A History of Lamellar and Scale Armour in the West

[Flavivs Aetivs]

I have to agree with mark george here, Byzantine lamellar was much better, generally the lower classes of an army couldn't afford armor, even in the cavalrymen, so it wasnt a problem. Turks and Byzantines had most of their armies equipped with Lamellae or Mail, so archers couldn't attack the rider, or not as effectively, without something like a hunnic or turkish bow.