Sub-Roman Britain (Cavalry etc)

[Matthew Amt]

But there was leather armor, wasn't there? I don't mean Hollywood's leather lorcia segmenta, but a basic leather-reinforced wool tunic or leather vest which gave the basic levy some protection from minor cuts and bumps, even if little against arrows and directed spear or sword blows. Not legionnaire's armor but used by auxiliaries or native peoples. Of course, no samples remain because they would have rotted.

I don't think there is any evidence for the sort of thing you are thinking of. Unless you make scales out of it, leather or hide as armor would have to be thick and fairly rigid. If you are going to use an outer layer of thinner flexible leather (more like garment leather) over a padded or quilted garment, it's more for waterproofing, while the textile part does the protecting from weapons. But I don't think there is much in the way of evidence for padded or quilted armor for this time and place, either!

There is absolute proof of leather and hide being used as armor and shields from a number of different times and places. Sometimes it is something quite expensive, not at all "cheap" armor. But I have yet to see any culture where the lower-class warriors or levies (or even the upper class elites!) were hung up on getting any sort of protection they could, however inadequate. It was just too common for people to go to war with nothing more than a spear and a shield, and that was not seen as a terrible disadvantage. Speculating that someone "just wanted a little something extra" or was "making do" with a hastily-invented leather vest simply does not follow the evidence we have. They just didn't think that way.

You've probably heard this a hundred times from me, but it's really a good idea to steer clear of baseless speculation, claiming that all the evidence may just have rotted away. It's the usual fall-back for the leather armor crowd, and it holds no water. Literary or pictoral evidence would be enough for me, but there isn't any. So my rule of thumb is, if it's a non-essential item (like leather armor), and there is no evidence for it, pretend it doesn't exist. Stick with what we DO have evidence for, as much as possible!

Valete,

Matthew