The Byzantine army of the 11th and 12th centuries included many infantry units supplied with chain mail armor. This chain mail armor, "lorikion alusiclotan," consisted of a metal shirt with elbow length sleeves which replaced the cotton and wool padded armor previously issued to the infantry. Shield remained either the round or rear drop shaped variety with metal reinforcement. Weapons continued to be spears, axes or bow.
Several units of the Byzantine army of Emperor Alexius I would have been equipped with chain mail armor. When the Crusaders reneged on their commitments to Alexius I regarding the recognition of Byzantine territorial land ownership in the Middle East, warfare erupted between them on several occasions between 1099 and 1118.
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