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Fig. 511. Chain mail cap

Attributed to the XIII-XIVth (?) century. Said to have been found in a tomb at Epernay (Côte d'or) Collection: Mr. Henry G. Keasby

Fig. 512. Chain mail cap

Attributed to the XIII-XIVth (?) century. Porte de Hal, Brussels

our own observation. The now almost famous piece of very large ringed mail with double rivets, which used to be in the Meyrick Collection and was subsequently in those of the late Mr. W. Burges and of the Baron de Cosson, is now in our own possession. Mr. Burges gave the following description of it: The history of this piece of mail, as told by Sir Samuel Meyrick, is to be found in vol. i, p. 141, of the "Journal of the Archaeological Association." One of Sir Samuel's tenants procured this and another piece, the latter much broken, from the son of a ropemaker, who has used them for the purpose of rubbing down the projections in his work. The account given was that the entire piece, before it was cut into two portions, came from a church in Gloucestershire. Sir Samuel Meyrick assigned it to the early part of the XIVth century (Fig. 513). The iron wire from which it is made is circular in section, and the points of junction of the rings are flattened out very greatly. At the opposite side of the rings are also traces of the hammer; but these are not by any means so perceptible as those at the points of junction. The rivet has been formed in the shape of a mason's cramp, viz., with two sides turning up (see Fig. 509 H). Next we illustrate (Fig. 514) a fragment of chain mail with large heavy rings half an inch across in the interior diameter. These are not flat but circular in section, and are not riveted but simply butted together. This most massive piece of chain mail was found some thirty years ago in the foundations of an old house at Nottingham. It is very old, belonging probably to the XIVth century; but