Editing Gambeson

{{Short description|Medieval defensive jacket}}
{{More citations needed|date=August 2014}}

[[Image:Morgan Bible 10r detail.jpg|thumb|Depiction of a 13th-century gambeson ([[Morgan Bible]], fol. 10r)]]

A '''gambeson''' (also known as, or similar to where historic or modern distinctions are made, the '''acton''', '''aketon''', '''padded jack''', '''pourpoint''', '''paltock''', '''haustement''', or '''arming doublet''') is a padded defensive [[jacket]], worn as [[armour]] separately, or combined with [[Mail (armour)|mail]] or [[plate armour]]. Gambesons were produced with a sewing technique called [[quilting]] or '''pourpointing''' that produced a padded cloth. They were usually constructed of [[linen]] or [[wool]]; the stuffing varied, and could be, for example, scrap [[cloth]] or horse hair. 

An '''arming doublet''' worn under armour, particularly [[plate armour]] of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Europe, contains [[arming point]]s for attaching plates. Fifteenth-century examples may include mail [[gousset]]s sewn into the elbows and armpits, to protect the wearer in locations not covered by plate. [[Germany|German]] [[Gothic plate armour|gothic armour]] arming doublets were generally shorter than [[Italy|Italian]] [[white armour]] doublets, 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 and [[chivalry]].<ref>{{cite web |first=Dirk H. |last=Breiding |title=Fashion in European Armour, 1400–1500 |publisher=Department of Arms and Armour, The Metropolitan Museum of Art |url=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/afas15/hd_afas15.htm}}</ref>

[[File:Kolder, ca. 1660-1670.jpg|thumb|Men's gambeson, c. 1660–1670. Collection [[Centraal Museum]], Utrecht. |208x208px]]

==Etymology==
The term ''gambeson'' is a loan from the Old French {{lang|fro|gambeson}}, {{lang|fro|gambaison}}, originally {{lang|fro|wambais}}, formed after the [[Middle High German]] term {{lang|gmh|wambeis}}, 'doublet', in turn from [[Old High German]] {{lang|goh|wamba}}, 'stomach' ([[cognate]] to ''[[womb]]'').<ref>{{cite dictionary |title= Gambeson |dictionary=Merriam-Webster |language=en |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gambeson}}</ref>

The term ''aketon'', originally the [[medieval French]] {{lang|fro|alcottonem}}, might be a loan from [[Arabic language|Arabic]] {{transliteration|ar|al-qutn}}, meaning '[[cotton]]' (definite article – "{{em|the}} cotton").

In [[Old Norse|medieval Norse]], the garment was known as {{lang|non|vápntreyja}}, literally 'weapon shirt', or {{lang|non|panzari/panzer}}.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Leiv |last1=Heggstad |first2=Finn |last2=Hødnebø |first3=Erik |last3=Simensen |title=Norrøn Ordbok |publisher=Det norske samlaget |location=Oslo |year=2008 |orig-year=1909 |isbn=978-8252171501 |oclc=768091918 |pages=477, 703–704 }}</ref> {{lang|non|Treyja}} is a loan from (Middle) Low German.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=trøye |encyclopedia=[[Bokmålsordboka]] | publisher=University of Bergen |language=no |url=https://ordbok.uib.no/perl/ordbok.cgi?OPP=+tr%C3%B8ye&ant_bokmaal=5&ant_nynorsk=5&begge=+&ordbok=begge |access-date=29 March 2020}}</ref> {{lang|non|Panzari/panzer}} is probably also a loan from [[Middle Low German]], though the word has its likely origin in Italian, and is related to the Latin {{lang|la|pantex}}, meaning 'abdomen',<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title= panser |encyclopedia=[[Bokmålsordboka]] |publisher=University of Bergen |language=no |url=https://ordbok.uib.no/perl/ordbok.cgi?OPP=+panser&ant_bokmaal=5&ant_nynorsk=5&begge=+&ordbok=begge |access-date=29 March 2020}}</ref> cognate with English ''paunch''.<ref>{{cite OED | paunch |id=139043 |access-date=29 March 2020}}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Morgan_bible_gambeson.jpg|alt=Morgan_bible_gambeson|thumb|upright=1.2|13th-century gambeson worn by a soldier in the Morgan Bible]]
Open, [[quilted]] leather jackets and trousers were worn by [[Scythian]] horsemen 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 used in various forms for longer.{{cn|date=December 2024}} In the [[Middle Ages]], its use became widespread [[High Middle Ages|in the thirteenth century]] and resembled a [[tunic]]. Eventually, it made way for the [[pourpoint]] (jack or paltock) in the 14th century and had surplanted the gambeson in Henry III's Assize of Arms (1242).<ref>The medieval inventories of the Tower armories 1320-1410 by Roland Thomas Richardson in the summary of textiles in the armory</ref><ref>Bennett, Stephen (2023), "Under or Over (or Both)? Textile Armour and the Warrior in the High Middle Ages", Arms & Armour 20/1, 35-53</ref>

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

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. They remained popular amongst infantry as cloth armour. Although quilted armour survived into the [[English Civil War]] in [[England]] as a "poor man's [[cuirass]]" 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,<ref>{{cite book |first=Gerry |last=Embleton |title=Medieval Military Costume: Europa Militaria Special |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w_quNwAACAAJ |date=2001 |publisher=Crowood Press UK |isbn=978-1-86126-371-1 |page=67}}</ref> some even 30<ref name="Embleton, Gerry p.47">{{cite book |first1=Gerry |last1=Embleton |last2=Howe |first2=John |title=Söldnerleben im Mittelalter |publisher=Motorbuchverlag |year=1994 |page=47 }}</ref>) layers of cotton, linen or wool. These jacks were known to stop even heavy arrows,<ref name="Embleton, Gerry p.47"/> and their design of multiple layers bears a striking resemblance to modern-day [[body armour]], which used at first [[silk]], then [[ballistic nylon]], and later, [[Kevlar]] as 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. Its decline—paralleling that of plate armour—came only with the [[Renaissance]], 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. It is 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.

[[File:Rytter fra Bagirmi.jpg|thumb|[[Sultanate of Bagirmi]] horseman in full padded armour suit, 1901|294x294px]]

[[Linothorax]] was a type of armour similar to gambeson, used by [[ancient Greeks]]. Meanwhile, the Mesoamericans were known to have used a kind of quilted textile armour called [[ichcahuipilli]] before the arrival of the [[conquistadors]], who loaned this word as {{langx|es|escaupil}}. Another example is the bullet-resistant [[Myeonje baegab]] created during Joseon Korea to confront the effects of Western rifles.

==See also==
* [[Doublet (clothing)|Doublet]]
* [[Buff coat]]
* [[Jack of plate]]
* [[Ichcahuipilli]]
* [[Pourpoint]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{cite web |title=The Function of Armor in Medieval and Renaissance Europe |publisher=[[The Metropolitan Museum of Art]] |url=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ufarm/hd_ufarm.htm}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20161217103014/http://www.revivalclothing.com/article-armingsequence.aspx How a man shall be armed for his ease when he shall fight on foot] a translation of the mid-fifteenth century treatise on armour, translated into modern English and accompanied by pictorial references.
* {{cite web |title=A Roman Armor that has been Missed? Did Roman Soldiers Wear Quilted Armor? |url=https://www.erikhildinger.com/blog}} 
{{Types of armour}}
{{Elements of Medieval armour}}

[[Category:13th-century fashion]]
[[Category:14th-century fashion]]
[[Category:Medieval armour]]
[[Category:Western plate armour]]
[[Category:Quilting]]
[[Category:Body armor]]