Topics for Academic Fame

[Eleatic Guest]

Have you ever wondered why there exists no useful investigation of a particular historical subject, a subject which would secure the author addressing it first eternal academic fame? Sometimes it, aarrgh, just springs into the eye. Three examples for histories which have yet to be written:

1. The history and diffusion of chain mail: It is so straightfoward a thing. Chain mail was invented by the Celts and adopted by the Romans. It began later to be used by the Parthians, and other Central Asian peoples, and by the 7th century we find evidence for that type of armour as far as Tang China. Its extreme versatilty is evidenced abundantly by the fact that it remained throughout most of Eurasia in use until the introduction of effective guns, both in sedentary and nomadic cultures, with otherwise totally different approaches to warfare. A total success story, and the pattern of West-East transmission through military conflict is evident. Yet, it never occurred to any scholar to write a few lines about the diffusion process, because they have not looked beyond the narrow confines of their subject.

2. The myth of the turtle boat: In Korea, it is part of the national cult to maintain that the first ironclad ships in history were the turtle boats, invented by a famous admiral during the Seven Year War with Japan (1592-1598). I think the stuff is even teached at school and repeated uncritically by some Western scholars.

Yet, even a quick look would shatter the myth: First, iron armour is neither mentioned in the extensive war diary of the supposed inventor, the admiral, himself, nor in the war history of his nephew, the main Korean source on the course of the war. The first pictorial 'evidence' appears only in 1795, but is weak, since the hexagonal structure on the ship roof, interpreted as iron-cladding, may in fact simply stem from the intention of the artist to depict the ship in the way of a turtle's armour - which is NOT evidence for iron armour, since the term "turtle ship" for that ship type is demonstrably much older than any claim to its iron-cladding.

Second, even if we assume that the ship had an iron-roofing, this must have been directed against the popular boarding tactics of the feared Japanese infantry, and not against shelling for which naturally armour at the sides of the ship hull is required (as 19th century iron-clads in fact featured).

Third, even if we disregard the two points above, the turtle ship still could not be qualified as the earliest iron-clad ship, since there are earlier examples in Western navigation, for example the Spanish Santa Anna of 1522. Thus, a simple, three-stage argumentation would blast a whole national myth, a myth which is teached all over a country and propagated with fervor in the internet.

Your subjects?

[Ioannes_Ahenobarbus]

Well, some of these would be great. I would love the one about chain mail, especially. The problem is, what is popular in academia today is gender studies, cultural studies in microcosm, and similar topics that I do not give a crap about, nor do any other normal people outside academia. That is just the 'fad' nowadays.

[PMBardunias]

. The history and diffusion of chain mail: It is so straightfoward a thing. Chain mail was invented by the Celts

I know this is "common knowledge" but what specifically is the evidence for this? The term "kelt" covers a lot of ground and surely includes cultures that were not so simmilar. I don't mean to challenge the notion, I'm simply curious to know the exact evidence. Was there a pre-existing iron wire technology used for some other purpose before mail? Things like this rarely spring into being in one step.

[Paullus Scipio]

Paul B. wrote:
"I know this is "common knowledge" but what specifically is the evidence for this? The term "kelt" covers a lot of ground and surely includes cultures that were not so simmilar."
The oldest known deposit of Chain-mail is that in the Hjortspring boat burial in Denmark c.350 B.C.

A 20-24 m2 (215-260 square feet) area in the bog was covered with a layer of iron-rust. Study of the rust-layer showed traces of small iron-rings used for chain mail. The diameter of the rings varies from 0.4 to 1.0 cm (0.15 to 0.4 inches), but most of the rings have a diameter of 0.6 to 0.8 cm (0.25 to 0.3 inches).

The size of the area covered with rust indicates that 10 or more chain mail shirts were included.The Hjortspring boat burial has equipment for a large number of elite warriors.( 60-80 shields, 169 spearheads but only a dozen swords )

These are the oldest traces of chain mail in all of Europe and it was probably imported from the Celtic areas in Central Europe, like other material from the Hjortspring site. ( though other early Mail found in Northern Germany was found by chemical analysis to have originated there, or in neighbouring West Jutland)

But there is a little doubt as to whether this was chain-mail, or a layer of natural iron separation formed around plant roots in the bog, the occurrence of which can sometimes be in the form of rings.

On this basis, mail is calculated to have originated in Celtic central Europe, circa 400 B.C. Other examples from the Celtic areas certainly exist prior to 300B.C.

Though there is no agreement on the precise region in which La Tène/Celtic culture first developed, there is a broad consensus that the center of the culture lay on the northwest edges of Hallstatt culture, north of the Alps, in southern Germany within the region between the valleys of the Marne and Moselle in the west and modern Bavaria and Austria in the east. In 1994 a prototypical ensemble of elite grave sites of the early 5th century BC was excavated at Glauberg in Hesse, northeast of Frankfurt-am-Main, in a region that had formerly been considered peripheral to the La Tène sphere.

From their homeland, La Tène groups expanded from the 4th century onward to Hispania, the Po Valley, the Balkans, and even as far as Britain and Asia Minor, in the course of several major migrations. Thanks in part to their skills with Iron working, they produced better iron weapons, more cheaply, and thus played a large part in ushering in the so-called "Iron Age".

In the 4th century, a Celtic/Gallic army led by Brennus reached Rome and took the city. In the 3rd century, Celtic/Gallic bands entered Greece and threatened the oracle of Delphi, while another band settled Galatia in Asia Minor.

"Was there a pre-existing iron wire technology used for some other purpose before mail? Things like this rarely spring into being in one step."

Wire-making is a very old technology and is known in the Middle East as early as circa 1000 B.C.

[Paullus Scipio]

Stefan wrote:

2. The myth of the turtle boat: In Korea, it is part of the national cult to maintain that the first ironclad ships in history were the turtle boats, invented by a famous admiral during the Seven Year War with Japan (1592-1598). I think the stuff is even teached at school and repeated uncritically by some Western scholars.

Yet, even a quick look would shatter the myth: First, iron armour is neither mentioned in the extensive war diary of the supposed inventor, the admiral, himself, nor in the war history of his nephew, the main Korean source on the course of the war. The first pictorial 'evidence' appears only in 1795, but is weak, since the hexagonal structure on the ship roof, interpreted as iron-cladding, may in fact simply stem from the intention of the artist to depict the ship in the way of a turtle's armour - which is NOT evidence for iron armour, since the term "turtle ship" for that ship type is demonstrably much older than any claim to its iron-cladding.

...the Koreans are not the only ones in the region to claim 'armoured' ships. According to the Jesuit Orgatino Grecch-Soldi, Oda Nobunaga in 1578 caused a ship to be built 'that resembled those of the Portuguese' and to his surprise carried several cannon. According to the Japanese Tamonin Nikki the boats had a crew of 5,000 (!) were 36m long by 21m wide, and were covered in iron/steel plates......
However, such craft are not recorded when Hideyoshi Toyotomi invaded Korea in 1592; but covered-in wooden ships, armed with light cannon and loop-holed for muskets and called Ataki-Bune and shown in scroll illustrations were used, and perhaps the legendary 'Turtle' Boats were similar....

[Eleatic Guest]

...the Koreans are not the only ones in the region to claim 'armoured' ships. According to the Jesuit Orgatino Grecch-Soldi,...

Thanks, I forgot about the Japanese claim which is more substantial, too. However, another the Jesuit missionary, Luis Frois, has also seen the ships and did not describe any iron armour. In any case, these were coastal vessels propelled by a large number of rowers,, kind of floating batteries, not ships. Which is the reason why there is no evidence for them used in the maritime operations against Korea.

PMBardunias,

I am not that knowledgeable about the prehistory of chain mail. My point was that, going by its earliest appearance, the diffusion of that type of armour follows a clear pattern from west to east, probably each time adopted in the course of military conflict with western neighboure:

Celts to Romans
Romans to Parthians
Parthians to Central Asian nomads
Central Asian nomads to China
India? Perhaps during the Muslim conquest

[Theodosius the Great]

I am not that knowledgeable about the prehistory of chain mail. My point was that, going by its earliest appearance, the diffusion of that type of armour follows a clear pattern from west to east, probably each time adopted in the course of military conflict with western neighboure:

Celts to Romans
Romans to Parthians
Parthians to Central Asian nomads
Central Asian nomads to China
India? Perhaps during the Muslim conquest

Agreed, that's a worthy subject and the history does seem fairly straight forward. But I was startled by something I read the other night in one of my books on Medieval heroes. In a chapter on Frederick Barbarossa there's a section on 'The Chain Mail Revolution' which basically says that chain mail was an eastern technology which, during the Crusades, replaced inferior European types of mail. I'll just quote it :

By the latter half of the twelfth century, when the crusades were in full swing, chain mail replaced the simpler scale armour to a great extent, and the pot helmet was increasingly used by the wealthier warriors. Chain mail was an eastern technology, and the crude Western version made from bands or rings fared badly when compared to the light, skilfully-made mail of the oriental cavalry during the crusading period. The Saracen warriors were able to ride and fight with far more comfort and freedom than their European adversaries. The best chain mail in the Christian armies was, at first, that looted from the Saracens. A general improvement of European mail occured due to this influence, but true chain mail was expensive, and the almost exclusive property of the lords and princes.

I'm disinclined to believe any of the claims made in the book as far as archeology or technology goes. The author cites no sources for these bold claims and most of them are contrary to everything else I've ever read on the subject of chain mail. This is pretty shoddy scholarship and the book was published in the UK back in 1988 and reprinted in 1993. In fact, the book doesn't even use footnotes, it only has a bibliography. The books on armor from the list date from the late 70s to mid-80s.

I wonder how much more misinformation is floating around out there about chain mail. Clearly a new book based on facts would do some good in setting the record straight.

~Theo

[john m roberts]

The belief that mail armor was an Eastern invention discovered by Europeans during the Crusades was widespread in Victorian times, when the serious study of armor was just beginning. The efforts of people sold on this idea to explain away the mail found in bogs and Roman excavations makes for some amusing reading, rather like those physicians in the time of Pasteur who tried to cling to the old non-germ theories of disease origin. You still see it crop up in articles by people whose sole knowledge of the subject is outdated quotes from books by Laking and Ashdown.