Mongol Lamellar Armor

Origins

Lamellar armor is one of the oldest forms of body armor in Asia. It was made of small rectangular plates, called lamellae, laced to one another rather than riveted to a backing. Examples in bronze, iron and leather are known from the Near East, China and the steppe many centuries before the Mongols. The nomad peoples of Mongolia and southern Siberia had used it for generations, and when Chinggis Khan united the Mongol tribes in the early thirteenth century his armies inherited the tradition. Conquest then brought the Mongols into contact with the armorers of northern China, Central Asia and Persia, and captured craftsmen were put to work making weapons and armor for the Mongol Empire.

Design & Construction

The best contemporary description comes from the Franciscan friar John of Plano Carpini, who traveled to the Mongol court in 1245-1247. He described iron plates about a finger wide and a hand long, each pierced with small holes. The plates were laid in overlapping rows and tied together with thongs, and the rows were then laced to one another so that the armor could flex. Carpini also described armor of hide, in which strips of ox or other hide were layered, glued and hardened, and then laced in the same way. Leather lamellar was cheaper and lighter than iron, and it could be lacquered or varnished against damp.

A full harness covered the body and was usually built in several parts: a cuirass or coat, often open at the sides or front, with hanging skirts to protect the thighs of a rider, shoulder defenses, and sometimes armguards. It was worn over a padded or quilted coat and with an iron helmet that had a mail or leather neck guard. Horses of the heavier cavalry could also be armored in lamellar. A damaged section could be repaired by replacing a few lamellae and re-lacing them, which mattered to armies that campaigned far from home. Under the Yuan dynasty in China, other styles also appeared, including coats with plates fixed inside cloth, but lamellar remained the classic Mongol form.

Combat Use

Most Mongol warriors were light horse archers who wore little or no armor. A smaller part of the army, drawn from the better-off and from the khan's guard, fought as heavier cavalry in lamellar and helmets, carrying lances, sabers and maces as well as the Mongol Composite Bow. Their usual role was to deliver the decisive charge once the horse archers had worn down and disordered the enemy. That was the pattern at the Battle of Legnica in April 1241, where lightly armed archers drew Polish and Silesian knights forward before the heavier cavalry closed in. Lamellar gave good protection against arrows and cuts while leaving a rider free to shoot and turn in the saddle. It was lighter than the Mail Hauberk worn by many of the European knights the Mongols fought, though it gave less cover to the arms and legs. A story that Mongols wore silk undershirts to help pull out arrowheads is often repeated, but it rests on thin evidence.

Legacy

Lamellar outlived the Mongol Invasions. It remained common across the steppe, Russia, Central Asia and Tibet for centuries, and in Tibet lamellar armor was still made and worn into the early twentieth century. Mongol practice also influenced the armor of Muscovy and of the successor states of the Golden Horde. Surviving Mongol-period armor is rare, but iron lamellae have been found at sites across the former empire, and later Tibetan and Mongolian examples in museums show how such armor was laced and worn.