Valerius Flaccus (vi, 233) speaks of the molli lorica catena; and soldiers habited in this vestment occur upon the sculptured slabs taken from the arch of Trajan, and inserted into that raised by Constantine near the Coliseum, and also on the Colonna Antonina. In the Journal of the British Archæological Association, vol. i, p. 142, sir Samuel Meyrick has described two examples of what he believed to be parts of lorica catena of the Cataphracti equites; the one in the possession of the present duke of Northumberland, the other in the museum of Mr. Roach Smith; the latter was found in a mass mingled with Roman remains in Eastcheap. Both examples consisted of rings in lengths made of four welded together at the edges.' Similar specimens are in the collection of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, which were exhumed near Castlecary station. I have a brass ring, nearly three-quarters of an inch in diameter, broken from the end of a set of four, which is exactly similar to Mr. Smith's specimen, figured in the Journal, p. 148. It was found with others in the Thames a few years back; and we have also an example of three rings united together, forming a line nearly three inches long, and weighing 5 dwts. 22 gr. (See cut.) These rings, which are rather thinner than the other examples enumerated, were discovered with Roman articles in Moore Lane, Fore Street, Cripplegate, February 1847. "The Hringed-byrne, Hringed-loca, or Hringednett of the Anglo-Saxons, was formed of iron rings sewed flat upon tunics of thick cloth or leather, and, therefore, closely resembled the armour of the ancient Phrygians. It is alluded to in the death song of Regnar Lodbroc, king of Denmark, where it is said Clouds of arrows pierced the close-ring'd harness', and representations of it are seen in illuminated MSS. as early as the tenth century. "It seems probable that armour resembling that of the Saxons was worn by the Northern nations; for it is recorded in the Heim-kringla,1 that St. Olaf, king of Norway, who was slain at the battle of Sticklastad, A.D. 1030, was habited in a 'hringa brynio', a tunic of ringed mail. "I am not aware that any specimens of the ringed armour of the Saxons have come down to us, for the armour discovered in the barrow at Benty Grange, near Moneyash, in Derbyshire, figured and described by Mr. Bateman in the Journal, vol. iv, p. 278, though undoubtedly of Teutonic fabrication, partakes much more of the character of the Lorica hamata of the Romans than the Hringed-byrne of the Anglo-Saxons. "The ringed armour of the Norman conquerors was precisely similar 1 II, 352, edit. Schöning. 1 |