Helmets and armors have been found in early Germanic graves, usually of leaders. The armor generally consisted of thousands of rings, a so-called ring-mail. The ring- mail is vividly described in Beowulf. For the average Germanic warrior, leather was the only protection.
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It is true that only one trace of a byrnie, and that apparently not of ring-mail, has so far been found in an Anglo-Saxon grave.
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It is sometimes called ringmail or ring mail. In the Victorian era the term "mail" was used fancifully for any form of metallic body armour. Modern historians reserve the term "mail" for armour formed of an interlinked mesh of metal rings. The Bayeux Tapestry has been misinterpreted as depicting several different types of armour.
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RING MAIL FROM GALERIUS' BURIAL RITE AT GAMZIGRAD (ROMULIANA), ANTE PORTAM AUREAM : STUDIA IN HONOREM PROFESSORIS ALEKSANDAR JOVANOVIĆ, Belgrade 2017, 239-250. MIROSLAV B. VUJOVIĆ. The entire site has been inscribed into the World Heritage List in June 2007. Going by the list of deified emperors, Galerius was perhaps the final Roman emperor deified upon his death.
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Examples of early armour construction. The lower right section is an example of ring armour. Ring armour (ring mail) is an assumed type of personal armour constructed as series of metallic rings sewn to a fabric or leather foundation. No actual examples of this type of armour are known from collections or archaeological excavations in Europe.
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As a result, mail was very expensive in early medieval Europe, and would likely have been worn by men of status and wealth. Hjortspring boat contained several incomplete suits of mail. The mail worn by Vikings was almost certainly the "four-on-one" type, where four solid (punched or riveted) rings are connected by a single riveted ring. Mail of this type is known as a byrnie from Old Norse brynja.
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Vikings also used foreign armour. According to Heimskringla, one hundred Vikings appeared "in coats of ring-mail, and in foreign helmets" at the Battle of Nesjar in 1016. During the mid-9th century, there was an influx of these high-quality weapons into Scandinavia, and Frankish arms became the standard for all Vikings. As Ahmad ibn Fadlan observed in his account of his journey to Russia, every Viking carried a "sword of the Frankish type".
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The second viewpoint is that both legionaries and auxiliary soldiers used the segmentata armour and this latter view is supported, to some degree, by archaeological findings. The lorica segmentata offered greater protection than the lorica hamata for about half of the weight, but was also more difficult to produce and repair. The expenses attributed to the segmentata may account for the reversion to ring-mail after the 3rd to 4th century. Alternatively, all forms of armour may have fallen into disuse as the need for heavy infantry waned in favour of the speed of mounted troops.
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Galerius died in late April or early May 311 from a horribly gruesome disease described by EusebiusEusebius, Historia Ecclesiae 352-356 and Lactantius,Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum 33 possibly some form of bowel cancer, gangrene or Fournier gangrene. Galerius was buried in his mausoleum at Gamzigrad-Romuliana, which was part of the palace he built at his birthplace, today's Zaječar in Serbia. Several lumps composed of corroded iron ring mail (lorica hamata) have been found at the site. This mail armour may have been worn by the wax figure of the emperor that was burned during the imperial funeral and apotheosis ceremony.
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This included the extremely rare survival of a long coat of ring-mail, made of alternate rows of welded and riveted iron links, two hanging bowls, leather shoes,See K. East in Bruce-Mitford 1983 (II), 788-812. a cushion stuffed with feathers, folded objects of leather and a wooden platter. At one side of the heaps lay an iron hammer-axe with a long iron handle, possibly a weapon. On top of the folded heaps was set a fluted silver dish with drop handles, probably made in Italy, with the relief image of a female head in late Roman style worked into the bowl.
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