# The mystery of mail coifs



## Brian G Turner (Apr 3, 2016)

Lindy Beige suggests there's a mystery about what form the padding worn beneath a mail coif might have taken:






My first pointer is: it would have varied. Standardisation is an utterly modern concept, so likely there would have been a whole variety of different ways different people would have approached it.

However, I'm tempted to think that the material worn beneath a coif was less about padding against attacks - as much as stopping the mail from pulling at hair or rubbing the scalp, and allowing the coif to be worn with some degree of comfort. 

Although the material would have been thickened to allow for some degree of defence, I suspect it may not have been its primary role - because, as Lindy points out, the whole thing starts to become very outsize if it does.

Additionally, I think there reference in the comments to the early leather form of American Football helmet is very pertinent - I can certainly see the richer classes using this material because of it's improved strength over linen, and there would be less need for it to be thickened:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Leather_football_helmet_(circa_1930's).JPG

Anyway, would love to hear some comments, especially from anyone into re-enactment.


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## Jo Zebedee (Apr 3, 2016)

Not from re-enactment, but we used to have a chainmail specialist do demonstrations at the castle and the gear that he showed us was a light padded coif and undergarment, not bulky at all which would make me feel it was to protect the skin from the mail than any real protection in battle.


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## thaddeus6th (Apr 3, 2016)

Brian, a gambeson-cap style arrangement was what I always thought there was, although it was interesting to hear about how a massive amount of padding puts strain on the neck due to the chainmail's distance.


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## Dave (Apr 3, 2016)

As well as comfort, and protection from blows, would padding not also offer thermal protection? I've never done any re-enactment but even out of battle, wearing iron touching your skin, in northern climates, wouldn't be advisable. It doesn't take very cold temperatures for metal to freeze to the skin. IIRC on _Top Gear_ Jeremy Clarkson tried to open a jar of coffee with his teeth and got the metal lid stuck to his lips.


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