10-01-2005, 03:08 PM
Felt making is a very, very ancient industry in Turkey which makes me suspect that, as what happened with the "turkish" (roman) baths, it existed long before the Ottoman's invasion.
Felt is packed wool or hair. You can pack it loose or tight. When packed loose you make slippers with it and when packed tight you make quite rigid XXXXX cowboy hats that reach obscene prices and last about a lifetime, rain or shine. In this case it's actually beaver felt, but the method of manufacture is similar: animal fibers --wool of fur-- packed together by pounding.
If a type of subarmalis was made of felt it was probably loose packed and sewn between two layers of linen, much like a mattress --I mean an old style wool mattress. Or a futon.
Another solution would be the inside layer made of linen and the outside made of leather. Supple leather of course.
Loden: Correct me if I'm wrong but I've read somewhere that loden was a mixture of wool and rabbit or hare fur.
The Arlon relief definitely shows segmentata shoulder plates, as very clearly indicated on the third trooper from the left, partially missing. In this case the plates are very clearly shown and can not in any be confused with a fold of a shoulder cape type of mailshirt. They do have long sleeves in the gallic fashion and they also have celtic swords, BTW.
What sticks out of their armpits are pteryges...Attached to a more than probable subarmalis.
I think the medieval gambeson/gambison/aketon/jack/vambasium was very much like, if not completely similar, to the subarmalis apart for the use of cotton (aketon is from the arabic al godon = cotton) which was it seems an expensive commodity in the ancient world.
Felt is packed wool or hair. You can pack it loose or tight. When packed loose you make slippers with it and when packed tight you make quite rigid XXXXX cowboy hats that reach obscene prices and last about a lifetime, rain or shine. In this case it's actually beaver felt, but the method of manufacture is similar: animal fibers --wool of fur-- packed together by pounding.
If a type of subarmalis was made of felt it was probably loose packed and sewn between two layers of linen, much like a mattress --I mean an old style wool mattress. Or a futon.
Another solution would be the inside layer made of linen and the outside made of leather. Supple leather of course.
Loden: Correct me if I'm wrong but I've read somewhere that loden was a mixture of wool and rabbit or hare fur.
The Arlon relief definitely shows segmentata shoulder plates, as very clearly indicated on the third trooper from the left, partially missing. In this case the plates are very clearly shown and can not in any be confused with a fold of a shoulder cape type of mailshirt. They do have long sleeves in the gallic fashion and they also have celtic swords, BTW.
What sticks out of their armpits are pteryges...Attached to a more than probable subarmalis.
I think the medieval gambeson/gambison/aketon/jack/vambasium was very much like, if not completely similar, to the subarmalis apart for the use of cotton (aketon is from the arabic al godon = cotton) which was it seems an expensive commodity in the ancient world.
Pascal Sabas
