ooh, finally a subject I could talk you into the ground on.
I make between 50 and a hundred bits of assorted padding a year.
First of all, depending on which bit of the 15th century you're talking
about, it's so much more likely to be either a padded jack or an arming doublet
than a gamby / acheton - gambesons really died out in the 14th century in
favour
of garments similar to the 'coat armour' (my term - nobody's yet agreed on a
definitive name) of charles IV of france, which were worn over the armour.
The doublet (pourpoint) of charles de blois is often referred to as a piece
of padded armour, but it's now generally accepted by most to be a civilian
doublet that's padded to give it the necessary shape, and toughness to maintain
its corset-like grip on the abdomen of the wearer.
At the end of the 14th century and start of the fifteenth, padding was all
colours under the sun (green, red, blue and grey seem to have been the most
popular - but yellows, oranges and assorted others can be seen in manuscript
illustrations, and the coat armour of the black prince in canterbury cathedral
has
the royal arms on it in velvet).
These were gradually all dropped in favour of white for jacks - although
arming doublets were still in colours - usually reds, blacks and greys.
There are numerous illustrations of later C15th jacks, most notably the st
ursula triptych, by memling, which shows one straight quilted and one knotted
(one of them also has arm chains, though I can't remember which offhand).
jacks
can be worn with no armour, or with partial armour (for full harness, you'd
need an arming doublet, as the stresses are completely different).
there are quite a few references to padding at this time (late 14th - late
15th) - including:
mention of 'northern soldiers' arriving in london during the wars of the
roses, wearing jacks padded with flax, and another that mentions them being
padded
with 'tow'.
there's a sumptuary law, forbidding the jack makers from using 'rotten linen'
(some unscrupulous non-guilded types methinks).
there are references in the clothing accounts of the black prince to fustian
and 'cotton wool' (i.e. raw cotton fibre) being some of the materials used.
references from the french of rows of english archers in white (though it's
not 100% clear whether this refers to a white english livery, or a jack).
a reference in the accounts of a polish count to the purchase of fustian,
cotton and black velvet for the making of a padded coat - and chains to run
down
each quilted tube.
records of a booming cotton industry in southern germany.
entries in the records of the docks at plymouth receiving raw cotton in
quantities that would fill containers today.
records of padding all the way through the middle ages being soaked for weeks
in assorted liquids to make it stronger / waterproof / more resistant to
archery and swordblows (including oil, vinegar, wine, fish oil (they must have
truly stunk to high heaven!!)).
references to coverings of rich material or leathers (including deerhide, and
deerhide soaked in various stuffs (as an aside, the chinese used
rhinoceros)).
obviously, the london guild was the company of tailors and linen armourers -
thereby indicating that linen was the most frequently used material
as to existing examples, I've already mentioned the two charles's padding,
and the black prince's - there's also the rothwell jack, and the one in a
collection at the met. (although they're now both believed to be 16th century -
as
are the fencing doublets in edinburgh and nurnburg). and of course, the lubeck
and stendahl jacks, which are all mid 15th.
the most interesting (because they're made for 'ordinary' people) are the
lubeck jacks, which are made in fustian and cotton, and painted with some sort
of
black stuff (no one is sure what it is or why it's there, and it could have
been added at any point in time - one can't be certain when).
although the construction techniques and materials may have varied (silks and
velvet outer layers for the rich, and fustian or flax for the poor, and
different paddings - raw cotton, raw flax, tow, straw, raw wool, recycled
ripped up
cloth, layers of cloth (looseweave fustian or flax) - most of the existing
garments I've mentioned, are made in exactly the same way, the only variation
being the material of the outer layer. (I should reiterate that the lubeck /
stendahl ones are soldiers jacks, not rich ones.)
they're made up as two sandwiches - an outer one and a lining one, and using
fustian with cotton padding. The inner layer is fustian, (raw) cotton,
fustian, and the outer is fustian, (raw) cotton, fustian, and outer layer
(either
more fustian or something richer). The two sandwiches are made up as
completely
separate garments, each sandwich quilted through individually, using
incredibly small stitches, and sewn together only around the edges when
finishing
them.
I can't comment on
