This thread is the second in a series of threads on arming garments in the late 14th century (for the first, see I: Caps and for a later one see III: The Legs). In the next year or so I will start to put together clothing to go under a Lombard harness of roughly the 1380s, so I need to answer some questions about arming garments to my own satisfaction.
As with the other thread, I would like to focus on evidence not opinions or experience. There are many threads on this forum where experienced and well-read people give their opinions, but few systematic discussions of the evidence. For example, few refer to good commentaries on the 15th century arming texts, or cite the ones which are not in English. Maybe these threads will even cause some well-established opinions to shift!
I have a few things already. What evidence do you know about? What places might be good to look? I will continue to edit this post to add evidence as people provide it.
Key Questions
How padded were arming garments for the upper body? One might guess that as plate became more complete, padding was reduced, but I don't know of much evidence either way, and people who have worn many different armours and arming garments have different preferences.
How was the arm and leg harness held in place? Plate cuisses and an articulated vambrace-elbow-rerebrace unit need to be suspended from something higher on the body, but it is rarely possible to see how this was done. See the effigy of Kunz Haberkorn (Blair p. 211) for an early example. For the reference of those who may come to this thread in future years, here is the “pointing plate to maille” thread (link) and the “lacing armour” thread (Link).
What were the period terms for garments worn under white harness? I suspect that all of gambeson, aketon, pourpoint, and doublet were used in England alone.
What are good editions of and commentaries of all the 15th century arming texts? The English of “how a man shall be armed” and "a treatise of worship in arms" is online but good commentaries are hard to find, especially for texts in languages other than English.
Visual Sources
See the next post!
Textual Sources
There are several of these, but all too early or too late. Nevertheless, the references are useful, especially to ones in languages other than English!
Anonymous formulary (Guyenne, 13th or 14th century, written in French) published as "Formalités des duels et combats judiciares en Guyenne dans les XIIIe or XIIIIe siècles," Bulletin trimestriel de la société de Borda Dax (Landes) (1914) Premier Trimestre pp. 73-87 link. I thank Ariella Elema of Toronto for the link and RScivas for help with vocabulary. This intriguing document lists various pieces of kit and clothing which participants in a judicial duel could be required to wear. For this thread, the most important ones are Combaisson (p. 82: gambeson), Pourpoint (p. 82: A quilted garment for the upper body), Perpunt et platas garnit (p. 83: a pourpoint and “plates” that is a pair of plates/coat of plates/brigandine), Aycotas armeas (p. 83: "cotte d'armes" ie. outer garment displaying the wearer's heraldry). It mentions other light garments but not, so far as I have noticed, a shirt.
Modus Armandi Milites (English, circa 1320s, written in Latin): This short text lists what a man-at-arms should wear for a tournament, for war, and for a joust. Unfortunately, the second two sections are very brief, and the whole document is written concisely in a mix of Latin, French, and English. Moffat's translation goes: „First light a fire and roll out the carpet and strip to the shirt. Brush back the hair. On the feet [place] boots of leather. Arm the shins with greaves (in French mustylers) of steel or cuir bouilli. Thence quysouns on the thighs and genicularia (in French genulers). Thence aketon and thence a shirt of Chartres and a coif of Chartres, and a basin in which there ought to be a cerveylere to defend the head lest the basin come in contact with the head. Thence hauberk, cuirass, coat armour upon which will be the knights’ blazon, and gaignepains or gauntlets of baleen, his espeye that is sword, and flail, and helm that is heaume.” (Arms & Armour Vol. 7 No. 1 [2010] pp. 5-29). Note that this knight has a shirt upon him, and that his quilted cuisses are not attached to the aketon.
Great Wardrobe Accounts of Edward III (England and France): Because the vast majority of the cost of clothing was the cloth, thread, and notions, accounts give detailed information about what was needed for particular garments. For some aketons and doublets in 1343/4 see appendix V of Fashion in the Age of the Black Prince or the thread Doublets and Aketons in 1343/4.
Various, Norwich Rolls of Arms (English, circa 1340s-1360s): These list men who appeared at musters and the equipment that they presented. Some rolls just describe the equipment of an "armed man" or "fully-armed man" once, others list variations. Roll A (1355) has doublets and plates, roll B (before 1370) has pourpoints and plates, roll C (1340s-1360s) has haketoun and plates, roll E (one of the years 1359/60, 1361/2, or 1365/6) has purpont and plates, roll F (on back of roll E) has pourpoint and plates or aketon and haubergeon (homines proxime infra armati sund cum purpoys & platee vel Alketoun & haub'ionem bacinetto cum auentaill cerotecis de plat' gladio & cutell'), and roll H (Easter 1359) lists 9 "dublets" and 21 "plates alias pairs of plates" but no other padded garments among other arms. So an aketon, pourpoint, or doublet could be worn underneath a pair of plates, but in Norfolk at this time "pourpoint" was the most popular name.
See W. Hudson, "Norwich Militia in the Fourteenth Century," Nrf. Archaeol. 14 (1901) pp. 263-321 Link
Anonymous, Middle-Dutch account entry of 1361-62: "Item tot eenen paer kousen sine yseren lappen op te nayen ende op te wapenen 4&½ quartier ghemenghets 18 s." (Translation Bertus Brocamp: "For a pair of hosen to sew and arm his iron patches on, 4&½ quarters of mixed (colourwise) cloth [cost] 18 s.")
Anonymous, Limburger Chronik (west German, late 14th century) published as Deutsche Chroniken (Hannover, 1883) Vol. 4/1 page 39/chapter 28: "Item die underwamse hatten enge armen unde in dem gewerbe waren si benehet unde behaft mit stucken von panzern, daz nante man musisen." (Tr. Bertus Brocamp "The underdoublets had narrow arms and in the articulations they were besewn and fitted with pieces of haubergeons, these were called 'mus'irons.")
Geoffrey Chaucer, The Tale of Sir Topas lines 858-868 (English, written roughly 1386-1400, written in English): Chaucer tells a silly story about a Flemmish knight preparing to fight a giant. The story is a parody of knightly romances, but the element of parody is subtle. The list of clothing seems plausible. It is surprising to see "hauberk = pair of plates" here, but it helps make the rhyme. For a complete text of the poem, see this link.
Unknown, Chronique de Bertrand du Guescelin Ffoulkes p. 86 (1383): I know nothing about this source.Geoffrey Chaucer wrote:He dide next his white leere (He put on next to his clear, white skin)
Of cloth of lake, fyn and cleere, (of delicate, clean linen cloth)
A breech, and eke a sherte (Underwear, and also a shirt)
And nexte his sherte an aketoun, (And next to his shirt an aketon)
And over that an haubergeoun
For percynge of his herte; (for piercing of his heart)
And over that a fyn hawberk (and over that a fine hauberk)
Was all ywrought of Jewes werk, (was completely wrought of Jewish work)
Ful strong it was of plate; (It was very strong and made of plate)
and over that his cote-armour,
as whit as is a lilye flour, (as white as a lily flower is)
In which he wol debate. (in which he wanted to fight)
In this passage a lance passes through a shield (escu) and a jaserant (cloth-covered maille?) but is stopped by an aketon of buckram (bougerain). Maureen F. Mazzaoui understands buckram as a cloth containing cotton, but its meaning in France may have been different from its original Arabic and Italian meaning. The audience is told to take or wear aketons of silk (soie) or buckram. (Thanks to Mark Shier for this reference).Chronique de Bertrand du Guescelin wrote:Ainsoins l'ala d'une lance tranchant
L'escu li a rompu et le bon jaserant
Mais l'auqueton fu fort qui fu de bougerain
...
Et prendre auquetons de soie ou de bougerains
Anonymous, Chronicle of the Good Duke (written circa 1430 and describing the deeds of arms at Vannes in 1381) chapter XLV: Two knights prepared to do arms, and because one of them had a sore on his leg they agreed to wear no leg harness and not strike the legs. As one would expect in a story, on the third blow the sick man impaled his companion's thigh with a lance.
Source (tr. Steve Muhlberger)The Chronicle of the Good Duke wrote:And then the duke of Brittany and the earl of Buckingham who had seen this impropriety had the Englishman Messire Guillaume taken, and disarmed to his little pourpoint and went to have him hurled in prison and they said to le Barrois cousin german of Chastelmorand: "Go to Chastelmorand and tell him that we are very unhappy and indeed infuriated that this knight has failed to do what he had promised and we are delivering him to Chastelmorand to be his prisoner, to put him to such ransom as pleases him and between you his friends if Chastelmorand dies you can do what you like to that knight.
John Lydgate, Troy Book, 3.44-46 (London, begun 1412, finished 1420):
Text courtesy of Armour in Texts.John Lydgate wrote:And some of hem gan ful streite lace (And some of them began to very tightly lace)
Her doubbettis made of lyne cloth, (their doublets made of linen cloth)
A certeyn fold þat a-boute hem goth; (a sure fold which goes about them)
John Lydgate, Troy Book 3.52-57 (London, begun 1412, finished 1420):
John Lydgate wrote:And some þere were eke þat nolde faille (And there were some who did not want to forget)
To han of maille eke a peire bras, (To have a set of armharness of mail,)
And þer-with-al, as þe custom was, (and in addition to that, as was customary,)
A peir gussetis on a petycote, (a set of gussets on a petticoat,)
Garnyssched with gold vp on-to the þrote. (decorated with gold upon it as far as the throat.)
Passage found in the Middle English Dictionary, text quoted from Armour in Texts.
Johan Hill, Treatise of Worship in Arms (English, 1434, written in English: available in ffoulkes appendix C): I am too tired to comment on this strange text. It recommends wearing two specially made garments under harness for a judicial duel. The oyletts seem to be “eyelettes.” For further commentary see this thread. Link
Traite du Costume Militaier, 1446 (French, 1446): Can someone with better French than I tell us if it says anything relevant? Link
How a Man Shall be Armed (English, circa 1450, written in English): Texts are very easy to find online eg. here. The knight should strip naked above the waist and wear a doublet of fustian lined with satin cut full of holes, strongly built and with points set about the bend of the arm, to which maille gussets can be laced. What is the best edition and commentary? ffoulkes has one on page 107, and Daniel Jacquet 2016 says that there are comments in G. A. Lester ed., Sir John Paston’s « Grete Boke »: A Descriptive Catalogue, with an Introduction, of British Library MS Lansdowne 285. London: D.S. Brewer. pp. 84-85.
Sir John Smythe, Certen instruct[ions, obseruati]ons and orders militarie (England; Published 1594, written sometime after 1588 and revised after 1590): Sir John took it for granted that the fustian used to cover arming doublets was "woolie" ie. napped and brushed. He seemed to think that this was superior to smooth cloth. See this thread for the text. Text courtesy of Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership.
Published Opinions
ffoulkes, The Armourer and His Craft (1912) pp. 12, 76, 83-88, 104-108: As usual, this book has many good things, but is not as helpful as one could hope. On page 106 he agrees with Blaz and Charlotte about why the pourpoint is so called! The most relevant passage other than primary sources and art is: “The gambeson continued in use up to the seventeenth century under the name of 'arming-doublet', with but little change except in shape and form, as the style of armour required. Of the undergarments of the early fifteenth century we have little or nothing to guide us, and we are often at a loss to know even what armour was worn under the tight-fitting, small-waisted jupon or surcoat which distinguishes the end of the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth century.” Now available on the Internet Archive at https://archive.org/details/armourerhiscraft00ffouuoft
Blair, European Armour (1958) p. 75: Blair is as laconic as usual. “The aketon remained in use throughout the whole period [from 1330-1410]. As far as one can judge from the little evidence available it varied little, if at all, from the forms described in the first chapter, except that from the middle of the 14th century it seems often to have had a strongly marked waist. Its length, of course, changed with that of the haubergeon.” On the other hand, on pages 77 and 78 he says that the arming-doublet is a 15th century name for the aketon, and cites a quilted example in the collection of C. Otto von Kienbusch! (The current owner now dates that doublet 1550-1650 Link). See also pages 33, 46.
Singman and McLean, Daily Life in Chaucer's England First Edition (1995) p. 141: “The military doublet was essentially a sturdier version of the civilian doublet or coathardie of this period; it was made of a heavy linen or cotton fabric, often fustian, a blend of the two. The doublet helped absorb sweat, and it was padded to provide extra comfort and protection from chafing and impact. It was fitted with lacing holes at the legs and arms for attaching armour. Military doublets commonly laced up the front, giving a tightly trussed fit over the abdomen that helped distribute the weight of the leg harness.” He picked the Charles de Bois doublet as a model for his arming doublet sketch.
Practical Considerations
Heavy padding is less useful under plate than maille, and can be hot and bulky. A typical Italian tapered vambrace, for example, does not appear to have much room under it for padding.
(But for lacing armour to maille, people might be interested in 
