Well it was layers of linen that were glued together and possibly hardened. Its the same idea as modern body armor which is made up of many layers of aramid (ie Kevlar). The force of the impact is distributed along the fibers and the forward motion of the weapon is stopped/reduced
Here are the results of tests with maille and cloth armor that were just posted today...
http://www.myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=11131
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