hauberks

Noun

hauberk (plural hauberks)

1. A coat of mail; especially, the long coat of mail of the European Middle Ages, as contrasted with the habergeon, which is shorter and sometimes sleeveless.
   • The hauberk was a complete covering of mail from head to foot. It consisted of a hood, joined to a jacket with sleeves, breeches, stockings and shoes of double chain mail, to which were added gauntlets of the same construction.1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 14
2. (uncommon) A similar shirt of scale armour, plate, leather, or other armor material.
   • The habergeon is the mail in this case, and the hauberk is of plate or splint armour, while the cote-armoure is the surcoat, possibly thickly padded, as in the still-existing surcoat of the Black Prince.1898, John Starkie Gardner, Armour in England from the Earliest Times to the Seventeenth Century, page 40