Jason Kingsley, tries out some unusual chainmail clothing and tries riding a horse when wearing it. #historyfacts #history #medieval Join this channel to get access to perks: / @modernknight
Gonna be honest, this one kind of feels like a medieval knight doing a RU-vid product review. "Hast thou ever concerned thyself o'er rising blows towards thy nethers in a foot melee? Mine blacksmith has claimed these Iron Pants shalt ease thy worries..."
"Chaucer's the name, selling's the game . . . 'Fong-proof' - the new name in mail undies - true protection from the old 'under & up! Thank you, I'm here all week." : )
I love the genuine expression of joy you show when you make such discoveries, especially when they defy your (and our) expectations. Wonderful video. Thank you.
"Iron pants." I would never have guessed it, but it makes perfect sense. They were ingenious people. Another excellent episode. I look forward to every one of them.
As various sword tubers keep pointing out, folks back then weren’t stupid. I for one find it hard to imagine such maille undies were not extremely popular with those who could afford them. You just demonstrated their utility and comfort by the simple expedient of getting on a horse to see if they would work. Surely an educated experienced knight of the day would give it a go.
I think I’d have thongs permanently tied to the edges of the flap, for easier access when you had to relieve yourself. Having them on the flap would make it easier ti grab the flap and re-tie it
I love the way you took us on this journey of discovery with you rather than experimenting first and presenting us with a polished conclusion. Feels more 'real' this way, and we can all share in the surprise result.
I just want to thank you for not being rude when you talk about this. So many RU-vidrs couldn't resist talking to a vast mixed crowd of faceless strangers without being as crass as the crassest teens with their mates, but you just talk about it like a normal person interacting with people you might not know. As a woman, I really appreciate the courtesy. I like to know about interesting parts of life like this without it being turned into something bawdy. You're able to use words like "codpiece" "groin" and even "ass" in comfortable amusement without being gross. THANK YOU! How fascinating that the mail briefs increased the comfort! I guess there's a degree of cushioning in the give & the layering of the mail, and the fact that it's fairly evenly distributed on your seat.
German Gothic armour was very often cavalry armour, and often they wore mail braes instead of skirts rather than in addition to them (so it is thought).
The late medieval 'gothic' stuff has visible maille under crackers in effigies and images, I always assumes the Milanese stuff, being significantly heavier was more for cavalry, and with that sort, we don't know what went on under the maille skirt as far as I'm aware.
I remember seeing a few sets of maximillian armor at the met museum in NYC with what looked to be chainmail boxers and codpieces. I don't know the correct terms or what they called them at the exhibit but I remember thinking both options looked more sensible than a mail skirt if you wanted to avoid getting unpleasantly upskirted by a long weapon or an enemy lying on the ground.
That's super cool that you found this and tried it and IT WORKED! Another notch in the column for "medieval people were smarter than we gave them credit for" and they made a bunch of stuff that we don't THINK would work, until we actually try it! Also, very sweet that you put Ghost in the credits as thanks for helping make the video :)
In the painting The battle of San Romano by Uccello , there is a fully armed figure lying on the ground face down ( National Gallery panel ). A close look reveals that he appears to be wearing a pair of Iron pants . Painting dates from 1438 -40 . I study Renaissance paintings but not usually the fundament area of figures , but it’s all fascinating…. 😊
I gather you make these videos as a hobby, but they really are some of the best content of this kind I have found online anywhere. Please keep making them, they are great.
ChatGPT recommended calling these military-grade intimates :) All joking aside, you struggling with the strings really made me appreciate modern attachment mechanisms - zippers, snaps etc. just make a world of difference. I imagine back then more than a few knights might have sustained an otherwise preventable injury when some corners were cut while prepping for battle (either at their own insistence, or due to laziness/negligence/exhaustion on the part of their squires)
Riding on horseback with mail underpants and seeing if it’s uncomfortable/painful taking a test for all of mankind 😂 also another amazing and educational video and I like the backdrop too keep up the awesome work also the sound of moving in plate armour will never not be satisfying to me
Do you plan to replace the doublet before or after it starts developing it's own ecosystem? It's really impressive how well and for how long that thing has been holding up.
@@ModernKnight Do you know coincidentally about Medieval Horsebread? Do you know coincidentally if its healthy or good for horses ? I have heard and read about it!
@@killerkraut9179 I‘m not going to lie, I had to google horsebread, to know what you were talking about. So I‘m not going to presume to talk about the particulars of the bread itself, as you probably know more about the ingredients and such that I do from that short search. However generally speaking about feeding horses bread-like substances: commonly only thoroughly dried and hard bread is fed to horses. This avoids mold to form. You could, I guess, also soak it in water right before feeding, to give it some elasticity and avoid any bloating or dehydration of the horse that might come with feeding it large amounts of bread. But then you would have to be careful not to soak it too long, so that it doesn’t go bad then. Today feeding bread is usually done as either a snack or because getting the old and unsold bread from bakers is cheaper than investing in grain. I‘m not sure how much of that was applicable to the medieval ages, where the cost of milling the grain down to flour and then to bake it potentially made even old and hard bread more expensive than straight grain. But this really is just something that came to mind.
@@alexk7973 I have it from the Book ,Der Deutschorden von Akkon Bis zum Baltikum .Die Armee 1198-1420 Author Rolf Fuhrmann Terrible Translation on journeys the horses also received a kind of coarse horse bread And the channel Tasting History Video about How to Make a MEDIEVAL TRENCHER - Torte Bread. horse Bread was mentioned !
Ghost thinks the iron pants are uncomfortable. Lol I'm shocked at your discovery. You say, "wearing iron pants while riding hard wooden saddle" and I think, "Most painful ride ever!" But that's not so! This actually answers a question I had sbout protecting those vulnerable spots, too. Great video! (Note to whoever did the sound: absolutely love the choral chanting! Quite beautiful.
OK, anyone else spend this whole thing thinking about the Terry Pratchett book 'Unseen Academicals' and the new dwarf invention of micromail, with the selling point of 'It does not chafe?'
Oh my GOODNESS Ghost is beautiful! 😊 As for the male mail knickers…Wearing such protection never entered my mind. But then, until I subscribed to this great channel, I honestly never had much interest in medieval life. You’ve certainly changed that! Thank you for another great episode! 🌹 Give Ghost an apple from me. 😉🍎
Thanks Jason for new video. Its been a long time but that does not matter. You discribe medieval life so extensively! Hope you have a good day and all the horses are all right ❤
Ghost is such a beauty! Always love these experimental videos where you take us along as you go. So interesting to try and figure out how people solved problems.
I could imagine the mail underpants provide more grip as they "grip" into the leather of the saddle and the fabric or your trousers and sort of secure your seat in the saddle. Less moving about so to say. A bit like the artificially added extra grip that the silicone seats of modern breeches provide.
Really interesting and a surprising result. I always enjoy your videos. You know how various knights were given nicknames such as 'Fergant' meaning 'Iron glove' You can now add 'Sir Jason Ironpants' whatever the French is for that!
Protection of the voonerables. A very important and under-researched issue! (And another very enjoyable film. Lovely to see the flowering trees around the estate.)
Padding makes sense to me, especially if you're doing active horseriding, or long distances. You NEED a comfy saddle with extra padding if you're going to cover hundreds of miles in a day on a motorbike, especially on bumpy roads. I guess that'd stand up for horse riding as well. I guess the chain mail is armour against the hard medieval saddle, as well. The core of it, really, is that you're not going to fight effectively if you're more focused on how sore and pinched your gentleman's area is.
Also a lot of cavalry saddles from a time when there still were cavalry saddles weren‘t padded much and they are also meant for long distance riding. Then again, the riders didn‘t buy the equipment themselves in those days and the military didn‘t care that much about the rider‘s bum-comfort I guess. In medieval times when a knight was responsible for sourcing his own equipment I guess he would have been more attentive to his comforts.
One last appreciative thought. I've never seen Ghost more beautiful. His carriage really showed of his stallion crest, even while rearing. He really is an astonishing horse.
This man is responsible for some of my favourite childhood games. Now I’m once again being entertained by him as a gown ass man on RU-vid, so crazy. Brilliant.
😂I simply could not ignore this notification for the simple fact that I have wondered what the ppl of these times wore for undergarments in battle before they had jock straps etc etc 😂😂 that and well face it that's quite the hilarious train of thought😂
Jason, you are by far my favourite history/medieval youtube guy. Always informational and enthusiastic. And you even get bonus points because even my girlfriend gets interested in medieval stuff just because of your horses :) *how's Ghost doing btw?
I can picture the maille acting as thousands of tiny rockers. The ring edges touching the wood tree would probably sink in slightly, and then the entire surface would simply shift as one. It would also probably improve air flow to the area, which is very important to minimize chafing due to prolonged damp and pressure on sensitive areas. The more I think about the iron pants, the more sense they make! I wonder if they weren't written about because they were so ubiquitous and widely understood to be utterly essential that no one thought they would ever need to explain them! Edit: I wonder if they might have been economical to produce, at least occassionally, by utilizing pieces from larger maille garments which had been damaged beyond the point of full repair.
@@minerwaweasley1008 Good captions do not write themselves, and computer generated ones are too inaccurate to be of much use to me, because they’re just distracting instead of clarifying.
@@minerwaweasley1008 If you think good captions write themselves, try watching a speech-heavy video without sound, using only automatically generated captions.
@@ragnkja Good subtitles - of course no. Just like Google Translate will not give you a good translation. But for someone who reads English better than hears it, it is absolutely sufficient.
Glad you wore them over your pants not under.😆 When I read the title I had a hard time imagining how it could possibly be comfortable, but wearing them on the outside instead of inside makes the world of difference.
Always great to seeyou post, especially this experimental archaeology. I have to say I first found you through that medieval food series, so when that Matpat "medieval food sucked" video popped up, part of me wanted a reaction to that from you as well.
My son just asked me last night what knights did for the gaps in their armour - we've been going down the medieval rabbit hole and it's been very interesting
One of the guys I used to fight with had made himself a chainmail crotch voider, we called it his chainmail diaper! "And I'm wondering if it would chafe..." and my brain immediately pipes up, "Like the "Stay Dry" weave on a maxipad in the 90s? Gods, for your sake I hope not." Riding with that particular "protection" was pretty unpleasant before there were better options... And I used to need to pad most regular modern saddles because most saddles are too wide for my seatbones unless I was borrowing a kid's saddle. But you've got padding between your nether bits and the cheese grater :) Glad it worked out well. Might have to do some more chain mail work again!
8:10 "If I ride in these and they are incredibly painful, I'm going to get off." Alrighty then. I knew 'chainmail underpants' was going to be a gold mine.
YOU got me interested as soon as I saw the title ! but seriously ....any armour is sexy . al;though i would personally love to see you inside a suit of armour that TOTALLY encases you , with a codpiece added too.
beautiful dive into my favourite age period.. you, sir, are amazing. ghost is wonderful and got a lot of spirit, great horse. you are a medieval knight incarnate :)
How very interesting! I saw Henry VIII’s suit of armor at Windsor and it was absolutely beautiful- silver with gold embellishments- but the codpiece made me blush. Perhaps it was of such a size as to accommodate chain mail panties? Probably it did inflate Henry’s ego a bit, too! 😂 Ghost is looking lovely, as always.
Much of the,uh, ornateness of codpieces was social posturing of course, but there’s some evidence they were necessitated by the spread of syphilis making tactile sensations painful.
My goodness! So impressive…I love learning about medieval life from someone who seemingly has been there… every time I see one of his videos it feels as if I’m stepping into a different day in time. He’s just so authentic. And that beautiful horse, Ghost… Ghost is simply regal, magnificent. 👏🏼 BRAVO BRAVO! 👏🏼
Wow I needed that! Just ran into an insurmountable research block. And now have stopped feeling sorry for myself. Learning with laughter is just great!
So funny .Ancient people didn't record stuff that Moderns want to know.This happens in alot of Historical Recipe videos,the chef has to guess because the writer assumed you'd already know.
Of course, we enjoyed seeing you! It’s been a bit of time since you appeared to educate us about medieval horses and armour and life. I can’t help but ask about the mule with no name. I think it’s been three years since the first video. I can’t believe you have left the poor animal without a name for this amount of time. Please let us know. We enjoy all your videos. And our only complaint is we would like them longer and more often. Thank you so much. And have a lovely day.
What was that beautiful music at the end? I was stunned when it started - not at all what I expected to hear. As indeed was the video. Thanks for a fascinating account.
I mean with the benefit the hindsight, it makes sense that they were more comfortable, because part of the job of any mail/armour/protection is to spread the force of impact over a larger area of your body.
"...an area which I would thoroughly recommend you never get stabbed in" might be the funniest thing I've heard on RU-vid so far this year. Now I'm thinking that perhaps the iron undies were there to protect the knight from the saddle, and had nothing to do with combat!
I hope you were able to enjoy the pie (from Saturday's post) after this chainmail try out. I cringed and winced at the thought of your test run, and now admire your bravery all the more, Sir Knight. So glad for you that this bit of mail worked as designed.
I've been missing your videos, but talk about a triumphant return. Love to Ghost. He has such a graceful curve to his neck. It's easy to imagine him off on some epic quest.
