Norman Conquest Encyclopedia

In Old English writings Anglo-Saxon warriors are reported to have worn byrnies, ring-mail coats, as armour. However, only one such garment has survived, at Sutton Hoo, the great treasure found in Suffolk. This one is unusual in that the rings that make it up are sealed with copper rivets rather than the iron consistently used in other examples. That mail coats were eventually the norm for English fighting men is evident from the Bayeux Tapestry which shows the housecarls clad in hauberks just like their Norman opponents.

Related Reading:

• Anglo Saxon Thegn (Warrior 5)
• Hastings 1066 (Revised Edition )- The Fall of Saxon England
  (Campaign 13 )
• Norman Knight AD 950-1204
  (Warrior 1)