A short, usually t-shirt-shaped coat of maille, although sometimes sleeveless and other times with long sleeves. Can be told from hauberks and habergeons by their relatively short length, rarely going too far past the belt. Byrnies found their spotlight with Anglo-Saxons and Vikings (ca. 500-1066 C.E.) , while the basic shape is Roman/Celtic in origin. They gradually grew longer, and were transformed into their cousins, the hauberk and habergeons, or were swiftly replaced by the long hauberks of the Norman invaders, in England's case.