Gambesons, also sometimes known as padded or quilted armor, are a type of protection usually made from at least two layers of linen, cotton or leather, with various types of batting sandwiched between the two.
Their use has spanned most of the world, from ancient Scythian horsemen in the Caucasus, to 17th century Europe, even seeing use in the Aztec empire and medieval African kingdoms.
In Europe, gambesons or aketons were initially used as a base layer on which a mail shirt was worn, but went on to be used independently by men-at-arms as a very cost-effective form of protection, in both cases being able to absorb blunt blows and stop projectile weapons.
Variants meant to be worn alone were known as padded jacks and were usually thicker and made of more layers of fabric, complemented with scrap textile or animal hair. These were somewhat vulnerable to draw cuts, and were extremely warm.
On the other hand arming doublets were meant to be worn under a plate harness, covering less of the neck and thighs but offering several attach points on which to lace the different segments of rigid armor, all the while preventing chaffing between the skin and the metal plates. As it evolved into the 15th century, these doublets also started to incorporate patches of maille of varying size called goussets or voiders, that were meant to protect the joints and otherwise vulnerable areas of a knight’s body.
Chain voiders on a linen pourpoint.
Something to take note of, is that lighter armors were occasionally sewn or attached directly to the gambeson, like in the above image. This was commonplace in Asian cultures where most maille and splint armor was sewn directly to thick silken sleeves.
Although the arming doublet was slowly replaced by jerkins and buffcoats in Western Europe, the concept of combining numerous layers of textile to produce armor never truly died. In Asia especially, both Japan and Mongolia have records of layered silk armor being used during the early modern era, and Korea even developed a padded cotton armor known as the Myeonje baegab for the express purpose of stopping bullets, which it did.
Korean bulletproof cotton armor, made c.1860′s
Aketon: Another name for a gambeson based on the Arab for ‘the cotton’ through old French.
Buff coat: The most common type of protection replacing arming doublets in the 17th century, made of a single layer of thick suede leather.
Ichcahuipilli: Aztec quilted armor, Nahuatl for ‘cotton shirt’.
Arming points: reinforced spots on an arming doublet where the armor is attached.
Voiders: Chainmail sewn directly to a pourpoint styled gambeson, common in Europe from the 13th century onward.
Pourpoint: A longer European gambeson style used until the development of the arming doublet. It sometimes went all the way to the knees, and was commonly separated into two parts, sleeves and torso. Also the French word for doublet.
-mod Burgonet and Close-Helm
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