Hello friends,
I have been lurking in the shadows for a while, but finally thought it was time to come out and join the community. :) I’m very new to the hobby, and so everything on this forum so far has been very helpful! One topic which seems to need more discussion though is the use of quilted armor in the middle ages. I did find a few very helpful threads, such as these posted here bellow:
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=26698
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=30970

I am currently planning to make myself a full 11th century style kit, perhaps even Norman. At the moment I am collecting information on the gambeson, which seems to be a piece that many, if not most soldiers would have needed on the battlefield. I put together 15 different combinations of materials to test their ability to withstand stress before I start sewing the whole gambeson.

However please take my results with a large dose of salt! I’m sure that someone with more experience using swords would have much different results.

Process:
All of the cutting was done against several layers of foam and cardboard. I began each test piece with a blow from the side, then a stab, followed by a slash, and finally I put the test on a wood block and chopped at it with a very sharp and thin cleaver.
I also tested the resistance of a few pieces of cloth by pulling them over a wooden stake. I could put a hole through the medium wool quite easily. The heavy wool was a bit tougher, although I could not drive the wooden stake through the linen.

Samples:
1. 16 Layers of Linen
2. 8 Layers of wool
3. 4 Layers of wool
4. 1 Layer of Linen Stuffed with Wool Rags
5. 2 Layers of Linen Stuffed with Wool Rags
6. 1 Layer of Medium Wool Stuffed with Wool Rags
7. 1 Layer of Heavy Wool Stuffed with Wool Rags
8. 2 Layers of Linen Stuffed with Unspun Wool
9. 1 Layer of Medium Wool stuffed with Unspun wool
10. 1 Layer of Heavy Wool Stuffed with Unspun Wool
11. 1 Layer of Linen Stuffed with Linen Rags
12. 1 Layer of Medium Wool Stuffed with Linen Rags
13. 1 Layer of Medium Wool Stuffed with Cotton
14. 1 Layer of Linen Stuffed with Cotton
15. Leather*, linen, wool stuffing, linen.
[i]*The leather was from an old jacket. I used the piece because it was comparable to deerskin.

Methods of cutting:
A. Blow from the side
B. Stab
C. Slash across
D. Chop with knife on block

Test 1.
~0.8cm
a. Minimal Damage
b. 12/16
c. 10 Layers
d. 12/16 Layers

Test 2.
~1.6cm
a. Minimal Damage
b. All Layers
c. 4 Layers
d. 5 Layers

Test 3.
~0.8cm
a. Minimal Damage
b. All Layers
c. All Layers
d. All Layers

Test 4.
~2.4cm
a. Minimal Damage
b. All Layers
c. 50%
d. All Layers

Test 5.
~2.3cm
a. Minimal Damage
b. Low Damage**
c. 30%
d. 50%

Test 6.
~2.3cm
a. Superficial Damage
b. All Layers
c. All Layers
d. All Layers

Test 7.
~2.4cm
a. Minimal Damage
b. All Layers
c. Superficial
d. 80%

Test 8.
~2.3cm
a. Minimal Damage
b. All Layers
c. All Layers
d. All Layers

Test 9.
~2.2cm
a. Minimal Damage
b. All Layers
c. All Layers
d. All Layers

Test 10.
~2.8cm
a. Superficial Damage
b. All Layers
c. All Layers
d. All Layers

Test 11.
~1.3cm
a. 50%
b. All Layers*
c. 50%
d. 70%

Test 12.
~2.1cm
a. 50%
b. All Layers*
c. 50%
d. 50%

Test 13.
~1.2cm
a. Superficial Damage
b. All Layers*
c. 40%
d. All Layers

Test 14.
~1.9cm
a. Superficial Damage
b. All Layers*
c. 40%
d. All Layers

Test 15.
~1.3cm
a. Minimal Damage
b. All Layers*
c. 2 Layers
d. 5 Layers

*Minimal Penetration
**Not sure how that happened

Outside Materials:
Some materials were far superior to others. I was very surprised by the results, especially the ability of most of the cloths to withstand blows from the side. Stabbing was certainly the most effective technique against the cloth, penetrating 13/15 of the tests.

By far the most durable material was linen. Not only did linen stand up very well against stabs, but also cushioned many of the blows well. Thick layered wool was, OK. The woolen fibers are much less durable than the linen fibers, however they do give a good cushion for impacts. Wool did not work well at all against direct cuts or stabs however. Leather was less successful than linen when stabbing, but did handle slashes better than most materials.

Inside Stuffing:
Unspun wool showed the least resistance by far. Wool rags were much better, but still did not help much when it came to stabbing. Linen rags were OK as stuffing. Unspun cotton however proved to be much better than I had originally thought, outperforming linen rags. Again, layered linen proved to be the best defense.

Conclusion:
With this limited, and very unscientific experiment, I feel that multiple layers of linen are by far the best defense in terms of both penetration and cushioning of blows. However, a full gambeson made of 15-30 layers of woven linen cloth would probably have been extremely expensive for a medieval man, especially in the earlier periods. It seems as if the next best thing, if you couldn’t get layers of woven cloth, would have been to have one (preferably more) layer of linen, stuffed with wool and/or linen rags. For later periods, cotton both woven and unwoven would have been a better stuffing.
I’m not sure exactly what materials would have been the most affordable… I assume linen at the time would have been the least expensive, followed by wool, and then cotton… but I’m not sure. Of course considering just how valuable cloth and fiber would have been in the medieval times, it seems to make sense that any small unused scraps of cloth, even those too small to be made into anything, would have been collected by ragpickers and sold to stuff clothing, including gabesons.

[/img]https://photos.google.com/search/_tra_/photo/AF1QipOcxcUpzvshwK_MV9aRIv1tGq_TNkbb_VeNsZ1Y

Thank you for reading! Any comments, criticisms and inputs are very much appreciated!

Hi Matthew,

A few things for you to consider. First, as far as I am aware, we have zero evidence for gambesons and aketons being used in the 11th century. That doesn't necessarily mean that they were not used; however, we have nothing to show that they actually were- unless someone has evidence that I'm not aware of. The first mentions of aketons is from the later 12th century, and even then, we don't have much evidence about how they were constructed either. So that's something you may want to consider before you start sewing.

Second, your test probably does not give a completely accurate indication of cloth armour's protectiveness against blows. You describe delivering a "blow from the side". I'm not sure precisely what this means in terms of how you were striking. However, if you want to accurately simulate the most common blow received, it would be a descending diagonal strike.

This image from Fiore gives a pretty good indication of the line of the strike. Notice that the line of the strike is quite steep- it's not all that far away from perpendicular. Swords seem to cut best when you strike at a similarly steep angle.

[ Linked Image ]

So unless your strike was pretty close to what is shown in this image, you are not getting the most reliable indication of a sword's power against your cloth armour.

"accurately simulate the most common blow received, it would be a descending diagonal strike. "

In the 11th century (assuming that it is Western European 11th century), it would be a spear thrust.

Let me be more precise: when I said "blow", I meant in the sense of "strike", and not in the broader sense of "attack". That having been said, it would be good for Matt V to use a spear to test against the cloth armour samples, given how common lances and spears were.

The most common threat by a very large margin is from spears and arrows. If your armour can't stop these then there is no point wearing it. Winter clothing will stop most sword cuts; you don't need fancy armour if swords are all you are worried about.

Thank you for the comments everyone!

"Blow from the side" did mean at an angle. I should have been more clear about that.

Quote:

The most common threat by a very large margin is from spears and arrows. If your armour can't stop these then there is no point wearing it. Winter clothing will stop most sword cuts; you don't need fancy armour if swords are all you are worried about.

I very much agree here. If an armor cannot defend from the most common attacks, it is useless to the wearer. I do however plan to do a few more tests against spears... and possibly now and arrow. This test was mostly to see how durable the materials would be.

I have one very (silly) noob question though... which I'm sure has been answered many times before.... Is it possible that these geometric patterns on this figure in the Bayeux Tapestry represent some sort of quilted protection, or is this maille?


Thanks!

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Allow me to hijack this thread a little to ask a question which might be relevant to your gambeson.

What's the jury on colored gambesons? A number of modern retailers sell beautifully dyed gambesons but would such effort be expended in the high and late medieval period? I've been told linen isn't that good at holding a dye and it appears most of these reproduction don't have a woolen outer layer.

Plenty of colored gambesons here, take a look: http://myArmoury.com/feature_spot_quilted.html

[quote="Pieter B."]

Luka Borscak wrote:

Do you have some info on how well linen holds a color and whether patterns of any kind were dyed on or if it's just solid colors?

As I understand it, dyes for plant fibers (such as linen) are based on different chemicals from those used for animal fibers (wool). So if you have the right dye, it's no problem to get nice colors on linen. Modern dyes cheat by using both chemicals in one package! And I don't know enough about period dyes to tell you if *any* color could be made applicable to dyeing linen, or if some were just better to use on wool.

Bottom line, you *can* dye linen. I don't know if you can get the same *range* or depth of colors that you can get on wool. Silk is the best, it takes colors gloriously. Leather can be dyed, too, of course, and it's possible that some of the gambesons we're seeing in artwork have a thin outer layer of leather as a waterproofing.

Oh, just a point on expense--equipment requirements were largely based on wealth, so no one was required to own any gear that they could not afford. If a 30-layer jack was too costly for someone, he probably was not in the income bracket that required him to buy one.

Matthew

Yep, Odo's triangle patterned garment is obviously worn over mail, so textile is only logical explanation. But that textile could be a defensive garment like a gambeson but it could also be a bishop's church clothing too show who he was and perhaps some people might be afraid to strike a bishop, especially if he's wearing his "church clothing"...