"... chain mail makers, slowly going mad [while] they clipped together chain mail rings..."
Ursula K. Le Guin, Tehanu(1990)
Chain mail was originally called Just mail or chain in England and maille in France (the French word maille means "meshy" or "netted"). It was not until the 1700s that chain mail became its common English name. Mail is constructed from a series of links made from wire. These are bent into circles around a forming cylinder, and the finished links are welded or riveted into the form of a shirt. The result is a sturdy piece of armor that affords very effective protection from most cutting blows while at the same time being relatively lightweight and flexible.
Chain mail alone could not protect against crushing injuries, however, and warriors therefore combined it with a gambeson, which was worn underneath the mail. This was a padded jacket made from layers of wool and other materials that provided effective resistance to impact injuries.
The first mail shirt on record is from a Romanian Celtic chieftain's burial chamber and dates back to the fourth century B.C.E. Chain mail saw extensive use throughout the first half of the last millennium, being employed throughout Europe and Asia, but it was not until the thirteenth century C.E. that mail armor really came into its own. Extending over the whole of a knight's body, the basic mail shirt (or hauberk) was joined by individual mail pieces for the legs, arms, and head, providing more complete protection.
Knights did not wear this type of full armor for long, however. Items of plate armor were increasingly added to the mail, and these grew increasingly more sophisticated. Foot soldiers continued to wear chain mail until late medieval times.
