Haubergeon....the early years.

[Gurahl]

Well Icefalcon's BOTN sale finally pushed me into making the plunge and ordering a stainless riveted haubergeon. It will go perfectly with my 14th century kit. Something I have been wondering though is what else will it go with? I have recently had a hankering for trying my hand a kit geared more towards the generic "Crusader" line. I have read many threads about the hauberk and haubergeon and how the hemlines shortened with the fashions of the time, but when did the sleeves shorten. I guess what I am trying to get at is how early, historically, can one get away with the haubergeon?

[James B.]

Romans used them; it was not until the 12th century did long sleeves, leggings, and mufflers for the hand come to fashion.

Also worth a not wedge riveted flat maille also does not come in until the crusades; the Romans started out with round pin riveted rings with alternating flat punched out solid rings. That style of maille last through out the SCA time frame; basically until the end of the maille era.

[Gurahl]

Thank you very much for the reply! So basically I could swing something pre-12th century.. or just settle on my maille being anachronistic for something later.

[Dan Howard]

Further east you see long sleeves dating back to the 2nd-3rd century. You tend to find long sleeves among any heavy cavalry force during the entire "age of mail". It was just less common in some eras and cultures than others.

[Konstantin the Red]

The fourth-decade-fifteenth shirt, Wallace A2 of c. 1438 Hamburg Germany provenance, is a post-haburgeon long sleeved short shirt, comparable to a somewhat lengthened sweater in its overall coverage. Probably intended strictly for infantry use, confining its coverage to the very vitals and otherwise dispensing with any extra weight so the poor mud foot does not sink under his burden.