What do you wear under your armour

In this blog, we describe the most common possibilities and variations of what one wears under plate armor. 

From classical antiquity, mail shirts were used to protect the body on the battlefield. Mail shirts provided good protection against cuts and reasonable protection against thrusts and blows from enemy weapons. Even after the invention of plate armor, mail components remained in use. 

From the 13th century, plate armor developed. Plate armor offered better protection against thrusts and blows than mail. In the early 13th century, especially vulnerable parts of the arms and legs were protected with armour components. Over the chainmail shirt, one sometimes wore a coat of plates. This was a leather tunic consisting of multiple plates attached to the tunic.

Later, more advanced armour components developed, such as the cuirass, the pauldrons, full leg armor, and arm harness.

But besides the armour, it is just as important to pay attention to what you wear under the armour.

Undergarments are just as important as the armour itself. Since ancient times, people wore a protective layer under the chainmail shirt. Few examples are known, but we know that mail shirts alone were not sufficient to protect the body from hard blows. A chainmail shirt protects against cutting movements from weapons. But against thrusts from spears and swords or blows from axes, the chainmail shirt offers insufficient protection. 

For that reason, the Normans wore a reinforced tunic of coarse woven linen or wool under the chainmail shirt.  This developed into the gambeson. In fact, we know nothing about the gambesons that the Normans and Vikings wore, except that a protective tunic was worn under the chainmail shirt. 

In reenactment battles, Vikings and Normans wear gambesons for safety. The difference from what was historically worn under the chainmail shirt is a small compromise with modern safety. 

From the 12th century, we clearly see the gambeson appear in manuscripts. The gambeson was a padded tunic consisting of multiple layers of linen. This could amount to as many as 12 to 24 layers. Due to these layers of linen, the gambeson could absorb impacts like a cushion, which would otherwise cause trauma to the body. Think of a blow with a axe. 

Historical sources mention that gambesons could even be suitable for absorbing the impact of arrows. Therefore, gambesons were also worn without expensive mail shirts. Mail shirts were only available to the wealthy aristocracy. It is likely that in some cases, gambesons were worn over the chainmail shirt, possibly to protect these expensive mail shirts or to conceal what type of armor someone was wearing. 

In 13th-century sources, we see references that mail, chausses, or chain mail chausses were fastened around the waist with a special belt (lendenier). It is likely that this practice occurred much earlier and that crusaders and Norman knights already wore belts securely fastened around the waist to keep the chain mail chausses in place. Belts probably remained in use until the 15th century, after which they were increasingly replaced from the mid-15th century onwards by gambesons or arming jackets equipped with laces at the bottom. From the 14th century onwards, belts were also used to fasten steel leg armor pieces. This way, the weight of the leg pieces was distributed around the hips and waist, and did not rest on the leg itself. Otherwise, the leg piece would gradually slip down during a fight. 

This gambeson is based on images in the Maciejowski Bible from 1244-1254. In combination with a lendenier that was probably worn under the gambeson.

This gambeson is made after an original that was worn by Charles de Blois 1319-1364. In combination with a lendenier that was probably worn under the gambeson.

Gambeson, arming jackets: to this gambesons, armour parts can be directly attached.

The chainmail coif is the first example of a supplement worn under the helmet. Chainmail coifs were used from the Norman period around 1000 AD. They remained in use until the 15th century, after which they were almost entirely replaced by mail collars (also known as bishop's mantle or standard).

The chainmail coif protects the neck and head. A helmet was often worn over the chainmail coif, but not always. In some 13th-14th century manuscripts, a secret is even worn under the chainmail coif. But the most common way to wear the chainmail coif is under the helmet or loose.

Under the chainmail coif, a arming cap is worn. This prevents the mail from sitting directly on the hair. The arming cap helps, like the gambeson, to absorb blows to the head.

In the 14th century, the mail aventail was introduced. This ‘collar’ protects parts of the neck and face like the chainmail coif, but it was not worn under the helmet. Instead, it was attached to the lower edge of the helmet. This can be done with vervelles. Many bascinets we offer come with standard vervelles. In the 14th century, the great helm and secret (often worn under the great helm) evolved into the bascinet. This offered good protection while allowing more visibility and breathability. During one-on-one fights, the great helm was sometimes removed. The head was then protected by the inner helmet and the chainmail coif. With the bascinet, this was no longer necessary, so the chainmail coif only needed to protect the neck. 

In various 15th-century manuscripts and sculptures, it is visible that a gambeson collar was worn under the mail aventail. We see in manuscripts examples where these supplements were and were not worn. Both are historically correct.

The gambeson collar can be easily sewn onto the lower layer chain mail rings. This way, it remains neatly attached to the chainmail aventail.

This gambeson collar is, for example, ideal for this purpose.

In the early 15th century, a different form of chainmail neck protection developed. The chain mail aventail or chainmail standard was, unlike the aventail, not attached to the neck. Standards were worn under the armour. This had several advantages.

The mail standard provides protection to the neck and the openings between the neck or helmet and the cuirass. It also ensures extra wearing comfort. Often, armors were not made to the size of the wearer. The chain mail aventail prevented irritation at the cuirass and the pauldrons. It also offers extra comfort when wearing a bevor. Historical manuscripts show that the bevor was not always worn. In that case, the mail standard formed the only form of neck protection. The neck is one of the most vulnerable areas of the body. Therefore, great importance was attached to neck protection. There are examples that mail collars were worn both under and over the armour. 

In the 14th century, plate armor developed and was worn over the chainmail shirt. In some traditions, such as the Italian, it remained common in the 15th century to wear a mail haubergeon under your armour. The mail haubergeon is a short chainmail shirt, often with half-length sleeves.

An advantage of wearing a mail haubergeon under your armour is that mail shirts can be quickly donned. Sometimes during military campaigns, you are approached quickly or unexpectedly by the enemy. There was then no more time to don a complete armour. But a chainmail shirt could be put on immediately and offered good protection for the torso. 

Mail hauberks are heavy, and a large part of what the chainmail shirt protected was already protected by plate armor, such as the arms and chest. Therefore, in the early 14th century, mail supplements were developed. These offered the protection of flexible mail but were significantly lighter than a full chainmail shirt.

14th and 15th-century armors leave an opening at the armpit, between the cuirass and the pauldrons. From the early 14th century, mail sleeves and voiders were developed. There are various historical examples of how these sleeves were attached. However, it is unclear what the most common method was. Some voiders were attached directly to the gambeson with linen thread or leather laces. Other voiders had leather straps and buckles with which they could be fastened together. In some originals, both sleeves are attached to each other, and you put on the voiders like a sort of upper garment. Finally, it is also possible to provide a pair of voiders or sleeves with a textile inlay and attach these inlay together with leather laces or straps. There are 16th-century examples of this.

In medieval inventories, it seems that mail voiders was mentioned in the same breath as the mail skirt. Probably because it was logical that the voiders and the mail skirt were the components worn under the armour. 

The chain mail skirt protects the opening between the cuirass and the legs. Thus, it protects the groin and hips. 

As part of the plate armor, often worn over the mail supplements, roundels or besagews were worn. These small steel plates provided extra protection to the vulnerable opening between the pauldrons and the cuirass.