Medieval Mythbusting - Silk Shirts vs Arrows -- myArmoury.com

Brian Olson

I put this as a single entry into the An-Tir Kingdom A&S last year.

Got some initial buzz. I converted my PowerPoint presentation into video and posted it.

Check it out here: Medieval Mythbusting: Silk Shirts vs Arrows version 2.1

Jerry Monaghan · Posted: Fri 30 Jan, 2015 1:35 am Post subject:

Hi Brian
Thank you for sharing this most helpful video it must have taken an while to put together
Very helpful and interesting you should pass this on to myth busters
Good shooting as well

Paul Mortimer · Posted: Fri 30 Jan, 2015 4:22 am Post subject:

A good bit of research. Thought provoking. Thank you.

Mark Griffin · Posted: Fri 30 Jan, 2015 12:27 pm Post subject:

As per my post on YouTube, thanks!

Timo Nieminen · Posted: Fri 30 Jan, 2015 1:50 pm Post subject:

My reading of the "silk myth" is that it isn't what we'd call a shirt, but a gambeson. Maybe a thinnish gambeson, but either a multilayered gambeson or a stuffed gambeson. It isn't like Mongols were naked under their armour - there was already clothing under there. For a "silk shirt" to make a real difference, it would need to be a more substantial garment that what we would usually mean by "shirt".

Silk is good for gambesons - it was used in Chinese gambesons, and used for the first modern bullet-proof vests. But it isn't magic compared to other textiles - don't expect a single thickness to do much.

M. Curk · Posted: Sat 31 Jan, 2015 3:48 am Post subject:

This is a finely executed experiment, not like most we see these days on the internet!

I would also go into direction of multi layers. Especially since we know winters in Mongolia can be quite cold, therefore one needs to wear quite a lot of clothing to prevent himself from freezing.
Mongols used wool and felt quite a lot also, didn't they? So a silk gambeson stuffed with wool or felt maybe? I suppose that would give both warmth and protection?

Cheers,
Miha

Dan Howard · Posted: Sat 31 Jan, 2015 5:24 am Post subject:

Their felt kaftan (del) provided pretty good protection all by itself.

Brian Olson · Posted: Tue 03 Feb, 2015 8:26 pm Post subject:

I actually did some testing with a 10-layer linen padded jack swatch. I did the same for 10 layers of heavy silk.
All broadhead arrows.
Results were interesting.
10 layers of quilted silk - all shots went clean through
10 layers of quilted linen - 6 of 10 shots bounced off.

I would NOT have predicted that at all.
I'll have to post another video once we get settled in the new house.

Dan Howard · Posted: Tue 03 Feb, 2015 11:17 pm Post subject:

When Żegleń was developing his bulletproof silk vests in the 19th century, it took him a long time to work out a weave that proved effective. The same thing would be true with arrows. Simply taking a random swatch of silk and shooting it wouldn't tell us much. We need to know what type of silk and what type of weave was used in the past.