Who doesnt love a knight? At home on the back of his trusty steed, sword and lance at the ready and with armor shining in the sun. But wait what is that we see lurking below those shiny plates of amour at almost every joint?

Ah, chain mail the woven interlocking links that make movement possible while protecting the knight from injury. Sturdy, tough and heavy, the chain mail thats a small part of the medieval knights armor was once the only thing that stood between a warrior and the lethal weapons wielded by those intent on killing him.

The mysterious origins of chain mail (or mail as it was called until the 17th century) are buried in the ancient battlefields and warriors graves of millennia past. What we do know is that mail is indeed ancient while the Etruscans (768 264 BD) seem to have experimented with the form, the oldest mail discovered was found in the third century BC graves of Celtic chieftains and warriors of present day Slovakia and Romania.

And when the Romans met the mail-fortified Celts on the battlefields of what is now Italy and France, they were so impressed they adopted the innovation, and it became one of the most powerful military technologies employed by the expanding Roman empire. Soon the armor was in use by both sides of almost any conflict in Europe. Although cumbersome and expensive, chain mail was the perfect answer to the sharp-bladed weapons of the time.

Throughout the centuries, chain mail continued to be the go to armor for fighting forces throughout Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, India, Tibet, Korea and Japan. It was highly prized and very valuable, as the expense in labor and materials was incredibly high.

Experts estimate that a full suit of mail had a similar value to a midrange house. Given that mail could make the difference between life and death, it was routinely claimed from the dead after battle and passed on from father to son for centuries.

By the 14th century, the plate armor of our knight errant replaced full suits of mail. More quickly produced, plate mail also provided protection from the revolutionary weapons and battle strategies of the day: high-powered crossbows, lanced cavalry charges and high-impact warfare. However, mail still proved valuable in linking the rigid armor plates at joints, and where two pieces of plate armor met like the famous knights helmets and breast plates.

Today, mail is still in use. Ask your butcher if he or she, like the knight errant of old, uses a chain mail glove to allow flexible hand movements while offering protection from the sharpest of blades.

Our military men and women, as well as police officers and SWAT teams, utilize high-tech forms of woven mesh and links in bullet proof armor to this day. And, not to be forgotten, those who like to swim with the sharks (literally) are routinely protected by full suits of, you guessed it, chain mail.

Chain mail also survives as a modern art form. By building on the ancient weaves of the Celts and Japanese, jewelry artists weave complex and beautiful patterns with both modern and ancient metals. And for those of you who would like your own suit of mail prior to riding off on your trusty steed, a visit to the local Renaissance Faire will bring you face-to-face with a modern armorer working in this ancient art form.

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April A. Knecht is a historian and treasure hunter and can be reached at april@cannonbeachtreasure.com