Quote Originally Posted by Watchman
Mail shorts - braies d'acier, lit. roughly "steel shorts/breeches" - are known from Medieval times anyway. Solidly padded of course, and one would assume normal loinclothes or whatever it now was were worn under those, but ought to give you some impression of just how complete protection the knights could seek.
This kind of implement saved the traitorous count of Flanders after he was captured by Pierre des tourelles at the Bouvines battle. A french militia man, angered at his betrayal, tried to gut him (more precisely, his intent was to cut his genitals off, a most humiliating death since the count's horse was killed under him the same way) by striking him under his mail coat with a long knife. He failed miserably because he could not bypass the armour the count was wearing. He was then seized and disarmed : the king wanted him alive and, in those times, killing a prisonner was a murder and thus, a sin (mercenaries were excommunicated, so they were killed on the spot).

Such war attire was most probably used by the richest.