Gambeson

Depiction of a 13th-century gambeson (Morgan Bible,fol. 10r)

Agambeson(similar to theaketon,padded jack,pourpoint,orarming doublet) is a padded defensivejacket,worn asarmourseparately, or combined withmailorplate armour.Gambesons were produced with a sewing technique calledquiltingthat produced a padded cloth. They were usually constructed oflinenorwool;the stuffing varied, and could be, for example, scrapclothor horse hair.

Anarming doubletworn under armour, particularlyplate armourof fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Europe, containsarming pointsfor attaching plates. Fifteenth-century examples may include mailgoussetssewn into the elbows and armpits, to protect the wearer in locations not covered by plate.Germangothic armourarming doublets were generally shorter thanItalianwhite armourdoublets, which could extend to the upper thigh. In late fifteenth-century Italy, this also became a civilian fashion. Men who were not knights wore arming doublets, probably because the garment suggested status andchivalry.

Men's gambeson, c. 1660–1670. CollectionCentraal Museum,Utrecht.

Etymology

The termgambesonis a loan from the Old Frenchgambeson,gambaison,originallywambais,formed after theMiddle High Germantermwambeis,'doublet', in turn fromOld High Germanwamba,'stomach' (cognatetowomb).

The termaketon,originally themedieval Frenchalcottonem,might be a loan fromArabical-qutn,meaning 'cotton' (definite article – "thecotton ").

Inmedieval Norse,the garment was known asvápntreyja,literally 'weapon shirt', orpanzari/panzer.Treyjais a loan from (Middle) Low German.Panzari/panzeris probably also a loan fromMiddle Low German,though the word has its likely origin in Italian, and is related to the Latinpantex,meaning 'abdomen',cognate with Englishpaunch.

History

13th-century gambeson worn by a soldier in the Morgan Bible

Open, quilted leather jackets and trousers were worn byScythianhorsemen before the 4th century BC, as can be seen on Scythian gold ornaments crafted by Greek goldsmiths. As stand-alone cloth armour, the European gambeson can be traced at least to the late tenth century, but it is likely to have been in use in various forms for longer than that. In Europe, its use became widespread in the thirteenth century being similar in appearance to thetunic.Eventually, it made way for thepourpoint(jack or paltock) in the 14th century.

The gambeson was used both as a complete armour unto itself, and underneath mail and plate in order to cushion the body and prevent chafing. Evidence for its use under armour does not appear until the mid-twelfth century in iconography.

Although they are thought to have been used in Europe much earlier, gambesons underwent a revolution from their first proven use (in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries) as an independent item of armour to one that facilitated the wearing of mail, but they remained popular amongst infantry as cloth armour. Although quilted armour survived into theEnglish Civil WarinEnglandas a poor man'scuirass,and as an item to be worn beneath the few remaining suits of full plate, it was increasingly replaced by the 'buff coat' – a leather jacket of rough suede.

There are two distinctive designs of gambeson: those designed to be worn beneath armour, and those designed to be worn as independent armour. The latter tend to be thicker and higher in the collar and faced with other materials, such as leather or heavy canvas. This variant is usually referred to as "padded jack" and made of several (some say around 18,some even 30) layers of cotton, linen or wool. These jacks were known to stop even heavy arrows,and their design of multiple layers bears a striking resemblance to modern-daybody armour,which used at first silk, then ballistic nylon and later,Kevlaras its fabric.

For common soldiers who could not afford mail or plate armour, the gambeson, combined with a helmet as the only additional protection, remained a common sight on European battlefields during the entire Middle Ages, and its decline – paralleling that of plate armour – came only with theRenaissance,as the use of firearms became more widespread. By the eighteenth century, it was no longer in military use.

While the use of linen in these jackets has been proven by archaeological evidence, the use of cotton – and cotton-based canvas – is disputed, since large amounts of cotton cloth were not widely available in Northern Europe at this time. It is quite probable that Egypt (and Asia Minor generally) still produced cotton well after the 7th and 8th centuries, and knowledge (and samples) of this cloth was brought to Europe by the returning Crusaders; however, the logistics and expense of equipping a town militia or army with large numbers of cotton-based garments make its usage doubtful when flax-based textiles (linen) were in widespread use.

Sultanate of Bagirmihorseman in full padded armour suit, 1901

Linothoraxwas a type of armour similar to gambeson, used byancient Greeks.Meanwhile, the Mesoamericans were known to have used a kind of quilted textile armour calledIchcahuipillibefore the arrival of the Spaniards. Another example is the bullet-resistantMyeonje baegabthat was created during Korea'sJoseon Dynastyin an attempt to confront the effects of Western rifles.

See also

• Doublet(a.k.a.pourpoint)
• Buff coat
• Jack of plate
• Ichcahuipilli

External links

• "The Function of Armor in Medieval and Renaissance Europe".The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• How a man shall be armed for his ease when he shall fight on foota translation of the mid-fifteenth century treatise on armour, translated into modern English and accompanied by pictorial references.
• "A Roman Armor that has been Missed? Did Roman Soldiers Wear Quilted Armor?".