Lorica Musculata made of Metal or leather?

[Dan Howard]

Beaby, M and Richardson, T. (1997) Hardened Leather Armour. Leeds:Royal Armouries Yearbook

It has been mooted that such objects as the leather shield, which survived for two and a half thousand years, found at Clonbrin in Ireland must have had some form of hardening treatment, additional to the 'moulding when wet and drying' found in basic cuir bouilli treatments.

I've read the report. The hypothesis has been "mooted" with absolutely no evidence to back it up. It is impossible to tell whether 2000 year old leather has been artificially hardened or whether it's current state is a natural process that comes from being buried for millennia.

I have just come across this:

"In 1278 for a tournament in Windsor 38 cuirasses of cuir boulli were made by Milo the Currier: he was supplied with ‘Carda’ canvas to line them with."

The only time leather armour is mentioned in regards to tournaments is when those tournaments used wooden boffers instead of real weapons. All other leather armour in medieval Western Europe was worn over mail.