05-22-2010, 02:51 PM
No...all surviving medieval examples (that are not helmet lining and similar) are layered textile, as far as I know. Do you know any medieval references to stuffed straw or surviving examples? We have a few surviving examples of the others sort, the earliest being dated to the 12th/13th century (ah, reliquiaries...without them we'd have to rely purely on archaeology, heaven forbid 
). Stuffing will make the armour serve well as pure padding, but when you quilt textile layers together you get an effect that is quite efficient as armour in itself; the same principle as modern bulletproof vests.
The (stuffed straw)horsehair idea for body armour has been quite prevalent in medieval reenactment circles, but as far as I know it is not based on anything solid - it is an overinterpretation of the helmet liners.
). Stuffing will make the armour serve well as pure padding, but when you quilt textile layers together you get an effect that is quite efficient as armour in itself; the same principle as modern bulletproof vests.The (stuffed straw)horsehair idea for body armour has been quite prevalent in medieval reenactment circles, but as far as I know it is not based on anything solid - it is an overinterpretation of the helmet liners.
