[Raffaele Vitale]

Hi, i'm studying battle clothing and i would like to know something about padded chausses.
On Maciejowski Bible there is probably one single picture about padded chausses, it is the Goloath picture.
In fact the warrior wears short chausses (they ends just below his knees) under the greaves.
I'd like to know if medieval 12th warriors wore full lenght padded chausses and if they did so, if there are some manuscript miniatures, church sculptures or any other hystorical source about that.
Thanks to everyone could help me... or not:)

[Richard Fay]

Hello all!

Raffaele,

Are you interested more in specifically padded chausses of the 12th century, or full-length padded chausses? There are some depictions from German sources that show longer padded chausses that go well below the knee. A couple of the figures in a German Manuscript of circa 1280 showing the "Massacre of the Innocents" wear what are probably padded chausses that hang in laced dags half-way down the calves. One figure may wear the padded chausses over mail, while the other may rely on the padded defence alone. This image can be seen in many books about medieval arms and armour, including Christopher Gravett's Osprey book Men-at-Arms 310: German Medieval Armies 1000-1300. I believe the original image can be found at the British Library's web site. It is British Library Manuscript Add. 17687.

I'm not sure how common something like this would be in the early part of the 12th century, but were likely in use by the latter half of the 12th century. They seem fairly common in the 13th, and are of varying lengths.

Other period images that show probable padded chausses that extend to well below the knee are in the wall paintings in Sala di Dante, Museo Civico, San Gimignano. The mounted warriors wear what appears to be padded and elaborately embroidered chausses that hang fairly loosely below the knees. These padded chausses are apparently worn over mail. A photo of this painting appears in David Nicolle's Osprey book Men-at-Arms 376: Italian Medieval Armies 1000-1300, and a drawing appears in the same author's book Arms & Armour of the Crusading Era 1050-1350 Western Europe and the Crusader States. The later work may show other examples; it's fairly extensive, if not always incredibly detailed.

Padded chausses, with clear quilting stitches, appear on some of the warriors on the Silver Shrine of Charlemagne in Aachen Cathedral, circa 1207. These are apparently laced tight just below the knee. They are shown worn over the mail chausses. Photos of this can be seen in Arms and Armour of the Medieval Knight by David Edge and John Miles Paddock, among other sources.

I hope this helped a bit!

Stay safe!

[Raffaele Vitale]

Wow that's great! it's much more i could expect from my post!!
thank you so much! I will search every reference you've given to me.
I'm looking for information about full lenght chausses but it seems that there is nothing on the net...

[Richard Fay]

Hello again!

Raffaele,

You're welcome! You actually posted an interesting question, one that can open up a whole discussion about padded chausses, including when they were used, and how they varied. Some appear very plain, while others appear to be elaborately embroidered.

I don't think I've ever seen any that went much lower than mid-thigh, but it's possible. Many of the longer examples seem to have a built-in poleyn of some sort, either rivetted or stitched to the fabric. They seem to have been used over mail more often than without, but the one figure in the "Massacre of the Innocents" in the British Library seems to indicate that padded chausses could be worn without mail by infantrymen (or perhaps knights fighting on foot).

I can look for more examples later. I know there are more images out there, I'll just have to dig up the sources.

Stay safe!

[Felix R.]

In "Knight of Outremer 1187-1344AD" David Nicolle shows a knight from 1190 wearing maille lined full padded chausses in the first colour plate, unfortunately he doesn´t give the source of this piece.

[Richard Fay]

Hello again!

I knew I wasn't using the proper term for padded thigh protection, but the proper term had slipped my mind. I've had a lot on my mind lately, and I've been busy with other things. Maybe I'm just starting to get old. Anyway, the more correct term for padded thigh protection is "gamboised cuisses". I knew this, really I did!

So, Raffaele, you might find more information if you did a search for "padded cuisses" or "gamboised cuisses".

I found a bit about the construction of "gamboised cuisses". Here is what's said about their construction in Arms and Armour of the Medieval Knight:

[Richard Fay]

Hello again!

Now here's an interesting image of "David and Goliath" that may show Goliath wearing full-length padded chausses, including feet. It may also be David Nicolle's source for the colour plate mentioned by Felix. It's all open to interpretation, but that's the danger when relying on period art.

It's an image from circa 1150-75 in an English manuscript from Winchester, now in the Pierpont Morgan Library. It's Ms. 619v. Goliath wears some sort of fabric leggings that have diagonal lines with intermittent cross-hatchings that may represent quilting. Of course, it could just as easily represent embroidery or diagonally striped chausses with no real defensive value. Mail could be worn beneath, but there is no evidence for it. There is a photo of this image in the Osprey book The Crusades by David Nicolle.

I believe that the Goliath from the Maciejowski Bible is wearing gamboised cuisses, not necessarily full-length padded chausses. There is another figure from that same bible that shows a soldier pulling on gamboised cuisses that come to just below his knee. It's shown in a drawing in David Nicolle's Arms & Armour of the Crusading Era 1050-1350 Western Europe and the Crusader States.

Period art can be tricky to interpret at times, and there are many interpretations for the same thing.

[Richard Fay]

Hello again!

In case you're confused (and I know I sounded confused there for a while), cuisses were typically thigh protection. Gamboised or padded cuisses came down to around the knee or a little beyond, sometimes as long as half-way down the calf. Chausses that functioned as armour protect basically the whole leg, coming down to and often including the feet. Medieval chausses were typically of mail, possibly rarely padded. Padded cuisses were much more common.

I hope this clarified things a bit!

[Raffaele Vitale]

That's ok thanks:)
Before posting my question i supposed that cuisses were more common that padded chausses and my first doubt was if there were padded chausses in the 13th century. or if they were a latter clothing Thanks to everyone now i have a lot of hystorical material to analyse... there are thousand of pictures to study carefully from Morgan to British Library....
Thanks very very much...
oh well... i've padded my chausses with rough wool of my grandmother pillows but it's very difficoult to lay an uniform layer of wool but at least i've achieved a good result.
thanks...