty would also be exacerbated by the necessity to have the plate - especially if it was a larger piece - evenly heated for the hammering.

Eh? Heat any piece of wrought iron to a bright red heat and you can work it to almost any shape you want. The metal doesn't compress or stress if you hot-work it. And it doesn't take huge power hammers. As I understand it, working a large bloom or ingot could be done with one man holding the piece on the anvil with tongs, while 2 or 3 "beaters" hammer it with sledge hammers. When it cools, the piece goes back into the forge while the beaters rest. You can keep this pace up all day long. The iron doesn't have to be heated evenly, since only the parts that are hot enough will be hammered. If a larger area needed to be worked, they'd just use a fire large enough to heat a larger piece. Also, none of the plates on a lorica segmentata are very big, so you don't need to make a whole sheet of iron (such as a modern 4x8 sheet) and then cut out the parts. Just hammer out small sheets that will fit one or two plates, and trim off whatever you don't need.

Valete,

Matthew