How did Medieval armies survive the use of mail armor in the deserts of the Middle East?
score:30
I don't have much historical evidence to bring to this one, but I've worn heavy SCA armour on hot days (hot by British Isles standards) and discussed the problem with people who have done so in hotter climates (Texas and Israel, most notably).
So, first and foremost, they probably would not have worn the armour unless they were expecting to go into a fight. If they were travelling from one place to another, you might possibly wear the helm and a breastplate, but not much more. They'd only armour up fully before a battle. The concepts of today's guerilla warfare didn't really apply; many of the Crusader battles were sieges, one way or another, so they were pretty predictable.
Second, chain mail is heavy, but it's not airtight. Some breeze gets through, and with a cotton or even light woolen gambeson below that can be soaked, it's not that uncomfortable. It's certainly tiring, though. I don't imagine that many of the Crusaders would have worn full plate, which would indeed have the 'cooking' effect - full plate was really only coming in as the Crusades were coming to an end.
In any case, only a few of the people on the Crusades would have actually worn much armour - the nobles and knights. Their men-at-arms, infantrymen, and just plain foot soldiers would have been lucky to have a helm over a padded jack, rather than anything heavier.
After that - they'd have fought in cooler weather whenever possible, kept hydrated as much as possible (not that they had the term, but they certainly had the concept), and most importantly, not actually got into that many battles. A successful (that is, surviving) Crusader might have been in only a couple of real battles, and maybe a few scuffles on the side, many without armour.
Upvote:2
I'm not sure but in the Encyclopaedia World History book it said many of them fought without armour, while others soaked cloth in water and put it underneath their armour. I would guess that under such heat exposure, as you said before, many died. Some of the battles, like you said, took place at night or less hot parts of the day. The armour they wore might have been heavy but may have still provided shade from the sun in some cases. Many coated themselves in oil; this may be because the oil could potentially repel the heat, but I'm not so sure about that one.
Upvote:3
It is logical to assume that every crusader wore clothing made of various types of cloth, or leather, or skins, or wood (for shoes?), or reeds, etc., etc. but only some crusaders had any type of armor.
Thus it is logical to assume that every crusader wearing armor wore it over some type of clothing to prevent chaffing and pinching his skin, even if he was a really tough guy. And maybe that underclothing kept the armor from transferring too much heat to the Crusader's body.
And it seems logical to assume that many crusaders also wore some clothing over their armor to shade it and keep it from adsorbing heat from the sun. In fact books on heraldry often state that the surcoat was adopted during the crusades for that reason, and that the mantling over the helmet was also introduced during the Crusades to keep the helmet cooler.
Wikipedia says about the knight's surcoat:
Historians believe that the practice of wearing white ones was adopted during the Crusades, their main purpose of reflecting the direct sun, which overheated it (and the soldier inside); while in poor weather they helped keep rain and the muck of battle away from the easily corroded mail links; although it may be argued that here its color would have been of little help.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surcoat[1]
And "The Six Parts of Coat of Arms" describes the mantle as:
Originally intended to shield the knight from the heat of the sun and to ward off rain, the mantle is a piece of cloth placed over the helmet, draping down the back to the base of the helm. http://genealogy.about.com/cs/heraldry/a/heraldry_2.htm[2]
Upvote:6
Mail is actually a heatsink: it draws the heat out of you. The same principle is employed in the construction of computers. In hot weather mail makes you cooler. Indeed, the first people to use mail extensively were the Romans, who fought mostly in and around the Mediterranean and other such hot climates.
The only problem is that when directly exposed to the sun, mail becomes quite hot to the touch, even burning. It's best to wear even a thin layer of cloth over the mail. The crusaders did this, painting the cloth with bright colors and large Christian symbols.
As far as the potential weight, when worn properly the weight is not felt at all. The weight is distributed across all of one's body. A thick belt helps: The mail hangs off the shoulders, and the belt takes half the weight off that.
Source: A lifetime of reenactments and various reading.
More post
- π When did the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad connect Baltimore city to any Ohio city?
- π Isn't there any positive legacy of the Mongolian occupation in Russia?
- π Why the Black Death took longer to appear in Eastern Europe than in Western Europe
- π What were the long-term effects of Reconstruction in the South?
- π Why would silk underwear disqualify you from the United States military draft?
- π In 1700-1900 England, how were 'manners an end in themselves and not merely a means to achieve propriety by conformity'?
- π What was the worst economic crisis of all time?
- π Why didn't a noble family change their last name from a kind of duck to something more prestigious?
- π Does a year 1900 meeting in a Masonic Hall imply that it was a meeting of Freemasons?
- π Context for peace between UK and Germany around the Fall of France
- π When was the last book containing a table of logarithms was published?
- π What were the influences of Freemasonry in the wars of liberation of Latino American countries from Spanish Colonialism?
- π What were the motivating factors in the Scottish Highland Clearances?
- π What would a Roman slave be legally required to do if his master vanished?
- π Why did Napoleon march to Moscow instead of Saint Petersburg?
- π How were old wooden warships with structural damage to the hull repaired at dock?
- π Why didn't Japan adopt western utensils?
- π How did Quebec transition from French Law to English Law?
- π Did any leader say "We may have lost the battle, but not the war"?
- π What happened to Hitler's personal possessions and real estate?
- π Date this Jubilee Day photo
- π What is the history of the popped collar?
- π Cannot find source of quote
- π Did Ted Nugent dodge the draft?
- π Why are women banned from Okinoshima island in Japan?
- π What WW2 German badge is this?
- π Why didn't early modern Christians object to pagan symbolism in art?
- π Was it possible to organize a women's uprising or feminist movement in the Middle Ages?
- π What evidence is there to suggest that 'fear of the bomb' is culturally specific?
- π Why did Americans oppose Richard Nixon's visit to China? What "past policies" were Nixon going against?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- π How did Medieval armies survive the use of mail armor in the deserts of the Middle East?
- π How did Roman armies survive in the desert?
- π How did 300,000 people survive the 3 1/2 year siege of Sarajevo?
- π How did knights who required glasses to see survive on the battlefield?
- π How did Aztec armor and weaponry match up to the Spaniards?
- π How did ancient armies keep the route of supplies to their battlefield?
- π How did the ancient Chinese coordinate armies of tens and hundreds of thousands?
- π What kind of armor did the soldiers use in pre-gunpowder Southeast Asia?
- π How did the Carthaginians manage to survive three years of siege?
- π How did CeauΘescu survive the condemnation of the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968?
- π How did people clean their teeth in the past? (Greco-Roman to medieval age)
- π How did the Crusades change medieval Islamic culture?
- π How did the use of tanks differ in the Pacific war from the European war?
- π How did the US plan to use nuclear shells for naval guns?
- π How did Germany survive on the Eastern Front of WW2 for so long?
- π How did Yugoslavia economically survive the Cold War
- π How did knights in full suits of armor eventually die in combat? What were the most common causes of death for soldiers in full-body plate armor?
- π How did the layout of a Medieval European village typically change as it grew into a town?
- π How did the Romans build their armies for the First Punic War?
- π How frequently did the KMT use telegrams to communicate; from where (roughly) and to whom?
- π How did the written Polish language survive in eastern Germany during partition (if it survived at all)?
- π How much did medieval horse armor cost?
- π Why did armies meet on the battlefield, and how often did they? (medieval times)
- π Why did archery not make a comeback when armor was phased out in the 18th century?
- π Did medieval scholars believe the Earth was round?
- π How and when did the word "nuclear" replace the word "atomic"?
- π How did Israel win the Six-Day War?
- π How did the general population of England convert so smoothly to Protestantism?
- π How did the USSR manage to innovate in an environment characterized by government censorship and high bureaucracy?
- π How did the Romans do division?