below, and we can therefore take it that the appearance lent to many of the hauberks worn by the knights was not due to their really encircling the legs of the wearer, but to the incapacity of the embroiderer or draughtsman in indicating the hauberk clinging to the legs (Fig. 42). An instance of the simple form of the long hauberk (though the fact does not bear great weight in this argument) is to be seen in some of the chain mail shirts which were captured from the Soudanese after the battle of Omdurman; many of these shirts were certainly as long as those worn by the Norman invaders, but none was joined round the legs, although the Soudanese method of fighting on horseback and much of Soudanese military apparel bear a very close resemblance to those of the Norman warrior of the XIth century.
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Fig. 42. The Bayeux needlework
Soldiers carrying hauberks, helmets and swords to the ships, likewise spears or javelins and apparently liquid rations
Mr. Albert Way, in his glossary for the second edition of Meyrick's "Critical Inquiry," applies to this imaginary combination garment of hauberk and breeches the name haubergeon as opposed to the simple shirt or hauberk. But in this he must surely be in error, for the name is a diminutive of hauberk, and so could not well be a term to describe these very long hauberks.