Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 2).djvu/208

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Fig. 506. Hauberk of chain mail

Known as the shirt of Saint Wenceslaus. Its date is uncertain, but part of it at least might be as early as the XIIIth century

Treasury of the Cathedral of Prague

name was preserved there in the second half of the XIVth century; and we are further justified in thinking that this hauberk, in part at least—for it has been subjected to restorations—is the actual one mentioned in these inventories and still to be seen in the Cathedral Treasury of Prague. But inasmuch as Wenceslaus, Patron Saint of Bohemia, was Duke of Bohemia about 928-936, it requires a very considerable amount of faith to accept as fact all that tradition attaches to this hauberk; for, like all relics of distant mediaeval times, its history is extremely obscure. But we will