Written Sources for Gambesons/Aketons/Pourpoints 1100-1350

[Sean M]

A few years ago people found a pile of sources for the thread on Scottish jacks. I don't think there is a handy list of texts mentioning quilted armour in western Europe in the 12th and 13th centuries.

INCIPIT ROTULUM FONTIUM GAMBESONIBUS

PARS PRIMA (before the Fourth Crusade)

• Annales Ianuenses for 1165 (author ended this section in 1173): the official Annals of Genoa have their version of how they went to war with Pisa in 1165. Supposedly, the Genoese and Pisan consuls were negotiating at Porto Venere in Liguria when a Genoese galley was ambushed by Pisans. The Genoese consul humbly asked his counterpart to let the Genoese galley pass, but instead the Pisan boarded his own galley and put a helm on his head and a jupon (iuppum) on his back. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, SS 18, p. 65, lines 8-11 There is information about this chronicle on Wikipedia
• Wace, Roman de Rou (begun 1160, abandoned c. 1175) Jonathan Dean found this early reference to gambesons, collars, and cuiries in an epic poem on the dukes of Normandy.
  

  Alquanz orent boenes coiriees, qu'il ont a lor uentres liées; plusors orent uestu gambais, colures orent ceinz et tarchais;

  (Maistre Wace's Roman de Rou et des ducs de Normandie, ed. by Hugo Andresen, 1877, p334-335 https://archive.org/details/maistrewacesrom01wacegoog)
• Benoit, Chronique des ducs de Normandie (c. 1172-1176): Passages which use the terms aketon and cuirie were gathered by Jonathan Dean and translated by Ernst. You can find the French text at https://archive.org/details/chroniquedesducs12benouoft
• Feuro de Alfambra (Aragon, 1174-1176): This town charter from Aragon states that people living in the neighbourhood are excused from working if they maintain a horse with two saddles and a shield, lance, pourpoint (perpunt), and iron cap link
• English Assize of Arms, 1181: Specifies the equipment which free men in England must possess according to their wealth. The poorest freemen must have a wambais (gambeson), a capellet ferri (iron cap), and a lance. You can find the Latin at Early English Laws (thanks Mart Shearer)
• Thomas of Kent, Le Roman de Alexander/Le Roman de Toute Chevalerie (England, last quarter of the 12th century): gambeson line 844, first published by Brian Foster in 1976 and 1977
• Chrétien de Troyes, Perceval (France, 1182-1190?): A youth kills the Red Knight in a quarrel but cannot figure out how to take the gamboised coat which his victim wears under his hauberk (lines 1155-1158 of Wendelin Förster's edition). A companion experienced in arms shows him what to do.
• First Continuation of Chrétien de Troyes' Percival / Continuation Gauvain (1190-1210?) volume 2 pages 32, 36, 485, 548 of William Roach's edition have gambais, gambeson, un porpoin(t) d'auqueton / A lionciaus tot anviron and aketon. When and by whom this continuation was written is unknown, but relatively close to the time when Chrétien left his poem unfinished (1185? 1191?). https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000883809 and Arlima has a list of manuscripts, editions, and translations in French.
• Herbort's von Fritslar liet von Troye (Germany, 1190-1200): This tale of the Trojan War mentions a horse coverture and a white hauberk (Rosse kouerture / Die halsberge wisse) and then a gambeson and wappen rock (coat of arms: Wambois wappē roc) on pages 103 and 104 / lines 916-925 https://archive.org/details/herbortsvon ... /page/n138
• King Sverri's Saga (Iceland, finished in the early 13th century but describing events from 1184 to 1202): Sverre Sigurdsson's Saga was begun during his lifetime but continued to be expanded and edited after his death in 1202. Chapters 121 and 123 mention a panzara worn by itself with a wide iron hat or over a hauberk. Villehardoun and Joinville also mention light-armed soldiers with just an iron hat and a gambeson.

  "Suerrir konungr sat a brunum hesti hann hafdi goda bryniu ok sterkann panzsara vm vtan ok yzst raudann hiup vida staalhufu sua sem Sudrmenn hafa ok vndir brynkollu ok panzsarahufu suerd ok kesiu i hendi." Transl: King Sverrir sat on a brown horse. He had a good hauberk and strong panzer above it and outmost a red hiup, wide steel cap [kettle hat] like the southern men had and beneath it mail coif and panzer coif, sword and kesiu (a type of spear) in his hands.

• Nicetas Choniates (set just before the Third Crusade, written before 1217) describes a Frank wearing a garment of 18 or more layers of linen instead of metal armour or shield ... because he is writing classicizing Greek ("no words Plato would not have recognized!"), he describes it rather than giving the ordinary name
• Itinerarium Peregrinorum (set during the Third Crusade, mentions a soldier wearing a tunica etiam linea multiplici consuta also known as a pourpoint of many layers of linen sewn together over his lorica (hauberk))
• Ambroise, History of the Holy War 82 (Third Crusade) purpoint
• Radulfus Niger, De re militari et triplici via peregrinationis Ierosolimitane (1187-1188): manylayered linen worn over the lorica "to protect the lorica and ward off missiles", and cuirie worn under it

  19. De multiploi linea et corio cocto
  
  Ad vitalium quoque custodiam multiplois linea varie consuta lorice superponitur et subinduitur aut corium excoctum. Per lineam predictum industria significatur, que multo labore perquirtur, sicut linum multo labore candidatur et conficitur. Per hanc industriam venialium evitatur contagio, per corium exoctum inveterata boni consuetudo intelligitur, que otia repellit et occasiones venialium.
  
  (this is a quick translation of complicated Latin and I think the author is more interested in theology than armour, please do not quote outside this forum without my permission- SM)
  
  19. On Manylayered Linen and Cooked Leather
  
  Also, for the protection of the vitals manylayered linen variously sewn together is put atop the shirt of mail, and underneath it cooked-out leather is also put on. By the afforsaid linen hard work is indicated, which is sought by by much work, just as linen is whitened and put together with much work. Through this hard work the taint of selling is avoided, through cooked-out leather the well-established custom of the good is understood, which drives away business and opportunities for selling.
  
  35. De direptione^a multiplois (linee^b et corii cocti et geniculariorum et corrigiarum
  
  Multiplois linea, que loricam defendit et missilia eludit, ab homine tollitur, quando morum custodia infatuatur. Corium etiam excoctum, quod vitalia protegit et custodie, rumpitur^c aut tollitur, quando boni consuetudo vetus in contrariam commutatur. Scinditur, cum vetus consuetudo boni interrumpitur et eius loco noxia vel turpis occupatio admittitur. Genicularia vero, quibus femora et ilia proteguntur, rumpuntur aut evelluntur, quando custodia castitatis et continentieirruente luxuria fedatur et spurcitie carnis homo mancipatur. Corrigie et laquei, quibus mores et virtutes sibicoherent, ab invicem laxantur, ut ad noxiam liberatatem licentie secularis acephalus et ab omne lege sulutus homo transvolaverit.

• Bahāʾ al-Dīn, Life of Saladin (Third Crusade) Describes Frankish infantry wearing felt coats over their coats of mail which enabled them to keep their place in ranks despite a hail of arrows
• Ulrich von Zatzikhoven Lanzelet (c. 1200) This Arthurian romance is one of the first texts in German to mention a Wams. Supposedly there is a full English translation by Kenneth G. T. Webster from 1951.

  schilt, banier, îsenhuot. (3810) / cleiniu wambasch, snelliu ros, / daz si berc unde mos / deste schierre mohten überkomen Shield, banner, iron hat, / little gambeson, fast horse, / those are defense and Mos ...

  (Mittelhochdeutsch after the Bibliotheca Augustana).
• Aliscans: Chanson de Geste (1180-1190?) https://archive.org/details/aliscanscha ... s/page/n10 "The late 12th century (c. 1160-1190) chanson Aliscans has both gambison and auketon in L.LXIII" - Ernst It also mentions espauliere which was probably linen armour in the 12th/13th century.
• Athis et Prophilias ou Roman d’Athènes, histoire de deux amis (West france, c.1200) line 18497:

  (Le vassal) En in jupol cort d'auqueton, Porpoint et forré de coton, Remest sengles, bien fu tailiez. "(the vassal) was dressed in a jupel of aketon, quilted and stuffed with cotton, REMETRE-ed once, well was it cut ..."

  Other manuscripts say corset or surcoat instead of jupel. Quilted garments made once once and made twice also appear in the rules of the Paris guilds. You can find more examples of this French cognate of zuparello in the Dictionnaire Étymologique de l'Ancien Français). The rest of the poem is here.

The following sources were found too late to be printed with part 1 but date before the Fourth Crusade.

• Adam du Petit-Point, de utensilibus ad domum regendam pertinentibus ad magistrum Anselmum epistola (Anglo-French, died no later than 1181) Printed in August Scheler (ed.), Lexicographie latine du XIIe et du XIIIe siècle. Trois traités de Jean de Garlande, Alexandre Neckam et Adam du Petit-Pont (Leipzig: F.A. Brockhaus, 1867) pp. 119-137 https://archive.org/details/Lexicograph ... EtDuXIIIe/ Thanks Pavel Alekseychik

In qua arma diversorum generum speculari licebat. Stabant autem inter astilia phalerica et (ex?) corno ... Parte vero alterea propugnacula intuebamur; hinc peditum clipeum, equitum scura ... loricas textas ex circulis et circumsquamatas ex laminis sed et cassides ex lamina, galeas ex corea.

Among which arms of different sorts may be seen. Among staff weaponsstand quivers and horn ... On the other side we put on defenses; here foot have targes (clipea), horse have shields ... hauberks woven from rings and circumsquamatae from lames / plates, but also helms from lames, headpieces from leather.

PARS SECUNDA (fourth Crusade to 1280)

• Geoffroi de Villehardouin, On the Conquest of Constantinople chapter 168 (set in 1204 but written a few years later)

  "But before the fight was over, there came into it a knight (chevalier) of the following of Henry, the brother of Count Baldwin of Flanders and Hainault, and his name was Eustace of Marchais, and he was armed only in gamboison and chapel du fer, with his shield at his neck; and he did so well in the fray that he won to himself great honour." (adapted from Frank T. Marzials' translation)

  Jean de Joinville uses the same spelling a lifetime later. https://archive.org/details/conquetedec ... /page/n128
• Raimbaut de Vacqueyras, so-called Epic Letter (set in 1204, written before 1207): in the attack on Blachernae Palace, the Provençal author "estei armatz, a ley de Bramanso, / d'elm e d'ausberc e de gros guambaizo" (was armed, in the Brabançon fashion, with helm and hauberk and great gambeson) http://www.trobar.org/. In another passage he says that he fought twelve robbers and was wounded with a lance through the collar (e fui nafratz ab lansa pel colar)
• Expenses of King John of England (1209) Rotuli de Liberate page 124 (abbreviated Latin)

  pro vij ulnis linee tele ad faciendum j alcotonem ... et pro cotone ad illum alcotonem (For 7 ells of linen cloth for making an aketon, and for cotton for that aketon)

• Expenses of King John of England (1212/1213) Rotuli Misae https://archive.org/details/documentsil ... ?q=auketon (at Newcastle Upon Tyne, a pound and a half of cotton for the king's aketon, 12 d., and sewing the said aketon, 12 d.)
• William the Breton/Guillaume le Breton, Philippidos Book III lines 490-500 (d. 1225): William de Barres runs at the future King Richard of England with lance, striking below the boss, bursting the shield, gambeson, and triple thorax, but being stopped by a "plate of worked iron" beneath them.

  490 Non tamen exspectat illum, sed it obvius illi ;
  491 Fraxineamque viri propensis viribus hastam
  492 Sub medio figit umbone, nec ipse minorem
  493 Ictum Richardi, dextra feriente, recepit.
  494 Utraque per clypeos ad corpora fraxinus ibat,
  495 Gambesumque audax forat, et thoraca trilicem
  496 Dissilit. Ardenti nimium prorumpere tandem
  497 Vix obstat ferro fabricata patena recocto,
  498 Qua bene munierat pectus sibi cautus uterque.
  499 Hic dum ferre nequit impulsus utraque tantos,
  500 Frangitur, et clarum dat lancea fracta fragorem.

  Tot ferri sua membra plicis, tot quisque patenis
  Pectora, tot coriis, tot gambesonibus armant.
  
  “So many arm their own limbs with plicae of iron, so many each their breasts with plates, so many with leathers (cuiries?), so many with gambesons.”

• John of Garland, Dictionarius (Paris and Tolouse, c. 1220) garlande-dictionarius-tr-rubin

  (pp. 24/25) Ab hoc nomine, quod est bumbace, quod es 'cotun' Gallice, dicitur bombacinum, quod est Gallice 'pourpoinz' ('purpoynt').

  "(Talking about felt and quilted caps) From this noun, which is bombix, or 'cotun' in French, comes the name bombacinum, which is pourpoint in French."
  

  (pp. 48/49) galeros et conos, toraces, et bombicinia, galeas, loricas, ocreas et femoralia, genualea ferrea ... Bombicinia, Gallice 'aketun', a bombex, -icis, Gallice 'cotun'

  "(MIlitary equipment includes) helm and peak, breastplate, and bombicinia, helmets, hauberks, greaves and leggings, iron knee-pieces. ... Gloss: Bombicinia, French 'aketun' (ie. aketon, from bombex, bombicis, French 'cotun'"
  
  Bombicinium, bombacinium, bumbacinium, bumbicinium seems a rare word outside vocabularies and dictionaries. Du Cange has just one example.
• Heinrich von dem Turlin, Diu Crône ie. The Crown (German romance about Gawain, 1230): Wambes (gambeson) worn over and under the hauberk, and collier worn under it
• Anonymous, Moriz von Craon (German romance, early 13th century) https://archive.org/details/morizvoncraon00haupgoog/page/n36/mode/2up

  dô zôch er aller êrste an (there he put on first of all)
  ein wambes von buggeran. (a gambeson of buckram)
  dô hieʒ er im reichen
  einen vilz weichen (a very soft)
  und bant in für sîniu knie. (... and bent/bound in for his knee? I don't have practice with medieval German)
  alsô bewarte er sich ie. (that way he always took care of himself)
  zwô hosen wîʒ ûʒ îsen (two white hosen of iron ...)
  hieʒ er im ane brîsen ...
  dannoch zôch er ane mê (after that he put on ...)
  einen halsberc wîʒ als der snê. (a hauberk white as the snow)

• Rudolf von Ems, Willehalm von Orleans (early 13th century): This text mentions a silk spaulder and a panzer (coat-of-mail, in Germanic and Romance languages except Norse). https://www.hs-augsburg.de/~harsch/germanica/Chronologie/13Jh/Wolfram/wol_wi02.html or https://archive.org/details/rudolfsvonemswi00rudogoog/page/n61/mode/2up
  

  Nu was an der selben zit (... at the same time)
  Der wise Willehelm berait, (the wise Wilhelm prepared)
  Er hate niht an sich gelait (he had not himself ...)
  Won ain veste panzier (755 / p. 13) (He wore a panzier garment)
  Über ain sidin spallier, (Over a silken spaulder)
  Ain sper von stahel, ainen hût. (a spear of steel and a hat)

• Gaydon: a Chanson de Geste (after 1218?): Auqueton under the hauberk and gambison worn with a hard hat (chapeau dur). There is a scanned text on the Internet Archive and a French academic site which lists it https://www.arlima.net/eh/gaydon.html
• Neidhart von Reuenthal (d. around 1236): this Minnesanger likes the word troie (see page 4 of this thread for text)
• Philippe de Remi, Sire de Beaumanoir's Jehan et Blonde, from c. 1240. Arming sequence beginning at line 3991 (p. 260) has "espaulieres / De bouree de soie, mout chieres" and "Seur son hauberc vest un pourpoint; / De nul milleur ne demanç point. https://books.google.ca/books/about/Jeh ... edir_esc=y
• History of William Marshall (England, 1220s) lines 8791-8806 mention soldiers wearing a porpoint and a chapel de fer. Nigel Bryant has a full translation from Boydell and Brewer and you can find the French at https://archive.org/details/lhistoirede ... t/page/316
• Goods confiscated from Falkes de Bréauté in 1224 http://lexissearch.arts.manchester.ac.u ... spx?id=173 or http://lexissearch.arts.manchester.ac.u ... px?id=1728 "as for linen armour, one pourpoint and one spaulder of black cendal ... cuisse and collar and coif and tunic for arming and two pairs of covertures ..." (de lineis armaturis j purpunctum et j espauleram de nigro cendalo, ... quiseram et coleram et coifam et tunicam armandam et duo paria cohopertoriorum)
• The Song of the Albigensian Crusade (France, after 1228): This text has a complicated history, the first 2749 lines were written beginning in 1210, the remainder shortly afterwards but late enough that the death of Guy de Montfort is mentioned. Lines 3110-3114 mention perpunt and alcoto
• Capitulary of the Jupers of Venice (March 1219 to 3 November 1312): the zuparii made jupes (çubae) and çubeti and coopertoria and by 1294 suprasegna. The stuffings mentioned in 1219 are cotton, tow, and scraps (pecia). This text was published in Giovanni Monticolo (ed.), I Capitolari delle Arti Veneziane: sottoposti alla giustizia Vecchia dalle origini al MCCCXXX, vol. I. Fonti per la Storia d'Italia pubblicate dall'Istituto Storico Italiano: Statuti - Secoli XIII-XIV (Forziani e c. Tipografi del Senato: Palazzo Madama, Rome, 1896); there is a transcription with partial translation on Age of Datini.
• Rules of the Armed Societies of Bologna, 1230-1288: Members of the society had to be equipped with body armour of which the çuppa/zuppa (jupe) and guayferia (only known in these laws, may be local slang) were two possible kinds. A Bolognese law from 1288 mentions the sovrosberga which may be another kind of quilted armour (literally "over-defense"). See the Latin text of volume 1 and volume 2 ("scuto" is a good keyword) and Jürg Gassmann, "The Bolognese Societates Armatae of the late 13th Century," Acta Periodica Duellatorum DOI 10.1515/apd-2015-0018
• "How the Peace Should be Kept"/De forma pacis conservande, published in Close rolls of the reign of Henry III, Vol. 4, pp. 482-483 (1242) Landowners must be armed with a purpointum. Mart has summarized this text in English on MyArmoury.
• Bavarian Territorial Peace of 1244: Peasants may wear breastplates (thoraces) or iron caps or collars or jupes of buckram (juppas de pukramo) or Latin knives or any kind of mail or martial gear to church, but not a sword unless they are an innkeeper (hospes), and they may not bear any of these things on workdays. Printed in Günther Franz (Hrsg.), Quellen zur Geschichte des deutschen Bauernstandes im Mittelalter. Ausgewählte Quellen zur deutschen Geschichte des Mittelalters 31 (Darmstadt 1967), pp. 326-329 transcript Printed in MGH Const. 2 p. 577 under the heading de rusticis
• The Norwegian King's Mirror (mid 13th century) One kind of Panzara worn under the hauberk, and another worn over it
• Þiðreks saga (mid-13th century) Havard translates one passage from this saga about a legendary king (Theodoric of Bern!) as follows:

  ok höggr á hans fótlegg svá hart, at í sundr tók treyjuhosuna ok svá brynhosuna ok svá fótinn. "and he cut his lower leg so hard that he broke both the treja hose (gamboised hose) and mail hose and his leg too".

• La Régle du Temple ed. Henri de Curzon items 138-141 (mid 13th century): The mid-13th-century expanded French version of this text mentions jupel, jupeau, spallier https://archive.org/details/DeCurzonHenriLaRegleDuTemple/page/n155/mode/2up
• Jean de Joinville's History of St. Louis on the Seventh Crusade (written c. 1305-1309 but from his memories of 1250). French and Egyptian soldiers wear a gamboison. The main passages are on pages 75, 80, and 81 of the 1858 edition. Ernst has a thread on one of them.
• Las Siete Partidas (Castile, 1256-1265), Title XXVI, Law 28 = Jürg Gassmann, "The Siete Partidas: A Repository of Medieval Military and Tactical Instruction," p. 18 https://doi.org/10.36950/apd-2021-002 In a list of the shares of booty which soldiers with different equipment are entitled to, the only word for a quilted garment is perpunte
  
  1. Las Siete Partidas, ed. by Gregorio Lopez, vol. 1 (Salamanca: Andrea de Portonaris, 1555)
  2. Siete Partidas: Volume Two: Medieval Government: The World of Kings and Warriors, ed. by Robert I. Burns, trans. by Samuel Parsons Scott (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001)

PARS TERTIA (1280 to 1350)

• Deliberations of the Greater Council of Venice (1283 onwards). These mention sopraensegna (worn over the çuponus ab armare and stuffed with 8 Venetian pounds of cotton) and vernachiones (garnaches, guarnaccia) of new pignolato (a cotton or part-cotton fabric) stuffed with 8 Venetian pounds of cotton. They are published in Roberto Cessi, Deliberazioni del Maggior Consiglio di Venezia, Vol. III p. 17, 406.
• The thread Period Gambesons or padding has a few 13th century Norwegian sources: The Landslov (Law of the Land), between 1265 and 1275, under king Magnus; The Hirdskraa (1265); the laws of the city of Bergen from c. 1274. These use the terms panzar, panzara, panzare, pannzare and vapentröja for quilted armour.
• Inventory of the effects of Odo of Burgundy (d. 1266): Odo died at Acre

  i ganbaison; (1 gambeson)
  unes couvertures blanches; (one white covering (for the horse?))
  i petit ganbaison sanz manches; (1 small gambeson without sleeves)

• James the Conqueror of Aragon, Book of Deeds (Catalan language, begun c. 1240 and finished close to his death in 1276) perpunte (pourpoint). James Foster's translation goes as follows.

  E ell vestit son perpunt e ' sa spassa cinta, e un bauyt de malles de ferre al cap. and there were with him Don Blasco de Alagon, Don Artal de Alagon, Don Ato de Foces, Don Ladron, Don Assalit de Gudar, Don Pelegrin de Bolas, and himself, with his purpoint on, and his sword girded, and a hood of mail on his head. And I was then entering upon my seventeenth year.

• Ramon Lull's Book of the Order of Chivalry (c. 1275) Perpunt (worn over the other equipment)
• The Spanish Primera Crónica General (1289)

  A caronna del cuerpo, vistieronle un gambax fecho de un rançal blanco. (On the flesh of the body, they dressed him in a gambeson made of white rançal (a type of fabric).)

• "Watch and Ward at the City Gates" in Memorials of London and London Life: In the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries (1868), pp. 33-36 (London, 1297/1298)

  And such persons are to be properly armed with two pieces; namely, with haketon and gambeson, or else with haketon and corset, or with haketon and plates. And if they neglect to come so armed, or make default in coming, the bedel shall forthwith hire another person, at the rate of twelve pence, in the place of him who makes such default; such sum to be levied on the morrow upon the person so making default.

• Anonymous, Chronicon Colmariense, March 1298 MGH SS 17 p. 264 http://www.mgh.de/dmgh/resolving/MGH_SS_17_S._264 (this chronicle ends in 1304 so is probably roughly contemporary)

  ex quibus armati reputabantur, qui cassias ferreas in capitibus habebant, et qui wambasia, id est, tunicam spissam ex lino et stuppa, vel veteribus pannis consutam, et desuper camisiam ferream, id est vestem ex circulis ferreis contextam, per quae nulla sagitta arcus poterat hominem vulnerare. Ex hiis armatis centum inermes mille ledi timuerunt. "Among which (multitude of soldiers lead by Adolph, King of the Romans) those who had iron helmets on their heads and a gambeson (ie. a tunic thickened with linen and tow, or sewn together from old cloths) and above that an iron shirt (ie. a garment woven together from iron rings), through both of which no arrow from a bow can harm a man, were considered armed men. And a hundred of these armed men hardly feared a thousand unarmed."

• Rules of the Riggatieri of Florence, 1296 and 1318 (published in Sartini, Statuti dell'Arte (1940); the riggatieri repaired and resold used goods and also made new quilted clothing such as giubas and farsettos)
• Rule of the armourers of Paris, 1296 and 1311
• Inventory of the effects of Raoul de Nestle d. 1302 (jupeau (like chapel -> chapeau), gambeson)
• How the Viconte of Rohan did arms against the Signeur de Beaumanoir, 1309: an aketon (hauqueton de cendrex, & de telles, & de borre, de saye, & de coton) under the plates and the bras et pans de mailles and over the chemise de chartres.
• Inventory of the effects of John fitz Marmaduke, Lord of Horden near Durham (1311): gambeson, aketon, alexis
• Constitutiones Frederici Regis Siciliæ chapter 107. This is one of the Ordinationes Generales of Frederic III of Sicily (r. 1295-1337) not the famous Frederic II. The text is printed in Regni Siciliae Capitula, nouissime accuratiori diligentia impressa (Venice, 1573) page 58 under the heading de uxoribus Comitum, militum, & aliorum curialium https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9VY9 ... 7/mode/2up

  Item quod prædicti comites, magnates, barones, milites, et uxores eorum possint habere in ætate guarnimentum unum de serico, sub eo Farsetum vel dublectum ac juppam de serico. "Item: that the aforesaid counts, magnates, barons, knights, and their wives shall be allowed to have in summer one garment of silk, in addition to a farsetto or doublet or jupe of silk."

• Robert Bruce's regulation for the militia of Scotland, 1318: in wartime every layman must have a sufficient aketon (sufficiens aketona) or a haubergeon (hobirgellus) or 'a good iron for the protection of his body' (unum bonum ferrum pro corpore suo). A.A.M. Duncan recently published a complete edition of The Acts of Robert I, King of Scots, 1306-1329 (Edinburgh University Press, 1988) and there is an online edition of the Latin and the English.
• Old Prague City Law: Emil Franz Rössler (ed.), Das Altprager Stadtrecht aus dem 14. Jh. Deutsche Rechtsdenkmäler aus Böhmen und Mähren, Band 1 (Prag: J.G. Calve'sche Buchhandlung, 1845) Available from the Internet Archive and Google Books
  
  A law on tailors from 1318 mentions Bohemian, Swabian, and false gambesons (Ouch sol nyeman ein neves wambeis noch ein vbertrages feil tragen, es en sei danne zerisen, noch an keiner stat feil tragen, wen yeder man, do der gesessen ist, sol haben nur zwai wambeis, ein behemisch vnd ein swebisch, oder nur aines allaine; di wambeis sollen auch vngefelst sein ... p. 32)
  
  A law defining the privileges of the tailors in 1341 states that if a "false gambeson" is found in someone's shop, it shall be burned, and on the third offense the perpetrator shall be banished from the city (vnd zv wem man ein valsch wambeis vindet, daz sol man brennen zvm ersten mal, vnd zum andern mal alsam ... p. 24)
• Regulation of the London armourers from 1322: This divides aketons and gambesons into those covered with cendal or cloth of silk and those which are white, and specifies stuffing.
• Rules of the pourpointiers of Paris, 1323
• Guillaume de Deguilevile, Pèlerinage de la vie humaine (1330-1332): defines pourpoint
• How Knights Should be Armed (the Modus Armandi Milites (English-Scottish border country, before 1333) The knight should wear an aketon, lorica (hauberk), cuirie, and a cote armée with his device for a tournament. For a joust he should wear an aketon, hauberk, and a precious silk gambeson which can cost more than plates of steel. For war the wording is a bit unclear.
• Regulation for tailors and furriers, Stendal, Germany, 1346: Codex diplomaticus Brandenburgensis rekke 1, bd 15, p. 130

  Vortmer we eyn werck fick bededingeth tu makende mit bomwullen als eyn troye edder des ghelik, maket de schroder dat wandelbar, dat schal he beteren mit dren schillinggen. "Further if a work was ordered to be made with cotton as a treyja or similar, if the taylor makes it uneven he shall forfeit three shillings.

* ) * EXPLICIT ROTULUM GAMBESONUM * ( *

Basically this would be a great topic for someone who wants to read a lot of early Arthurian literature and chansons de geste.

Various people remember references in the Guilaume d'Orange cycle, Provencal chansons from Antioch ("The Canso d'Antioca was recently translated by Carol Sweetenham and Linda Paterson, and is a very good read." - olivier), Gerald of Wales.

So far my impression is that citations are easy to find beginning in 1180, but move back even 10 or 20 years and they are very very scarce. The earliest words seem to be gambeson, jupe, and pourpoint, but aketon also appears. Does anyone have a use of these terms before 1180?

Doublet, farsetto (Italian only), jack (first attested c. 1358), jupon (first attested as çuponus in Venetian Latin in 1288, common in France and England from 1342 until the beginning of the 15th century), suprasegna or sopraensegna (Venetian Latin, c. 1290-1310: a heavy quilted overcoat with a design to identify the wearer and their allegiance), and troie/tröja (German and Norse only) seem to be slightly later words in the context of armour, more 13th/14th century than 12th (and doublet of defence, ie. one you can trust to stop a blow, is typical in the 15th century).

Panzar only refers to linen armour in Norse, in German, French, Italian, and Latin words like panzerone, panchire, panciera, panzeria refer to a coat of mail.

[Tom B.]

Thanks for compiling this list.
I am sure to point people to this in the future.

[Ernst]

Benoit, Chronicles of the Dukes of Normandy, 1176
2348 Puis revestent les aucotons
2349 E les haubers blans e tresliz.

[Ernst]

English Assize of Arms, 1181 (wambeis) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assize_of_Arms_of_1181

Sometimes it's interesting to see the changes in terminology. By the 1242 Statute, the gambeson (wambais) has changed name if not construction. Those with 100 shillings worth of land must have pourpoint (purpointum), iron hat (capellum ferreum), sword (gladium), spear (lanceam), and knife (cultellum).

[Ernst]

[*]??? 13th century Italian sources on minimum equipment for militia (people like David Niccole discuss them but I don't have a citation)[/list]

Edit: Volume 1 -- https://archive.org/stream/statutidelle ... d_djvu.txt
Here's one source, which is Vol. 3 of a series. Jupon, in various spellings, seems common for the mid-1200s-1300s. A search for 'scutum' generally brings the beginning of the various defensive ordinances.
https://archive.org/details/statutidell ... g/page/n12

[Sean M]

Tom, I am just cleaning up after other people who found the references and had a first try at translating them.

Ernst, I added the chronicle of the dukes of Normandy and a passage of Thomas of Kent which I found in the Anglo-Norman Dictionary http://www.anglo-norman.net/index.shtml They use the headwords aketon, gambeson, jupe, and purpoint.

Do you have a text of the English statute of arms from 1244? I will come back and add it in a few days after other people have had time to look through their notes. This is not my period and my old medieval books are mostly in Canada.

[Sean M]

"FWIW, in Osprey's Warrior Series: 25, Italian Militiaman 1260-1392, Nicolle cites examples (pp.54-55) of panceria and gambiera (gambesons) in 1288 in Bologna. Also in the 1280s, King Charles of Naples has crossbowmen equipped with giubetta (small jupons) and perpunto (pourpoints). A 1283 document from Naples specifies the giubetta be made of fustian." - Ernst, 2013

As far as I know Italian gambiera is French jambier and English greave or schynbald (shin-piece).

It looks like the law is De forma pacis conservande ("How the peace is to be kept") of 1242 (Henry III of England) https://archive.org/details/closerollso ... a/page/482 This was the law which made the middling peasants with 2 pounds to 5 pounds a year learn the bow (although Edward I and Edward II still bought thousands of crossbows to lend to conscripts). Ernst summarized it on a MyArmoury thread http://myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.35323.html

[Ernst]

c.1260, Libro di Montaperti
https://archive.org/details/illibrodimontape00libruoft

Horsemen are required to have as personal armor, "panzeriam, sive asbergum, caligas sive stivalettos de ferro, cappellum de acciario, lamerias vel coraczas".
Footmen, "panzeriam sive corictum cum manicis ferreis, aut manicos ferreos cum coraczinis, cappellum de acciario vel cervelleria, gorgieriam sive collare de ferro".

[Ernst]

1311 Inventory of John fitz Marmaduke, Lord of Horden
Apud Sylkesworth
In Silksworth ……..
j aketon coopertum cam viridi samet xl s.
1 aketon covered with green samite, 40s.
j gaimbeson rubeum cum tribus cathenis argenteis l s.
1 red gambeson with three silver chains, 50s.
j gaimbeson cum alleccys liij s. iiij d.
1 gambeson with protector, 53s. 4d. (A reinforcing chest plate?)
j aketon rubeum cum manucis de Balayn xl s.
1 red aketon with sleeves of baleen, 40s. (Similar to panzerhose, aketoners, or jacks of plates.)
j gaimbeson coopertum de panno cerico xl s.
1 gambeson covered with silk cloth, 40s.

Has the 1322 London Armourer's regulation not yet made the list? This is often given, though it's not in the original language.

Regulations made by the Armourers of London.

15 Edward 11. A.D. 1322. Letter-Book E. fol. cxxxiii. (Norman French.)
------------
That a haketon and a gambeson covered with sendale, or with cloth of silk, shall be stuffed with new cotton cloth, and with cadaz, and with old sendales, and in no other manner. And that white haketons shall be stuffed with old woven cloth, and with cotton, and made of new woven cloth within and without.

[Sean M]

Ok, I will add the Fitz Marmaduke inventory (lots of details) and the 1322 regulation from London on Armour in Texts. That is another one where it would be good for someone like Randall M. to look at the manuscript and see what the French says and whether there is anything else interesting just before or after it.

I think that panzeria in Italy is the same as German Panzer and Hemricourt's cotte de fier appellée Panchire, a coat of mail. It would be interesting to know how it became a word for linen armour in Old Norse.

Maybe they saw guys in a coat of iron and a quilted coat and got confused which was the Panzer and which was the Wams? In the 16th century English soldiers in the wars of the low countries heard French soldiers talking about getting together to buy arquebuses all of the same calibre (bore) and started calling their new arquebuses calivers.

[Sean M]

The Gebrüder Grimm have an example of Panzer from Erec by Hartmann von Aue (Wikipedia gives the date 1185).

ieglîches harnasch was guot,
ein panzier unde ein îsenhuot, (a
unde ein kiule wol beslagen. Erec 2349;

"Such a harness was good/a Panzer and an iron hat/and a kiule well struck."

ir ieglîch het ein îsenhuot
zu einem panziere. Erec 3232;

At first glance I do not see anything under Panzer m. that sounds like linen armour. But Panzer/panciera is attested since the 12th century.

[Sean M]

One more word to add to the mix: in Norse you can say vapentröja for a coat-armour. In one of Dan's threads someone found a German text from Oldenburg which states that a militiaman must have "[...] zinen helm ofte ysern hut, zine yseren huven, zine troyen, zine armeleden, zine vlekken, sinen kraghen [...]" (1345) (his helm or iron hat, his iron bonnet (probably what someone in England or France would call a bascinet), his troye, his armlets, his patches (fauld?), his collar ...)

The Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch of the University of Trier lists that as troie, treie and has an example from Neidhart von Reuenthal (d. after 1236). Other spellings are troye, troge, tröge.

However, the sources which say that the troie is the same as a doublet (diplois) or wams seem to be from late in the middle ages. But this could be another good word for someone with OK German or Norse to research.

[Ernst]

Ramon Lull's Book of the Order of Chivalry from c. 1275 lists the perpunt as being worn over the armor, and as bearing the heraldic symbol. Whether we would consider this a quilted surcoat or an heraldic gambeson can be debated.

Perpunt dóna significança al cavaller dels grans treballs los quals li cové a soferre per honrar l'orde de cavalleria; car enaixí con lo perpunt està dessús a los altres guarniments, e està al sol e a la pluja e al vent, e reep enans los colps que l'ausberg e per totes parts és combatut e ferit, enaixí cavaller és elegut a majors treballs que altre home.

Senyal en escut e en sella e en perpunt és donat a cavaller per ésser lloat de los ardiments que fa e de los colps que dóna en la batalla.

[Sean M]

Thanks Ernst, keep them coming. Iberia is another area where anyone with a bit of Old Spanish and Latin and a friendly reference librarian could turn up things which those 19th century antiquarians in London and Paris did not know. You have pointed out that some of the first pictures of aketons, from 1220-1250, come from Iberia.

Someone with an institutional subscription to British History Online can see some French references in Parliament Rolls of Medieval England that mention men armed with "aketoun" "plates" "espeie" etc. (March 1332, September 1332, January 1333, July 1340). I think these may be laws against bearing arms in or between the City of London and Westminister while parliament is in session, since such armed men have disturbed the business of parliament.

Randall Storey usually saw gambesons and aketons valued between 2 shillings English and 6 shillings English (comparable to an iron headpiece), but British History Online has some prices which are much higher, a pound or more.

'Calendar: Roll C, 17 February 1299 - 14 October 1300', in Calendar of Early Mayor's Court Rolls: 1298-1307, ed. A H Thomas (London, 1924), pp. 46-91. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-ser ... 07/pp46-91 [accessed 21 January 2019].

29 March 1300
Tuesday after the above Feast

Sir Eustace Delehak claimed from John de Stanes two silver gilt cups, which had been put in his hands as security for a debt of 5 marks 10s 8d (almost 4 pounds!) due to John de Dorking for a doublet (pro una duploid') and gambeson. The latter acknowledged receipt of the money, but as the plaintiff did not prosecute his plea, the defendant went quit. He was amerced for previous defaults, and the plaintiff for non-appearance.

'Calendar: Roll H, 12 December 1305 - 12 November 1306', in Calendar of Early Mayor's Court Rolls: 1298-1307, ed. A H Thomas (London, 1924), pp. 228-252. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-ser ... /pp228-252 [accessed 21 January 2019].
Membr. 6 9 June 1306

Court of J. le Blound, Thursday before the Feast of St the Apostle [11 June]

Thomas, Rector of the Church of St Mary Wollechirchehawe, Guy le Clerk, and Richard le Coffrer, executors of the will of Thomas le Fleming, were summoned to answer Ralph de Wottone in a plea that they return to him one "gambeson" (fn. 21), one "aketoun," one "corset" (fn. 22) and one "banere," pledged with them for a loan of 13 marks, for which the plaintiff had paid 2 marks and a gambeson, value £10. Guy appeared and said he could not answer without his co-executors. Order was given to distrain them against the next Court.

'Sheriffs' Court Roll, 1320: Membrane 26 (transcript pp.94-97)', in London Sheriffs Court Roll 1320, ed. Matthew Stevens (London, 2010), pp. 94-97. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-ser ... 20/pp94-97 [accessed 21 January 2019].

vadia appreciata: Pledges taken from the executors of the will of John of Knokyn at the suit of Roger Sauvage upon a demand for 20s., viz.: an 'aketoun' valued at 20s by oath of Robert of Skelton and John Tany. The executors made four defaults; therefore Roger asked that the attachment be delivered to him, according to the custom of the City. Therefore the said 20s. are delivered to him by the pledges of Robert and John to hold etc.

[Ernst]

Thanks Ernst, keep them coming. Iberia is another area where anyone with a bit of Old Spanish and Latin and a friendly reference librarian could turn up things which those 19th century antiquarians in London and Paris did not know. You have pointed out that some of the first pictures of aketons, from 1220-1250, come from Iberia.

https://books.google.com/books?id=QmQFYZSMs-EC&pg
Hoffmeyer notes that the Primera Crónica General from 1289 notes the gambeson,
A caronna del cuerpo, vistieronle un gambax fecho de un rançal blanco.
On the flesh of the body, they dressed him in a gambeson made of white rançal.

Rancal, ransan, etc. - https://books.google.com/books?id=rQ1KA ... ic&f=false

It also states that in Gran Conquista (de Ultramar), c. 1295, gives the gambax as being worn over the mail hauberk.
Vistiose la loriga e sobre la loriga su gambax.

The King of Aragon has a pourpoint stuffed with cotton, which resists a blow.
Traye un golpe por los lomos, de lanza, e saliol, el algodón del perpunte por ella, pero no pasaba a la carne.

On p.130, King Jamie I sleeps in his pourpoint at Valencia to be prepared for a surprise attack, but the pourpoint must be unlaced.

Lot's of details to be discovered in that text.

[Håvard]

Great resource! Thank you for your work, Sean.

One more word to add to the mix: in Norse you can say vapentröja for a coat-armour. In one of Dan's threads someone found a German text from Oldenburg which states that a militiaman must have "[...] zinen helm ofte ysern hut, zine yseren huven, zine troyen, zine armeleden, zine vlekken, sinen kraghen [...]" (1345) (his helm or iron hat, his iron bonnet (probably what someone in England or France would call a bascinet), his troye, his armlets, his patches (fauld?), his collar ...).

That might've been me over at MyArmoury? I've done some furter work on the 13th-14th century treyja (my favoured norse pronounciation) but it needs some translating. (in the following century the term seem to closely follow the term doublet becomming an undergarment. The term seem to have been used from Holland to the North German towns and Scandinavia and is etymologally linked to Troyes, one of the central towns of the Champagne cloth fairs.

A teaser expanded from the dictionary: A 1346 Stendaler guild regulation define treyja as a quilted garment with cotton stuffing: "Vortmer we eyn werck fick bededingeth tu makende mit bomwullen als eyn troye edder des ghelik, maket de schroder dat wandelbar, dat schal he beteren mit dren schillinggen." my transl.: "Further if a work was ordered to be made with cotton as a treyja or similar, if the taylor makes it uneven he shall forfeit three shilling."
Source: Codex diplomaticus Brandenburgensis rekke 1, bd 15, p. 130 Riedel [hele], Stendaler priv. d. kürschner (furrier) und schneider (taylor) 1346.

Some aketon prices:
Excerpt of list of armour for furnishing ships to be sent from King's Lynn to Scotland 1327. Vages and other armour named for comparison. Men were to be paid 3d a day, master and constable 6d a day.

- "pair of plates of iron, value 18d."
- "pair of plates with visor ([bevor?]?), one haqueton, one basinet with ventrail, one pair of iron gauntlets, value 20s."
- "pair of plates value 10s., haqueton 5s., basinet with ventrail 6s."
- "pair of plates of horn value 8s."
- "one haubergion value 4s., one haqueton 2s., one pair of gauntlets 8d., basinet with ventraul."
- "pair of plates 4s."
- "haqueton value 40d."
- "springald [...] 30s. for the same."

Henry Harrod 1870, Report on the Deeds & Records of the Borough of King's Lynn, p59

[Håvard]

French accounts 1268, Computis Baillivorum Franciæ, "Expensæ pro cendatis, bourra ad Gambesones, Tapetis, ..." Meyrick's transl: "Money paid for Sandal, for flocks for Gambesons, for embroidery, ..."

William the Breton relates a skirmish at Mante, where Sir William de Barres encountered with the lance of Richar Earl of Poitiers, afterwards king of England: "Utraque per clipeos ad corpora fraxinus ibat/ Gambesumque audax forst et thoraca trilicem/ Disjicit, ardenti nimium prorumpere tandem/ Vix obstat ferro fabricata patena recocto,/ Qua bene munierat pectus aibi cautus uterque." Transl: "On both parts the lance was thrust through the shield to the body,/ And boldly penetrates the gambeson and rives the trelissed broigne:/ Scarce does at last the plastron of wrought plate/ That each had carefully protected his breast withal,/ Resist the well-tempered steel, too eagerly pushing to break throught."

Raymond of Aguilers according to Meyrick describe textile armour "stitched down in parallel line, which suffered the stuffed part ... to appear convex." - the "culcitræ de gambasio" "the cushions of the wambais". Possibly from somewhere here?

[Håvard]

More sources, mainly from Meyrick:

Statutes of Frejus 1233, a french mediterranean town: "Peditum armatum intelligimus armatum scuto et propuncto, seu auspergoto et cofa, seu capello ferreo et cargan vel sine cargan," transl: "We understand by armed infantry those who are armed with shields and pourpoints, or auspergotes (id est hauberk-coats, which this word is a latinized corruption) with coifs, or chapelles de fer, and cargans, or without cargans," While the foot should wear pourpoint alone, the cavalry should carry pourpoint with hauberk: Statutes of Frejus 1225: "Militem sine equo armato intelligimus armatum auspergoto et propuncto et scuto; peditum armatum intelligimus armatum scuto et propuncto seu aspergoto." "By an armed knight not mounted we understand one armed with an auspergote and pourpoint with a shield; and by an armed foot soldier, one bearing a shield, and clad in a pourpoint or an aspergote."

Guillaume de Deguileville: Le Pèlerinage de l'Âme, 1330-ies, describe the connection between pourpoint and gambeson: "De pontures le gambison, Pourquoi pourpoint l'appelle-t-on." translated: "A gambeson of puntures, Whence it was called pourpoint."

Muster of Briancon 1342: "Omnes de dicto numero cum porpointis, gorgeriis, chirothecis ferreis [...]" "All of that number with pourpoints, gorgets, gauntlets [...]"

Philip the Fair charter 1303, distinguish pourpoint from gambeson: "Et seront armez de pourpoins et de hauberjons, ou de gambaisons." "And they shall be armed with pourpoints and haubergons, or gambesons."

French inventory 1296, Royal Archives, Paris: "Prætera inveni in dictis bonis, quinque alberions et unum alberc, et unum contrepointe.", "Besides I found among the said goods five haubergons, one hauberk, and one contrepointe."

[Sean M]

Thanks Ernst! I also added an entry from the expenses of King John of England for 1209:

pro vij ulnis linee tele ad faciendum j alcotonem ... et pro cotone ad illum alcotonem (For 7 ells of linen cloth for making an aketon, and for cotton for that aketon)

I would bet a nice new 20 Euro note against a day-old Marillenkrapfen that a famous law from England is not the first to specify that infantry shall be armed with a gambeson, and that a royal expense account from England is not the first list of materials used to make an aketon. There must be earlier material from Italy and probably Flanders or Languedoc.

Great resource! Thank you for your work, Sean.

Thanks Håvard. You, Ernst, and a couple of other people did the work, I am just putting the citations and links in one place. We can either wait for a super-philologist, or we can add a few sources at a time as we find them.

I have some deadlines right now but I will come back to this thread on the weekend.

[Ernst]

Doublet, farsetto (Italian only), jack, jupe, jupon, and troie/tröja (German and Norse only) seem to be slightly later words, more 13th/14th century than 12th (and doublet of defence, ie. one you can trust to stop a blow, is typical in the 15th century).

This has troubled me concerning the jupon. The Bolognese societies seem to prefer the çupam, cuppam, zuppam, etc. over most other terms. How did this come to be in a north Italian city, when most modern etymology seems to point to the word coming from the Islamic world and garments known as jubbah, jubba in Arabic, or cübbe in Turkish? Gerhard (Greg Liebau) and I were PMing about the possible route of transition for the fashion or word, and he suggested the Emperor Frederick II, who used Sicilian Muslim troops in the constant Guelph-Ghibbeline wars might have played some role. While the Venetians practically steered the 4th Crusade, these references to jupons fall into the time of the 5th Crusade, in which north Italy had little involvement.

Do any of you know any good chronicles of these conflicts in original text, or of the Battle of Fossalta in 1249, where Bolognese troops were involved?

[Sean M]

By the 14th century, the Fréres Bonis in Montalban, Languedoc, and the notaries of Rimini also preferred words in the jupe family like zuparello for what a 15th century Englishman would call a doublet (although North Italians sometimes write farsetto or diplois). The problem is that I don't know of any good dictionaries of Old French or Old Italian and 12th/13th century Latin on the continent The DEAF is a bit intimidating AUQUETON / GAMBAIS / JUPE / PORPOINT

Villehardoun and Joinville and the Itinerarium are about the only 13th century histories and chronicles I know, I just don't have a lot of time these days to read medieval things for fun.

Our library does not have volume 1 of the standard book on clothing in Italy: Rosita Levi Pisetzky, Storia del Costume in Italia, 5 volumi (Istituto Editoriale Italiano {Treccani}, 1974/1975)

The philologists seem to think that gambeson is related to Gothic wamba "belly" or Middle Greek bambax "cotton."

The Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources suggests that jupe shows up in England around the year 1200 but for a long time it refers to ordinary single and double garments not ones with many layers or stuffing or cotton cloth. They seem to think that jupon appears later on England (the first Latin citation is from 1342) and is more likely to refer to stuffed/many-layered clothing.

Edit: in 1382, the pourpointiers of Paris present pourpointerie et juppONnerie as synonyms (like gamboiserie and coustepointerie). They do not write juperie.

It might just be that in countries where they were sailing to buy cotton from Greeks and Saracens, they knew that quilted clothes were "Saracen style" jupes/jupons but in countries where they bought cotton from enterprising Genovese and Pisan and Venetian middlemen, they associated "Saracen clothing" with other features.

But yeah, if "they brought gambesons and aketons back from the Crusades" we would expect the Arabic words jupe and alcoton to come first wouldn't we?

I added a quote from Villehardoun (boo! hiss! you burned books I want to read!) and the Sicilian law from 1231 to the main list.

[Håvard]

The probably earliest reference to panzer as textile armour in norse Sources are the King Sverris saga, written down in two parts, the first part in the late 12th century, the second in the first quarter of the 13th Century.

It is referred to allready by Hewitt 1855 p 111: "In King Sverrer's Saga, written towards the close of the twelfth century, by the abbot of Thingore in Iceland, and others, from the narrative of the king himself, we have a curious passage: "Sverrer was habited in a godd byrnie, above it a strong gambeson (panzara), and over all a red surcote (raudan hiup[germ: Iupe; Fr. Jupe]. With these he had a wide steel hat (vida stálhufu), similar to those worn by the Germans; and beneath it a mail cap (brynkollu), and a 'panzara-hufu'.""

Hewitt's reference was probably Fornmanna Sögur vol 8 1834 based on a MS from the second half of 14th century. However the word used is assumed to have been present in the original text. Hewitt's passage is from chapter 123: "Suerrir konungr sat a brunum hesti hann hafdi goda bryniu ok sterkann panzsara vm vtan ok yzst raudann hiup vida staalhufu sua sem Sudrmenn hafa ok vndir brynkollu ok panzsarahufu suerd ok kesiu i hendi." Transl: King Sverrir sat on a brown horse. He had a good hauberk and strong panzer above it and outmost a red hiup, vide steel cap [kettle hat] like the southern men had and beneath it mail coif and panzer coif, sword and kesiu (a type of spear) in his hands.

The word is also in chapter 121: "Sa madr var aftr a skipi Hallvardz er var fridr sionum ok hafdi staalhufu ok panzsara huarntueggia a gautzku." Transl: Sutch a man was aft on Hallvard's ship ... had steel cap and panzer both in the gutnic way. Both places are from the second part of the text, written down in the first quarter of the 13th century, not in the late 12th century as presumed by Hewitt (and later armour historians).

[Sean M]

Thanks! I don't know Old Norse literature at all, I have just read a few sagas in translation. Having the earliest sources from Scandinavia is very helpful.

I like the idea that the hiup in Sverri's Saga is a jupe in the sense of a "Saracen-style surcote." The King's Mirror describes the gambeson over the hauberk as good/firm (en yfir brynju góðan panzara) where Sverri's Saga calls it strong (sterkann panzsara).

I have ordered a collection of Venetian sources in Latin edited by Giovanni Monticolo which include the rules of the jupe-makers from 1219 onwards. The scan on Google Books is terrible, many pages are blurred or blank.

I should also add the English/Scottish text on How Knights Should be Armed/Modus Armandi Milites from before 1333 https://willscommonplacebook.blogspot.c ... entum.html The knight should wear an aketon, lorica (hauberk), cuirie, and a cote armée with his device for a tournament. For a joust he should wear an aketon, hauberk, and a precious silk gambeson which can cost more than plates of steel. For war the wording is a bit unclear.

These early sources often present the gambeson as a reinforcement for the hauberk, like a cuirie or an iron plate, or an alternative to the hauberk, but I don't think any of them present it as a way to make the hauberk more comfortable or reduce blunt trauma.

Mart found a knight falling forward in the Trinity Apocalypse in Cambridge from ~1250 who is wearing something white between his hauberk and his blue surcote.

Claude Blair cites an inventory of Falkes de Breauté from 1224 which includes linen armour: Pubs. of Bedfordshire Hist. Rec. Soc., IX, 60 "An inventory of arms belonging fo Falk de Breauté made in 1224 includes among linen armour an 'espaulier de nigro Cend[all']'."

That does not seem to be on the Internet Archive, but anyone in the UK could probably get it by interlibrary loan for a few pounds, and I trust something copied in the 1920s over some of these very early researchers like du Cange.

[Sean M]

I added the treatise by Radulfus Niger which Mart found on MyArmoury. Warning! He was a scholarly clerk of Gloucester with theological and allegorical points to make, not a linen armourer or a knight.

I have tweaked the translation of the Norwegian King's Mirror based on comments by various people and a look at the Old Norse text and the translator's notes. Comments by Havard and anyone else who can read Old Norse would be appreciated!

Aren't brynbrækr literally mail breeches?

[Håvard]

The dating of (the relevant part of) the King Sverre's Saga should be corrected to first quarter of the 13th Century. I'll get back on the rest.

[clifford rogers]

From Rogers, Soldiers' Lives, p. 31:
"All the various sorts of metal armor had to be worn with some sort of padding underneath. The padded, quilted tunic, often called an aketon, purpoint, or gambeson,[108] was intended to enhance the protection of the torso as well as providing daily comfort. Such pieces could be made of many folds of cloth, or stuffed with cotton or tow, or both. They greatly improved the defensive capability of armor: they helped cushion the impact of a blow that did not penetrate the metal, and indeed their springy quality could help prevent mail or plate from fracturing in the first place.[109] Even if a weapon’s point or edge did defeat the metal, an aketon could absorb quite a lot of energy, and might make an otherwise lethal wound a minor cut, or even halt a blow altogether. Even on their own, such garments could be quite effective as armor—the Vita Edwardi Secundi notes that “a sword would not easily penetrate” them; hence they were often worn on campaign even by men-at-arms, in place of less comfortable metal armor, when combat was possible but not immediately anticipated.[110]"


108: Aketon and gambeson were not synonymous; in the early fourteenth century English knights were often provided with one of each, and we have one record of a gambeson being made into an aketon (Lachaud, “Armour,” 366). More study of the precise meaning of these terms (and the related purpoint) is needed, but a few observations are worth making here. James the Conqueror often refers to wearing a purpoint (perpunte) instead of other armor, but sometimes in conjunction with a hauberk, which apparently went over the perpunte. James, Chronicle, 276, 278, 296, etc. In one thirteenth-century English account, there is a purchase of an aketon and also a sum spent on embroidering a gambeson for Prince Alfonso; that clearly means the gambeson was meant to be worn externally, not under a hauberk; this fits the usage in Joinville. The embroidery fee, it should be noted, was at 30 s. greater than double the combined cost of the aketon (10 s.) and a bascinet (3 s.). PRO, C47/3/11. Similarly, Ambroise, History, 82, mentions a “very finely decorated purpoint.” Wyntoun mentions an aketon of just three plies in a siege of 1336. Wyntoun, Cronykil, 2:432. On the other hand, there is a noteworthy reference to 183 ells of woolen cloth used to make an aketon for Edward I—enough for something like 50-80 layers. Frédérique Lachaud, “Armour and military dress in thirteenth- and early-fourteenth-century England,” Armies, Chivalry and Warfare in Medieval Britain and France: Proceedings of the 1995 Harlaxton Symposium, ed. Matthew Strickland (Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1998), 360.

109: On the effect of springy material (in this case a modern mannequin) beneath mail armor, note Russ Mitchell, “Archery versus Mail: Experimental Archaeology and the Value of Historical Context” in JMMH 4 (2006), 26.

110: Energy: Williams, Knight, 934-5. Quotation: Vita Edwardi Secundi, ed. N. Denholm-Young (London: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1957), 91; note also Joinville, Chronicle, 273, 195-6. Worn with mail hood (but apparently without hauberk) in siege camp etc: James, Book of Deeds, 43-4, 52, 62-3, 87, 157, 166-8, 199. Naturally this was more common in hot regions.

[Sean M]

Thanks Dr. Rogers. If Amboise mentions a pourpoint, there sure seem to be a cluster of sources from the Third Crusade! There is also the Arabic life of Saladin with the Frankish foot wearing felt coats over their coats of mail. I don't know anyone who can handle medieval Arabic though.

I would like to see the source for those 183 ells of woolen cloth, because both the number (wrong order of magnitude: 45 yards of broadcloth is plenty for a 30-layer jack) and the choice of fabric raise red flags.

[Jonathan Dean]

According to Andrew Halpin's PhD thesis the Caithréim Chellacháin Chaisil contains a reference to a "cotún", although his reference to Bugge's translation doesn't actually lead to a mention of a cotún or any similar terms it might have been translated as, so I don't know how reliable it should be considered.

You're also missing Wace's Roman de Rou:

Alquanz orent boenes coiriees, qu'il ont a lor uentres liées; plusors orent uestu gambais, colures orent ceinz et tarchais;

[Sean M]

Thanks Jonathan! If I can find a text with line numbers I will see about adding Wace sometime in the next few months.

The Caithréim Chellacháin Chaisil and Old Irish are out of my area of expertise, unless someone can find the exact references and some basic information about date, composition etc. I don't know when I will be able to track it down. Wikipedia gives c. 1127-1134 and that is so early that I would want to look closely.

[Sean M]

Here is a historical dictionary of Irish with an entry for cotún. Apparently there are texts where it seems to mean "shield" but I am intrigued by the citation to Caithréim Chellacháin Chaisil.

Edit: Ok, I have time to find the thesis, but no more.

"There are, however, a number of references to armour being worn by Irish warriors. ... Another possible reference to armour among the Irish is a description in Caihréim of the armies of a number of Leinster kings as equipped with armour (lúirech), aketons (cotún) and helmets (cathbarr).[124= Bugge, Caithréim Cellachain Caisil, p. 114] The author offers no explanation as to why the Leinstermen should have armour while his own Munster heroes had none, and he may have been referring to Hiberno-Norse allies of the Leinster kings."

lúirech looks like an Irish form of lorica "hauberk, byrnie"


The Irish seem to have liked linen armour, so there are probably good sources from that part of the world. It is strange that the early references are often from places like Northern France and Ireland, not places where they sailed to Egypt to buy cotton and fustian every year.

[Jonathan Dean]

Thanks Jonathan! If I can find a text with line numbers I will see about adding Wace sometime in the next few months.

The Caithréim Chellacháin Chaisil and Old Irish are out of my area of expertise, unless someone can find the exact references and some basic information about date, composition etc. I don't know when I will be able to track it down. Wikipedia gives c. 1127-1134 and that is so early that I would want to look closely.

Ah, yes, my apologies, I was away from my computer and got a little lazy. The lines are 7695-7699.

Here is a historical dictionary of Irish with an entry for cotún. Apparently there are texts where it seems to mean "shield" but I am intrigued by the citation to Caithréim Chellacháin Chaisil.

Edit: Ok, I have time to find the thesis, but no more.

"There are, however, a number of references to armour being worn by Irish warriors. ... Another possible reference to armour among the Irish is a description in Caihréim of the armies of a number of Leinster kings as equipped with armour (lúirech), aketons (cotún) and helmets (cathbarr).[124= Bugge, Caithréim Cellachain Caisil, p. 114] The author offers no explanation as to why the Leinstermen should have armour while his own Munster heroes had none, and he may have been referring to Hiberno-Norse allies of the Leinster kings."

lúirech looks like an Irish form of lorica "hauberk, byrnie"


The Irish seem to have liked linen armour, so there are probably good sources from that part of the world. It is strange that the early references are often from places like Northern France and Ireland, not places where they sailed to Egypt to buy cotton and fustian every year.

Thanks to you linking to eDIL, I've found a page in Caithréim Cellachain Caisil where "cotuin" exists (p47 in case the link doesn't work). The translation is given on page 106 as "they cleft their shields, and cut their armour into pieces, and tore their targes". A search of eDIL suggests that "sceith" is a common variant of "scell", which would make it the "shield" in the translation. The Irish apparently had terms for "targe", which would suggest that "cotuin" has been mistranslated as "targe".

I definitely agree that it's very strange. Maybe they just lumped everything under "lorica" before the Crusades, and then just adopted what the fashion in France and Germany was? Alternatively, maybe textile armour just wasn't a thing until after the Crusades? Given the overwhelming preponderance of participation from Western/Central Europe, it would make sense for those areas to give rise to the terms first.

[Sean M]

I can't obtain the article from the Bedfordshire Historical Society, but I have skimmed the rules of the jupon-makers of Venice from March 1219 to 3 November 1312. There are lots of clauses about cotton (banbacium), the use of ?scraps? (peciae) or tow as alternative stuffings, attaching tags (bullae) to show where their products had been made, and the all-important need to prevent DIRTY FOREIGNERS from getting jobs without joining the guild and SHODDY FOREIGN PRODUCTS from being sold as made in Venice. I don't see anything about silk bourre for stuffing, but 30 pages of Italian and Latin will take time to digest.

Several clauses forbid men and women of the guild to battere or verberare cotton at night. I think this refers to bowing cotton which people like Jessica Finley are rediscovering.

[Ernst]

Several clauses forbid men and women of the guild to battere or verberare cotton at night. I think this refers to bowing cotton which people like Jessica Finley are rediscovering.

It sounds like this is the beating, whipping, or scutching needed to remove the seeds and husks from the boll in the centuries before ginning was invented. Bowing could occur afterwords.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutching

[Sean M]

Several clauses forbid men and women of the guild to battere or verberare cotton at night. I think this refers to bowing cotton which people like Jessica Finley are rediscovering.

It sounds like this is the beating, whipping, or scutching needed to remove the seeds and husks from the boll in the centuries before ginning was invented. Bowing could occur afterwords.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutching

Ernst, I think you are right. I think I met verberare "to beat" in Catullus or in one of Tiberius Gracchus's speeches.

I would be happy to share scans of the Latin text from the book, but the file is 40 MB.

[ergosum]

]Rules of the Armed Societies of Bologna, 1230-1288: Members of the society had to be equipped with body armour of which the çuppa/zuppa (jupe) and guayferia (only known in these laws, may be local slang) were two possible kinds.

The term guaiferiam is also used in The Rules of Bologna of 1288. The milites should have "spatam et cultellum, panceriam vel chasotum, colaritum de ferro, baciletum cum nasali seu capellum de ferro seu sovrosbergam vel lamerias vel guaiferiam vel coraçinas, cirotechas de ferro, schinerias vel gamberias, lanceam et scutum vel tarçam vel tabolacium magnum unius pedis et dimidii ad minus"