Extant Quilted Garments
Thanks to the patient efforts of many people over the last hundred years, eight quilted garments made in western Europe between 1200 and 1500 have been reasonably well published. The following table should make it easier to compare them.
| Garment | Layers | Weight | Made | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sleeve at Bussy-St. Martin (upper arm) | maroon taffeta silk, raw cotton, linen cloth, linen cloth, raw cotton, maroon silk tafetta | M | 2×? | lagier-manche-bussy - piel-bedat-la-manche-de-saint-martin |
| Aketon of Isabelle of France | linen cloth, 2 mm thick cotton wool, linen cloth | L | 1× | anderlini-shirt-st-Louis pp. 69-72 |
| Pourpoint of Charles de Blois | Cloth of gold, raw cotton, linen cloth | L | 1× | personal observation |
| Loudis of João I of Portugal | ??? | ? | ? | teixeira-loudel-de-d-joao |
| Coat of Charles VI | pattern-woven silk, raw cotton, linen cloth, linen cloth, raw cotton, linen cloth | H | 2 | kelly-pourpoint-charles-vi p. 156 |
| Coat-armour of Edward of Woodstock | Red or blue silk velvet, raw cotton, linen cloth? | ? | 1 | arnold-jupon-black-prince pp. 14, 18 |
| Guiparello of Pandolfo III Malatesta | silk velvet, linen cloth, mixed fibre stuffing (cotton, wool, flax, hemp, silk), linen cloth, undyed hemp cloth | L | 1 | Carloni citing kusch-et-al-farsetto-di-pandolfo-iii-malatesta |
| Lübeck jack | brushed fustian exterior, heavy linen canvas, raw cotton, heavy linen canvas, brushed fustian lining | H | 1 | finley-luebeck-wappenroecke p. 133 |
The books and articles will be linked to the bibliography.
Although these garments vary widely in weight and thickness, from 2 mm of stuffing in the aketon of Isabelle of France to more than 20 mm in the red coat of Charles VI, some things are common, like the preference to put one or two layers of fabric on each side of a layer of padding and the preference for linen or hemp lining (6 of 7 garments). We can see that just like in the documents, these garments are overwhelmingly made from linen, hemp, cotton, and silk but not from wool which was the most common material for coats in late medieval Europe. Aketons, pourpoints, gambesons, and doublets were a distinct family of garments with distinctive materials and construction techniques.
About ten doublets from the years 1510 to 1610 survive and have been published. These are build in a different way, around canvas instead of raw fibres.
- Kloster Alpirsbach Wams (only extant doublet made of canvas or fustian like 90% of doublets in the 16th century) published by Fingerlin
- 2 Medici doublets (very badly damaged) published by Arnold
- 2 Swedish in Upsala Cathedral published by Arnold
- Netherlands Kostummuseum published by Arnold
- National Museums of Scotland (ex Heever Castle) Museum reference A.1983.791 https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/collection-search-results/doublet/350509
- Grimsthorp & Drummond Castle Trust Ltd. published by Arnold
- GNM Inventarnummer T4256 https://objektkatalog.gnm.de/wisski/navigate/140894/view
- GNM Inventarnummer T1635 https://objektkatalog.gnm.de/wisski/navigate/140892/view
Edit 2023-03-09: added citation to Piel and Bédat
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