09-27-2005, 11:33 AM
We used a very high quality, half inch thick kind of felt as a saddle pad during the Junkelmann Limes Ride, and since than, I have advocated its use as a subarmallis. I saw the ideal felt for this in Hungary, a natural grayish brown sheeps wool felt, and used to make saddle pads, tents, etc.
It is ridiculous to dismiss the description in D.R.B. as an invention. When we begin dismissing the ancient accounts we don't like, we soon have nothing to work with. For one thing, felt was a very common material in the ancient world, for another, it has better shock absorbing qualitities than padded linen, and thirdly, the writer specifically explains how it should be covered by a waterproof thin moroccan goatskin (libyan hide) cover to protect it from becoming sodden with water. Just because peasant armies of the middle ages used inferior linen, lint or straw filled padding is no evidence the Romans did. Just as in the case of leather vs. linen tents, the Romans used the finest, most efficient equipment available to them, possible because it was a state equipped army, and the "state" was the greatest world power of its time.
It is ridiculous to dismiss the description in D.R.B. as an invention. When we begin dismissing the ancient accounts we don't like, we soon have nothing to work with. For one thing, felt was a very common material in the ancient world, for another, it has better shock absorbing qualitities than padded linen, and thirdly, the writer specifically explains how it should be covered by a waterproof thin moroccan goatskin (libyan hide) cover to protect it from becoming sodden with water. Just because peasant armies of the middle ages used inferior linen, lint or straw filled padding is no evidence the Romans did. Just as in the case of leather vs. linen tents, the Romans used the finest, most efficient equipment available to them, possible because it was a state equipped army, and the "state" was the greatest world power of its time.
